Hunters Should Harvest Female Deer in High-Density Areas
November 17, 2008
Frankfort, Ky. – As the first week of modern gun deer season winds down, many hunters have already taken their antlered deer for the year. If you are hunting in a high-density area like Zone 1, you shouldn’t stop there. Harvesting plenty of female deer in high-density areas is essential to maintaining a quality deer herd – and a quality hunting experience.
“Female deer are the drivers of herd growth,” said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “When you have too many deer, you want to stop growth. Even if you don’t have too many, you want to control growth. The way you do that is through does.”
One female deer can quickly increase a deer population, since a doe gives birth to an average of two fawns a year. That’s why harvesting bucks doesn’t help thin the deer herd, while taking enough female deer can keep a deer population in balance with available habitat.
“If you’ve got fewer deer, they’ll be in better condition,” said David Yancy, a biologist in Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s big game program. Yancy said ideal deer densities are less than 30 deer a square mile.
“If you think of habitat like a pie, then cutting the pie into 25 pieces instead of 45 means everyone gets more,” he said. “At 25 per square mile, deer have fewer ticks, less intestinal parasites, higher weight and better fat reserves to get through the winter.”
While mountainous habitat in the eastern part of Kentucky can’t support 25 deer a square mile, that is the department’s target deer density for other regions of the state. Counties with ideal deer populations are classified as Zone 2 for deer hunting, and make up 34 percent of Kentucky.
“Our big buck producers – Ohio, Butler, Muhlenberg, Hopkins, Grayson, Breckinridge – are all 25 deer per square mile counties,” said Yancy. “These areas have good habitat, but implicit in this is good deer numbers.”
However, 33 percent of Kentucky counties have too many deer, and fall under Zone 1 hunting regulations. Hunters may harvest unlimited antlerless deer with the proper permits in these counties. Brunjes said it’s important for Zone 1 hunters to take female deer, not only for herd health but for a quality hunt.
“By quality, I’m not just talking about big antlers,” she said. “I’m talking about improving the quality of your hunting experience. When your buck-to-doe ratio improves, you see more rutting behavior. You see deer doing what they do, not just standing in a food plot.”
Brunjes said that ideally, there should be fewer than three does for each buck in a deer herd. In areas with too many female deer, breeding season may not be as intense.
“You hear these things like ‘They’re not rutting, they’re not breeding where I am,’” said Yancy. “First of all, they are. But what that could be is there are so many females there’s no competition among bucks. If you want a good two-week period with fighting, lots of rubs, lots of scrapes, you need fewer does and more competition.”
After you bag an antlered deer this year, take a doe if you’re hunting in an area with too many deer. You can help improve the herd with your hunt.
Modern gun deer season is open statewide and continues through Nov. 17 in Zones 3-4 and Nov. 23 in Zones 1-2. For complete deer hunting regulations, pick up a copy of the 2008-09 Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide, available wherever hunting licenses are sold.
Author Hayley Lynch is an award-winning writer for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. She is an avid hunter and shotgun shooter.
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Public Meeting Oct. 15 on Expanded Deer Management at Soldiers Delight N.E.A. of Maryland
October 6, 2008
Owings Mills, MD — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources invites people to discuss a proposed expansion of deer management at Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area (N.E.A.) on Wed., Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of New Town High School, 4931 New Town Boulevard in Owings Mills.
Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area, located near Owings Mills in Baltimore County supports the largest remaining serpentine ecosystem in the eastern United States. Home to more than 30 rare, threatened, or endangered species scientists have long regarded this ecosystem to be globally significant in biodiversity.
DNR biologists report that deer continue to damage the habitat and natural communities threatening the fragile ecosystem found on Soldiers Delight through repeated browsing and trampling of native plants.
“Additional reduction of this deer herd will reduce deer impacts on the ecosystem and allow habitat restoration efforts to progress,” said Karina Stonesifer, Associate Director of Operations for DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Service.
Limited bow hunting has occurred on the property for the past two years but additional deer population reduction measures are needed to further reduce the current deer population. The expanded program would be conducted on January 20 and 21, 2009 as a limited two-day shotgun-only format following the same guidelines as similar management strategies conducted in Maryland State Parks over the last 15 years. The entire Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area would be closed to the public over those two days.
