Iowa deer population reduced by 30 percent.. IDNR Backs off..

[Jackalope]

Thanks to Ryan (Huntn2) for locating this.

Iowa deer population reduced by 30 percent

The Hawk Eye


Hunters reported harvesting 121,407 deer in Iowa during the 2011-12 seasons, which is 4.5 percent lower than the 127,094 deer reported in 2010-11, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

To date, Iowa's deer population has been reduced by 30 percent from its peak in 2006 and still is declining.

"Deer numbers in many areas are near or below the department's objective," said Dale Garner, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Bureau. "We are hearing complaints from hunters that they are not seeing the number of deer they had in the past, and some are voicing their concerns that the herd reduction may have gone too far."

The DNR will review the harvest and population surveys this spring and make proposals to reduce the deer kill and stabilize deer where deer numbers are at or below the goal.
Current data indicates it will be necessary to adjust the antlerless quota and season structure to stabilize declining deer numbers.

In areas where deer numbers have not reached the department's goal, hunters still will have the option to kill extra does. Many of those areas are near cities and towns where hunting is restricted due to safety or in southern Iowa, where hunting pressure is lower.

There were 392,930 deer licenses issued during 2011-12, down slightly from the previous year's total of 394,298.

Does were the majority, 52 percent, of the reported harvest for the seventh consecutive year.

 

[Milo]

shocking & rivoting.....hunters having a voice and considered an asset? dam

 

[Jackalope]

.

Seems like the Iowa DNR gets it... They saw a 4.5% harvest decline in one year... And have seen a 30% POPULATION decline since it's peak... (I'll explain why that's in all caps in a moment)

Ohio has seen.. a -4.5% harvest decline, followed by a -5.2% and -8.28% decline.. And what do we get? A dnr with cotton in their ears that hasn't "heard boo about deer numbers"..

The reason I put population in all caps earlier is that's not a 30% harvest decline.. That's a 30% population decline... See the IDNR actually tries to count live deer after season...

One of the questions I’m asked is how many deer live in Iowa,” said Suchy. “Counting white-tailed deer isn’t an exact science, so we rely on various surveys to get an answer.” Surveys are designed to produce annual results that can be measured against previous years’ numbers and serve as an index of the population rather than a means to reach a specific figure. An estimate of the overall number of deer is only a guess, at best. What biologists really need to know is whether the deer population is growing or declining over time.

A well-utilized survey in Iowa totals the number of whitetails killed on the state’s roadways. Statistics have been compiled since 1951 and focus on the number of deer killed per million miles driven. Statewide numbers of road kills are compiled year-round and are considered a good index of the deer population. (Ohio -30% decline since 2001)

The second type of survey, first initiated in 1978, is the spring spotlight survey. Eighty-seven spotlight routes were created throughout the state and every year the same routes are checked against previous years’ results. Each route covers 25 miles of gravel roads where deer are likely to be seen and start an hour after sunset in early April.

Aerial counts are another means of collecting data. If there’s snow on the ground it’s easier for observers to get a pretty good handle on the number of deer in a geographical area. About 350 areas are checked from 400 feet off the ground at 70 mph. Each pass lets the observer see a strip of ground about an eighth of a mile wide. A few of the target areas consist of one pass along a river or creek corridor.
Each type of survey has its strengths and weaknesses, said Suchy. Putting the results all together in one pot gives pretty reliable results but still doesn’t answer the question of how big Iowa’s deer herd is at any one time.

It’s safe to say that over the last few decades the number of white-tailed deer has grown. During the 2007-08 seasons, 146,214 white-tailed deer were harvested with 63 percent being antlerless. Prior to the hunt there were an estimated 475,000 deer and post-season about 330,000 remained. The overall state population goals at the time aimed at limiting the herd to mid- to late-1990s levels at between 170,000 to 200,000 deer.

With the push for declining deer numbers in place, the statewide herd has dropped to about 400,000. Last fall a total of 127,094 deer were harvested.

Another thing that strikes me is their reduction goal was to make the population 170-200,000..... Today their post season population is around 200,000 and about 330,000 huntable opening day

In 2007-2008 they had 475,000 opening day and 330,000 closing day...

So they flipped the numbers... In Iowa today their opening day population is what their closing day population was 4 seasons ago.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Neat! This means it is possible to measure a deer herd and base harvest goals on the standing population!

 

[RedCloud]

Pretty funny I just read the same article lastnight. I think the ODNR should look very closely to what they are doing in Iowa.

Just too ironic that we here in Ohio are seeing the same thing happening but yet nothing is being done about it.

