"Lowndes is a real good area," he enthused. "The only problem is that our WMA is a relatively small area. It's about 10,000 acres. You get 250 hunters on it and it's pretty crowded. It doesn't lend itself to large crowds. Because of that, the opportunity for bowhunters is probably a little better than it is for gun hunters."

Lowndes is entering its third year on Quality Deer Management.

To be legal on the WMA, a buck must have at least 3 antler points on one side.

Across the state in west-central Alabama, Mike Sievering is the district biologist and Chris Cook is the deer studies leader. Their region covers Bibb, Chilton, Dallas, Green, Hale, Jefferson, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Shelby, Sumter and Tuscaloosa.

"Anytime you get into counties with Black Belt soils, you're going to see a lot of deer and some good racked deer also," Sievering said.

But even in some of these traditionally strong hunting counties, the action was a little slower last year.

"When you see honeysuckle blooming in January and it's 80 degrees, you know deer aren't going to move much," Sievering surmised. "A hunter in Hale County related to me how he was hunting a clearcut last year and hadn't seen anything. All of a sudden, a deer stood up 300 yards out in the cutover. He fed a little bit, then laid right back down. That's what hunters were up against."

For deer numbers in this district, Cook likes Greene, Sumter and Marengo counties.

"Parts of Pickens, Tuscaloosa and Hale have just as many deer as those counties, though," he said.

BIOLOGISTS' PICKS FOR TOP DEER HUNTING WMAS
WMA	Acres
Freedom Hills	8,540
Choccolocco	50,100
Lowndes	11,118
Demopolis	6,859
Blue Springs	23,370
Boykin	18,185

Both he and Sievering pick Demopolis as the WMA with the most deer. But it's situated on a river and it takes some extra effort to hunt.

"You better have a boat or real long legs if you're going to hunt Demopolis," Sievering grinned.

SOUTH ALABAMA
The southernmost tier of Alabama counties has a large enough deer population to warrant either-sex hunting for the full season. But there are still pockets that hold more deer than others.

Bill Gray is the biologist for the southeastern corner of the state, covering the counties of Barbour, Butler, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Pike.

Top counties for deer numbers here are Covington and Crenshaw. Butler, Pike, Barbour and Henry are right there, too.

For public land destinations, Gray picks Blue Springs, which is perennially among the top deer producers in the state. Covington is also very good.

In the southwestern corner of the state, Steve Barnett is the biologist. The counties here are Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe, Washington and Wilcox.

Hunters in this part of the state had an extra obstacle last year unlike other places. Hurricane Ivan hit this part of the state in late September and caused extensive damage to many woodlands.

"It limited hunter access in some places," Barnett said. "In others, folks were so busy with the hurricane recovery that they didn't get a chance to put in their food plots. On other lands, salvage timber operations were under way that might have hindered hunting. The hurricane impacted us."

The biologist went on to say it will likely continue to impact hunters somewhat even this season, but he looks for conditions to be much better.

Barnett picks Washington County as the top place in his district for deer numbers. The Frank and Rob Boykin WMA gets his nod as a top public land deer producer.

"We don't need any more hurricanes this year, that's for sure," he ruefully added.

Next Month:
STATE HARVEST FIGURES