Deer Friendly - Alabama

Alabama Deer Population: An estimate of 1.41 million whitetail deer in 2022 based on hunting data, up from the state estimate for 2021 of 1.375 million but down from the state estimate of 1.63 million deer in 2019. Estimated at 1.5 million in 2017. About the same in 2016 with 1.6 million, up from about 1.4 million in 2014 and 2015. Predators, habitat change, and hunting pressure have reduced the Alabama deer population since the peak of about 1.75 to 2 million deer in the year 2000.

Alabama Deer News

Who owns Alabama's deer? Lawmakers, conservation officials clash over proposed bill April 14, 2025 Yellowhammer News

... HB509 ... would also restrict the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) from testing, killing, or limiting the movement of those animals due to disease, except in limited circumstances... The department’s concern centers on the potential spread of Chronic Wasting Disease ...

Statement of Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship on HB 509 Concerning Deer Breeders April 7, 2025 Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

... HB 509 .... The deer breeder legislation would declare that deer within a breeder facility are personal property of the owner, like pets. Deer breeders then place those pet deer in small pens or fences and they could be shot by individuals for a large fee paid to the breeder...

How many deer did Alabama hunters harvest during 2024-25 season? See breakdown by county February 27, 2025 The Tuscaloosa News

... The 2024-25 saw hunters kill 205,740 deer compared to 202,315... rose slightly from the 2023-24... That 205,740 number is broken down to 108,027 antlered deer and 97,713 unantlered deer. Its the highest over the past five years and well above the recent five-year average of 162,095.20… Almost half the counties in Alabama saw a decrease in the amount of deer killed..,

CWD Detection in Colbert County Expands the State’s CWD Management Zone December 23, 2024 Alabama, Outdoor Alabama

... A white-tailed deer recently harvested by a hunter in Colbert County in northwest Alabama has been confirmed positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The detection of CWD in Colbert County has resulted in an expansion of the state’s CWD Management Zone (CMZ) to include all of Colbert, Lauderdale and Franklin counties in the CMZ..,

Can we bring wild elk back to Alabama? December 18, 2024 The Bama Buzz

... Elk ... have been gone from Alabama for two centuries ... Alabama’s Department of Game and Fish ... in 1916 when they tried to reintroduce Elk... in Tuscaloosa County, 10 of the 17 elk broke out of the fence that was holding them. Local neighbors shot a couple of them after they escaped. In nearby Pickens County, all the elk at that location died from diseases by 1918 ...

Mandatory CWD Testing Dates Announced for Lauderdale and Colbert Counties October 31, 2024 Alabama DNR News

... Under Alabama’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone Regulation (220-2-.167), all deer harvested in the High-Risk Zone and the Buffer Zone of the state’s CWD Management Zone (CMZ) must be submitted for CWD testing during specific weekends of the 2024-2025 white-tailed deer season...

All Or Nothing: Managing White-Tailed Deer Predators In The Southeast September 9, 2024 Alabama, Elmore-Autauga News

... In the Southeast, the primary predators of white-tailed deer are coyotes and bobcats... “In other regions, you will have factors like snow, winter stress and other predators such as wolves and mountain lions that we do not have in the Southeast.” ... if you see a ratio of approximately 0.7 fawns per doe, then you are in a good place. However, if the ratio drops to around 0.2 fawns per doe, there may be a problem...

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission updates hunting regulations for nonresidents July 26, 2024 KATV

... Nonresidents using dogs to chase deer may only do so during the final nine days of regular modern gun deer season in private and public land zones where hunting with dogs is allowed...

Where there's smoke … prescribed fires at Alabama State Parks are a good thing April 8, 2024 Alabama News Center

... “Prescribed fire is also used as a tool to control or manage invasive species, to maintain biodiversity and to stimulate the growth of new vegetation. That growth serves as valuable food for deer and creates a nesting habitat for turkey and quail.” [Tasha Simon, chief of the Natural Resources Section for the State Parks Division] ...

