Deer hunting season facts and figures for 2025

MADISON – Deer hunting season is now underway in Alabama and will run through Feb. 10 for Zones A and C, which cover the immediate Madison area.

The white-tailed deer is the number one game animal hunted in Alabama as more than 180,000 deer hunters will account for more than four million man-days of hunting activity in their quest to bag one or more of the estimated 1.75-million whitetail population in the state. According to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) hunters will harvest a little more than 300,000 deer annually.

The state has a vast acreage of Wildlife Management Areas. Alabama is blessed to have 1.3 million acres of public hunting land and some of the most liberal seasons and bag limits in the entire country. Alabama hunters have an opportunity to hunt a wide variety of species with most available on the large areas of public hunting, not to mention the millions of acreage at the trigger-finger tips of each hunter.

To hunt white-tailed deer in Alabama, hunters must have the following: hunting license, harvest record of either a paper form or on the app, map permit, and if you harvest a deer, you have 48 hours to report it through the state’s Game Check.

Landowners in Alabama should be aware of this time of year as trespassing becomes a much greater concern as many times hunters will venture into land during a hunt. If that land is not fenced or somehow enclosed, hunters who enter without the owner’s permission can be charged with trespassing as the law actually breaks down the charge in several categories. Land owners are urged to post no trespassing signs at all entry points.

Hunting lease agreements are urged as most are written for and valid for a year or even longer.

To be a good hunter, a knowledge of the land and the prey is mandatory. Once in position, a hunter looks for the three key ingredients of a good chance at coming home with a kill: food-water-cover. Know and understand the three components and you’re halfway to a successful day on the hunt.

Each deer is different in personalities and a good hunter recognizes those traits and carefully prepares for the places deer populate. Different locations for bedding is part of what makes up the challenge for a good hunt. Find the correct location and getting close to a deer is almost guaranteed.

There are three ways to Game Check a harvested deer: through the Outdoor Alabama smartphone app available at www.outdooralabama. com/mobile-apps, online at www.outdooralabama.com/gamecheck, or by calling 1-800-888-7690.

Information required a harvest includes the date of the harvest, the type of deer, sex of deer, county of harvest, public or private land and a hunting license number.