Biology And Management Of White-tailed Deer In Alabama

proportioned. Clearly, all the elements necessary to produce large,
healthy deer were in place.
Over time, RDM
resulted in the harvest of
most of the mature bucks
initially found in these
fledgling populations.
When mature bucks became
scarce and hunters’
appetites for deer hunting
increased, the brunt of
the harvest pressure fell
on the younger age class
bucks—primarily yearlings
and 2-1/2 year old
animals. With many of
these new deer populations
continuing to
Large bucks were frequently harvested in the
early days of post-restocking deer hunting.
expand rapidly, more young bucks were available for harvest each year.
The heavy harvest of young bucks, coupled with virtually no harvest of
does, eventually led to an extremely unbalanced and unnatural deer
herd in many parts of Alabama.
As RDM continued to be used to manage our deer herds, populations
began to exceed the habitat’s carrying capacity. Reproductive
output began to decline while incidents of crop damage, poor physical
condition of deer, and habitat damage became common occurrences. To
alleviate these problems, biologists recommended the harvest of doe
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