How average hunters can fix the deer decline

[Hedgelj]

http://www.whitetailproperties.com/blog/how-average-hunters-can-fix-the-deer-decline

How Average Hunters Can Fix A Deer Decline

How Average Hunters Can Fix A Deer Decline
There are lots of news articles and state agency reports coming out about declining deer populations and harvest rates in several states. Some of these declines are reported in powerhouse deer hunting states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and more.

While your hunting skills and luck play a major role in harvesting big bucks, neither will bring back your deer herd to record levels. Simple math and science can speed up the recovery and here’s how you do it.

The 100-acre Example

Let’s say you hunt on 100 acres. And let’s say 20 deer live on your land. Each year on average, you harvest 4 deer. Now you’re at 16. Predators, weather, vehicle accidents, natural causes, etc. average another 5 mortalities. Now you’re at 11 deer. Let’s say 5 of those 11 are bucks and the other 6 are does. When fawning season comes, let’s say 5 of those 6 does have twin fawns – the other doe has no fawn.

5 does + 10 fawns + 1 doe + 5 bucks means you’re back to 21 deer. Near your average.

The scenario above is your average year. It’s not the exact same every year, but it’s close. You are happy with the 4 deer you kill each year and things are going great.

Now, let’s introduce EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease) to your deer like we saw in widespread, record-setting levels in 2012 and even again in 2013 in some areas.



2012

As usual, you have 20 deer. Like always, you kill 4 and the other factors kill 5. Business as usual. But now, EHD kills FIVE MORE deer including your two mature bucks. Instead of 11 total deer like above, you only have 6 total deer heading into fawning season and 4 are does. They each have twins. Now your property has only 14 deer.

4 does + 8 fawns + 2 bucks = 14 deer

2013

With just 14 deer, you enter the season with about 30% less than your normal deer population. You see fewer deer, have fewer opportunities to harvest deer and you don't see a mature buck all year. Not knowing any better, you still kill 4 deer, like usual. Coyotes haven’t gone anywhere. Natural causes deaths haven’t gone anywhere. As usual, predators and natural causes kill 5 deer. Plus, EHD happened AGAIN in 2013. Let’s say EHD (not as bad as 2012) gets 2 deer. You started with 14. You killed 4. Predators and natural causes got 5. EHD got 2.

Do the math. You have 3 deer left on your property that usually supports 20.

This sounds awful right? Amazingly, there are hunters facing situations like the one above. There’s good news and bad news.

Good News

White-tailed deer are some of the most resilient creatures in the world. In just a year or two, they have the ability to reproduce quickly. Remember, most does have twin fawns. So deer can repopulate about twice as fast as humans. The other good news is that EHD is a disease that happens in pockets. Your hunting property may have taken a beating, but your neighbors down the road might not even have had a single deer die of EHD. So just because things are bleak on your 100 acres, doesn’t mean your county or region is nearly as bad. And we all know by habitat improvement, you can attract deer from surrounding areas. We've been dealing with EHD for years and deer will continue to bounce back as random outbreaks occur.

What You Can Control

You also have two things you can control: your trigger finger and the predator population.



I know you don’t want to hear this but when the deer population is way down, you must shoot less deer. Yeah, you’ll have to buy beef for a year or two. But it’s your job to be a steward of whitetails and when they are hurting, it’s your job to help. If your family normally eats four deer annually, you may only want to harvest one or none for a couple years. Being a good steward is about taking care of what you have at any given time…whether it’s a lot or little.

Coyotes and other predators haven’t gone anywhere. When the population of whitetails is down, your local predator population has the ability to keep it down. It’s time you either learn to trap or hire a professional. Buying an electronic caller and trying to shoot a coyote or two is not predator management. Using the 100-acre example, you might be able to call in and kill a coyote or two each year on your property but because female coyotes average litters of 5 or 6 pups, only trapping will significantly reduce the coyote population. Trapping also will take out bobcats and raccoons – both of which are a nemesis of fawns as well. If you want your deer population to rebound quickly, you must reduce predators. Period.