 

[bowhunter1023]

There's even trouble in paradise!!! :smiley_blackeye:

 

[dante322]

There's even trouble in paradise!!!

I was thinking the same thing. Now where are all the big time hunting shows gonna go?....


.... I hear Ohio has a lot of deer!

 

[customizer1000]

Nope no deer here anymore :thumbdown: one of the worst seasons I've seen, all the deer in Iowa are in crushville co.

 

[huntn2]

There's even trouble in paradise!!! :smiley_blackeye:

Just a heck of a different mindset/approach for how to handle the decreases.

One state talks about the data, hunter feedback and how they adjust the programs/regs. The other blames hunters for not trying hard enough or for getting bored cause it is just too easy, etc...

One manages by county and regulates number of permits accordingly, the other with a broad brush....


Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Mountaineer]

Fellows,

I hate to break the news..But.. Game Agencies are a business and they are out to make a profit.

 

[hickslawns]

Fellows,

I hate to break the news..But.. Games Agencies are a business and they are out to make a profit.

I don't think anyone is going to disagree fully on that one. What the Ohio agencies are failing to realize is the amount of dollars they will be missing out on in tags, licenses, and local businesses which benefit from the hunting industry. By the time they realize and make changes, it will take 5-10yrs to rebound. Might not take the deer this long, but it will take awhile for the hunters to start showing up again. Minimum.

 

[brock ratcliff]

There are no drastic changes proposed that will "bring back" the deer. The regulations are going to be the same for the most part. All is well...

 

[finelyshedded]

Very interesting info! At least Iowa is trying to do something about it before it gets out of hand. Good for them!

 

[JD Boyd]

I know R.R. has killed between 30-40 doe per year for the past 4 years on his property.... Kinda makes you wonder...

 

[huntn2]

I know R.R. has killed between 30-40 doe per year for the past 4 years on his property.... Kinda makes you wonder...

depending on the size of property and deerv density, we could do the same/similar in areas....if you look at metroparks, the CVNP and urban areas where we have 100+ deer per square mile, we could drastically reduce those areas....

Just sayin,

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Milo]

Fellows,

I hate to break the news..But.. Games Agencies are a business and they are out to make a profit.

If that were true, you would be paying through the nose to come here and hunt. Everyone knows how undervalued these tags are...

 

[Lundy]

There are no drastic changes proposed that will "bring back" the deer. The regulations are going to be the same for the most part. All is well...

Brock, I agree with you 100%. Iowa is doing nothing special here other than a more targeted approach, than Ohio, to herd reduction statewide.

I just don't get the big kudos to the Iowa DNR from many of you. Did you get through the smoke and read what they really said?

When I read the article I just see the Iowa DNR doing what it set out to do, reduce the deer heard, mission partially accomplished.

It sounds like in a couple of areas it may reduce antlerless harvest to STABILIZE the declining deer herd, while still pedal to the metal in the other areas.

I see no intent, from this article, to enact any change that would make any significant change in deer population other than continue down. In fact they speak of stabilizing the declining areas and continued reduction in the remaining areas. In 2007-2008 they set a goal of 170,000-200,000 total population. They haven't achieved their goal yet.

They did NOT say they are going to enact regulation to increase the population in areas where they are at or slightly below goal, rather they instead to stablize the population in those areas.

What the DNR thinks is a proper statewide populations will obviously vary from what hunters would like to see. In Iowa, Ohio or anywhere else.

 

[hickslawns]

I picked up on that as well. Difference between Ohio and Iowa I heard was in the fact that Iowa at least acts as if it wants to hear the hunters input.

 

[Jackalope]

Brock, I agree with you 100%. Iowa is doing nothing special here other than a more targeted approach, than Ohio, to herd reduction statewide.

I just don't get the big kudos to the Iowa DNR from many of you. Did you get through the smoke and read what they really said?

When I read the article I just see the Iowa DNR doing what it set out to do, reduce the deer heard, mission partially accomplished.

It sounds like in a couple of areas it may reduce antlerless harvest to STABILIZE the declining deer herd, while still pedal to the metal in the other areas.

I see no intent, from this article, to enact any change that would make any significant change in deer population other than continue down. In fact they speak of stabilizing the declining areas and continued reduction in the remaining areas. In 2007-2008 they set a goal of 170,000-200,000 total population. They haven't achieved their goal yet.

They did NOT say they are going to enact regulation to increase the population in areas where they are at or slightly below goal, rather they instead to stablize the population in those areas.

