Part of the experience when visiting a state park is watching the wildlife move about in their natural habitat &045; healthy deer sneaking through a tree line to casually enjoy the honeysuckles while you enjoy your picnic.

However, this sight is dwindling in Oak Mountain State Park, as the herd tucked away in the state&8217;s most rapid growing county, is becoming crowded, unhealthy and in lack of proper food.

This is the reason why 80 bow hunters moved into the park for three controlled hunts this season on Nov. 28-29, Dec. 19-20 and Jan. 23-24.

The hunt originated in January 2004 and was designed to thin the continuously increasing herd that was &8220;causing habitat degradation,&8221; according to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources at the time.

Over time, 167 deer have been hunted by bow and arrow in the state park at a rate of 16.7 deer per hunt or 8.35 per hunt day.

&8220;I enjoy coming out here,&8221; said Alabaster native David Baker who took part in his third Oak Mountain hunt last week. &8220;I enjoy helping to do something that the wildlife biologists think is important.&8221;

While, the hunt appears to be successful in its cause, what is the effect of the lower numbers this season?

Since the hunt began, this season&8217;s results have been the lowest per hunt by far. In just one weekend, and with a two-deer per hunter limit in 2004, archers collected 27 deer, just slightly under the three-hunt total of 33 this season. Does this year&8217;s low number mean a lack of interest, a lower population of deer or is there another problem ?

The interest is there, and the population is still an issue.

Baker bagged a young doe, just one of five female deer shot last week,that

weighed 77 pounds, 20-30 percent less than what David says she should have been.

Baker mentioned reports of deer having to reach five to six feet in the park to reach honeysuckle to eat.

It is clear that this is the result of over population and a cause of the under weight deer.

As I talked with David more and more about the hunt and his plans to turn the doe into deer jerky for his daughter, I tuned into his knowledgE of the park&8217;s surroundings given to him either by experience or through conversation with a ranger. Both Baker and the park rangers recount seeing fewer deer around during this year&8217;s hunts, even spotting them on the edge of the park away from their normal habitat.

While part of this may be a smart deer aware of it&8217;s endangerment by hunters, it is also a deer&8217;s intelligence to go where the food is – corn feeders in the back yards of the local residents.

These feeders, while good in intention are bad in reality, as the deer flock to them for high-energy substance, but miss out on the protein needed for a healthly life. In my opinion, while it is nice to draw deer for your viewing pleasure to your back yard with corn, doing so jeopardizes the future of the hunt and attempts to thin the herd into a more proper sized, healthier herd for the confined space of Oak Mountain State Park