Alabama Sees Significant Decrease in Deer Harvest Numbers, Baldwin County Leads March 5, 2024 BNN Breaking

... hunters in Alabama harvested more than 201,000 deer, a stark contrast to the over 300,000 deer taken during the 2022-2023 season... These statistics raise questions about the health and management of deer populations in Alabama and Tennessee..,

Another deer season is in the books. Now let’s crunch those harvest numbers. February 17, 2024 Alabama, al.com

... A total of 201,124 deer were harvested during the season that ended on February 10. Antlered deer: 104,89. Non-antlered deer: 96,226 .., [Alabama estimates its total harvest from hunter surveys, these are from its game check page]

Two Additional Cases of CWD Confirmed in Northern Lauderdale County December 15, 2023 Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) News

... two additional cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in hunter harvested, white-tailed deer have been confirmed in northern Lauderdale County in northwest Alabama. The two additional deer bring Alabama’s total number of confirmed CWD cases to five. CWD in Alabama’s deer herd was first detected in Lauderdale County in January 2022..,

Mandatory Deer Sampling Continues in CWD Management Zone December 1, 2023 ADCNR News

... Wildlife biologists with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division collected 127 samples as part of the weekend of mandatory CWD testing. Last year 207 deer were sampled in those two adjacent counties. Three cases of CWD have been confirmed in Lauderdale County, the first two in early 2022 and the third in early 2023. No other cases of CWD have been confirmed in Alabama..,

Impacts of a Severe Hailstorm on a White-Tailed Deer Population in East-Central Alabama - Southeastern Naturalist, 2023

... a hailstorm produced hailstones up to ∼7 cm in diameter in the area of Camp Hill, AL, and the nearby Auburn Captive Deer Facility (ACF) on 26 March 2023... We detected no cases of mortality attributed to the storm ...

Alabama farmers say deer are destroying crops July 17, 2023 WSFA

... The president of the Calhoun County Farmers Association, Doug Trantham, said hunters are part of the problem since many are only focused on catching prized bucks, leaving the does to eat many crops...

Chronic Wasting Disease case in Florida deer should be concerning for all in Alabama June 27, 2023 Alabama, al.com

... The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced last week a road-killed deer in Holmes County tested positive for CWD. Holmes County shares a border with Alabama’s Geneva County in extreme southeast Alabama... ADCNR officials say it will install self-service, drop-off sampling freezers throughout southeast Alabama...

Road-killed Deer in Florida Panhandle Positive for CWD June 15, 2023 Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

... The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will be increasing chronic wasting disease (CWD) sampling surveillance efforts in southeast Alabama after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced the confirmation of a positive CWD test sample from a road-killed deer in Holmes County, Florida..,

State Parks Recruits Community to Plant Oak Trees April 6, 2023 Alabama, Outdoor Alabama

... White oak acorns are one of the mast crops preferred by deer and drop the nuts a little later in the fall. Swamp chestnuts produce larger acorns and are known to attract deer. Nutall oaks are the last to drop nuts in the fall...

Third deer found with wasting disease in Lauderdale County February 16, 2023, ADCNR News

.... the first since two cases were detected in Lauderdale County in early 2022... samples were collected from more than 3,500 white-tailed deer ... only one positive ..,

Deer Activity in Most of Alabama Approaching Peak January 13, 2023 Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

... Alabama deer hunters are in the midst of the peak hunting period when deer start moving with increased rutting activity... Alabama had its first cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) last season with two deer in Lauderdale County confirmed with the disease. To date, no deer harvested during the 2022-2023 season has tested positive for CWD...

Whitetail deer a nuisance for row crop farmers January 10, 2023, Alabama, St. Clair News-Aegis

... Eddie McGriff has had success planting sunn hemp as a buffer or border trap crop for deer ... In order for sunn hemp to work as a trap crop, it must be planted before the cash crop. This is done so that it is growing and attractive to deer while the cotton crop is being established... this year they plan to use electric fence in conjunction with sunn hemp on the side of the field where deer enter from the woods ...

