Alabama Alertt

[Follower]

Anyone who hunts Alabama should be aware of legislation up right now to extend the general deer season (gun hunting) by opening two weeks earlier and extending two weeks longer.  Also tagged along is making it allowable to bait deer.

Details at  www.extenddeerseason.com.   Check it out and contact the advisory board - email address at the bottom.

This would make a bad situation worse in my opinion.  Don't have to state the obvious here about baiting.  The extension - while at the end may allow some to hunt when bucks are still rutting or even peaking in early February - this is the wrong solution.  The deer herd is already over pressured.  The reason the Alabama rut is so scattered and extended is due to poor deer management to begin with (too much pressure and poor buck to doe ratios).  Yes - it is impacted by the way deer were reintroduced here but that is not the major factor in my opinion.

You think deer are high strung and nocturnal now, allow them to blast away at 2 or 3 deeer a day two weeks earlier and see what happens.

Let your voice be heard on this topic.

[awbowman]

Seems to be a trend.

This is also being poropsed in some parts of Louisiana.  They want to leave the gun season open from Nov 15th +/- to Feb 28th.

This virtually eliminates what little time late season small game can be hunted without deer rifles in the woods (read rabbit hunting and woodcock hunting with dogs).  It also takes away the last two weeks of bow only for deer from us.

While I agree that we see still see scrapes and rubs into March (after even the archery season is done) in Louisiana, I am not in favor of extending the seasons.

[LeverActionman]

In North Carolina where I am.The deer hunting sucks because of all the people that bait.The deer would be better off without baiting.Just my 2 cents!

[Bowwild]

A strange tactic for a state that has had very long deer, especially firearms season for a long time. Some southern states (I believe SC is one) has found that having a season that is "too" long actually works agains increased harvest. With a season that is too long the urgency to hunt is reduced. This causes some fellows to put off going and keep putting it off until "tomorrow" or "next week", until the season is gone.

I find I do this with squirrel season.

[Don Stokes]

Same sort of thing is happening in Mississippi. The insurance-lobby driven legislators are continuously trying to "improve" our deer seasons, to the point that we are constantly having to do our own lobbying to preserve our bow seasons. The prognosis is not good.

[pickaspot]

My messgae to the DCNR...just sent:

Dear Commissioner and Advisory Board,
It has been brought to my attention that a Senate Bill has been introduced that proposes lengthening the firearms whitetail deer season in Alabama and legalizing hunting over bait. As a lifelong resident of Alabama, a hunter, and an animal health professional, I ask you to make every effort to defeat this well intentioned but misguided legislation. It is plain to see how short sighted individuals would welcome an extension of the opportunity to spend more time outdoors and enjoy perceived increased odds of success. However, we must not pass legislation that will have a negative impact on the resource – no matter how “popular” the proposal.

I have been very encouraged to see the DCNR embrace quality management principles and make efforts to better educate the outdoorsmen and women who hunt in Alabama. Those efforts to improve sex ratios and age structure will surely continue to have a consistent positive impact on the quality of the deer hunting experience. Extending the period of time in which the herd is pressured will  have numerous negative effects over time. Extension of deer hunting into the most lean time of the year with regard to natural forage availability and legalizing baiting surely sends the wrong message to those who oppose our outdoor tradition. In addition, the proposal would trample small game and archery deer seasons – both offering rewarding  outdoor pursuits for all willing to accept the challenge (and fun) of pursuing small game or hunting with more limited equipment.

Thank you for your consideration and for being stewards of the resources of our great state.

[pickaspot]

You can send your own message to: '[email protected]'

[Follower]

Thanks!  Sent a similar message yesterday.