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My knee jerk reaction on that deer was 3

I really wouldn’t be shocked…it’s almost like they are a different animal than an Alabama whitetail. I was taking down a metal hog trap and throwing the pieces over closer to the truck. I looked up and had a mature buck stiff legging right towards me. Got to within 40 yards and just turned and walked slowly off. I realized he thought the clanging was bucks fighting.

My story starts with - we had chili the night before...

I did have the wind in my favor.

I'll let you figure out the rest.

KS deer and IL deer are full blown mentally handicapped compared to our deer. It’s not the same creature. The stuff I’ve gotten away with up there you wouldn’t dream about doing down here. Killing deer off the ground or just 8-10’ up a tree up there is easy. If they even look at you, as long as you don’t move, they’ll go back right back to normal activities. I drew on a doe one time at 12 yards with her looking at me and I killed her. Dumb dumb dumb. 😂🤷🏼‍♂️

Missouri was the same way. Some of the biggest bucks I’ve ever seen were just standing out in fields or they’d just walk out across an open field. As you said 3 of the 5 I have on the wall was killed while I was just standing next to a tree. All 3 were shot at about 60yds. They’d walk around that pond and would be right there in front of me. I sure miss that tree.

WI was the same. Actually you have to keep your bow cased at all times otherwise it’s a ticket-able offense. I laughed when Dave told me this. How in the heck can you ride around and shoot a big buck off the side of the road with a bow?

Once again, I’ll give a little insight. I have a feeder with a cell camera on it in a clearcut. Not much activity at all, it actually dropped when the rut started. I have a reg game cam on my landline/gate and I have multiple decent racked bucks just walking by over the last 3 weeks. Much more sign than at the feeder.
If I were to just hunt the feeder, I’d be highly disappointed.

Why is there a significant difference in many counties between how much buck harvest is up/down versus doe harvest??

I have a theory. I’m not speaking statewide. I am simply referring to the NW corner.

Like I’ve said before, warmer days are normal. Timing of those warmer days does matter though. People struggled early in the season because of acorns and warm weather on the weekends ppl normally hunt. Doe harvest started out behind. Ppl normally base doe harvest on what they see. They see less, then they shoot less. They will however, kill a buck, just because it’s a buck and not a doe.

The rut rolls around, and people certainly aren’t going to kill a doe with bucks running all the country with their tongues out, but because they’ve seen fewer deer, they’re less selective on bucks, so a lot of those numbers are not considerably less than most years. Doe harvest continues to do down, while buck harvest slightly inches upward. There’s been a lot of bucks killed up here in the last two weeks, and ppl still aren’t killing does, out of choice, not because they’ve disappeared.

So are you saying that it’s possible that some people, possibly the majority, can regulate themselves even if the law allows for a more liberal doe harvest? I thought that wasn’t possible in Alabama.

I am not advocating for multiple does a day. Personally one a day is enough for me. However, I do find it plausible that people will regulate their behavior based on what they perceive, real or otherwise.

Doesnt look like they are regulating themselves on bucks or does. Nature (weather patterns, bumper acorn crop, and excessive browse still available) and the greed to kill a buck and be "real hunter" (Rut), is what's regulating what has and is being killed doe wise. Based on what Matt is seeing and suggesting, it sounds like, because the does were not available to be shot early and everyone has an itchy trigger finger, they are now being even less selective on bucks, which leads to even more younger age class bucks being harvested, which in turn leads to even further skewed sex ratios and and creating an even worse buck age structure throughout most of the state. So no, it doesnt sound like people are regulating their behavior in a positive manner, if Matt's theory is true.

So have we already done the herd damage or is it coming in the future because of the 2 does per day. Seems like your theory changes based on the graphs. Before season started you said we were going to kill them all because of the new rule. Once that narrative didn’t play out you switched to we have already done the damage. Can’t ride 2 horses with one rear end.

Understand what you’re saying, and don’t disagree. I was thinking about it more from a doe perspective where he indicated that they are regulating the shooting of does as a method of the population control in total. As far as the buck age structure, I totally understand where you’re coming from. I also realize the majority of the hunters on here regulate themselves more than the general population of Alabama does. I’ve only shot two bucks in the last 10 years and only shoot does when I feel we are overpopulated. The majority of my neighbors handle the doe harvest for me.

First, it may not be different compared to years past... it could be the norm for several years. Second, in my corner of Bama, I'm seeing fewer does on any given plot than the past two years. If you caught a post I made a week or so ago, the less sightings have nothing to do with less does, but everything to do with acorns being in the woods this year (no acorns past two years). Because the does are more spread out this year, I'm not removing my "live bait" from any one place until rutting is over. For instance, at one particular plot/feeder I've got 4 does that regularly show up (as compared to 7-8 last year)... ain't no way I'm harvesting a doe there! Third, because does are more spread out across our property, bucks are having to travel further to find receptive does than in the past - when basically bucks could stay in one area and never exhaust the "doe supply" the past two years. The more they travel, the more opportunities to be seen and shot - and that's exactly what we've done this year on my private lease and in the club I'm in. We've had FAR more buck sightings on stand this year than in the past two - and we've already killed more bucks this season than we did in either of the past two years (no decrease in age/size either). IF the acorns eventually play out and does return to the plots/feeders en masse, then the number of does havested in my little corner will most certainly increase.

CNC says, "Hold my beer".

Did some doe damage over the weekend in central AL! Saw lots of little bucks and passzzzd.

There is no chart / graph or data conclusions that will be taken as a positive. I've figured that much out already.

The need and or desire to kill horns is overwhelmingly the hardest part of managing. I honestly think it’s innate as a hunter to seek horns aka antlers. Even cavan drawings were of huge antlers/horned critters. 😆

I know folks consider hunter sightings as relevant and it is to some degree.


I wished I had a dollar for every time I’ve had a hunter or a group of hunters mention they’re not seeing does. Then someone hunting that same area say they’re haven’t seen a buck anywhere but seeing a ton of does Everton they hunt. 🤷‍♂️

My theory is that does concentrate heavily around food sources like fish schooled up on a brushpile…..Therefore, there arent as many “squares” with does spread out across them right now…..Bucks however travel and move around on the landscape a lot more than does especially during the rut regardless of food…..So they’re still getting shot and may even ben getting shot in place of the does that some hunters arent seeing…….In many of the northern counties you wont know what impact the 2 doe rule will really have until next year when the does are likely to be spread out again giving more hunting the opportunity to make that choice.