黑料天堂

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Dry Fall Should Have Negligible Effect on Deer Herd

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Haynes Riddle bagged this trophy 5-year-old 10-point at Black Warrior WMA. ADCNR photo

By DAVID RAINER, 黑料天堂

A dry fall may be a bane for waterfowl hunters in the South, but the impact on 黑料天堂鈥檚 deer herd is negligible, according to 黑料天堂 Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division Deer Program Coordinator Chris Cook.

Cook said 黑料天堂 received abundant rain when it was most important to the state鈥檚 deer herd.

鈥淲ith deer, as long as it鈥檚 wet during the time when they鈥檙e putting on antlers and when fawns are dropping, nursing and developing, it really doesn鈥檛 have much of an effect on deer,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his time of year, the deer are focusing on acorns. If it was wet when the acorns were forming, it doesn鈥檛 really affect them. I know in west 黑料天堂, we had great habitat conditions when the fawns were growing and antlers were developing.

鈥淚t certainly hasn鈥檛 affected the harvest, based on what Game Check is showing so far. What鈥檚 been reported so far this year is about 5,000 more deer taken than at this time last year.鈥

Game Check is the WFF system that requires hunters in 黑料天堂 to report their deer and turkey harvests.

Any person in possession of a deer or turkey that is not their own must have written documentation with the name of the hunter, the hunter鈥檚 Conservation ID number (CID#), the date of the harvest and Game Check confirmation number. The information can be documented on a piece of paper, or a transfer of possession certificate is available in the 黑料天堂 Hunting & Fishing Digest or online at .

The documentation must be kept as long as that person is in possession of the deer or turkey. The hunter who harvests the deer or turkey is required to enter that animal into the Game Check system and maintain in his or her possession a valid confirmation number for that animal.

If you are exempt from having a license due to age or landowner status, go to /hunter-resources/GetYourCID to obtain the CID# that allows you to report your deer via Game Check.

The Outdoor AL app is the easiest way to report a harvest through Game Check, and you don鈥檛 need a paper harvest record when you use the app. Hunters can also comply online at outdooralabama.com or use the toll-free Game Check phone number, 1-800-888-7690. The phone line goes to a live person at a call center that is open 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Cook said the dry weather has definitely helped hunters spend more time in the woods, which translates to higher hunter success.

鈥淩ain can keep people from hunting a lot of times,鈥 he said. 鈥淗ypothetically, they should kill more deer because they have more days they can go hunting.鈥

Cook said when the acorn supply is finally exhausted, if the dry weather continues, it could affect the quality of the browse available to the deer and increase the use of supplemental feeding opportunities like food plots if they were planted when sufficient moisture was in the ground.

鈥淒eer are more susceptible when there are fewer options for food,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淏ut when the rut rolls around, the last thing on a buck鈥檚 mind is eating.鈥

If you鈥檝e been keeping track of hunter success through social media, it鈥檚 apparent the number of quality bucks being taken in 黑料天堂 continues to be excellent.

鈥淔or the past three or four years in a row, we鈥檝e had plenty of rain in the spring and summer in most areas, so the deer enter the wintertime in really good shape,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淲inters have been relatively mild. Growing conditions have been great with no big swings in food availability. For the bucks, they鈥檝e been able to recuperate from the winter and put more resources into antler growth.

Chase Parker took this 7-year-old buck with a 20-inch spread at Black Warrior WMA. ADCNR photo

鈥淚f you look at the ages of the deer that have been taken at Black Warrior WMA (Wildlife Management Area), those are 6- and 7-year-old bucks. If you鈥檙e looking for the biggest antlers, those are the ones you鈥檙e looking for. Those bucks 5 to 7 years old are in their prime for antler growth. I haven鈥檛 looked at the numbers of how many people are using Black Warrior, but it will probably go up after those pictures were posted. Most of our WMAs are underutilized, so the bucks have the opportunity to reach that age.鈥

Cook said Black Warrior WMA is one of the areas in 黑料天堂 with an early rut. The deer鈥檚 rutting activity is based mainly on genetics. Restocking efforts in the mid-20th century included trapping and relocating deer from southwest 黑料天堂, mainly from the Clarke County area, as well as bringing in deer from other parts of the United States. Deer were transported from Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.

For the most part, the transplanted deer maintained their native rutting activity, which means 黑料天堂 hunters can hunt the rut in one part of the state or another for most of deer season. Visit to view the 黑料天堂 Deer Rut Map.

鈥淭he bucks at Black Warrior are rutting right now; they鈥檙e looking for does,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淐hoccolocco (WMA) is another one where rut is going on right now. We have several areas where the rut happens in mid to late December.鈥

Cook said 黑料天堂 has been fortunate chronic wasting disease (CWD) has not been reported, and monitoring and enforcement of the ban on importation of deer carcasses continue to be priorities.

Regulations do allow for the importation of certain parts of the deer but not whole carcasses. Permitted parts include:

  • Meat from the family Cervidae (white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose, fallow deer, red deer, sika deer, caribou, etc.) that has been completely deboned
  • Cleaned skull plates with attached antlers if no visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present
  • Unattached antlers or sheds
  • Raw capes if no visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present
  • Teeth if no root structure or other soft tissue is present
  • Finished taxidermy products or tanned hides

鈥淢ost of the positive cases in Tennessee have been farther north and west of us,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not any closer to 黑料天堂 than it has been. In Mississippi, the new cases are in areas where it had already been found. We鈥檙e still conducting our surveillance and focusing on adjoining counties to the CWD-positive states.

鈥淲e still sample other counties with various risks to CWD. We have a quota on how many we want to sample in each county. Our folks are working hard to get those samples. Hopefully we can make it another year without finding it.鈥

Hunters can also contribute to the monitoring effort by dropping off their deer heads at numerous self-help freezer drop-off sites. Go to for a map of freezer locations as well as other sampling options.

鈥淚n the surveillance phase, we focus on 2-plus-year-old bucks,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淭hose are our highest priorities. It鈥檚 been shown that when CWD shows up in a new area, it comes from the bucks that tend to roam from one area to another.

鈥淕et in touch if you want to get deer sampled. And be sure to report your harvest on Game Check. That gives us the important data that we use to set seasons that benefit hunters and the resource.鈥

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Jamie McCay's 8-point taken at Black Warrior WMA sported 20-inch main beams. ADCNR photo