NEW EMPHASIS PROPOSED FOR DEER MANAGEMENT IN MISSOURI

[horntagger]

This is a NEW brochure the Missouri Department of Conservation is handing out. Maybe you have seen this maybe you have not. Thought you might like to read this or find out when the meeting are.

NEW EMPHASIS PROPOSED FOR DEER MANAGEMENT IN MISSOURI

Missouri"™s deer management strategies reflect:

Population changes

Habitat

Public Attitudes

DEER ARE POPULAR MISSOURI RESOURCE

The whitetail is the number one animal Missourians like to see in the wild and a major draw for many of our public areas. Nearly 90 percent of farming landowners in Missouri report they enjoy having deer on their land. However, deer also cause problems, most notably by damaging agricultural crops and colliding with vehicles. Deer Populations must be managed, and we do this through hunting.

HUNTING REGULATIONS EVOLVED TO MANAGE POPULATIONS AND CONFLICTS

Deer hunting regulations have evolved to provide maximum hunting and viewing opportunities, while maintaining deer numbers at levels that minimize crop damage and deer-vehicle accidents. The first modern deer hunting season in 1944 was for bucks only to allow maximum growth of deer populations. Gradually, hunters were allowed to take does to slow or stop population growth, while buck harvest remained unrestricted.

HUNTERS"™ HELP CONTINUES TO BE NEEDED TO MANAGE POPULAR RESOURCE

Although deer numbers are either stable or slowly declining in most area, they are above acceptable levels to the public in many places. Even with our current liberal hunting regulations, it appears that the harvest of antlerless deer has peaked. Simply stated, hunters who are the real deer manager will not take many more antlerless deer under the current system.

HUNTERS ARE HAVESTING FEWER DEER

Surveys of Missourians indicate that the average age of deer hunters has increase from 36 in 1978 to 42 in 2001. If this trend continues, we can expect the number of deer hunters to decrease in the near future. We also find that older hunters take fewer deer. Consequently in the future, deer hunters both individually and collectively, will take fewer deer than today"™s hunters, given similar regulations.

Hunters interest also are changing, especially in northern Missouri. Surveys suggest that an increasing proportion of hunters want a more balanced sex-and age structure for Missouri"™s deer including more older bucks, even if buck harvest has to be restrict to achieve it.

GOAL IS INCREASED DOE HARVEST

The tradition of unrestricted buck harvest and limited doe harvest is deeply engrained in our deer hunting heritage. However, deer management in Missouri is at a crossroad due to:

Land development and deer habitat changes.

Public concerns about deer numbers.

Changing hunter interest.

To address these issues, deer regulations for 2003 include more opportunities to take antlerless deer. this is the first step toward an overall change in the direction of deer management in Missouri. More importantly, these changes are designed to shift deer hunting regulations from unregulated buck harvest and restricted doe harvest to regulated buck harvest and where needed, increased harvest pressure on does.

The result will be a deer herd with a more balanced sex-and-age structure, which should increase both hunter satisfaction and public acceptance of deer.

These changes also will improve the Department"™s ability to:

Stabilize or decrease the deer population in areas where it is needed.

Increase the proportion of bucks in the population, including more older-aged bucks

Maintain liberal hunting opportunities

Reduce deer-related conflicts.

DEER HUNTING REGULATION ARE ESTABLISHED TO:

Provide maximum hunting and viewing opportunities.

Maintain deer numbers at levels that minimize crop damage and deer-vehicle accidents.

YOUR OPINION IS NEEDED

Because Missourians"™ acceptance is essential to the success of any deer management plan, final decisions will not be made without public input. All proposed changes will be present through media releases and regional public meetings, to be held after the 2003 deer season.

Conservation Department staff will use information gathered from the public to establish pilot regulation changes in selected units that will further shift harvest emphasis from bucks to does. The effects of these pilot regulations on deer populations , as well as public attitudes toward deer and deer management, will be carefully studied and used to make final deer management decisions.

Public meeting dates will be announced in January 2004. For meeting times and dates contact the regional office near you:

St. Joesph "“ Northeast Region : 816-271-3100

Kirksville "“ Northeast Region: 660-785-2420

Blue Springs "“ Kansas City Region: 816-655-6250

Columbia "“ Central Region: 573-884-6861

St. Charles "“ St. Louis Region: 636-441-4554

West Plains "“ Ozark Region: 417-256-7161

Springfield "“ Southwest Region: 417-256-7161

Cape Girardeau "“ Southeast Region "“ 1-573-290-5730

Future of deer hunting in Missouri remains bright

Aligning deer management strategies with hunter desires, public acceptance of deer, and rapidly changing environment is essential to maintain deer numbers at levels compatible with human needs and interests. The staff at the Conservation Department is excited about the new direction and believe that Missourians will join to ensure that deer remain a valued resource.

[wdhc]

horntagger, could you have your dnr send a copy to wdnr ?

[TJD]

Because Missourians"™ acceptance is essential to the success of any deer management plan, final decisions will not be made without public input.

C' mon! How can you possibly manage a herd by taking into account " public input" ? And make t-zone hunts in December instead of right smack dab during the peak of the rut? We can' t leave bow season for just bowhunters! We can' t let THAT happen in Wisconsin!

Horntagger, either the guys in MO have figured out that public relations is just as important as anything when it comes to deer management, or they talk a good game. This is written like it is coming from public servants, as opposed to pompous dictatorial bureaucrats.

Like WDHC said, please send a copy of this to our DNR here!

[wdhc]

horntagger, while your at it , could you send me a copy.
Thanks

[Zim]

Sounds good to me! I' m a NR but always looking for a new state to hunt. I' m eager to bring my dollars to spend in your state if it was worth my while. The more states we can get with responsible deer age class management, the more options there will be for out-of-state hunting. Right now me and too many others are concentrating on Iowa, Illinois & Kansas.

I hope they accept opinions from NR for this survey. Some other states do.