The Bad News

The bad news is that it takes 4 to 5 years for a buck to mature. So if most of your mature bucks died of either EHD, hunter harvest, predation or natural causes between 2012 and 2014, realistically it could be 2016 or 2017 before you’ll see close to as many mature bucks as you saw before 2012. That means many trophy buck hunters in some areas still have a couple trying deer seasons ahead. For meat hunters, you can be back in the game a season or two sooner.

What You Can Control

Thriving deer populations in the 1990s and 2000s meant a lot of states expanded firearms seasons. Longer seasons, more generous bag limits...it works great when there’s plenty of deer. Everybody’s happy.

But now, when things aren’t so great, the laws have remained the same in some cases. If your state agency hasn’t reduced tags, bag limits, shortened seasons, etc., tell them they should! You’re a taxpayer and hunter and your state agency needs to hear from you. Your state's deer population is hurting and without thoughtful seasons and bag limits, it will make quick deer population recovery difficult. In certain states, just a day or two of firearms season can be the difference in thousands of deer statewide. Make no mistake, adding or subtracting firearms season dates is how state agencies raise or lower statewide populations of whitetails.

In cases where state agencies do take action, like Illinois did in 2014, make sure other hunters know and understand why. It's not the government imposing on hunters. It's a state agency doing their job and managing the resource that is the white-tailed deer.

Chances are you live near a hunter who isn’t as serious as you are about deer management. Spread the word and share this article. Every time a hunter pulls a trigger or releases an arrow, that hunter is making a management and stewardship decision. That decision must be made with the best interest of whitetails as a whole in mind. Sometimes the herd needs to be thinned. Other times, it needs a little TLC. Does your deer herd need TLC right now? If so, it's up to you and your neighbors to provide it.

Get together with the neighboring hunters in your area and commit to shooting less deer. It’s unfortunate when hunters shoot deer because “if I don’t, the neighbors will.” That mentality isn’t why we hunt. It’s certainly not how we manage deer. We manage deer in their current situation. If the population is hurting, you and all your neighbors need to step up to the plate to help your local deer herd.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Excellent! That guy been reading TOO?

 

[Big_Holla]

Chances are you live near a hunter who isn’t as serious as you are about deer management. Spread the word and share this article. Every time a hunter pulls a trigger or releases an arrow, that hunter is making a management and stewardship decision. That decision must be made with the best interest of whitetails as a whole in mind. Sometimes the herd needs to be thinned. Other times, it needs a little TLC. Does your deer herd need TLC right now? If so, it's up to you and your neighbors to provide it.

Therein lies the problem. We have been told point blank by neighbors that if the ODNR allows them to have 3 or more tags they will do everything they can to fill them as they feel the ODNR has their best interest in knowing what's going on in their area. Not much one can do with that.

 

[MK111]

There's just too much of human ego to just kill brown is down and feel manly about it. The great white hunter to their friends. There's just no way to get through to them.
Great article and I would say they been reading TOO posts. At least we're not the only one thinking this way.

 

[PA Bandit]

My personal feelings on the subject matter would be that I rather see a thriving deer herd than a few big buck. Pennsylvania a few years ago began an initiative to attempt to manage deer herds (partially of which i think was funded by auto insurance companies). Some background for those of you who may have not hunted PA before is that prior to this initiative PA License Structure was as such: 1 buck tag (2 week Buck Gun Season) and then you would file for an additional doe tag which was given out based on the alloted amount given to a County; leftovers were sold at the Court House. My typical perspective was that 1 individual would usual get 1 doe tag (3 Day Doe Gun Season).

During the time period they ran this structure I would see (based on evening field scouting) 20-40 per herd and depending on the size of the field 1-2 herds per field.

The initative allowed for the typical resident to draw (2)-(3) tags and I think they still offered them at the Court House as well. The biggest factor that I noticed was the opening of Doe Season to the entire 2 week gun season. By allowing the ability to take a doe on the 1st day of rifle the hunting population who would actively particpate in shooting doe increased exponentially (most guys would not take off work to hunt does season). After watching truck beds of (10) plus doe be hauled out by countless guys for probably 2 to 3 years I knew things were going to turn bad.

During the time period they ran this structure I would see (based on evening field scouting) 5-15 per herd and depending on the size of the field 0-1 herds per field. The herds were so desimated that areas that use to have a deer population were no longer existent.

