Hunters harvesting too many does?
If you look around the internet, it won’t take long to get the idea that the 2014-15 deer season has been relatively quiet in Mississippi. On websites and forums where there would typically be pages of pictures and stories about jaw-dropping bucks, there are a handful.
Speculation as to why sightings have been low vary, but the idea that a generous bag limit on does has hurt the population is one that keeps coming up.
Craig Williamson of Vicksburg said he has hunted the same area in Issaquena and Warren counties for about 30 years and in the last 10, has noticed a steady decline in sightings.
“It was not uncommon to see 20 to 30 deer a day,” Williamson said. “At that point, we still had a lot of deer.”
Then came changes to the primitive weapons regulations that allowed single-shot rifles and metallic cartridges. Williamson feels that was a game-changer.
“We started seeing declines,” Williamson said. “We saw a few more racked bucks that didn’t meet the minimum and spikes, but not more big racks.
“The best day I had this year was 8. It was mostly does and little bucks. The woods are overpopulated with hunters that are shooting too many does. As long as they keep killing high numbers of does, it’s only going to get worse.”
Pressure’s on
Dan Moulder, of Brandon, said he hunts in Winston County. He described his camp as a “state rules” camp, not a management club.
“The game wardens in that area keep telling us over and over we’re not taking enough does out of the habitat,” Moulder said.
While Moulder said he has little interest in harvesting does, others are more cooperative. “They shoot them all up during bow and early primitive weapons,” Moulder said. In his observations, he has seen no negative impact on the population, although he said they do not harvest the maximum amount of does.
“I keep hearing there’s no deer,” Moulder said. “We have the most deer outside of Texas. Our insurance companies sure believe it.”
Moulder the noted the number of deer he sees dead on roadsides. He also said game survey photos at night indicate plenty of deer. Because of that, he feels declining sightings are a result of human pressure on deer.
Lann Wilf, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Deer Program Leader, said this season has been tough for him.
“I’m in the same boat as everyone else,” Wilf said. “I’ve seen 11 deer and only 9 different ones.”
Wilf said deer have become more nocturnal this year in many areas and he can’t explain it. The bumper acorn crop many encountered this year and mild weather didn’t help daytime movement, either.
The harvest rate for this season won’t be available for a while, but Wilf said during his career, it has been generally steady.
By the numbers
During the 2002-03 season, Wilf said survey results indicated 2.12 deer were harvested per hunter. In the 2013-14 season, hunters averaged 1.9 harvests.
That decline represents roughly a 10 percent drop in harvests, but Wilf cited three reasons for the difference. In 2003, a different harvest survey method was used. Also, at that time, the minimum size for a legal buck was four points, and hunters were more likely to shoot any legal buck than they are now.
Since main beam and spread minimums were put into place, Wilf said there has been little change in annual harvest rates.
Wilf said declining sightings are the result of several factors. Increased numbers and use of ATVs, a tendency to hunt the same stands too often and the supplemental feeding of deer during the season.
“We’re feeding deer corn the whole season and it’s known to kill deer movement,” Wilf said. “It’s been proven.”
What he won’t attribute to fewer sightings is an over-harvest of does.
“This thing, from stem to stern, has nothing to do with it,” Wilf said. “We’re out in February and seeing deer everywhere.
“The average hunter is not out there when we’re doing herd health surveys in February and March.”
And the results of those surveys don’t look good.
In 1993 the average doe in upper thick loess regions, three years or older, weighed 130 pounds. In 2014 the average doe in the same soil areas and age range weighed 118 pounds. That’s a reduction in average body weight of over 9 percent.
“Most of that is going to be because of the population increasing,” Wilf said. “That’s the stuff we look at day-in and day-out that the public doesn’t see.
“We’re not just erroneously telling people to shoot a bunch of deer.”
Contact Brian Broom at (601) 961-7225 or bbroom@jackson.gannett.com. Follow The Clarion-Ledger Outdoors on Facebook and @BrianBroom on Twitter.