To view the plan and offer comment visit: http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/SoldiersDe/SD_MgHuntProp.asp
Directions: From I-795, take the Owings Mills Blvd. south ramp toward Town Center/Randallstown. Merge onto Owings Mills Blvd. and turn right onto Lakeside Blvd. Turn left onto New Town Blvd. into the New Town High School parking lot.
For more information about Soldier’s Delight N.E.A. visit http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/central/soldiers.html.
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Prairie Smoke Dunes Scientific and Natural Area open to deer hunting in 2008
September 26, 2008
Deer hunters have a new opportunity this fall in Norman County. The Prairie Smoke Dunes State Scientific and Natural Area (SNA), which has only been open to occasional special management hunts in the past, is now open for all regular 2008 deer seasons including early antlerless.
The 1,280-acre SNA, located about five miles south of Fertile, lies within deer permit area 265, an intensive deer area. During the regular seasons, a hunter may bag up to five deer, using any combination of valid licenses or permits, and up to two additional deer during the early anterless season.
According to Earl Johnson, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) area wildlife manager in Detroit Lakes, deer population numbers are very high in and around the SNA.
“The mosaic of agricultural and non-agricultural lands has created perfect deer habitat,” said Johnson. “Deer populations are well above goals. We’re hoping that a good harvest will help reduce the number of deer/vehicle collisions and reduce habitat degradation and crop losses due to deer in the area.”
Hunters should note that although Prairie Smoke Dunes is open to hunting, the area has been set aside as an SNA because of its natural attributes and rare resources. These are managed by statute to preserve their exceptional scientific and educational value. Therefore, no person may damage vegetation on SNAs, and no motor vehicles may be used. Portable stands and elevated scaffold may be used only if it is removed each day at the close of shooting hours and does no damage to trees or other vegetation. Nails, spikes, screws or other devices that damage the bark of trees are prohibited.
Other regulations also remain in effect throughout the hunting seasons. The following are prohibited on SNAs: camping or picnicking, burning of any kind, disposal of garbage, refuse, sewage or trash, pets, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Johnson said he is hopeful that this season’s hunt is a success and that hunters will respect SNA rules. “Appropriate use of the SNA by hunters will increase the probability of future hunting opportunities there,” he said.
Prairie Smoke Dunes SNA is a glacial remnant once part of Lake Agassiz. It includes bur oak and northern pin oak remnant sand savanna and open dune faces on which aspen are encroaching. Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, a federally threatened species, has been found there.
To reach the Prairie Smoke Dunes SNA from Fertile, go five miles south on Minnesota Highway 32, then one mile west on gravel road (across from County Road 7). Park at the gated pull-off near large cottonwood trees. Hike one-quarter mile north to the dunes.
For further details about Prairie Smoke Dunes, the SNA Program or deer hunting seasons and regulations, visit mndnr.gov.
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Archery Deer Season Opens Sept. 13 in Wisconsin
September 4, 2008
MADISON — Bow hunters will get the first opportunity to harvest Wisconsin’s premier big game animal this year when the archery season for deer starts on Sept. 13. With a projection of between 1.5 and 1.7 million deer in the state, odds are good that the bow hunters will harvest game.
“In all areas of the state with the exception of a number of units in the north deer are plentiful, said Jason Fleener, a Department of Natural Resource wildlife biologist. Last year’s winter was “severe” in some units in the north central part of the state. Historically this has resulted in a reduction of about 20 percent in fawn-doe ratios.”
As a result, those units are being dropped from the Herd Control Unit status and the antlerless quotas for the units were reduced.
With most all other units in the state over deer population goals, bow hunters should have a better chance to see some deer.
Fleener advises bow hunters to plan their hunt according to the particular unit being hunted. In some units hunters can harvest an antlerless deer which will qualify them for an Earn-A-Buck (EAB) deer. Earn-A-Bucks units are found primarily in the southwest and southeast parts of the state.
All hunters in Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor, Vilas and Washburn counties are asked to participate in the chronic wasting disease surveillance this year. The northern region needs to collect samples from 500 deer from each county as part of its disease surveillance program.