Alabama Deer Archive: Population and Management, Deer in the News, Disease, Suburban Management

Alabama Analysis: A 1.7% increase in the 2024 the reported deer kill after a 1.9% increase in the estimated deer kill from 2023, down 34% from the peak in year 2000. Based on the the 2.5 percent increase in the deer hunt for 2022, an estimate of 1.41 million whitetails in 2022. The state estimated of 1.25 to 1.5 million deer in early 2021 (about 1.375 million). An estimate in the press of 1.25 million deer in 2020 with a 10.6 percent decline in the deer kill. An estimate from the state of 1.5 to 1.75 (about 1.63) million deer in 2019. An estimated 1.5 million deer in 2017, about the same as the estimated 2016 population of 1.5 to 1.7 million, trending down since 2000 because of pressure from predators, habitat change, and hunting.

Data and sources for the chart below.

The significant increase in the deer kill in 2020, was partially attributed to the increase in hunters as a result of COVID-19. Two years of good rainfall contributed to a population increase. The state reduced hunting pressure after the 2016 drought to help populations recover. A 2022 study found that 77 percent of deer that died were killed by hunters.

Fewer either-sex hunting days in parts of the north in 2016 to increase the herd, drought stress throughout the state. A 2014 estimate put the population at 1.5 million. About the same in 2015. The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board voted to reduce the statewide limit on antlerless deer to one per day in 2014 to increase the population. The population increased in 2013 after better rainfall than in the previous years of drought conditions except in northern Alabama. Most hunting on private property. A 2018 estimated annual economic impact of $1 billion from deer hunting in the state. A 2009 population estimate of 1,500,000.

An estimates of 2 million and 1.75 million deer in the state around tear 2000, peak population, up from 400,000 in 1970. A 1990 population estimate of 1,300,000. The deer harvest peaked in 2005 at about 499,000. The 2012 reported harvest was 266,725, about 53 percent of the maximum harvest. Coyote predation has been a factor in reducing the deer population in recent years. Graph below from Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

History An early decline in the deer population occurred about the year 1,000 when the native Indians were killing more deer then the herd could sustain. By 1500, the herd had recovered, but during the 1700's the herd was decimated as deer skins were traded for guns. In the early 1900's the deer population was at an historic low, an estimated 1,000 in 1915 and 2,000 in 1920.

A restocking effort began in 1925 when 105 deer were purchased from Michigan. Limited hunting of does helped to increase the population. Restocking continued from 1934 to 1944, an estimated population of 16,000 by 1940 -- distribution in 1941. In 1945 a larger restocking effort began. By the 1950's deer were still only present in a few of Alabama's 67 counties. Restocking from other states continued through the 1960's Deer in the north mostly came from midwestern and Texas states, the peak of their rut is about December 15 to January 15, but runs from mid-November through early February because many deer retained their native rutting activity. Deer in the south are mostly from the native herd. From 1925 to 1965, there were 3,331 deer restocked in the state, 2167 does, 796 bucks, 368 unknown sex.

Changes in land use, the switch from cotton to soy-beans, a high-protein food for deer, stimulated the deer population in the period leading up to the 1970's. As the deer population recovered, management reinstated doe harvest. About 30 percent of the total harvest was does in the 1980's, up to about 50 percent in recent years - a balanced demographic. The three buck limit instituted around 2007 appears to have increased the number of mature bucks in the population.

Hunting license sales peaked in 1979 with 344,777 compared to 175,531 in 2018.

Population Estimates: 15,000 in 1940, 350,000 in 1968.

Chronic Wasting Disease Two deer tested positive from the 2021-22 hunting season. The first positives in Alabama in Lauderdale county, but recently found in Tennessee within 23 miles of the northwestern corner of Alabama. A third deer from the 2022 hunting season detected in early 2023 out of 3,500 deer sampled. By the end of 2023, a total of 5 positives.

Elk Once native but hunted to local extinction. In 1916 elk were captured in Yellowstone and transported by train to an Alabama holding pen. The first night the herd rushed the fence and 10 of them broke out, reintroducing elk to the state.