Gentlemen:

Interesting fact:

During the 2004/2005 Alabama Deer season (in the southern half of the state), a hunter could legally take both an antlered buck and a doe each day of the 108 day archery/muzzle loader/gun seasons. That is 216 total!

Ralph

Well that certianly makes our one deer a season limit seem miserly here in Idaho. I've been thru Alabama, think I'll stay here. I like the mountians.

Faucettb:

The thick brush of South Alabama is the true limiting factor in deer hunting. That with a continually expanding deer population is the reason for a daily rather than a true season limit. Alabama even opened the entire archery season to crossbows last year. Very few hunters in South Alabama take more that 3-5 deer a season.

Ralph

Sounds like fun, how much are tags for non residents?

Sounds like fun, how much are tags for non residents?


I don't think you have to get "tags" per say. Just stop by the local walmart or gun shop and get an out of state liscense, I think its good all season long, and not that expensive. Now I'm not sure on any of this as I have allways just bought my normal resident liscence.

'Bama rocks!


Roll Tide

yeah. Here in Tennessee last season, in one of our units, if you bought a special season/antlerless permit, you could take 3 deer per day, as long as they were not considered bucks, during the gun season, which is broken down into to two week segments, thats 84 does or bucks with antlers under three inches, plus the normal 36 we can keep in the muzzleloading and archery seasons. 120 deer. We can still only keep two antlered bucks per year though. Hope they keep it that way this year.


Charles

In South Alabama the favored methods of hunting Whitetail deer are:

Elevated stands near or over planted food plots.
Elevated or ground stands near trail crossings.
Watching power line crossings.
Running the deer with hounds.

Stalking or still hunting is virtually impossible (there are always exceptions).

Ralph

Sounds like fun. When I lived a few years over in Seattle I almost gave up hunting there because of the brush. It was almost impossible to get thru so I can sure understand that problem. Finally moved back to Idaho where you can still get some long shots.

Are the deer big or does over population cause some problems? Harvesting a bunch of deer has got to be a good way to keep a freezer full.

interesting.... you can only keep 13 deer here. Only one may be a buck. What I really mean, is that you can legally buy 13 tags, depending on region... :D

In alabama its mainly an overpopulation issue. Which has alot to do with bad buck to doe ratios thus the season long doe season in most parts of the state. The deer don't get as big as say northern whitetails. I remember reading somewhere that a guy tribuited that to the fact that northern whitetails grow at a faster rate than our southern ones.

In alabama its mainly an overpopulation issue. Which has alot to do with bad buck to doe ratios thus the season long doe season in most parts of the state. The deer don't get as big as say northern whitetails. I remember reading somewhere that a guy tribuited that to the fact that northern whitetails grow at a faster rate than our southern ones.

I never hunted Alabama, but have hunted whitetails from North Carolina north to New York and Michigan. My impression of the southeast (in contrast to Texas) is that the warm humid climate produces lush vegetation, so that high populations of deer would be less likely to deplete the food supply enough to cause stunted deer. But, I could be wrong because I have not spent a lot of time there. Do you have winter kills because of food shortages?

Unless the buck to doe ratio gets so low that some does are not bred (reducing the population growth rate), the population dynamics are entirely a function of the biology (number, age structure, physical condition) of the does as determined by the environment including food, shelter, weather, and predators. Even the social structure of deer herds is largely a matriarcial society. Bucks serve primarily to get the does pregnant and grow big antlers to make hunters happy. I find it almost laughable when so-called "Deer Experts" say we have too many deer because we have too few bucks. If the does are getting pregnant, there are enough bucks present to fulfill their biological role. There may be too few trophy bucks, because they are harvested when young, or are stunted, but each year's crop of new deer contains 50% bucks.

There is a principle in ecology known as "Bergman"s Rule" that predicts body size of mammals increases within a species (but across subspecies) as one goes North from the Equater toward the Arctic. It is explained as a result of the ratio of body surface area to body size decreasing markedly as body size increases thus reducing the loss of heat from the animal (heat retention being more important in northern climates and heat loss (cooling) being more important in southern climates. The increase in size from the southern Coues and Key Deer subspecies to the large Canadian whitetails fits this principle nicely.

Looks like a dry summer here in Texas, and with two good previous years, we're gonna need to do some thinning of the herd this fall.

Buck to doe ratio is not just about maintaining the population. Problem with too few bucks is, if there's no competition for does, you never SEE the bucks. They won't move in daylight if they don't have to.

Plus, the population can quickly spike under good conditions, if the vast majority of the population can drop two faws each spring. That can turn into a real problem when drought hits.

Gentlemen:

Interesting fact:

During the 2004/2005 Alabama Deer season (in the southern half of the state), a hunter could legally take both an antlered buck and a doe each day of the 108 day archery/muzzle loader/gun seasons. That is 216 total!

Ralph

Not unless you are a FAST eater. I haven't checked AL, but most states have a possession limit (usually twice the daily bag limit). It that is the case than one shouldn't legally have more than the possession limit. E.G. you shouldn't have 30 deer in your freezer, WELL past possession limit.

I realize that F & G will most likely not come to your house and check the freezer, but it is the law.

Steelhead:

There is no possession limit on deer taken in Alabama, provided no more than the daily limit is taken in one day.

Ralph

According to Encyclopedia of Deer, several dozen Wisconsin whitetails were transported to Alabama in the 1940's. These are large bodied deer. These deer re-populated quite well in the higher elevations but died out throughout near sea level areas. The popular theory is that heat and humidity were too much for them.

When a modern hunter in Alabama tags a big bodied buck in the Appalachian Mts. this buck is likely descended from Wisconsin ancestors.

TR