timbercruiser

I think a better answer to the doe problem would have been to add a couple of weeks of doe only days to the end of the season, and a couple of weeks of doe only to the beginning of the season. Limiting the number of bucks shot won't make that much difference. Hunters are still going to sit day after day passing up shots on does with the hope of seeing a good buck to shoot. With the way the seasons have been set in the past, I would rarely shoot over 5 a year even though I could have shot 50 or more legal deer, hoping a good buck would come out. A lot of days I see more bucks (younger ones) than I do does. I had 16 young bucks and two does in a patch oneafternoon last year, and didn't shoot any of them.
The one in seven you quote that was seeing 50 does and only a couple of young bucks needs to start shooting does. Limiting the number of bucks shot won't make any difference to his herd otherwise.His best herd management resource is his trigger finger, besides that a lot of peopledon't havea trophybuck management mentality aboutdeer hunting. A lot of older bucks just aren't going to have a Boone and Crocket rack andit doesn't matter how old they get to be. A common saying I have seen used as the reason for not extending the season into February when the rut is going strong is that theConservation Department doesn'twant all the "breeder bucks" or "herd bucks" shot because that is the good genetics is that needs to be passed on. There is no difference in a one year old bucks genetics and that same buck at 7 years of age, and just because he may have a large rack doesn't necessarily make him a smarter buck. It also doesn't make him a dominant breeder. Studies in pens where the offspring of several different bucks and bucks were genetically tested show that the largest bucks don't necessarily produce the dominant number of offspring.
You seem to have a good interest in Bama deer, where do you hunt??