They have now seemed to cut back on the amount of license issued and delayed the killing of doe (at least in my county) until the second week of rifle season.

I am starting to see a rise in deer numbers but it seems to be very slow with a few deer showing up in areas where they became extinct.

My general deductions from this now about 10 year plan are as such:

Although the number of doe license plays a huge role in the size of the herd I think just importantly is the availability that is given to hunters to shot them. I am unsure about Ohio's Gun Season but I can tell you that the biggest mistake Pennsylvania Game Commission ever did was to hand out (3) doe license to every guy that takes off work to hunt the 1st day of rifle. (Although I still believe they had motive to reduce the herd sizes)

 

[Hortontoter]

Excellent! That guy been reading TOO?

Definitely not reading in this forum. If so he would know it is the job of the ODNR to manage our herd. We are just a tool that pulls the trigger. I still say this is not right. If we as hunters continue to pull the trigger there will be less deer in the woods every year going forward. And the guy that says he needs to feed his family with venison could by beef for a lot less than is spent hunting deer. The venison is a by product of the human ego to get some brown down.

 

[Bigslam51]

Definitely not reading in this forum. If so he would know it is the job of the ODNR to manage our herd. We are just a tool that pulls the trigger. I still say this is not right. If we as hunters continue to pull the trigger there will be less deer in the woods every year going forward. And the guy that says he needs to feed his family with venison could by beef for a lot less than is spent hunting deer. The venison is a by product of the human ego to get some brown down.

How do you figure that every hunter can buy beef for a lot less than is spent on hunting? Beef prices are ridiculous. I butcher my own deer, and grind my own burger. Venison is not a by product of the human ego to get some brown down, just because a guy wants to feed his family with venison don't make him a Dumbass hunter. And if venison is a by product of the human ego, what would you call a trophy hunter? Don't horn hunting have a lot to do with a guys ego? I still have a tag left and I'm not going to use it. I killed both my does off 2 different properties that had good enough numbers.

 

[Hortontoter]

I know what I've spent over the years. I admit that some guys hunt in the backyard and the cost is low. I know what I pay in taxes on my hunting property would buy enough beef to feed my wife and I easily. That doesn't even start to figure the cost of gasoline to and from. Oh, I forgot the cost of building my cabin and my monthly electric bill. That's how I figured venison cost more than beef.

 

[Bigslam51]

I do my hunting on family land and friends of the family. All of my hunting is done within 5 miles of my house. We do own about 7 acres of wooded acreage but we plan on building there in a couple years, but I still hunt it occasionally. I see where your coming from, but I don't think it applies to everybody.

 

[Hortontoter]

I'm sure it doesn't apply to everyone and I didn't mean to imply that. Heck, just the cost of equipment is mind boggling. After I buy my Cornholer I'll be completely outfitted for next season. I'll post this and someone will swear that the Cornholer is the best thing they ever tried.

 

[Bigslam51]

I'm sure it doesn't apply to everyone and I didn't mean to imply that. Heck, just the cost of equipment is mind boggling. After I buy my Cornholer I'll be completely outfitted for next season. I'll post this and someone will swear that the Cornholer is the best thing they ever tried.

I laugh every time I see tom Miranda pushing the cornholer on TV.

 

[Hortontoter]

I hear you. I wonder how many are sold.

Don't get me wrong about the cost of hunting. I never really consider the cost to hunt. I know I could be spending the money elsewhere and it would be gone TOO. And I use my property for relaxation all year round. I work more than I relax there, but that is part of ownership.

 

[bluedog]

I absolutely LOVE the OP's post!!!! A breath of fresh air. Something truly positive in a sea of negativity. Great post!!!!

 

[Jackalope]

I absolutely LOVE the OP's post!!!! A breath of fresh air. Something truly positive in a sea of negativity. Great post!!!!

A little negativity here. While I agree with the OP and you; I also know that self policing contradictory to law is a pipe dream. Rainbows and unicorns don't exist and there will never be world peace. Hunters as a whole are absolutely incapable of policing themselves on a scale that will have a positive impact. We can't do it. That's the reason we have a DNR, to set laws and protect the heard . It's like saying. "We know the speed limit was removed, we know that's dangerous, we know everyone has been driving 115 MPH the past couple years, BUT we have a solution! The only thing everyone has to do is voluntarily drive 65 MPH and we'll be safe again. That's it. Everyone drive 65 mph voluntarily and we the people can fix this unsafe removal of speed limits. So while I agree with the OP, I also see it for what it is, a dream. If we were capable of doing such things we wouldn't need a DNR, or police, or weight loss clinics, or rehab facilities. It's not how civilization works. We're a nation of laws for a reason.

