Can we make a difference?
 

Some are familiar with where I hunt and the herd pops here/carrying capacity issues they face (the deer).

We took 8 does and 2 bucks out of the herd, this year. Would I be wrong in assuming that there are now (for the '08) season........18 less mouths than there would have been (had we taken 0 out of the herd)? If so....that sounds like we're making progress. if we did this for 5 more years.......

CAN we make a difference? Is my assumption/"logic" flawed? How long might it take?

I'm not looking to get into the "buck" situation....and how this might affect the herd.....but more interested in herd "balance".

Any thoughts?

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

Most does produce twins while a yearling willusually only drop one fawn if she is bred. I would say you are about right in your assumption

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

The short answer is yes, you can make a difference....

The question is, how bad are you overpopulated? Do you have 200 too many deer? 50 too many? etc....

Each location is different... My only suggestion to you would be not to kill does to the point of making it hard to kill them..... It gets old quick when you have to hunt really hard to kill a doe....

And trust me, that can happen!

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

The thing I left out, Rick....is a herd's natural mortality rate.

I "think" the last No.s I heard cited were from PA....and they said it was +/-20%, annually. That sounded like a lot when I heard it. So....taking into consideration our milder climate (v. PA)...and factoring in the likelihood of more road kills here (based on our pops).....I'll use the figure of +/- 14 deer out of the herd.

That still sounds like a lot, to me.

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

Its how my place has always been. and yes it just gets old AND discouraging....

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

you will be making a difference, but its going to take time, based on the numbers of deer you see. wish there was a way to know how many deer truely live where you hunt. i know you see tons and good days, but no way of telling how many are the same deer. either way, you still have a good sized herd in a somewhat small area.

gotta think about the 20 does that are going to drop 1-3 fawns come spring...figure on 20 producing 35...thats 55 mouths to feed. just going from a fake number of 20 pregnant does.

see what i mean?? its just simply going to take time...but, if you keep taking alot more females than males, you will see things changing...im not saying NOT to take bucks...but in your situation, more females than males need to be taken.

id say your doing a good job pretty much single handedly. keep up the good work buddy...you might not see 100 deer a day in a few years, but you just might see bigger, healthier deer..less road kills and deer caught in fences etc etc....and the forest might thank you by helping the overbrowsing that comes from a large deer herd....

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

Dude I've never seen a 100 deer in a day watching the outdoor channel!:D

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

GMMAT,

How many enounters did you have with does in bow range this season?

In other words, how many does could you have killed if you took every available shot?

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

Do you have any idea of your goal for next season Jeff? I dont know how you and your bio. guy calculte that....

RE: Can we make a difference?
 

I can share with you what we have seen at Dan's place and at my place. His place has been under QDMA for 7 years now and mine has been under for 3 years, and the numbers in our journals don't lie.

In 2005, I hunted a total of approx 96 hours on stand at my place in PA. In that timeframe I saw (fawns removed from the numbers)eleven different 1.5+ y/o does, and three different1.5+ y/o bucks. We killed 3 does and no bucks on the property that year. I saw one animal that may have been 2.5 years old, the other bucks were 1.5.

In 2006, I hunted a total of approx 96 hours on stand at my place in PA. In that timefram I saw (fawns again removed from the numbers) seven different 1.5+ year does, and five different 1.5+ y/o bucks. We killed 3 does, and 1 buck on the property. 2 of the bucks were probably 2.5, the rest were 1.5. There was sign of others we did not see that were probably around and 3.5+.

In 2007, I hunted a total of approx 88 hours on stand at my place in PA. in that timeframe I saw (fawns removed from the numbers) seven different 1.5+ year old does, andeight different 1.5+ year old bucks. We killed 3 does and 1 buck on the property. 4 of the eight different bucks were 2.5 y/o deer @ 100" or better, and 2 of those 4 older deer were at least 3.5+. Previously we had only averaged maybe 1 deer per season sighted at 100" or better.

Who knows, maybe there are other conditions I am not including into these results but as I see it..........I'm making a difference. I'll continue to do what I'm doing as long as I have the $$$ and time. It's exhausting though considering it's a 4 hour drive each way and I can't keep all the trespassers out.......but for now I'll keep at it as best I can.

Edit** - Added a bit more info...........[8D].