Dry Fall Should Have Negligible Effect on Deer Herd

Dry Fall Should Have Negligible Effect on Deer Herd

Author: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Published: December 13, 2021

By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

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

Cook said Alabama received abundant rain when it was most important to the state’s deer herd.

“With deer, as long as it’s wet during the time when they’re putting on antlers and when fawns are dropping, nursing and developing, it really doesn’t have much of an effect on deer,” he said. “This time of year, the deer are focusing on acorns. If it was wet when the acorns were forming, it doesn’t really affect them. I know in west Alabama, we had great habitat conditions when the fawns were growing and antlers were developing.

“It certainly hasn’t affected the harvest, based on what Game Check is showing so far. What’s been reported so far this year is about 5,000 more deer taken than at this time last year.”

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

Read the full article here. 


No Comments

    Leave a comment

    Report

    Your report is anonymous.
    Hidden
    Hidden
    This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

    Featured Tags