What the DNR thinks is a proper statewide populations will obviously vary from what hunters would like to see. In Iowa, Ohio or anywhere else.

I wasn't giving them kudos for killing off their deer population more than 30%.. When you look at the actual numbers they are down almost 58% from 2005-2006... And I actually made mention of how bad it was in my post above..

This was simply to point out the fact that unlike Ohio, Iowa has acknowledged there has even been a reduction. And not only that they have spelled out their plan from the beginning and looks to have been 100% honest and transparent.. They listed a target number, They put in controls that counted live deer, they implemented a county by county management plan, they publish on their site the hunter survey numbers, the spotlight survey numbers, and the Aerial survey numbers... They release press releases addressing concerns, not blaming hunters..

What do we get from our Ohio DNR????? Here is a list of what I have seen.....

We need to reduce the herd.
How many reduced.. uhhhmmmm uhmmm..
2006 the Population is 750,000
2007 the Population is 750,000
2008 the Population is 750,000
2009 the Population is 750,000
2010 the Population is 750,000
We have the largest population EVER!
I haven't Heard Boo about low deer numbers
Survey results???? What Survey Data??
How do we estimate deer population numbers... uhhhmmmm.. ahhhhh... We do but we're not saying how.. And we're no longer publishing a number
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! You didn't adapt to changing food sources.
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! It was the weather
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! Hunters are holding out for bigger bucks!
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! It's too easy to kill deer so they don't hunt as hard
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! Some dumb rambling about roadkill squirrels goes here..


Our DNR is being secretive and deceptive... Eventually they will come out with a very similar article admitting reduction goals and they need to slack off..... But not until their reduction goals are met and the damage is done.. That is the reason they are ignoring and fighting us.. They hoped this could be over and done before people got too wise... I have said many times that the damage is largely done in ohio... I'm just here to make sure somebody pays the piper and hopefully reverse the trend in the end..

 

[jagermeister]

I wasn't giving them kudos for killing off their deer population more than 30%.. When you look at the actual numbers they are down almost 58% from 2005-2006... And I actually made mention of how bad it was in my post above..

This was simply to point out the fact that unlike Ohio, Iowa has acknowledged there has even been a reduction. And not only that they have spelled out their plan from the beginning and looks to have been 100% honest and transparent.. They listed a target number, They put in controls that counted live deer, they implemented a county by county management plan, they publish on their site the hunter survey numbers, the spotlight survey numbers, and the Aerial survey numbers... They release press releases addressing concerns, not blaming hunters..

What do we get from our Ohio DNR????? Here is a list of what I have seen.....

We need to reduce the herd.
How many reduced.. uhhhmmmm uhmmm..
2006 the Population is 750,000
2007 the Population is 750,000
2008 the Population is 750,000
2009 the Population is 750,000
2010 the Population is 750,000
We have the largest population EVER!
I haven't Heard Boo about low deer numbers
Survey results???? What Survey Data??
How do we estimate deer population numbers... uhhhmmmm.. ahhhhh... We do but we're not saying how.. And we're no longer publishing a number
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! You didn't adapt to changing food sources.
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! It was the weather
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! Hunters are holding out for bigger bucks!
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! It's too easy to kill deer so they don't hunt as hard
There are not less deer! We have record numbers! Some dumb rambling about roadkill squirrels goes here..


Our DNR is being secretive and deceptive... Eventually they will come out with a very similar article admitting reduction goals and they need to slack off..... But not until their reduction goals are met and the damage is done.. That is the reason they are ignoring and fighting us.. They hoped this could be over and done before people got too wise... I have said many times that the damage is largely done in ohio... I'm just here to make sure somebody pays the piper and hopefully reverse the trend in the end..

That's exactly what Iowa DNR has done... They didn't decide to pedal back until AFTER their population goals have been met. From what I can tell, Ohio is doing the exact same thing. Ohio has its own population goals, and according to our DNR, we haven't reached those numbers yet. Whether or not our numbers are accurate or not, that's what's questionable here. I know what Lundy is saying... It seems to me that Iowa isn't doing much different than Ohio to me... except their survey methodology seems to be much more proactive.

I like the fact that Iowa has the spring spotlighting routes. Seems to me like that would be an easy survey for our WO's to conduct. Hell, back in '04 or 05, I helped the Seneca County WO conduct his yearly Dove surveys... which were essentially the same thing... drive a specific route, count the birds, and report your findings. I know dove's are a federal migratory bird, so there's probably federal funding for that, but come-the-frick-on!... If they can drive around counting doves, SURELY they can conduct spotlighting surveys of our deer herd!