A big chunk of those does end up being button bucks. I’ve watched the last area manager ruin Skyline over the last 10 years. Now they went from slaughter them all to no either sex gun hunts. Hacks

No wonder we can't keep any biologist on this forum. I'll go along with a college educated biologist who has done field study work, camera studies, deer collared studies, and doe conception studies for years, over Billybob who couldn't see a deer at a deer petting zoo. Calhoun and Talladega counties are full, and I mean full of deer. Full of coyotes too, so I don't get why some of you don't have deer. People spotlight here just like they do everywhere else. Ridgestalker, don't blame the biologist because people are too stupid to buy a pair of binoculars and cant tell a knothead from a doe. It's always somebody else's fault.

Not sure why anyone shoots those little 30-40 lb deer.

Biologists work to implement these regs for the entire state, they are analyzing much larger data sets than say your everyday joe's back 40. What works on your lease or land may not fit the regs....maybe you shouldnt be shooting does on your land, maybe you could afford to shoot as many as you want. There needs to be some discretion here, just because the law allows you to do so doesnt necessarily mean you should. Now imagine if the state biologists were to set regs based on the lowest common denominator to ensure all the bases are covered. How many of us would be up in arms about the lack of tags for the amount of deer we are seeing?

I agree it is not not regs it is the people. Most have no discretion. Just like the people that move out of the city buy 10-15-20 acres "they have bought a farm". So they see some deer and think man this place is covered up with deer so for a few years they kill 4-5-6 deer every year. To stupid to realize if every one that has 10-15-20 acres does that it won't last long. Then they blame there neighbors for killing all the deer. I see this happen where I live.

What people don't realize is that when you go to dropping the hammer on everything you see, deer will move off your property, especially small properties. Deer are not stupid, well some maybe, but not for the most part. Deer have home ranges of 400-600 acres, even larger in some area's. If 2-3 people hunt 20 acres and plug away at the deer, well they'll just move off that property, until dark. Some area's, i'm sure have a decreased herd, but I also think people don't adapt their hunting strategies during hunting season. They hunt the same 2-3 places every time they go and don't realize the deer have patterned them and so now they think all the deer are dead.

I’m not saying their are hacks. But when you go from one extreme to the other it’s pretty obvious. I’m not talking about private property but public and the only way to try and control the herd is by setting seasons and limits.

Biologists are NOT pushing the wholesale slaughter of does. Most of the public lands are managed for does much better than private land.

The state biologists will come out and work with your club, lease, private farm, etc to help manage your populations correctly and ITS FREE. All you have to do is ask them. I have been working with our own Matt Brock for several years now on our lease (700 acres). It’s probably the best thing we ever did for our property and now we have a neighbor club doing things exactly how we have been doing. And guess what our population numbers have done? Significant increase in density and sightings. I’m pretty sure Matt is not the only GOOD biologists employed by the state.

If more people would utilize these services we would see a change but it takes time to educate people and even longer to “reprogram” some of these hunters that think it’s ok to shoot every damn deer they see. Some places can afford to shoot bunches of does but even more cannot.

Actually, that's exactly what you called them.

Guys this ain't rocket science. If you want to see more deer don't shoot no does. If you are seeing a good many does and none or very few bucks you have a buck problem not a doe problem, only shoot 4-5 year old bucks I promise you won't shoot to many of them. If you are seeing as many of both that you care to see then kill about as many does as you do bucks every year to keep a stable population. Seems pretty simple to me. If you have a small tract of land try to get your neighbors to do the same thing. Talk to your neighbors share game can pics etc. if you can't do any of that, find new neighbors.

In my experience with all the hunters I have and land I lease....this is what happens.

A group wants to manage their land but they don't have enough acres to do this because there is no such thing as a boundary for a deer. Their ranges overlap. So your neighbor who blasts everything they see on their irregular shaped 1,000 acres soon start hunting your property line because they quit seeing deer in the middle of their property.

Then what happens is they are shooting your deer along with you. And the group of guys that have trigger control begin their uphill battle against this. Ultimately in a lot of cases they just give up, move to another lease, etc. because they can't do anything about it. Even worse for the landowner or someone who owns and hunts their own land. They can't do a dern thing about it they are stuck unless they sell - and that's ridiculous to imagine selling your land because a bunch of folks next to you blast everything they see. That shouldn't be that way. It ain't right.

That's a real situation. I don't understand why some people don't seem to get it. They only think about their own situation with no regard to other groups of hunters. They are happy and don't have this problem.... so if the next group of hunters has the problem tough titty?


In order to eliminate this you would need a 400-500 acre buffer zone all the way around your property. If 500 acres was your nucleus or core area you would need 2,000 acres around it to keep the deer from crossing a boundary.

Most of us don't have that kind of acreage in a square.... and IMO that's what it would take to really keep you neighbors from significantly impacting your deer herd.

I meant to say not all are hacks. I’m only speaking for Skyline WMA and no where else. The last area manager came from Barbour WMA and managed Skyline the same. 2 does a day every gun hunt for years. The new biologists took over and says we don’t have enough deer left to even have an either sex rifle hunt.... and she’s right.

Been hunting on lauderdale management area this week. That place is pathetic for deer hunting. Last biologist had doe days every hunt. Now cant even see a deer . Hardly any deer sign at all. That guy is gone now its only bucks this yr. it will take yrs for the deer population to come back after the doe eradication. Makes me sick with it being such a great place to hunt in the past . I walked lots of cutover this week an saw one buck an no does.there are some best foodplots i ever seen but no deer tracks in them at all. One had big sawtooths oaks in it with acorns everywhere an none eaten.go back to hunting lease which is only 10 miles away an see 9 deer within first hr this morning

Farmers are shooting alot of deer during
The summer time. No one takes that into consideration.
It suçks to have your land next to a big farm
You try to let deer get big and farmer ß
Shoots. any deer that they see.