Fall is just around the corner, meaning that it’s almost deer season and time to plan where to get some venison this year. Of course, there is no question that Alabama has plenty of deer, providing Cotton State hunters’ ample opportunities to bring home some meat.
While it is truly difficult to provide a full-fledge outlook for the 2015-2016 deer season, Chris Cook, Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries deer studies project leader, can provide some insight into the current state of Alabama’s deer herd, along with what hunters might expect to see this fall.
“It hasn’t been that long that we went from one buck a day to a three buck season limit,” Cook said. “That was just eight or nine years ago. At that time, it was a really
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“On the majority of our WMAs, on the weekend before the regular gun deer season opens, we’ll have a youth deer hunt. The Monday through Friday of the week before our regular gun deer season opens, we have a statewide youth deer hunt.”
Seasons, however, are just the first step. Many children want to participate in hunting and fishing, but do not have anyone to take them.
“That’s the next step that our Hunter Education and outreach programs are working on,” Cook said. “They’re trying to develop some mentoring programs, not just for kids, but also for adults who don’t know where to go to start. Our entire wildlife staff has been discussing this.”
Once a child — or an adult who has never hunted before — has been introduced to the outdoors, what happens next? According to Cook, there’s a real lack of long-term mentoring going on that will get both adults and youth past the beginning stages of hunting.
Part of the problem lies in the number of competing activities. Youth have school, sports, computers and friends vying for their time, and the same thing is true with adults — work, sports and devices take them away from hunting as a primary outdoor
For many people, hunting is just a sport, but for some it is a way of life. In Rick Bass’s “Why I Hunt” he explains how he got to where he lives now and what he thinks of the sport of hunting. There are many things in the essay that I could not agree more with, and others that I strongly disagree. Overall this essay provides a clear depiction of what goes through the mind of a hunter in the battle of wits between them and the animal.
There are different regulations regarding hunting in different states, and in Minnesota, the times for hunting run from 12:00 noon until 4:00 p.m. on opening day and at sunrise for the remainder of the season. Although this doesn’t seem like a lot of time, the ten of us made some memories I will never forget. We arrived at our blind at 10:30 a.m. The sky was swarming with ducks before we even got things set up. Everywhere I looked I saw ducks swooping in and out of decoys. It wasn’t going to take long to bag our limit, and I knew we were going to get the season off to a great start. All we had to do was wait until noon!
A point has to be made about hunting and outdoor life in Illinois, which is a common interest throughout Illinois. Though it may not interest everyone, the livelihood and a portion of income is g...
The firearm deer season started on Friday, November 15 1996. This was terrible for me because I had to weigh in at two o'clock for a wrestling meet at Muskegon the next day. Even though I had to drive all the way to Muskegon on Saturday morning, I could not stand the idea of not being able to sit out there in the field and just enjoy the outdoors on opening day. I was still determined not to miss opening day, since I had never missed it before. After I weighed in I said the hell with it and hopped in my car and headed for home.
To Mr. Rainsford, hunting is like football to a NFL player. Hunting plays a huge role in his li...
Even tho i did not get an deer i had a great time. I was regretting not shooting at that buck but i am sure glad that i have a friend that takes me hunting now. I had the best night in that
The deer are easy to spot. In the summer, it’s coat is reddish-brown and in the winter it is buff. All year around its underside and tail are completely white as well as having a white spot on its neck. The prime deer habitat consists of deciduous trees, primarily cottonwood, ash, willow, elm and box elder. However preferred, the woodland cover is not essential to the deer’s survival.
During the 1600s, when Jamestown’s first settlers arrived, there were between 24 and 31 million white-tailed deer in North America (4). As settlers pioneered farther west, the deer population steadily decreased until a dramatic drop in the 19th century. By the end of the century, less than half-a-million deer were left. In some parts of the United States, there are none. In 1886, the US Supreme Court forced hunters to get licenses and follow certain restrictions.
Since the beginning of time man has been hunting animals for food. Even before fire, man needed to hunt, because hunting was the only way to eat. At first man used things such as spears and rocks to kill its prey. As man evolved, they started using bows and arrows. Next came an early model of what we use today, the firearm. It is powerful yet easy to carry around. It puts the animal through less suffering and is a lot more efficient than previous techniques. Hunting was once a necessity, but now it is a tradition, passed on from father to son as a way to spend time together, enjoy the outdoors, and experience what our ancestors went through in hunting their dinner. Since it is considered a sport some think we are killing off the deer population, when in actuality, “While most other big-game species have declined with the spread of urbanization, the whitetail has been able to adapt to its ever-changing environment. Through the efforts of state agencies and conservation groups like Whitetails Unlimited, wildlife officials estimate today’s whitetail population to exceed 30 million” (www.whitetailsunlimited.org).
Samuel, Dr. Dave. Why We Need Hunters. November 11, 2009. http://www.bowhunting.net (accessed December 5, 2013).
You could go every single day without seeing a deer, but when everything is right like the weather conditions and the wind there’s potential to see the biggest buck that you have ever seen. The whitetail rut is one of the most import days on a hunter’s calendar. (Sturgis)
In the last decade, from the Rockies to New England and the Deep South, rural and suburban areas have been beset by white-tailed deer gnawing shrubbery and crops, spreading disease and causing hundreds of thousands of auto wrecks. But the deer problem has proved even more profound, biologists say. Fast-multiplying herds are altering the ecology of forests, stripping them of native vegetation and eliminating niches for other wildlife. ' 'I don 't want to paint deer as Eastern devils, ' ' said Dr. McShea, a wildlife biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, ' 'but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack. ' ' The damage is worse than anyone expected, he and other scientists say. Higher deer densities have affected growth, survival, and reproduction of many plant species which have aesthetic, economic or ecological value. In some cases, many species of trees have also been shown to have reduced growth as a result of high deer density (Environmental Benefits of Hunting, 1). Deer prefer certain plant species over others and frequently feed on economically valuable tree species. For example, they prefer oak and sugar maple seedlings, as well as acorns, over less palatable species like American Beech and striped maple. Thus, less marketable species are more likely to survive to maturity,
Years ago, killing animals for food was part of the average man’s everyday life. While, now a days, hunting is questioned by many across the world because it is commonly viewed as a recreational activity. Many residents have a problem with the dangers that come with hunting. Not to mention, as time goes on, society seems to feel differently about animals and how they should be treated. One of the biggest debates is the harvest of white tailed deer. All over the United States, white tailed deer thrive because of the few predators that feast upon them and the large forests and habitats that these deer can flourish in. However, as buildings and subdivisions pop up left and right decreasing the white tailed deer natural habitat, the debate grows stronger. The heart of the debate is centered around ethical issues, human and deer conflicts, safety, and the benefits hunting has on the economy.
The author provides information describing the deer population in parts of New Jersey; yet, he does not include any data regarding the population in the rest of the United States, nor does he include any sources of where this information was obtained. A reader may be more
Transition: In conclusion, now see why overpopulation of deer in Alabama is bad, and why it is good to be a active hunter in Alabama.