I was reading the MD annual deer report for the 09-10 season and got some interesting numbers for my county. Total deer taken: buck - 1669 doe - 3319 Bow: buck - 508 doe - 846 Firearm(shotgun): buck - 846 doe - 1652 Muzzleloader: buck - 315 doe - 821 There were 4988 total deer taken, of those: Unrestricted(non-military) public land: buck - 82 doe - 205 4.9% of all bucks taken with any weapon in my county were taken on public land 6.17% of all does taken with any weapon in my county were taken on public land 5.75% of all deer taken with any weapon in my county were taken on public land We have a lot of public hunting land in my county but apparently we have a lot more private land LOL
I wonder how many years your county can continue to take that many more doe than buck ? I would expect the population to start to take a hit. Do you have a really high deer population? My fear is that hunters in my state will not realize at some point that it is not a good idea to shoot every doe in sight.
We have a very large deer population here. If I were to take all the deer I could with every tag I had I could take 6 bucks and 30 does in my county.
LOL I had to look it up but we are 643 square miles of 461 are land and 182 are water. Our public land deer numbers are probably on the low side due to availability of food (farms around) but we just don't get many public land hunters either and then I have only met one bow hunter on public land and that was about 4 years ago. Don't see much, if any, action on the public lands until ML and firearms. We have sign in sheets at some public land places and there are very few bowhunters.
It is up a from little last year. Like I said though, we have a LOT of deer here. 2007 - 2008 My county all weapons total: buck - 1438 doe - 2515 total - 3953 2008 - 2009 My county all weapons total buck - 1664 doe - 3083 total - 4747
A lot of places in Iowa used to have a crazy high deer population as well. The problem is, once everyone got used to shooting does like they were swatting flies, it is really hard to change that mentality. I would say this season has opened a lot of hunters eyes in our state. Every doe you shoot is is 2 or 3 less deer for next year, including bucks.
Over the past two years we've had around a 1,700 deer per year average in my county. The county has 338 square miles of land. That is all weapons and land. I am not sure of the buck and doe kills and I don't know if that is a lot of deer per square mile. hahaha. Found last years stats.. 700 bucks taken, 126 button bucks, and 802 does. I would say that is a solid ratio of kills, although I would like to see more does taken out.
Once again we have a LOT of deer here. In four of our countys, 2 of them just north of mine, we have unlimited doe tags. Also, here is some insight into the hunters here. It was a little cold this year: Annapolis, Md. (December 16, 2010) — Maryland deer hunters endured less than favorable weather conditions for the two-week deer firearm season and harvested an estimated 40,694 deer — a 9 percent decrease from last year’s harvest for the same period. The total included 13,605 antlered deer and 27,089 antlerless deer. Included in the totals were 516 antlered and 565 antlerless sika deer. “Cold temperatures, stiff winds and an abundant acorn crop that altered normal deer movements slowed the harvest across the State for the firearm season,” said Brian Eyler, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Deer Project Leader. “We are pleased to see the Region B antlerless deer harvest remains strong as this is an important aspect of our deer management strategy.” Region A deer hunters (Garrett, Allegany and western Washington counties) reported 4,422 deer for the two-week season, a decline of 8 percent from last year’s harvest of 4,809 deer. The antlered harvest decreased an estimated 4 percent from 2,620 deer last year to 2,528 deer this year, while the antlerless harvest decreased 14 percent from 2,189 deer to 1,894 deer. In Region B, harvest decreased 9 percent from 39,995 deer last year to 36,272 deer this year. The antlered harvest decreased 14 percent from 12,827 deer last year to 11,077 deer this year, while the antlerless tally decreased 7 percent from 27,168 to 25,195 deer this year. Deer hunters harvested 3,852 deer (1,457 antlered, 2,395 antlerless) on the first Sunday of the two-week season in the 19 counties where Sunday hunting is permitted on private land only. In southern Maryland (Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties), hunters took advantage of new legislation that permitted Sunday hunting on the second Sunday of the two-week season and harvested an additional 164 deer.
