I prefer a middle of the road density. Somewhere around 20 dpsm

I meant no disrespect to Nighthunter or any other biologist! I wish y’all had more resources and say in how the public lands were managed!

Agree completely. I spend a lot of time on WMA’s and on the ones I frequent the most there isn’t any deer management going on other then a few scattered food plots and aging\ recording dead deer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining and I’ll continue to make the most of my opportunity to hunt public land. Maybe the DNRs hands are tied on how much they can really do on certain tracts of land? I don’t know.

I’d rather hunt higher density land. The idea of killing “big bucks” just doesn’t mean the same thing to me anymore. It’s not some dire pursuit I’m on to prove something…..whether it be to other people or myself. When it’s over it’s just another rack on the wall. It’s the hunt itself that I enjoy far more now. With that being said, I’d rather consistently see a lot of deer when I go hunting versus sitting out in the woods not seeing chit in pursuit of that one big ‘un. Hunting is a lot more fun to me when I’m seeing deer.

I think the only people that "don't" feel this way are the people that already have a ton of deer and somehow think having a lot of deer is the reason they're not seeing Big Billy Buck. But who knows. Maybe lots of people are fine staring at squirrels for 10 days straight.

Exactly.......if you gave me the choice of exclusive access to a property where I'd consistently see multiple "average" deer on most sits, vs a property where I only saw a deer every 4 or 5 sits, but they were above-average, I'd take the numbers every time. Wouldn't even be a tough choice.

I think people that say they'd rather see very very few deer, and have a chance at a monster buck either 1. have killed so many deer in their life, seeing them isn't fun anymore or 2. don't really understand how miserable hunting for a week is, without seeing any brown fur.

A week? LOL...try hunting for an entire SEASON and not seeing brown fur. I know it ain't always about killing, but damn...

I've been there, Gomer. I said a week because some folks simply can't imagine that there are places like that in Alabama. There's a lot of em. And frequently people think you need to kill more does in those areas.

"That doe was the first deer I'd seen in 2 weeks....so I shot it" How many times have y'all heard that? Makes no sense to me

Funny you say that....there has only been 1 deer seen all this season so far on our lease......a doe....that one of the members shot.

Y'all been reading to many books

That is a terrible way to spend a deer season. I have never went entire season without seeing anything but have went all season and seen 5-10 deer, and that was hunting every weekend, holiday, and usually week of vacation. If I had to go back to hunting those places again I would just quit.

I don’t really care what biologist or qdma says, I’ve hunted a lot of properties in Alabama, and if you told me to pick 3 places that I felt most confident I could hunt for a week in the rut and kill a 125+, all three places that come to mind, have a lot of deer. Like double digit sightings a majority of the time. Those places also have very few deer killed, one place hasn’t had does killed since 1987. That place, you might see 30 deer on a good sit, maybe only 3 or 4 bucks, but your liable to see a mature deer just about every day. I just have never seen a positive correlation to drastically reducing your does and having better “big buck” hunting in the future years. It’s always been the opposite .

I'm like you in that I just don't really care about what they say................the way I see it is only 1/2 the deer are capable of giving us more deer. and if you start wiping out those deer, well, that just seems counter-intuitive. Sure, I'd shoot a doe here and there on a property that had good numbers, but killing the "fawn factories" because numbers are already too low just seems dumb.

I live in marshall county...be very thankful you see deer and have decent places to go because we have very few deer. I live far enough away in every direction from any decent hunting..not only that...i havent been able to swing the money for a decent club in the pastfew years and im married now so its even harder to get away an beat up on public land like i use to so i juggle work, husband stuff, and hunting on some at best..mediocre public land that is at its closest 35min away...i worked hard and scout when and what i could..and i have hunted a grand total of about 8 days this season..which is the least ive hunted since ive been hunting...ive seen 4 deer... And i worked my butt off just to catch a glimpse of them.....hard for me to pay for gas and take time off for a gimpse..3 of the deer i saw..on a piece of property that ive been hunting my whole life and if you add up how many deer ive seen there in the past 8 years of me hunting it hard it would make 5...i couldnt break 10 if i counted all the ones ive seen in my lifetime there...my ideal density....enough to warrant me going and hunting them and not feeling like an absolute waste of time.

Where do you hunt Gomer?

This has been my experience as well. I hunted as a guest with some 80+ yo fellas on 500 ac a few yrs back, they shot NO does and it was that way for years. The does didn't even pay attention to you. It was some of the best hunting I ever had experienced. Saw almost 30 deer in 4 hrs almost every time I hunted with them and multiple mature bucks. Say what you want, I don't care what books and experts say, I know when I was a chasing buck, I looked for where the ladies were at and the more the better.





It's like shooting hen turkeys and wondering where all the turkeys have gone and why their numbers are down.

Greene Co, north of the interstate, but I won't hunting this place after this year. Will either lease a small property by myself or find a club to get in. I'm not gonna piss away any more time, energy or money on this place.

Just crunching the numbers - (rifle season longer than ever + doe season liberal as ever + coyote predation more efficient as ever) = Wth is wrong with us

It took days for me to work that out but thought I’d share