AlabamaBowhuntersGetRippedAgain
Whitetail Deer
Suckers took first 10 days from us ...good days...days when a buck might make a mistake. Those who have sawrooth acorns waisted time planting them...all gone by 25th. Oh, but they did give us a few days in early December to our selves no gun hunting. Those are dead days..equuvellent to October lull. The we do get a few days in February but with gun pressure too. It wasn't enough for the gun hunters to hunt the rut that had to have the late feburary rut too. Prolly will just rifle the early strutters too. Gun hunters are greedy pigs...plain and simple.. they would kill the last white rino and be proud of it.
So you're saying they changed the archery season opener to a firearms season? Can you post a link?
Gawd I hope not. Our Illinois public land parking lots are already full of enough AL, LA, MS & TN license plates. I need a shoe horn to squeeze in anymore.
They pushed the bow season back 10 days and added the days in the middle of the worst part of season and then gave gun hunters 14 days in February when the bucks are either still rutting or feeding heavy in recovery from the rut. They played into the gun killers hands. They also allow gun hunters to hunt over bait but not bowhunters.
Bow season opens today, 10 days later and ends 10 days later on February 10.
Still shouldn't be a problem for any of you southern bowboys who don't get any respect, obviously even within your own state, who can consistently kill five stealth "Bama longbeards, which is the biggest accomplishment in the world.
If you don't believe me, just ask yourself. :-)
Ok, does suck, often, being a bowhunter in the minority when rules get set for the gun hunting majority.
that stinks...Nebraska has taken 2 steps forward but is still 2 steps behind in deer seasons. Having rifle eclipse the rut here is just idiotic, but its nothing new.
bloodtrail you knew what you were getting into you don't have to read his posts. Telling him to go away is like telling a 2 year old not to jump in the mud, what kind of results do you expect?
We have 109 bow days in Alabama to take a 3 buck limit. Should be adequate go even a novice
The new dates are only for the southern half of the state. Northern half has the same dates as before, Oct 15 to Jan 31.
I thought you guys down south wanted an extension into Feb due to the later rut, so I assume you welcome the extension. But it does suck that you also got the bow opener moved to Oct 25. They should have left the bow season opener on Oct 15. Ya'll lost some of the best bowhunting dates for sure.
I don't really understand the baiting regulations... if I understand it correctly, you can have bait out, but you have to be at least 100 yards away from it and not in direct line of sight of the bait. That is stupid. A rifle hunter can dump 100 pounds of corn out in an open field, behind a bush and set up 100 yards away???
First they allowed turkey decoys and then deer baiting, and now jacking the bow season up... What is the state coming to?!?
Jeez our IL deer quality has been in serious decline, but at least us bowhunters don't get thrown under the bus that bad. And Indiana took away from gun hunters the subtle way years back with OBR. The only way to improve age class. The few Midwest states that keep guns out of the rut (IL, IA, KS) need to hang onto that at all cost.
Andy,
Ala. Deer regs sound very much like MS regs.
Appears to be working well in MS in that the Bowhunters in southern part on state get to hunt the rut down there.
We've got new reg this year with early primitive season begins 11/8 and runs till about 11/21 for does only. This season coincides with bow season that also ends 11/21. Can take buck or doe with a bow.
The objective is to kill more does and thin the herd.
The extension is just going to get a lot of bucks killed that would have got by and we are killing way to many to start with, especially with the new baiting laws. It is going to make it tougher in the long run. The line is hy 80 and I live right on it and can hunt north of it early and our land is just south of it so I essentially gained 10 days to hunt.
I would move to Kansas if I were you.
Look to harvest data next year before jumping the gun. lol Get it...Jumping the gun.
Finally. AL is beginning to actually manage their herd. Wasn't too longa go, you could one buck per day. Now, they realize the rut is different in the southern part of the sate and that bowhunters have almost decimated the herd.
I think this is huntings version of a golf handicap.
Do you belong to your states bow hunters association?
"Now, they realize the rut is different in the southern part of the sate and that bowhunters have almost decimated the herd."
Was this meant to be serious.. or a joke? If it was serious it is hands down the most off base statement I have seen on bowsite.
"Was this meant to be serious.. or a joke? If it was serious it is hands down the most off base statement I have seen on bowsite."
If I had a nickel everyone I wanted to ask you (tbm) that....... Lol
Sorry about your days gone.
You AL hunters have had it your way too long. between Jerry Simmons and Byron Ferguson and that guy with the feeders, y'all just did it any way you wanted. It got to where you could spotlight all night and not see three dozen bucks werth shootin.
Now you haven't losted one thang. Still got the same number days and you have to go to bitchin about it. Dang whiney babies.
If you don't like it try to get it changed. Getting on BS and whining about it won't help. Once again here is a classic example hunters attacking another group of hunters. Pretty sad really.
"Suckers took first 10 days from us ...good days...days when a buck might make a mistake"
"so I essentially gained 10 days to hunt."
Two statements from TBM.
Hammer says, "Look to harvest data next year before jumping the gun."
That is part of the problem. Alabama has no legit harvest data. There are no tags and no mandatory reporting of kills. It's all on the "honor system" ;)
... oh, and this is Alabama, home of the spotlighting redneck slob jacklight hunter.
