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12/2/2008
Burri: DNR deer numbers are a little shaky

It’s becoming a pattern: every year, I go hunting. I fire one shot. I bring home one deer.

Clockwork.

Oh, fine: I’ve only been hunting three years now, so this “pattern” is hardly on par with the Lions losing on Thanksgiving Day. Sooner or later, I’ll get shut out. Or I’ll bring home two. But so far: one season, one shot, one deer.

That trend is in trouble, maybe. The Green Bay Press Gazette reports:

With the earn-a-buck program that requires hunters to kill an antlerless deer before a buck, Hansen believes the population of white-tailed deer in the state is dropping.

Hansen said other hunters she's talked to also said they are seeing fewer deer, and she doesn't believe the state Department of Natural Resources' estimate that there were 1.7 million deer in the state before the start of this year's nine-day gun deer hunt, which ended Sunday.

The DNR said the deer kill opening weekend was down 22 percent from last year.

Personally, I saw two deer on opening weekend. Last year, I saw…eight, if I remember right. My oldest son saw three this year, up from zero a year ago. We hunt with my father-in-law and an uncle – they saw one apiece.

So, there. Add our anecdotes to the mix.

The under-rumble of discontent among hunters is going to affect future DNR policies, and it should. Hunters are the front-line people. The base-line data. They’re the guys on the street, who see what’s actually happening. Put all their experiences together, and you have a broad idea of what’s really going on.

That’s haphazard, of course: nobody’s gathering hunters’ anecdotes as a data source. Maybe they should be, but for now we’ll have to hope that the DNR’s research at least looks something like what hunters seem to be seeing.

Then we ask: what do we do about it?

The size of Wisconsin’s deer herd is important: hunting is an enormous economic driver in the state. It makes people spend money, and not just on ammo: they buy gas, they buy food, they eat in restaurants and sleep in motels. Most of them wouldn’t spend that money otherwise.

If hunters begin to become frustrated by a lack of deer, fewer of them will make the effort.

On the other hand, one of the reasons we emphasize hunting is to keep the deer herd small. Car-deer accidents are common, and dangerous. Deer cause millions of dollars in crop damage every year.

So a smaller herd is both good and bad. A bigger herd is both good and bad. We need good information about the herd to help us make good decisions.

What are those decisions likely to be? Well, if the herd really is getting smaller, it logically follows that the DNR will make it harder to bag a deer. More restrictions, fewer opportunities.

On the other hand, they could make it easier.

The Earn-a-Buck program requires that hunters shoot a doe before they can shoot a buck. As a herd-control measure, the idea is sound: a single buck can impregnate multiple does, but each doe can only give birth once a year. So if you want to limit the herd size, you want hunters harvesting more does.

Hunters hate Earn-a-Buck, because they have to let perfectly good deer walk on by. If limiting the herd is less of a priority, then there’s less reason for Earn-a-Buck.

So: complain louder, hunters. Be the squeaky wheel. It’s the deer you’re not seeing now that could bag you that trophy buck next time.

Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and occasionally blogs at his own site as well.

COMMENTS

Great discussion Lance. I'm just curious... Question for deerhunters: Is Lance's claim of one day, one shot, one deer... common storytelling - or more like bragging? If it's bragging, is it more a guy thing - or is it an expectation of all deerhunters?

Jo (Tue Dec 02 07:52:38 2008)

Jo,

One-shot, one-kill is the humane expectation for hunting. The hard part is finding the deer in the first place, let alone after the first day. What Lance describes in not unusual. :-)

Brian Heyer (Tue Dec 02 07:58:09 2008)

But let's look at the big picture problem of the state artificially maintaining a nuisance deer herd that's too large.

Deer are a dangerous legal nuisance. There would be criminal implications if a mega-farmer raised a huge herd of swine without fences. Why is it different that the state government tries to profitably keep a large herd of voting deer hunters happy and gladly accept deer damaged cars and crops? Shouldn't the state reimburse for the damage their herd causes?

Worse, if the DNR was serious about chronic wasting disease it would declare an unlimited open season to eliminate the herds in the affected and surrounding areas. these are generally in the south of the state, surrounding Madison (according to CDC maps.) Instead of protecting the public, the state is willing to risk transmission to humans to keep the revenue flowing.

Brian Heyer (Tue Dec 02 08:11:56 2008)

Thanks Brian (and Lance). I'm learning!

Jo (Tue Dec 02 08:28:38)

Jo, actually it's one season, one shot, one deer. Last year, I didn't get one until the very last day of the antlerless hunt in December.

Brian, the things you say are right, although we have to remember that the whitetail is a naturally occurring animal - not like a farmer's swine herd. Also, we derive a great deal of benefit from hunting, which would be hurt by a much smaller herd. For example, last year I got a deer in December, and my family didn't have to buy hamburger until April.

Lance Burri (Tue Dec 02 08:45:10 2008)

And, yes, I am kind of bragging.

Lance Burri (Tue Dec 02 08:45:46 2008)

Lance,

You've missed the big point again.

The important question remains unanswered. Have beer sales declined from last year?

Steve Burri (Tue Dec 02 09:34:14 2008)

Hmm, in two of three years, at the local Kiwanis turkey shoot, I've earned mine on the first shot - with someone else's .22 I've probably never touched before, with an iron sight. You didn't mention how many points yer deers had?

John Foust (Tue Dec 02 09:58:12 2008)

Lance,

I'm aware that deer are natural. As are swine.

My issue is the state maintaining an artificially large herd size in order to a) derive revenue for the state and b) derive political gain, without consequence for the auto-deer deaths or or CJV risks.

I appreciate lean, tasty venison. But I also know after the costs of travel, beer, time-off from work, brandy, licenses, ammo, tavern tabs, hunting gear, whiskey, strip club cover charges & tips, vodka, butcher or processing, and beer, the amortized cost of venison places it into a premium category.

Just imagine, also, without the state's interference in deer management, skilled and dedicated land owner coalitions would have the best managed trophy herds crossing their lands, improving their land values.

Regards,
Brian

Brian Heyer (Tue Dec 02 10:18:36 2008)

In summary, I'm ineloquently stating the traditional conservative positions that 1) economic assets are best utilized in private hands rather than squandered by the state and 2) property rights come with responsibilities, including responsibility for damage caused by one's property.

If the state doesn't want to be responsible for its property, then it shouldn't be able to claim the benefits.

Brian Heyer (Tue Dec 02 10:28:01 2008)

What about the state (forced by the ferderal gov't) artificially maintaining large wolf-packs? At least deer don't stalk people! Farmers in northern counties do suffer from wolf predation. And any farmer suffering crop damage from deer, IS allowed to shoot the deer!

I don't especially like deer, except to eat, having hit two already, but I do believe there are fewer of them around in recent years. Earn-a-buck is stupid. And venison is not necessarily a premium price! One shotgun shell, and your time to dress the meat. C'mon!

As to wolves, we saw tracks one winter in our back pasture that were too big to be coyote, so that means that at least one wolf made it as far south as Manitowoc County!

And once again, we have rule by activist judges and their cohorts. The US was about to allow the DNR to manage the wolves, until some wackos brought a lawsuit, and the judge ruled in favor of forcing WI to keep protecting the wolves. And if any bear dogs are killed by wolves, while out training or even hunting, the state has to reimburse them. Those dogs are expensive!

There is a reason that there was a reward put on wolf pelts years ago. People have simply forgotten--but maybe they will be forced to remember again, as numbers increase.

emily matthews (Tue Dec 02 12:51:34 2008)

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