Here's an article from this morning's Columbus Dispatch... The first portion of the article is regarding the controlled archery hunt in Gahanna (I'm sure we would all agree we need more of these programs around the state), the middle portion touches on the huge amount of money that hunters & fishermen contribute to the DOW, and the last portion of the article is related to the shrinking harvest numbers. It looks like besides acorn production, and bad weather, there are now additional explanations for the decrease in deer harvest numbers (see the bullet points at the bottom if you just want to get to the good stuff). Maybe I'm reading too much into this but it seems like they're throwing everything out there to explain this trend away, other than taking accountability, and admitting there is a problem that needs addressed. They even elude to the possibility that the new check system could be a factor in the decline! What?!?(Insert Chris Carter voice here) C'mon man!!
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2011/12/18/reading-numbers-difficult.html
By Dave Golowenski
For The Columbus Dispatch Sunday December 18, 2011 6:23 AM
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If Ohio’s total deer harvest doesn’t quite live up to past results, when the bonus weekend closes the shotgun stage at sunset today, know that in Gahanna hunters are having a pretty good year.
“For the first time ever, our hunters have killed more deer than have our vehicles this season,” Gahanna Chief of Police Dennis Murphy said last week.
About two decades ago, when the city had far less developed land than it does today, former Mayor Jim McGregor instituted a bow-hunting program to cull the burgeoning herd, a program nurtured and expanded by Murphy since.
This season is stacking up as arguably the most successful, given that it’s an indicator Gahanna possibly has turned some kind of corner in its urban deer-management efforts. Although with deer having the approximate mating success of chinchillas, any easing on the bowstring from year to year could lead to a quick U-turn in numbers.
Hunters, led by resident Rick Harter with eight, by last week had pruned 46 whitetails — 30 does and 16 bucks from public and private land, and vehicles had taken out 17 deer from the streets. The archery campaign continues through Feb. 5, same as the state season.
A year ago, more in line with typical results, bowhunters in Gahanna racked up about 60 whitetails by season’s end and deer-vehicle collisions totaled about 90, Murphy said.
Park kills stood at 19 last week, meaning 27 deer were taken on private property.
“We had one deer taken through a second-floor bedroom window,” Murphy said.
Murphy said he was particularly pleased that two 16-year-old hunters, Adam Zevchik and Dakoda Ramsey, took deer. A female hunter, Sasia Markley, tagged a doe on the opening day of the season in September.
“We’ve got to get more young people — and women — involved in hunting, or in the future it’s just going to dry up,” Murphy said.
Therein lies a probability that haunts not only hunters, but should prick at anyone who cares about the crumbling state of nature and the vanishing access to what passes for wilderness in Ohio.
The recently published financial report for the fiscal year of July 2010 through June 2011 reveals clearly how much the Ohio Division of Wildlife depends on hunting for its continued operation. Deer permits alone accounted for $10.5 million, or 19 percent, of its $56.3 million in revenue, and sales of hunting licenses totaled $10.8 million, turkey permits $1.5 million and wetland habitat stamps about $341,000. In all, about 42 percent of revenue came directly from hunter user fees, and another 22 percent, or $12.2 million, came from federal excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment.
From a wildlife watcher’s standpoint, dwindling interest or participation in hunting — Ohio deer permit sales, as an example, have decreased during each of the past two years — is likely to translate into decreasing enrollment in conservation organizations. That means less money would be available to the likes of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever that work to increase habitat that benefits all life, whether hunted or not.
Ohio, which has a mostly checkered history of using its landscape and water to extract profit without taking into complete account their value as the fountainhead of general well-being, has a large stake in continuing its attractiveness as a place where big, numerous deer grow. The state has been luring out-of-state bucks from hunters, yet might be having a problem keeping its own interested.
With an economic impact estimated by the wildlife division at $859 million annually, Ohio ranks eighth nationally in hunting-related sales and 10th in the number of jobs created.
The answer to whether it’s possible to maintain hunting’s economic and conservation impact with flagging participation is almost surely negative. That’s one reason some observers have concerns about the trend indicating a shrinking deer kill.
Biologist Mike Tonkovich, the wildlife division’s deer project leader, said it’s unlikely, though possible, that deer numbers are a factor. His statewide herd estimate of 750,000 before the start of bow season was as high as it has ever been.
The early season bow take, moreover, has decreased the past two years. The kill during the recently completed weeklong deer gun season, hindered greatly by weather, was down significantly. Tonkovich said that he was encouraged that the bow kill numbers, which were not publicized, had picked up going into gun week.
Still, he acknowledged that a lot of factors are in play that make interpreting any numbers difficult, although some known developments are worrisome. Among them:
• Hunters are aging and not being replaced. Older hunters are also less likely to expend as much time and effort to harvest a deer as younger counterparts.
• More and more land that once could be hunted is being leased or bought by well-heeled individuals or consortiums, effectively cutting opportunities for most.
• Some skilled and experienced hunters have taken to handicapping themselves in various ways in order to make the hunt more challenging.
Although it’s possible that what appears to be a trend might be an anomaly, Tonkovich said trying to get a handle on what direction the herd and the harvest are heading is fraught with unknowns.
The deer-check system, in which hunters can use the Web or make a phone call rather than physically report to a station, might be implicated in why the kill has seemed to decrease. Maybe hunters aren’t bothering to report.
Or, the cause, if indeed the trend is real, might be something less obvious, Tonkovich said. One possibility is deer are today so numerous that bringing one home from the woods or field doesn’t seem as much of an accomplishment as it did not so long ago. And, so, waning enthusiasm and a diminished sense of adventure might be in play.
Whatever the case, the bedroom window shot remains a novelty for now.
outdoors@dispatch.com