“We need hunter cooperation to help insure a healthy deer herd in the north,” said Northern Region Wildlife Expert, Mike Zeckmeister, ‘and that is what these periodic disease checks do.”
The early archery deer season runs from Saturday Sept. 13 through Nov. 20. The late season starts on Dec. 1 and runs to Jan. 4, 2009. Archery harvest in all CWD, EAB and most Herd Control units are restricted to antlerless-only between Oct. 16-19, and in all units statewide Dec. 11 - 14, except non-quota units and most state parks. Bow hunters are reminded to wear blaze orange any time a gun deer season is in effect, including the statewide Oct. 11-12 youth gun deer hunt.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Fleener - (608) 261-7589
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Deer Population Task Force Schedules Public Meetings
August 29, 2008
Panel reviewing options for improvements in deer management, reduction in deer vehicle accidents
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the state’s Joint Deer Population Control Task Force will conduct a series of public meetings to discuss and seek public comment on proposals for changes and improvements in deer management in the state.
The task force was established by the Illinois General Assembly to examine and make recommendations on ways to manage the Illinois deer population, including maintaining and increasing deer hunting opportunities, reducing deer-vehicle accidents and examining how those accidents affect insurance rates, reducing crop and other property damage, and maintaining and increasing the health of the Illinois deer herd.
“The open house public meetings will allow those attending to review information on the Illinois deer management program, deer-vehicle accidents, and proposals the task force is reviewing for changes in hunting seasons and related issues regarding deer in Illinois,” said IDNR Acting Director Sam Flood.
Staff from the IDNR Division of Wildlife Resources and members of the Joint Deer Population Control Task Force will be available to answer questions, discuss deer management, and hear comments from those attending the meetings. Following the public meetings, the IDNR will also accept public comments through a link on the IDNR web site at http://dnr.state.il.us
Members of the public are invited to attend any or all of the series of meetings listed below. Each session will be open from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
- Sept. 2 – Peru Eagles Lodge, 830 Harrison St. (just off U.S. Rt. 6), Peru
- Sept. 3 – Rockford Public Library, 215 N. Wyman, Rockford (use Mulberry St. entrance)
- Sept. 4 – Scripps Park Community Building, U.S. Rts 67 & 24, Rushville
- Sept. 9 – Olney City Park Community Building, Ill. Rt. 130, Olney
- Sept. 10 – World Shooting and Recreational Complex, Spart
- Sept. 11 – Bethany Fire Station, 530 E. Main, Bethany
For more information on the open house public meetings of the Joint Deer Population Control Task Force, contact the IDNR Division of Wildlife Resources at 217/785-2511.
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North Dakota Landowners Seek Doe Hunters
August 28, 2008
North Dakota Game and Fish Department big game biologist Bill Jensen is currently working with a number of landowners across the state who would like to host antlerless deer hunters in 2008.
“We are hoping to match landowners who want a good deer harvest with antlerless whitetail and mule deer hunters looking for a place to hunt,” Jensen said. “We have worked with several dozen landowners in the past, and most have reported good success in matching up with doe hunters.”
This program is not intended as a guide service for buck hunters, Jensen said, but to direct antlerless hunters to specific areas to reduce deer depredation problems in the future.
“These landowners have contacted us and asked for help in reducing the deer population in their areas,” Jensen said. “We’re happy to direct some hunters to them, but we don’t want them to be overrun either. This is the reason we have developed and set up the contact list.”
Landowners participating in the program are located in hunting units 2C, 2E, 2G2, 2I, 2J1, 2J2, 2G2, 2K1, 2K2, 3A2, 3A3, 3A4, 3B1, 3C, 3D1, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1, 3F2, 4A, 4B, 4D, 4E and 4F.
Interested hunters can get their name on a list of possible participants by accessing the Game and Fish Department’s website. Hunters who do not have Internet access can call the department’s main office in Bismarck at 701-328-6300.
Hunters will provide their address, hunting unit(s) where they hold valid antlerless licenses, and if using firearm or bow. From this list the department will select the number of hunters landowners have agreed to host. These hunters will be sent the landowner’s name, phone number and any information relating to the landowner’s specific situation.
