I sent this letter to the NCWRC:

Hello:

I have access to hunt a deer herd that is protected for several hundred acres by an area that does not allow hunting. I have sole access to hunt these deer.....and that's part of the problem. The herd needs to be kept more balanced, and I've vowed to do my part. With the over the counter extra doe tags on the table....I now have a real chance to make a difference.

In 46 hunts, last season....I saw 344 deer, from stand. Of these....only 40 were antlered bucks. I know that I saw several of the same deer on multiple occasions, but over the period of a season.....the skewed numbers (ratio) doesn't lie.

If I am to thin does from this herd.....which does should I target? Or...should I not be picky? I'd like to take 8-10 does from this herd THIS COMING SEASON.....and check the numbers, next year. What would be the NCWRC's plan of action, for me?

Thanks, in advance, for your response.

Sincerely,

I got this in response:


My name is Chris Kreh and I am the Wildlife Biologist for District 7, which includes ForsythCounty. A great deal of my job is working with deer hunting clubs, regulations, and harvest management. I am glad to hear that you are committed to managing for a well balanced deer herd. I'll try to address your specific questions, but please feel free to contact me by e-mail or phone if you would like to discuss things further. I would be interested to hear more specifics about your area.

Focusing your harvest pressure on does is certainly a good course of action. The fact that the local area is receiving no other hunting pressure, along with the relatively high numbers of deer you observe when hunting, leads me to believe that the herd is overabundant. Removing does from the population will certainly help keep it in check, if not to decrease it. It is not necessary to select a certain type of doe for harvest. They are all capable of breeding and the desired effect would be the same. I think targeting 6 or more does is a good course of action. You may not have an observable benefit in the short term, but you definitely will not do any harm. If you would be willing to extract the jawbone from the deer you kill, I could age them for you and give you some more specific information. If you want to pursue this just give me a call I'll give you some more information of how to do it.

The sex ratio your observations suggest may not be indicative of the true sex ratio of the local herd. Behavior differences may account for much of the discrepancy: bucks are generally more secretive and less predictable than does, and therefore less likely to be seen. Also, fawns are born into a deer herd at a 50/50 ratio, and you would expect a herd that received little hunting pressure to maintain a sex ratio along those lines. Skewed sex ratios generally result from harvesting most of the bucks and very few does from the population. In heavily hunted populations the actual sex ratio rarely exceeds 2.5-3 does/buck, although the observed sex ratio may be considerably higher than that.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind. The "bonus doe tags" have not been officially approved by the Commission. If they are not approved you may want to recruit some other hunters if you want to take more than 6 deer. Alternatively, if you have at least 500 acres in your hunting area you would be eligible for the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). DMAP would enable you to obtain additional doe tags also.

Hope that helps,

Chris

I just found this to be interesting.