Ryan Rodenkirch
2/25/11
Time for Quality Management
If you are a Wisconsin deer hunter of any sort you know what I’m talking about when I say quality management. What this means, for those that do not know, is the idea of letting animals reach maturity before they are harvested, which rids the population of any individual not suitable for breeding. This is an idea that many hunters have begun to self impose with a goal of trying to increase the abundance of animals as well as average age, due to these factors not existing over the last decade. In order to have a management technique Wisconsin deer hunters need to learn one important thing, they can’t harvest every deer they see year after year and expect the population to remain constant. This then in turn allows hunters to start playing the blame game by accusing the DNR of allowing too many permits or due to the growing number of wolves now residing in Wisconsin. Now, I do feel both of these factors play into the low density of deer, but hunters have played the greatest role which is evident by the number of deer harvested annually.
Hunters now need to come together and be part of a conservation era where hunters learn to only harvest animals that have reached their peak maturity. By doing so it will ensure that this population of animals is around for future generations to use as well. Techniques for management should be started exactly where we find our Wisconsin deer herd right now, relatively low in numbers, but ready to rebound. This idea of management is the right idea because the numbers are seen as in check, which is referred to as a 1:1 buck to doe ratio. Having a ratio like this allows for the population to be manipulated in a way that best benefits the animals as well as for human recreation. I personally feel this is a little low and that a greater amount of benefits could be achieved by even a slight increase of 2:1 or even 3:1, especially since every hunter is after the deer with the largest amount of head gear but will still harvest females readily.
Since the beginning of January 2011 our State Department of Natural Resources has begun their all important herd study outside of known Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) areas. This study is based around two different cities, Winter and Shawano, which both happen to be found in the north woods where deer experience the roughest environmental conditions. The goal for this study is to radio collar males to determine movement patterns throughout the year and then to determine average age upon harvest. They will also be capturing females to vaginally implant transmitters to examine birthing periods and fawn mortality. As a critic of the DNR since the start of the CWD era I find this as a huge improvement to the techniques they are using and their overall goal for a healthy Wisconsin herd. As a group Wisconsin deer hunters can feel satisfied in knowing that our opinions were heard, but now it’s time to put it into action and begin the quality management.
4 comments:
I agree with this Ryan, I feel there are many ways the Wisconsin DNR can control our deer population, and they are taking some positive steps in the right direction. Personally, I would like to see the DNR take away the zone-T hunts and simply give the hunters a free doe tag during the normal nine day gun-deer hunt. Another policy that would help with QDM is to have a minimum number of points for a buck to be shot. An example of this would be bucks with at least 3 points on one side of their head is a legal buck. There are states that do this and have seen their trophy buck numbers go up.
Exactly! Just imagine one season without T-zones, this provides less opportunity for females to be harvested, less pressure, and a normal rut for once! Personally as a bow hunter this is one of the things that irritates me the most! As the season gets close to climax of deer movement for breeding we decide to “kill” it, causing most animals to become nocturnal. Another positive to having an antler restriction, which most hunters don’t even realize, is that land value will increase dramatically if trophy animals or I guess animals in general are there. I'm sensing a great way to boost the economy through hunting!
The hunt which i hunt on has been involved with QDM for nearly 15 years, and every year, we get the next farmer over to accept what we are doing. After probably 5 years, we started noticing an increase in the number of deer, and trophy bucks. The more people in the same area that participate means an increase in success.
I thinks its really impressive that hunters are taking things into their own hands to increase deer population. In essence the hunters have been performing their own little experiments: will doing this increase deer numbers? Hopefully, in combination with the DNR's research a solution will be reached that satisfies both the biological and human-interest aspects.
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