Big Game Briefs: Nov/Dec 2001
The Big Game Briefs are a compilation of recent events, program status and anecdotes pertaining to deer and bear management issues across the state. Submissions of local interest from each regional Deer Biologist, along with statewide perspectives from Central Office Big Game staff are consolidated to present a review of current deer and bear management program issues across the state.
Editor's Note: As of the release date of this issue of the Big Game Briefs, the final deer harvest numbers for the 2001 season have not been tabulated. References to the results of the recent deer season in the Regional Reports are not final harvest numbers.
REGION 1
2001 SEASON
Long Island's 2001 Archery Season has just been completed. The Archery Season opened October 1st this year, a month earlier than in previous years. A total of 319 deer were checked at the Ridge Check Station from October 15th through December 31st, including 27 taken from state land. Last season (2000) Ridge checked 489 deer including 49 taken from state land. Though the take appears to be down, we still have our January Firearms Season ahead of us. This year the season has been extended through January 31, providing an additional 4 days of hunting opportunity. The overall take may still approach last year's record setting level, though we do not anticipate surpassing it.
BONUS PERMITS
The Ridge Check Station issued forty-five Bonus Permits between October 15th and October 31 st. One hundred and sixty (160) Bonus Permits were issued in November and 108 during December for a grand total of 313 Bonus permits. Last season, Ridge issued 413 Bonus permits in two months.
DMAP
This year, a total of eight DMAP permits were issued, up from two last year.
OVERALL
The lower numbers seen so far in the 2001 deer harvest are most likely the result of the abnormally warm weather throughout the hunting season. Additionally, the check station was not manned throughout the entire month of October, there may have been a significant number of deer taken in the opening month that will be accounted for once the final harvest is calculated. The good news is that in the fall of 2001 we have seen an abundance of acorns, so we expect the overall health of the herd to improve. We should have a slightly smaller, healthier deer herd once the 2001-2 season is over.
REGION 3
2001 DEER SEASON
The unseasonably warm weather appears to have had an effect on the deer take in the region as most meat cutters reported processing significantly fewer deer this year as compared to last year. However, the deer take increased in some locations; Ten Mile River Cooperative Hunting Area saw a 20% increase (not counting deer taken with DMAP tags) in deer take this season compared to last year.
DMAP
The region received 153 DMAP permit applications, 136 of which were approved. The number of DMAP participants is a 10 % increase over last year. A total of 2,200 tags were issued to DMAP participants for use during the 2001 deer season. With approximately 90% of the Deer Harvest Summary Reports received thus far, a total of 1,051 deer have been reported taken on DMAP permits in the region. This year, DMAP tags were also issued to coop hunters for use on Ten Mile River (TMR), which is a public access Cooperative Hunting Area owned by the Boy Scouts of America and administered by the DEC. A total of 176 deer were harvested on TMR, including 52 taken with DMAP tags.
BONUS PERMITS
Region 3 had two WMU's (3S and 3M) taking part in the Bonus Permit Program in 2001. WMU 3S (Westchester County), which is "archery only" has had a bonus permit system since 1993. Approximately 400 WMU 3S bonus permits were issued this season. WMU 3M (Orange County) had a buck take of 4.6 per square mile in 2000; well above the Buck Take Objective of 3.3 per square mile . This year, approximately 148 bonus permits were issued in WMU 3M to help slow the rate of population growth the unit has experienced in recent years.
REGION 4
2001 SEASON
The weather conditions during the regular season was unusually warm and a decline in take is expected, perhaps as much as 10% or more. Deer were hard to find and many experienced hunters had limited hunting success. Regional staff checked about 4,000 deer, compared to 4585 deer during the 2000 season. Overall antler size appeared to be somewhat smaller than in recent years.
DMAP
A final total of 186 of 188 DMAP applications were approved this year, compared to 125 for the 2000 season. Over 1700 tags were issued and acreage in the DMAP program increased to over 65,000 acres. Final figures for DMAP are not yet available.
BONUS PERMITS
Bonus permits were once again available in WMU 4J, the semi-urban archery only unit situated just west of Albany. Tentatively, 214 bonus permits were issued compared to 202 during the 2000 season.
REGION 5
2001 DEER SEASON
Although many hunters complained about not seeing enough deer during the season, the deer check results in the region showed a very similar take to last year in most units. Hunting conditions were poor at best throughout the region, with almost no snow cover all season. Mast crops were also poor in most areas, although there were some pockets of heavy acorn production in the southern part of the region. Hunters and meat cutters reported that most deer were in very good condition with plenty of fat reserves. There was an unsubstantiated (so far) report of a buck taken in the Ticonderoga area of Essex County that weighed 266 lbs. field dressed, which would put it well over 300 pounds on the hoof.
