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Butler, lowndes, Crenshaw. I've hunted there 20 years. Own property in all three. I don't see the # of does while hunting or on camera I used to. About 1/4 of what we had in the 90s, when we had doe days.

Most of northern lee county's (north of hwy 280 ) numbers are down and it's predators around here causing most of the carnage.

Try to work that out with him.

We have two properties less than a mile and a half apart. One has plenty of deer on it and needs some does taken. The other is almost a desert with VERY few on cam I'm talking two or three deer on cam in two weeks on fields. One has good neighbors who are managing the herd one has been a brown it's down club for years. This is just north west of Marion.

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Limestone and Lawrence need a big arse break on the doe killing!!!!!!

Like others have said. Why not offer a doe tags for a SMALL $10 fee per tag and actually report and record the data. The State is pissing in the wind on numbers until harvest reporting is mandatory . The only folks that have a problem with a mandatory check in system are outlaws and poachers PERIOD.

Give us two bucks and let the rest grow.

If there are SO many deer that the population needs to be lowered, why are there ANY limits?

Seems contradictory to me!!!

You know where I hunt. In 5 seasons we've killed 7 deer. 4 bucks and 3 does. For 2 seasons it was on 40 acres and for the past 3 it has been on 120. I feel like our surrounding habitat is pretty good and ours is getting better every day.This year, due to camera's and sightings, does are completely off limits. I don't know for sure if what I'm (not) seeing is due to me, others, or nature.

I'd love to hear what you get from others in my area.

Here's the problem, but it's not really a problem at all. Folks in one area are hunting a certain way, and folks in another area are hunting a different way. There's not a right or wrong with the two areas. Deer will and have survived and flourished in both scenarios. As long as people don't start hunting for profit again, deer will be fine. What you guys are wanting (and have gotten with buck limits) is to shove your point of view of hunting down everybody's throat. It's this mentality, "if I can't sit and watch multiple deer on a hunt, I want the state to change it where I can". I don't care and it really doesn't matter to me (or the deer herd) that one area less than 1 1/2 miles away has a lower population than you want. Not picking on you at all, but your scenario is the "poster child" for what's going to ultimately ruin and govern the HELL/fun out of hunting. In your post you're actually seriously wanting change based on ONE and A HALF MILES.......

And yes BY GOD I used the quote function for the first time EVER!!!!

I agree completely. My dad didn't hunt. When I started hunting. I grabbed a family gun and walked out the door and I was LEGAL. It was our land and there was no dang tags, or other bullcrap or I probably would have never started in the first place.

Be careful what y'all ask for. Not everyone grew up hunting and it's hard to get started.

I hunt South of Fairnelson in Conecuh county and in years past we would cut off the doe killing on Jan 1st. or at 30 which ever came first. We have killed 4 so far this season. Weights are down and numbers are down. Habitat loss has a lot to do with this. The state wanted to lower the deer population and that has happened, so what do we do now?

I'm so damn tired of statements like this. Those of us who like seeing deer when we go hunting, sharing our opinions, is no different than you sharing yours. It simply sucks for you, because you appear to be in the minority. The meat hunters gripe the same way.

So what is different from that now? You can still do that if it is owned by a household member can't you? Are you somehow saying that it would be easier to get into hunting, if you walked out your back door, and never saw any deer, because the herd wasn't managed???

Nighthunter,

Areas I hunt with low populations.

-Chilton county, SW of Jemison
-St. Clair County, Ragland area
(Very few deer in both of these places, I see a deer or two 50% of the time or less)

-Jefferson County, near McCalla
(avg population, probably avg seeing 1-3 deer per hunt)

In Blount county where I grew up hunting we had a High deer population. Was very hard to go and sit without seeing a few does. Then everybody jumped in on the band wagon of if we kill more does we will have better bucks. Before the massacre I never saw one doe or buck that was in bad health due to overpopulation.Or starving. After a few years of people hammering them the only difference I can see is there are Way less deer. Not a change in the quality of bucks. Just a lot less of them. Where I hunt in Fayette County they need no doe days for three or four years.on the bright side it is getting better up here. But the only reason it is,is because we went to one doe per membership on a 4500 acre tract. And not even half us bother shooting a doe. A couple more years we should be good.

I understand what your saying trust me. But when you have 8-10 verifiable deer on 700 acres that isn't a stable herd in my opinion. We have seen 4 deer in 15 sits on that tract this year and 2 we think are the same deer. After a week of no rain we may have 4-5 sets of tracks in a field with most having not been hunted all year. If the sign was there I wouldn't be saying anything but it's not. Were not the only ones in the same boat I've talked to a lot of people around the state with properties just like it. Our neighbors on that land are still killing does we aren't but still may let it go since it is a loosing battle. It sucks paying $6-7000 for a lease and not even killing a deer on it. I really don't know the answer but even my suggestion wouldn't help that property. No fawns are surviving on it neighbors could still kill the few does they see and we would still be in the same boat. But if something isn't done soon the shrinking number of hunters will continue. Cause people aren't going to keep paying these high lease prices with little to no deer on them.

NIghthunter heres some areas with little to no deer sightings this season:

-Elmore county near tallapoosa river (Kent area)
-Lowndes WMA (not just speaking for myself either, with several that hunt there, the biologist, and even the deer check-in sheet is looking super slim)

There is tons of sign on Autauga wma (just north of Posey's Crossroads) , yet to lay eyes on a deer tho.

I'm just saying that right now, I have to have SEVEN different documents to hunt ducks on a WMA. From a HIP, to hunter safety, to signed map, to actual license, state and federal stamps, plugs, steel shot etc.

I come at it from the standpoint of wanting hunting to be as acessible as possible. And the burden of proof is on the state to prove why we should have to do something.

Why the heck can't the state pick 5,000 hunters, pay them $100 to report their kills? People just think a game check will solve our problems of low deer #'s and it won't do anything.
The 5,000 hunters could give the state probably more reliable data, and it is voluntary.

If I had to have a gamecheck number, a tag, and whatever other BS other states have to have, no, I probably wouldn't have fooled with it.

Nobody needs to kill 20 does off their property unless they have a fence around it. Mother Nature will take care of it if you are over populated. The thought of deer running around starving to death is a complete joke for 99% of the areas.

I have several places to hunt. Too many actually. I have 3k acres I have not killed more than 10 does off of it in 20 years. Biologist 10+ years ago said kill 30 does off it a year, but I never did. I was worried more about the hunting pressure than anything. Liked seeing deer in the fields. 10 years later and the deer are doing just fine. If I don't see 15+ a sit I've had a bad day. From hunting perspective it probably doesn't get much better. But we don't shoot does and the people around us don't kill them like chickens either, thankfully. Including surrounding properties total about 6k acres. Habitat is in great shape. Mother Nature is doing just fine and we've got some GREAT deer hunting.

I have about 2500 of old family land next to some "meat" hunters on in another part of the state. Habitat looks better. More SMZ's and hilly. Awesome looking place. Deer numbers are very low and if I see 3 I've had a great hunt.

Difference in my opinion... Doe harvest.