What is known as the BIG BUCK PROJECT in Alabama is set to release genetically large Bucks onto private lands in the hope of creating a superior herd of Whitetails............Alabama Wildlife & Fisheries plans to cooperate with BIG BUCK and is not afraid of disease being transmitted by the incoming animals into the wild herd..............Not a peep of protest or warning on this type of "enhancement" as everyone involved see $$ signs through additional hunters flocking to the state..............Can you imagine what would occur in Alabama if a Wolf or Puma advocacy Group decided to release these carnivores into the woodlands--------All hell would break loose!

Big Buck Project takes whitetail-deer stocking to new level in Marengo County

By Jeff Dute, Press-Registeral.com 

Organizers of the Big Buck Project scheduled to begin this fall plan to release an as yet undetermined number of genetically superior breeder bucks into Marengo County's wilds. Hopes are that these bucks, along with those stocked in subsequent years, will survive long enough to pass on their genes to ultimately improve the overall health of the herd and rack sizes of offspring bucks.
 

MOBILE, Alabama -- In an effort to enhance the deer herd's genetic structure and possibly spur economic activity, organizers of a new program in Marengo County plan to begin releasing breeder bucks with proven trophy potential at numerous sites this fall.

The Big Buck Project -- A Whitetail Enhancement Program is being led by Walter Tutt, owner of Tutt Land Company in Linden, and Hale Smith, one of his sales associates and land managers.
Smith said the project, which has never been done before in Alabama on the scale organizers are planning, was born during conversations this summer concerning results of a five-year study Tutt oversaw inside a landowner's 1,300-acre enclosure.

"Marengo County is legendary among the Black Belt counties for our deer herd and the number of big bucks we have up here," Smith said. "We were trying to think of ways to make it better and maybe find out just what kind of quality deer herd we can have." Inside the enclosure, Smith said introduction of genetically superior bucks that bred with does native to the county resulted in "very high quality offspring even though the breeder buck was mating with deer already there."

Smith said the bucks would be purchased from licensed Alabama game breeders as required by law. Conservation regulations also require that they only be turned loose with the landowner's permission.
Tutt said finding willing landowners has not been a problem. "We probably have more landowners wanting deer now than we'll have deer to release," he said.

Plans are to release as many bucks as funding will allow. Each buck will have a yellow tag in its ear with a phone number to call if a hunter kills the animal during the season. Tutt and Smith emphasized that hunters will have to be willing to let these tagged bucks grow before any positives can be realized.

"There's going to be an education component to this," Smith said, "but we believe the landowners who want these breeder bucks understand the importance of letting them get to an older age-class."
At www.bigbuckproject.org, a map shows Marengo County broken into 10 zones and people can vote on where they'd like to see the bucks released. Smith said no determination has been made as to how release sites within the "winning" zone will be selected.

Tutt Land Company is a family owned business that has been buying, selling, leasing and managing land for 70 years. Besides land and lease holdings, the company also offers paid deer, turkey and hog hunts, though in an emailed inquiry, Smith wrote that the company hasn't sold a deer hunt in two years and only books a few hog hunts a year.

Big Buck Project leaders understand that educating hunters not to pull the trigger on the ear-tagged bucks so they can be around to pass on their genes during breeding season will be an important determining factor in its success.
 

"We thought this would be a real fun, innovative way to enhance hunting in Marengo County for all hunters," Tutt said. Smith said organizers are working to recruit additional partners to ensure the program endures beyond this year. Several partners have signed on, including the First Bank of Linden and Gaddy Electric and Hardware.

While the bucks they plan to release will be primarily young deer, Smith said their family tree should ensure they will have trophy class potential locked in their genes. "We're not going to be releasing any 200-inch bucks out there, but they will have the genetic potential to pass on those traits," Smith said. "I think this is the first program of its kind, and it's a revolutionary approach to enhancing genetics in a wild herd. "It's never been done on such a wide scale. We know there are going to be positive impacts, but we don't know to what level that will be 10 or 15 years down the road."
Smith added that even the positives might be hard to prove or see because of the sheer vastness of the project. The partners chose to use younger bucks because they likely cost less to buy and "the younger the deer, the more breeding it will do," Smith said.

The economics of deer hunting
He also said the project could return long-term economic impacts to Marengo County, where hunters are already an important source of revenue. "A study by Black Belt Adventures showed that hunting is something like an $800 million dollar business in Alabama and a tremendous amount of that money is spent to hunt in the Black Belt," Smith said. "Obviously, we would like to get Marengo County its fair share of that."

Alabama Black Belt Adventures is a nonprofit organization committed to promoting outdoor recreation and tourism opportunities in the state's 23-county Black Belt region, including its acclaimed hunting and fishing opportunities, according to its Web site.
Jerry Gaddy, whose family owns Big Buck Project partner Gaddy Electric and Hardware, said that is the main reason he's involved.

"We're doing it more for the advertising," Gaddy said. "We do a lot of work at camp houses and hunters spend a lot of money up here. Anything we can do to keep our name in that hat helps our business." Gaddy is not providing any funds to buy bucks.

State not consulted, but "not closing any doors"
Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Wildlife Section chief Gary Moody said, as far as he knew, state biologists weren't consulted before the program was launched. "We will work with them as positively as we can. We're not closing any doors," he added. In terms of results, Moody said, based on university studies he'd read previously, expectations may exceed results.

"Those studies show that the genetic diversity of deer populations everywhere is more varied than in any other species," he said. "The crux of what they found is that you're fooling yourself if you think that adding a deer or two is going to change that genetic diversity. "If was just as simple as putting a few breeder bucks out in the wild, trust me when I say that every state would have already done it."
Plus, Moody said Marengo County is already known for its good genetics that allow hunters to kill big bucks there every season. He also questioned whether the improved genetics documented inside a 1,300-acre enclosure could be duplicated in the wild. "You can do things differently with animal husbandry, which is what happens inside an enclosure, than you can in wildlife management, which is an entirely different animal," he said.

The threat of spreading disease
Tutt Land's Smith said the threat of spreading a disease from the newly released deer to the wild population is not an issue because the state and USDA monitor herds raised by licensed game breeders. Alabama's State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Frazier concurred, saying that captive deer herds are monitored through mandatory game breeder participation in the joint state and federal Chronic Wasting Disease Monitoring Program.

CWD is an always-fatal neuorodegenerative disorder of the brain in deer. It is transmitted through direct contact. What causes it is unknown and there is no cure.  CWD has now been documented in captive and/or free-ranging deer in 19 states and two Canadian provinces, but never in Alabama.
Frazier said field personnel do a visual appraisal on-site only once a year, but each breeder is also required to have a relationship with a licensed veterinarian to monitor the herd.

Because of the effectiveness of the CWD monitoring program, Frazier said the state no longer requires a veterinarian to certify the health of deer before they're transported. Any deer that dies must be turned over to the state so a cause of death can be determined and other tests, such as those for CWD that have only proved effective on brain and tonsil tissue from a dead deer, and tuberculosis, can be performed.

Frazier said epizootic hemorrhagic disease, an always-fatal virus transmitted by a biting midge, and trauma are the top two causes of death among captive deer. EHD also frequently occurs in the wild. "We have not had any disease issues among deer in Alabama in 10 or 12 years, nor have the states around us, as far as I know." Frazier said. "From our standpoint, we would also not want just anyone turning deer loose in the wild.

"The licensed game breeders are cooperating in the CWD monitoring program completely. If they're (organizers) going to do it, this is the way to do it -- with the assistance of the licensed game breeders."