At least your state isn't saying that if you choose to hunt with a bow you can't get a gun buck deer tag like South Dakota is thinking about. You can only get leftovers. Once you get there then you can talk to me about getting ripped.
We folks in Alabama have lots of problems and this is among the least of them. She's a beautiful state filled with good people for the most part. I can't help but be resentful of her being called "home of the spotlighting redneck slob jacklight hunter".
There are slob hunters in every state . Certainly not exclusive to Alabama.
U talk all the time about your huge bag limits. Now they r killin too many? They dont MAKE ya keep shootin, chief...
AL may have the worst harvest records of any state. For years, they went totally by SWAG. They have, in the past few years, tried to make some strides in that area. It is not that they don't have qualified people, they do. But in the world of southern politics, biology does not stand a chance.
TBM, honestly has nothing to complain about. However, from a biological standpoint, the recent change is not sound. On the other hand, it will have zero impact on the harvest of mature bucks.
For once, Corky had nothing to do with it. But if you want to know who the real benefactors are, it is the lodges. It is a tremendous extension to their high dollar season. And in truth, contrary to TBM's rant, it hurts nothing. So, come on dude, get a life and get your facts in row...or is that dux?
I've lived and hunted in Alabama for 11 years now, grew up in far western Kentucky. The lack of management by the state is absurd. When they tried to make telecheck mandatory last year, the amount of pushback they recieved caused them to hold off, and then this year, again, it's only voluntary.
Thankfully, as mentioned above, they moved from one buck a day, to three bucks in a season, one of which must have 4 points over 1" on a side for most of the state. It's still a far cry from really being enforceable, but it's a step in the right direction. Hunting in the Northeastern part of the state, our hunting dates are exactly the same as they have been, but we have also gone from two does a day, to one doe a day (statewide), so things are changing.
Hopefully, by next season, the telecheck system will be mandatory and they can get a clearer understanding of actual harvest totals, but for now, the SWAG will continue.
A mandatory telecheck is a bandaid on a gushing wound. There is only one way to gather viable data and that is a check station operated by agency personnel. Obviously, that is not financially possible.
At a plantation where I worked for over 20-years (21,000 acres), we had 25+ years of comprehensive data, overseen by Auburn. We made it available to the agency. It was the most comprehensive data in the entire state. However, since we had a 16"-8-pt rule, it was not state comprehensive because our management system was light years beyond the state system.
What I am getting at is this. When politics and biology meet, biology always loses. What really happened when the ten days were moved from the front of the season to the end?
Nothing. No one lost a day of hunting, no one lost a chance a mature buck. No appreciable increase in the harvest of mature bucks will be seen. All that really happened is the larger lodges can now advertise they have 10 more days of rut hunting to offer.
Do they really?
No. Only on paper.
AL has been sorely behind the curve on whitetail management for decades. They still are. But at least they are trying. As a whitetail biologist, over the last two decades, I have begun to understand some of the problems states face. Micro vs macro management head butting income and so forth.
But in the true realm of whitetail management, there are only four factors that should be considered and this order. 1-Ecological 2-Biological 3-Economical 4-Hunter satisfaction
Now wool that over and maybe you can see the problem. The last entity that should be satisfied is the hunter...TBM. But in reality, that is not the way it is done.
One thing I should add. It is extremely difficult if not impossible, to talk sense to a hunter when it comes to whitetail management. Would you believe, bucks actually shed their antlers every year?
Can't understand why anyone can't see the bowhunters lost in this new deal. We lost from Oct 15 to 25th. That was archery season. We gained 10 days in February but those days include rifle.
The essentially added 10 days of post rut activity to the gun season that is already shooting way, way to many bucks. Some years the bucks go bonkers in those 10 days...other years they are fitted down and are busy feeding up in the greenfields...exactly where the gun hunters are sitting.
It's not like they are doing it fir the kids...they are in school then. It's just pathedic management...kill management and nothing else.
Maybe if you joined your state bowhunters association you could have a voice in these decisions. The more people that are in it the bigger the impact bowhunters can have in these decisions.
The state bowhunting organization is the avenue of response for such issues... and every bowhunter should be a part of their states organization. Some are good; some are bad, but they usually represent the only line of defense to protecting bowhunting privileges.
Alabama's bowhunters have indeed lost something...they have lost not the days to hunt; but the quiet enjoyment that the those 10 days offered through an archery only format. Does anyone really question that bowhunting in America would be what it is today without archery only seasons? Archery only seasons are the incubator of growth for our great sport. Archery only seasons aren't popular because they are 'the same'; rather they thrive because they offer something different.
TBM, I grew up in Alabama.. Born and raised. Do what I did if your not happy with the state's hunting laws. Move away and never ever return!
Stringwacker that's correct. That's why I asked the question. It's about like complaining about the government and not voting. Who in the world ever got bow seasons started? It sure wasn't the states Fish and Wildlife coming up with the idea. Let's face it, gun hunters don't really want bow seasons. I've heard gun only hunters complain that bowhunters kill all the big elk. There's no statistics to ever support that. So again TBM join your state association. They are the ones that got your right to bowhunt to start with.
