Now all habitat available to the deer is being considered because the health of the deer is part of the management direction. Since deer herd health is determined by the adult doe reproductive rates obviously all of the habitat available to the doe being examined is being considered. If that doe had good enough food, whether it was forest habitat, farm crop habitat or someone’s garden or shrubs it was all considered as food eaten by that doe and used by her to either be healthy enough or not healthy enough to produce the number fawns she was carrying.
So deer herd health is presently being evaluated for ALL existing habitat all over the state. At least that is true on the surface though there is still more to it that the deer might not be able to tell us with just that reproductive rate data. Since the reproductive rate data only counts the number of fawns that dead doe was carrying at the time she died it doesn’t really tell us if those fawns were going to be born at the required weight to have survived after they were born. It doesn’t matter how many were born if the majority of them die within days of being born, When that happens they are just as none existent as if they had never been born. That is why other factors, such as forest health, also need to be factored into that same equation when determining if all is well or if things are still too tentative to allow the herd to increase.
That is a half truth. Forest health is the otherhalf of the deer mgt equation, and recent evidence is showing that the two are not as closely relative as once thought. The problem, is that the PGC is putting more emphasis on the forest health than the herd health. A WMU with fair or good herd health is not permitted to increase unless forest health is also at it's goal. We are seeing from the data, that the two have not increased in tandem, as the plan projected. In fact in some areas, breeding rates have decreased. The recent wildlife report presents a solid case against the plan.
You also seem to place a lot more credence to the word “acceptable” deer herd health then I do. What is acceptable to man might very well not be so acceptable to the deer this year should we have a bad winter with deep prolonged periods of snow cover. All that acceptable means is that the adult does were within a mid range level of reproductive rates. What those reproductive rates don’t tell you though is if those fawns are at the correct birth weight to survive after they are born. If they die a day or two after they are born, as often happens in marginal habitat, then having that “acceptable” rating didn’t help the deer population at all.
Are you implying that through our deer mgt practices, we can completely take nature out of the equation? Is that what we are trying to do here? Odd, severe winters have been a part of our climate for thousands of years. You constantly reference these killer winters, and assume deer cannot paw through moderately deep snows, to reach mast and agricultural food sources underneath. Deer actually do quite well, as long as a thick ice crust does not develop. Such weather events are comparatively rare, and cannot be a determing factor in determining CC. Mother nature always holds the ace, after all. As far as deer fetal studies, are you implying that though we can accurately determine conception dates of fetuses, we lack the technology to weight the fetus, measure that weight against a known average, and project, based on the health of the adult doe, the approximate birth weight of the fawn? Incredible. I'll concede to you on the limited data base leaning toward deer sampling in more populated areas, but it would be a simple matter for the PGC to initiate similar studies in more remote pockets of habitat, incorporating bait sites, use of tranquilizers, or in some cases limited harvests for the sake of science. More than likely, cooperation with universities, and sportsmen's groups could even offset the costs of further research. There really are no valid excuses why their fetal sampling is still confined to populated areas. Claim lack of funds, but if they don't make more effort to please their customer, and stop telling us half truths to defend their flawed plan, they are just not going to get those funds. And our legislators will make sure of it.