I haven't seen much change in the numbers of deer we have on the farm in Perry Co. We've had good numbers of deer since the early 90s when some of the big dog hunting clubs went out of business. But there is a total of about 5000 acres surrounding us that is well-managed by large clubs that are practicing QDM. They are killing the right number of does to keep the population stable.

At my house in Coosa Co, there are hardly any deer at all now. The land here is made up of small landowners, and I think way too many does are being killed.

I hate the idea of more regulation, but I think areas of the state that are made up primarily of small landowners need a much more strict doe season. We could go back to the system of the state issuing doe tags to clubs that need them, and having a much shorter doe season overall. That would still allow clubs that need to kill does to kill them, and protect them in places that need protecting.

But the DCNR probably doesn't have the manpower to run that program anymore, and ALFA would be against it, so I doubt it will happen. I've solved the problem for myself by no longer deer hunting in Coosa Co. I suspect that's gonna happen to a lot of people in a lot of places.