Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Charts and Graphs

Pwyse, the buy in is the problem. Matt and I have discussed this at length. While some claim not to care, I’ve never run into an Alabama deer hunter that didn’t want to shoot the biggest racked buck on their property. Personally, I think it’s a function of most hunters seeing and killing young 1-3 yr old, small racked bucks for all their hunting careers, and that “typical good Alabama 8 pt” mentality is ingrained in their hunting style and harvest expectations. Why? Because that’s all they’ve ever known, seen and killed, due to their past harvest decisions/actions and more importantly all those hunting around them with that same mentality. Alabama is not the Midwest, Texas, or the Mississippi delta by any means, but I think people would honestly be shocked at what can be grown with just age, on timber co land, in relatively poor Alabama soils. It’s a catch 22, chicken and egg scenario. People have to personally experience it to “buy” into it, but the only way to experience it is to pass those deer, those 2-3 yr old, 95-115” bucks that they’ve been told are trophy bucks for their area, and the best that can be grown in their given area. They probably are because if you kill 90% of your bucks as 2-3 yr olds, you’re not going to have many older bucks to harvest. There are quite a few guys on this forum, 5-6 that I know of that compare and share pics, that have killed and currently have pics of dozens of live bucks that most would swear were not taken in Alabama. Unfortunately, the key to having and keeping those type bucks, is not posting pictures of them on a public forum. Even if they were posted, most people would still be of the belief that there was something extra special about the property, the genetics in that area, that they were taken inside a fence, or that the pics are from another state. It’s inherent in human nature to doubt what one has not personally experienced. I’d venture to say that 85-90% of Alabama hunters have never harvested or seen a net 125-130” buck while hunting. I’ve hunted all over the southern and central part of the state, and setting the bad neighbors part aside, have yet to see any property that didn’t have the potential to grow a 130” or in most cases, a much better buck, with the right mgmt and long term harvest restraint. Why don’t people buy in? Because across 95% of Alabama, with the terrible sex ratios, marginal habitat, annual excessive over-harvest of bucks, and terrible age structure, you’re talking about a 5-7 yr program at a minimum to get there. They’ll get started and say “well we’ve been on it for 2 years and our bucks havent improved so this isn’t working.” If youre starting at ground zero, and your bucks need to reach 5-6 years to express those genetics, and not every buck that reaches 5-6 yrs old will have the genetics to wear a huge rack, and it’s Alabama so you know your neighbors are going to kill 50% or more of the bucks you are trying to get into older age classes, then a minimum commitment 7-8 years is required. Fact is, very few have the commitment to do it and as per my previous post, unless the people around you are on the same page, then your just trying to push a rope up the hill.