Arkansas hunters killed fewer deer in 2013-2014 than in the previous year, but for the first time we killed more does than bucks.
Cory Gray, deer program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, briefed the commission on the 2013-2014 deer season Thursday in Little Rock. Hunters killed 213,199 deer last year, compared to the record of 213,487 in 2012-2013. Gray said he wasn’t disappointed because we have reached a point of “maximum sustained yield.” That’s right where Gray wants to be from a management standpoint because hunters are keeping the statewide deer herd below “carrying capacity.” That’s the number of deer the habitat can support. The population is largest in the fall, and then hunters trim it back. Hunters kill the most deer with modern firearms.
“We knock it down and let it build back up,” Gray said. “We’re maximizing production, but we’re also maximizing harvest.”
Gray was really happy that hunters killed more does than bucks. The doe kill increased 4 percent, from 103,039 in 2012-2013 to 107,247 last year. Meanwhile, the buck kill decreased 4 percent, from 110,448 in 2012-2013 to 105,952 last year. That’s an 8-percent swing.
“That’s the first time in Arkansas history we’ve ever killed more females than males,” Gray said. “That’s making progress.”
For years, the AGFC has encouraged hunters to kill more does. Hunters in deer management zone 12, for example, can kill as many as six does in a season if they don’t kill any bucks. If they kill two bucks, they can kill as many as four does. Also, landowners in the AGFC’s deer management assistance program get extra tags to kill additional does. It has taken decades to persuade hunters who were conditioned to the ethic of protecting does. Protecting does was appropriate in the years when the state’s deer herd was growing, Gray said, but now that our herd has reached its maximum size, the goal is to balance sex ratios.
The ideal balance is one buck per doe, Gray said. Killing does is the only way to achieve that goal. Gray calls it “whole herd management.”
“The benefits of doe management are increased productivity, increased body condition of the standing herd and increased antler growth for bucks,” Gray said. “We can actually use the female harvest as a predictor of future conditions.”
Our deer population has reached a ceiling of more than 1 million animals. The AGFC caps the annual buck kill at a maximum of two per hunter. With antler size restrictions, the AGFC has done about all it can do with bucks. Removing does from the population enables a more dynamic age structure, with roughly 20 percent of the population being replaced every year. The result is less competition for food, which increases body weights and antler growth. Antler restrictions for bucks protect yearling bucks and shift the buck kill to bucks that are at least 2 years old.
Naturally, some areas are closer to an even sex ratio than others, Gray said. Deer are not distributed evenly around the state, and some pockets still contain significantly more does than bucks.
“I’d be happy if I could figure out a way to get them uniformly distributed from one corner of the state to the other, and for everyone to get two bucks,” Gray said. “That’s a God-given right in this state.”
Two places lag, Gray said. They are northeast Arkansas and the Ouachita Mountains. Deer population densities are sparse in northeast Arkansas because due to lack of habitat, he said.
“The Ouachitas, Zone 11, has always been one of these areas where the population has never been very responsive,” Gray said. “Those are our two conservative areas as far as the number of females in the harvest and hunting opportunity.”
The Ozark region, on the other hand, has blossomed into a highly productive deer area. Its herd is big enough that Gray believes it needs some trimming. To that end, the commission increased added an extra doe to the bag limit in seven zones in northwest Arkansas, except for zones 1 and 1A.
Arkansas is not known for growing bucks with monster racks. We generally produce about three entries to the Boone and Crockett all-time awards book annually. If we continue on our present path, we probably will see more record-book bucks in the future.
There has certainly never been a better time than now to be a deer hunter in Arkansas.
Sports, Pages 30 on 04/20/2014