Not everyone who signs up will end up with a new place to hunt, Jensen said, because not everyone’s schedule will match up with a landowner’s, and more people will likely put their name on the list than there are landowners.
North Dakota’s 2008 deer gun season runs from Nov. 7-23. In addition, a September antlerless deer gun season is open from Sept. 26 – Oct. 2 in hunting units 2C and 2D. The archery season extends from Aug. 29 through Jan. 4, 2009; the youth season is from Sept. 12-21; and muzzleloader runs from Nov. 28 – Dec. 14.
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South Carolina Deer Season Forecast is Good; Hunters Should Note Law Changes
August 26, 2008
The much-anticipated start of the 2008 deer season is just around the corner and South Carolina’s deer population is healthy and the season outlook is good. Although the deer harvest has been on a downward trend the last few years indicating that population levels have moderated, hunter success and deer harvest rates remain good, according to Charles Ruth, DNR’s Deer/Turkey Project supervisor.
Find out more about the 2007 deer harvest and antler records.
Hunters should be aware of several changes in deer laws that will be in place for the coming season. According to Ruth, there has been a reduction in the number of either-sex days for 2008 in most parts of the state. This change in the number of “doe days” was requested by DNR’s Wildlife Section biological staff based on a 5 year declining trend in the deer population and contacts from concerned hunters. This is the first substantive change in the number of either-sex days in many years and staff is attempting to be responsive to the resource, as well as to constituents, said Ruth.
South Carolina’s deer population expanded rapidly in the 1980’s and early 1990’s and it peaked in the late 1990’s at about 1,000,000 animals. However, since 2002 the population has trended down with current figures being about 750,000 deer, a 25 percent decline from peak figures 10 years ago. The reduction can likely be attributable to one main factor, habitat change. Although timber management activities stimulated significant growth in South Carolina’s deer population beginning in the 1970’s, considerable acreage is currently in even-aged pine stands that are greater than 10 years old, a situation that does not support deer densities at the same level as younger stands in which food and cover is more available. Ruth said, “DNR biologists will continue to monitor the harvest the next couple of years to determine what affect manipulating the number of either-sex days has on the harvest.”
Hunters will still be able to use Individual Antlerless Deer Tags in all areas of the state except for the mountains (Game Zone 1). The decision not to allow the tags to be used in Game Zone 1 this year and last year was made for several reasons, according to Ruth. It is common knowledge that deer densities in the mountains are the lowest in the state; therefore, harvesting antlerless deer is not as important as it is in the balance of the state. However, the biggest factor in the decision was ongoing complaints about the tags from hunters in the mountains. These complaints are related to the low deer density and concern that the harvest of antlerless deer using the “bonus” tags was preventing the deer herd from expanding. Biologists would like one more year to determine how not allowing tags affects the antlerless harvest in that part of the state, said Ruth.
Another change that hunters should be aware of is the elimination of the bag limit on antlered bucks on private land in Game Zones 4 and 5. This change means that there is now no daily or seasonal bag limit on antlered deer in 13 counties in the Pee Dee Region. This change was made by the General Assembly during the recently completed legislative session.
Finally, the definition of archery equipment was changed by the General Assembly so that crossbows are now considered archery equipment. Therefore, crossbows are legal during special archery seasons, as well as during firearms seasons as they have been for many years.
For more information on hunting seasons, rules and regulations, click here.
DNR protects and manages South Carolina’s natural resources by making wise and balanced decisions for the benefit of the state’s natural resources and its people.
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Insect-Borne Virus Found in Delaware White-Tailed Deer
August 26, 2008
EHD, aka Blue Tongue, Often Fatal to Deer, Does Not Infect Humans
The Division of Fish & Wildlife is reassuring Delaware residents and hunters that an insect-borne disease that has been killing white-tailed deer throughout North America does not affect humans and has little long-range ramifications for the health of the state’s deer herd.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), also known as “blue tongue,” is the most significant disease afflicting white-tailed deer in North America but is also the best known and most widely studied, having first been identified in 1955 with regular, almost annual outbreaks since. By Delaware standards, last year was an uncommonly severe year, with 132 EHD-related deer fatalities.
