Add Tennessee to the mix, it appears they have gun seasons into January. Need to look up public land regulations Still

-Jake

Alabama also has long rifle seasons and can get up to 3+ bucks and then add in doe?
over counter tags too
can get maps of public lands here too

http://www.mytopo.com/products/publi...e.cfm?state=AL

and off state site for finding public places too
well under your 24 hr drive distance about half I bet!
and if you wanted you can take up spear throwing deer hunting too LOL

https://www.outdooralabama.com/public-lands

I'm inclining to think that Pennsylvania deer hunters hunt the Maryland deer herd more than the Maryland resident hunters do. I've noticed that the majority of Pennsylvania hunters are a truly dedicated bunch, who hunt the woods for deer long an hard.

Don't come to TX. 97% of land is privately owned. Deer are small compared to northern deer.

Go to Alabama

Alabama is looking really promising.

Probably won't make it next year, as I'm hoping to draw wyoming antelope. But definitely in the future.

-Jake

Alabama has the best/longest deer season in the US that I am aware of. Used to be the most laid-back as well, though political correctness is creeping in little by little.

How does a deer herd survive a long season like that?

In Ohio we have a week of gun and then one late weekend.

In PA we have two weeks of gun.

Due to the short season, we typically hunt hard. But I feel like that if the gun seasons were that long, we'd have no deer left. In my area of PA we have about 30 deer per square mile, it's much less than that in Ohio. I haven't seen any numbers for where I hunt in Ohio, but I would guess it's closer to 12-15 dpsm.

So is there just allot more deer in Alabama? Allot less hunters? Are the deer able to hide better? Are there barely any deer left? What allows the herd to survive such A long season?

-Jake

We have a fairly good herd as far as I can tell. When I was a kid, we had only two weeks of "doe season", during which you could kill a buck and a doe, or two does. This was around Christmas/New Year. About 20-25 years ago, they dropped the doe season, and made it legal to kill two does a day, or a buck and a doe a day all season long. Bow season opens October 15 and runs through the end of regular season, which is now February 10. They did restrict us to three bucks a year about five years or so ago, in an effort to further reduce deer numbers by taking more does. Do the math.....two deer a day from Oct. 15 until Feb. 10.....

The vegetation here is rather dense based on what I've seen in other places. The deer have no problem hiding. Not near as many hunters as there were when I was a kid. Hunting clubs have become stupid expensive and are often more social clubs than hunting clubs.

Deer survive in states with longer seasons because of large land owners...In NC our gun season down east starts in mid-October and runs until January 1st...We have plenty of deer and frankly land owners manage their wildlife better than the Wildlife Commission...This was proved with the restocking of wild turkeys, land owners that hunt want their children and grandchildren to enjoy the outdoors as well... :)