Much of that area (Sand Mt.) can't support a lot of deer. BTW, someone told me you couldn't judge an area just by what's on your own property.

I agree with your second statement but on the first one I think it would be more accurate to say Sand Mt “doesn’t” support a lot of deer instead of can’t……There’s actually a good bit of stuff for them to eat but there’s not enough cover for them to reproduce with the coyote population that’s present along with people shooting them….If folks completely quit shooting does and trapped a few yotes it could have a much better population than it does……There used to be a nice little population over behind Albertville airport and over toward Needmore where my wife grew up…..I think last I heard it had about been killed out.

You're splitting hairs with words. There are areas in this state that can carry many more deer than others, for various reasons. Some folks need to realize they can't have a 150" buck behind every other tree and a doe behind all the others .

Lol, one guy that I track for on sand mountain kills studs every year off 75 acres. It's all about location and hunting pressure

Ummmm, it's always about location.

Yep. I was very instrumental in pushing for that Zone C and helped set the boundaries based on Population estimates, land uses and urbanization. Hunter input and harvest estimates were also used. The TN valley and surrounding counties are heavily populated and deer populations can not hold up to extended harvest pressure. Parts of Blount, Morgan, Cullman and Marshall counties will never support large deer populations no matter what the regulations are because the habitat is awful. I was mainly referring to some of the counties in the northwest and north central part of the state you mentioned. Those populations are moderate to high, and in some cases, too high.

Lot folks here in lauderdale county won’t take one to processer any more because of price increases. Have to do game check now or they won’t take them . The ones like me does it myself don’t do the game check. I see same amount deer as usual. Seen over 40 this week out in the snow but not a single person hunting but me. From opening day till now I’ve heard fewer shots than years past . I know for sure been lot less mature bucks killed this year. Don’t understand that part . Very few game pics of mature bucks from anyone around here . Neighbor killed two in his cow pasture walking in circles last week . Disease deer . Both bucks. Took them for testing . Haven t heard back yet . Don’t know if that has anything to do with fewer mature bucks . Strange season so far . It was so dry for months here might have something do with it . We had a great acorn crop this year a not many deer came to plots or feed because didn’t rain a they didn’t rot for long time .

Guess I need to go down to my 3 acre pasture at the back of my 11 acres and change out my cell camera batteries and freshen up the corn pile. I will make sure I only shoot one deer so I am being fair to the big land owners. I will make sure after i shoot my one deer I tell all the other deer to stay off my property so I am not tempted shoot more than one deer.

So let me ask you this then……it kinda goes back to something Goatkiller mentioned……If we end the season with many of those counties like Jackson, Madison, Marshall, Blount, Colbert, Franklin, etc having Game Check show 35-50% drops in doe harvesting…..do we just ignore that and say everything is fine because of a few people’s perception??.....If so then what use are the GC numbers?.....When do we use them to make decisions?

I’m really curious about counties like Jackson…..last year they killed 2400 does and right now they’re at 1400…..That’s a big change

Marshall county🤢🤮

I can’t speak for everywhere. I can only speak for NW AL in the counties I have clients and lots of contacts. Acorn crops were phenomenal. That alone usually leads to lower hunter success. Food plots on a lot of properties were total failures. I assist a local processor with quartering deer and caping a few weekends out of the season and deer are in superb physical condition. They’re very healthy. Also, they’re set to hit a record on how many they’ve taken in, so ppl are killing plenty of deer and still have plenty left. It’s not a population issue CNC. I promise you that. Everyone up here talks about how many deer they have.

Yeah , I don't give a hoot what GC numbers say , Jackson County hasn't magically lost 50% of our deer from one year to the next. That doesn't even warrant a discussion . I think we all know GC is HIGHLY flawed .

I don’t even know anybody that’s killed a doe this year but my circle is pretty small.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess y'all are seeing some.

Plenty

Game Check may have its flaws but I dont think its 1,000 deer off kinda flawed......Its certainly not showing that in every county so something is happening that caused Jackson Co hunters to shoot far less does....as well as quite a few other counties....I will say that I think one of the reasons GC was put into place is because its very likely that it'll pick up on changes ahead of hunter perception......Again, if you're not gonna take the numbers to mean anything then whats the use in having it? Just like 2dogs said.....you cant base everything off just what you're seeing on your own property

Most people don’t cut up there own deer and processing fees have tripled in the last 10 years. I’m sure that’s cut back on some of the killing.

Probably several factors coming together this year. I ain't worried bout it.

For what its worth, buck harvest is also way down from last year for Jackson.......Last year was 3099 bucks reported.......Right now its at 2023....Those are mighty big swings.....It'll be interesting to see if hunter perception begins to change over the next year or two

I damn sure ain't hurting for deer here .