Just wondering what some whitetail hunters opinion was of the 2001 herd.

Here in NY there was suppose to be a record herd size. But, during both Archery and Shotgun season the number of deer taken was dramatically small. From people that I have talked to here and other states, the number of deer seen during the season was small. Many blamed it on the warmer weather that we had this past fall, but, from what I have read, deer movement is best when the temp is in the 50's. Which was right in line of what we had in this area of NY. It is unusual to have this type of weather though in November for us.
I persally felt the the estimated herd size was wrong. In the fall of 2000 there was a very early heavy snowfall. The snow from that fall stayed with us all winter long and additional snow fell. This let the yearling only about six months old open to a harsh winter and easy prey for coyotes. So a lot of the deer which should have been 1 1/2 years old this past fall were victims of the harsh winter.

Whats your take on the heard this past season.

here in georgia, the herd is believed to be at about 1.25 million deer. i was talking to my taxadermist today and he told me that he has had record numbers of deer at his cooler the past 2 seasons. for the past 2 seasons hunter's were allowed to take 2 bucks and 6 does total. he told me "and this was his opinion" that he thought that was over harvest for our county here in georgia. he may be right. i just hope most of the deer went nocturnal most of the season.

I didn't see as many deer as useual this year, but I think it had to do more with the very warm weather than anything else.

TAKE YOUR KIDS HUNTING AND YOU WON'T BE HUNTING FOR YOUR KIDS

although, this being my first year of hardcore hunting, i agree with 5 shot. everyone i've have talked to seems to think the warmer weather had the deer screwed up.

I hunt in Cortland county N.Y. as well as Pa. I seen plenty of deer in both places.

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arkansas seem to have had a bad year as well .

BobCo,

I hunt just south of Buffalo in the Southerntier, and I saw more deer than I ever have - 9 bucks inside of 20 yards and many deer outside that range during bow season. My brother, who hunts every day, saw 28 bucks during bow season. The low kills are probably the result of shotgun season not getting even an inch of snow - probably first time ever. Without the snow for tracking and seeing deer easily, the kill will always go down.

Of course, individual experiences never mean anything, but I've seen lots of deer in town, eating shubbery around homes and hanging around when normally they wouldn't be. And if dead deer along the highways is any indication, then I think it's at an all time high.

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The problem in Oklahoma wasnt the herd, it was the hunters! I saw a whole bunch of deer, and missed a bunch, but the thing was no one could hit. Almost everyone i talked to said they saw the deer, they were jsut smarter. Allthough, at the one place we hunt in the north west part of the state, the farmer shot 16 deer last year with depradation permits, this year they shot 2, and only found one. It wasnt cause they didnt see them, there like flies, nobody could get to them though. Maybe there finally cathing on to us? :-)

The areas I hunted this year seemed to be down in quantity and quality. Like 5 shot I believe it was do to warm conditions. The good news here is we are starting to get some hunters voicing their opinions about over harvesting of the deer population. They have been allowing up to 5 antklerless tags because of farmer complaints and the number of deer/car accidents. I personally don't think would should be taking this many deer. The legislature is trying to tell Wildlife and Parks how to manage the deer herd. If we allow the special interest groups to dictate game management, we won't have any game left to manage.