The Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries White-tailed Deer Management Assistance Program goal is to provide a quality white-tailed deer population statewide and offer maximum outdoor recreational opportunity to the public without negatively affecting the resource.
WFF biologists provide deer related technical assistance to managers on private and public lands, conduct seminars, speak publicly, write articles for professional publications, conduct statewide disease surveillance, and cooperate with Auburn University deer research projects to ensure Alabama's deer resources are managed appropriately.
In addition to working with private landowners, WFF biologists also provide technical assistance on various local, state, and federal public lands across the state. Some of the assistance provided to the Wildlife Management Area (WMA) program includes habitat modification recommendations, deer harvest analysis, reproductive health evaluations, population surveys, deer disease surveillance, and regulation recommendations.
The Deer Management Assistance Program (DMP) is a comprehensive program, consisting of data collection and cooperator education with which the WFF tries to put the landowner/cooperator in a better position to manage their lands for a healthy deer herd, while maintaining habitat integrity. Data from the program are used to develop site-specific harvest recommendations, and have prompted numerous research projects to help better understand deer biology.
Collecting harvest information including sex, age, weight, lactation rates and other attributes should be a facet of an active deer management plan. So that hunting clubs can collect the necessary information to take an active role in managing white-tailed deer, data collection sheets with instructions are provided below.
