I will reiterate what several have posted about Alabama. It is so different from Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, etc that you cannot look at what those states have done and apply it here. Those states have large properties that are intensely managed to raise the age structure and health of deer. Supplemental food (for nutrition and bait) and cameras have been a huge aid in saving bucks that need a few more years to reach their potential.Alabama has such an intensely high level of competition between adjacent landowners that these things can certainly be detrimental to the local deer population..In most areas, it is kill em before the neighbors can. I should add that we are so far behind those other states in deer management that a 3.5 year old 10 pt here is considered a deer of a lifetime and shot without a second thought. It's hard to argue with that as the neighbors will certainly do the same.

I dont know if people do this on purpose or if human psychology just wants to always make everything have to be all or nothing….black or white………Probably some of both.

It’s not going to “do them in”…….You’ve adjusted the left side of the equation and now the right side will have to adjust to find the new balance……This new balance will be less deer on the landscape with even poorer age structures. The population will not shrink evenly though. The smaller more fragmented properties with higher hunter density will be the ones receding the most. I think it will likely have some level of negative impact on just about everyone but the biggest landowners and clubs will be the least impacted by baiting and cameras.

Burbank is correct about trigger control playing a key factor. The first thing we could do is to voluntarily pull back the reigns with doe killing and everyone get out of this mentality of managing inside of our own little bubble. Zoom out to 30,000 feet and start thinking on a landscape level around you rather than thinking you exist within your own 1000 acre block. If we want to produce more males then we need to maximize the doe population across the bigger landscape. Your does will spread out if/when resources get thin and fill in the holes in the bigger landscape around you. There are only a small handful of situations occurring that need to worry about any kind of real doe management. Right now we’re a LOOONG ways off from maximizing our space that’s available.

So this is what the other states had to do when they implemented baiting? Did Alabama have to do this when greenfields became a thing and people started baiting deer with them? Or did states have to start doing this when big agriculture took root and people started mass farming in the Midwest and shooting deer off of corn and bean fields? Deer eating food put on the landscape by man is not new right?

After we fixed what the European fur market did to wildlife in North America, our game management has been pretty good at keeping game animals thriving. I’m not saying that baiting doesn’t effect the other side of the equation at some level. I’m just saying chill out and give it some time to work itself out. Like it has in every other state that has legalized baiting. Like it did when green fields and mass farming took root. Look at history and learn from it. CHILL BRO 😂 zoom out to the last 100 years across the continent and several species.

I know you aren’t gonna listen and you’re gonna come back with some bubble graph or study that was done 75 years ago about an extinct gopher mouse lizard due to over harvest or something so… Let er Rip Potato Chip.

Here’s what got it started. Especially read the second paragraph. If you research that rule number it has to do with prohibited devices in state parks. That paperwork shows May 8th and online that rule as of May 31 has no mention of it.

4. End the season on Jan 31. Except in the south where the rut occurs late.


Is that what you are wanting to accomplish?