 

[Bigslam51]

I hear you. I wonder how many are sold.

Don't get me wrong about the cost of hunting. I never really consider the cost to hunt. I know I could be spending the money elsewhere and it would be gone TOO. And I use my property for relaxation all year round. I work more than I relax there, but that is part of ownership.

You could be spending the money elsewhere, but then you wouldn't get to enjoy all those sunrises/sunsets, deer moving around in their natural habitat not even knowing your watching, and last but not least, the great venison!

 

[MK111]

My older brother quit deer hunting because he could buy beef cheaper. He didn't like the hit miss part o not having meat every year. He didn't understand the joy side of it. Really sad in a way and it's been over 45 yrs. now.
I know others that do the same thing every year.

You could be spending the money elsewhere, but then you wouldn't get to enjoy all those sunrises/sunsets, deer moving around in their natural habitat not even knowing your watching, and last but not least, the great venison!

 

[Big_Holla]

A little negativity here. While I agree with the OP and you; I also know that self policing contradictory to law is a pipe dream. Rainbows and unicorns don't exist and there will never be world peace. Hunters as a whole are absolutely incapable of policing themselves on a scale that will have a positive impact. We can't do it. That's the reason we have a DNR, to set laws and protect the heard . It's like saying. "We know the speed limit was removed, we know that's dangerous, we know everyone has been driving 115 MPH the past couple years, BUT we have a solution! The only thing everyone has to do is voluntarily drive 65 MPH and we'll be safe again. That's it. Everyone drive 65 mph voluntarily and we the people can fix this unsafe removal of speed limits. So while I agree with the OP, I also see it for what it is, a dream. If we were capable of doing such things we wouldn't need a DNR, or police, or weight loss clinics, or rehab facilities. It's not how civilization works. We're a nation of laws for a reason.

Bingo!!

As for $$ spent buying beef, yeah I can see where I've spent my share on a herd or two of cattle just to hunt deer.

 

[dante322]

The title of the article says "the average hunter" ...
the "average hunter" dosent understand, or care, about the overall herd in the state. All he cares about is filling those 6 tags he has in his pocket. We need the regulations to be adjusted so "the average hunter" can't do any more harm. The "average hunter" only goes to the woods long enough to shoot deer. Dick in around with traps that need to be checked daily is a lot to ask of that guy.

 

[dante322]

Oh yeah.... the cost of beef versus venison.

It depends on what you put into it. If you are the guy that buys a new bow every other year, only wears scent lock clothing, buys property to put in plots, or leases it, goes on out of state trips... spends a lot of coin on it. Yep that guys would save money by buying beef.
However, if you buy your bow used on ebay and use it for 10 or more years, get your camo on sale at walmart, hunt public or private ground that the landowner dosent want paid for, and only but 2 tags per year. Then you are saving money.
is there a certain amount of satisfaction that comes in eating venison that you harvested and processed yourself? Of course there is. I wouldn't consider it egotistical though. But at the same time, if a guy harvests a big buck with great antlers is he gonna brag about it? Yup. I know I would, and so would everybody else. Is that egotistical? I would say so, but I would also say it is justified.

 

[motorbreaker]

were lucky enough to have above average hunters to our north south and east. The problem we have is to our west. The Amish have been buying up land like its selling for a dollar an acre. The deer herd to our west has declined to almost none. I don't know where these people think the deer are going to come from if they keep killing every one they see. And there tresspessing is getting out of control. There going over a 1/4 mile off there property and killing all the deer they see. we hunt 250 acres and have only killed one doe this year. 2 years ago we lost over 17 deer to ehd. So we have limited killing does. sux for the freezer but what do you do. I just don't know what to do about these Amish idiots. Not much I can do. Im sure they use land owner tags. and there are so many of them the deer herd don't have a chance in that area.