“We recently received the first report of a suspected EHD deer casualty this year, so we want to begin educating hunters and the public about the disease. While the virus is often fatal, it apparently did not have much of an impact on the Delaware deer population, as the overall harvest from the 2007-2008 season was the third all-time highest. If EHD had significantly impacted the deer herd, we would have expected the harvest to be down, but we didn’t see that,” said Game Mammal Biologist Joe Rogerson.
Humans cannot be infected by EHD, nor can the disease be transmitted by consuming venison from infected animals. However, hunters are advised to avoid eating visibly sick deer because they may be stricken by a secondary infection that could affect people, Rogerson noted.
EHD is transmitted by small biting flies commonly called midges or “no-see-ums.” All known outbreaks of EHD in Delaware have occurred in late summer and early fall, and are abruptly curtailed with the onset of frost, which kills the midges and suspends the hatch of larvae. No pesticides can be sprayed to kill the insects that cause EHD, nor can white-tailed deer be vaccinated against the disease.
“We are in a position of allowing nature to run its course and waiting for a hard frost to kill the midges,” Rogerson said.
Symptoms of the disease in deer resemble another sickness, chronic wasting disease, or CWD, which is not yet known to have occurred in Delaware. Afflicted animals exhibit pronounced swelling of, and bleeding from the head, neck, tongue and eyes. Deer can die from EHD as soon as one day after contracting it, but more commonly survive for three to five days. Carcasses are often recovered near water and the EHD outbreaks are most often associated with periods of drought.
As with many viruses, not all deer will die once they are infected. Some will be able to enact an immune response and fight off the infection. These deer will then have the antibodies to ward off any potential future infections. The virus deteriorates less than 24 hours after a deer dies, and cannot be spread from carcasses. EHD does not generally have a significant impact on livestock.
Hunters or members of the public who see a deer carcass with no readily apparent cause of death are asked to report it to Game Mammal Biologist Joe Rogerson, Division of Fish & Wildlife, at 302-735-3600.
“While nothing can be done to prevent the further spread of EHD until colder weather halts the midges from infecting deer, the Division would like to document deer mortality for research and to obtain data for future references to the disease,” Rogerson said.
For more information on EHD, please visit http://www.fw.delaware.gov/Pages/EHD%20information.aspx.
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For the Fifth Straight Year, Chronic Wasting Disease Is Not Found in Delaware Deer Sampling
August 18, 2008
Nearly 600 brain and lymph node tissue samples from white-tailed deer in all three counties of Delaware showed no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife announced today. This brings the total number of Delaware deer tested since 2003 to more than 2,400.
During the October muzzleloader and November shotgun deer seasons last fall, 599 tissue samples were collected at meat processors across the state from deer harvested by hunters. The Division’s goal is to test and sample 200 deer within each county. Last year the Division met its goal in Kent and Sussex counties but came up a few samples short in New Castle County. The samples were submitted to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center for testing. Final test results just received showed all the samples to be negative for the disease.
“Six hundred samples give us a 99 percent probability of detecting the disease if it existed in one percent or more of the deer population. The only way to be certain that every deer in Delaware is free of CWD would be to test every deer, and that would not be practical. While this doesn’t provide 100 percent assurance of no disease, we are encouraged by these results,” said Joe Rogerson, the Division’s Game Mammal Biologist.
CWD is a neurological condition found in deer and elk in which an abnormal protein material called a prion invades and gradually destroys the animal’s brain. It is thought to be 100 percent fatal and believed to be transmitted from close contact with infected deer. The disease wasn’t known until the 1960s. In the 1970s, CWD was identified as a transmittable neurological disease. Extensive research has found no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
CWD has been found in several western and mid-western states including Colorado, Wyoming, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Dakota, as well as the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. The most recent states to detect CWD are New York and West Virginia. Both states detected the disease in 2005.
Surveillance programs, like Delaware’s, have been established in all eastern states and monitoring will continue in future years. So far, all eastern herds seem to be disease free. DNREC will continue monitoring in Delaware for the disease with plans for more tissue sampling this fall.
Hunters should be aware that more news regarding CWD will likely be available in the near future. In the event a deer does test positive for CWD in Delaware, or a surrounding state (Maryland or Pennsylvania), the Division is in the process of finalizing a