Region 5 Wildlife staff and volunteers checked 975 deer during the 2001 fall seasons. This is a decrease of 9.6% from the total in 2000, with a similar expenditure of staff time. However, 755 of the deer checked in 2001 were taken in Region 5, compared to 654 in 2000, an increase of 13.4%. Preliminary analysis of the age distribution of bucks checked shows the results of last year's hard winter in the Adirondacks. In the central Adirondack units, only 26% of the bucks were yearlings, compared to 60% in the northern tier units, and 62% in the southern zone units.
DMAP
Approximately 64% of the report cards returned so far, landowners have reported taking 399 deer out of a possible 577 tags, for a 69% success rate. The success rate for previous years was close to 80%. Some landowners reported more difficulty finding antlerless deer to harvest than last year, so maybe the objectives of the DMAP program are being realized.
REGION 6
2001 HUNTING SEASON
Staff observations suggest mixed reviews of the deer season in Region 6. Higher elevation portions of the Northern Zone did not appear to have deer numbers similar to the recent past. Documented deer losses in the 2000-01 winter were only moderate, but it is suspected that many more died out of traditional wintering areas following the late deep snowfalls of March and April. In the remainder of the Northern and Southern Zone portions of the region, overall deer take appeared to be good, although probably not at record levels. Warm weather throughout the season resulted in fewer visible deer for hunters, but overall success appeared to be quite good. The total number of deer checked in the Region was down this year, largely due to fewer staff available for deer checking.
DMAP
In 2001, the Region issued about 3,300 DMAP tags on 300 permitted properties. With about 70% of the harvest reports now received, the DMAP take appears to be down slightly from the previous two years, but success is still expected to be in the 60% range. Reasons for the decline in success are not completely known, but several repeat DMAP permitees have commented that deer numbers on their property are beginning to reach desired levels.
REGION 7
2001 DEER SEASON
Some people have complained about a lack of deer, but it's been mostly quiet, just like the woods seemed to be during much of the season. The take will likely be good, but not what it could have been if we'd had a little snow and cold. Most hunters offer, or seem willing to accept, that the tough hunting was more a result of the weather rather than a lack of deer. Many have commented that after spending a day afield without seeing any deer, that they see plenty when driving home after dark.
DMAP
The final DMAP numbers were: 212 applications (up 118%) and 206 permits issued (up 136%) with 2149 carcass tags (up 144%). Reports have been slow coming in and a reminder letter has been mailed. Based on reports received to date it appears success rate may fall from the 60% level achieved in 2000. This likely reflects the tough hunting conditions experienced during the 2001 seasons, but one could hope it may also reflect fewer deer on farms who've made use of DMAP for a season or two.
KING FERRY QDM PROJECT
Indications are that most participants made an effort to adhere to QDM harvest criteria, unfortunately fewer cooperated with regards to providing us an opportunity to check deer taken. We have followed up the season with efforts to talk with landowners and are planning a post season meeting, where hopefully we will be able to develop a better picture of harvest numbers and composition and a feel for how committed participants are to seeing this project through.
VENISON DONATION
The venison donation program backed by Buck Master's and covering some of the Region's northern counties collected over 2000 pounds of venison. A meeting is planned to discuss the future of the program.
REGION 8
2001 DEER SEASON
The 2001 deer season was especially interesting with unprecedented warm temperatures and a complete lack of snow. There were many comments from hunters about the difficulty of finding deer as they seemed to move little with the warm temperatures. Meat processors seemed to have fewer deer generally, but it is difficult to predict the harvest from this because most processors were turning people away early in the season when they were flooded with deer because of the warm temperatures.
We received what seemed like a record number of calls after the season this year from hunters trying to confirm the rumors about season extensions. The good news here is there are a lot of hunters out there who would be interested in additional hunting opportunity if there was a late season.
VENISON DONATION
The venison donation program in the Region continued to grow with increased interest on the part of hunters and processors. Over 26,800 pounds have been collected to date with 4 processors still outstanding. If these donated deer represent ones that would not have been taken otherwise, this program might start to have an impact on populations in some areas. The original goal of 20,000 pounds has been exceeded.
DEER DAMAGE
Deer damage permits issued in the Region hit record levels this year with over 550 permits issued . This creates a drain on staff time that is affecting many other program areas. In an effort to improve this situation, a group of Regional technicians familiar with the deer damage program, have been tasked to look at alternative strategies and/or options to provide better service to the farmers while reducing the amount of time we spend on the program. This may require some substantial changes in the way we administer nuisance deer permits.
REGION 9
2001 SEASON
Like most areas in the Southern Zone, warm weather prevailed throughout the regular season. The impact on overall deer harvest is yet to be determined, however, a decline of some magnitude is possible.
Following the balmy hunting season, much of the Region was pummeled with up to seven feet of snow during Christmas week.
They're still digging out.
CENTRAL OFFICE REPORTS
DEER
DEER MANAGEMENT PERMITS
A grand total of 564,000 Deer Management Permits were issued for the 2001 season. This is considerably higher than the 2000 quota of 485,000 permits. The 2001 DMP quota targets about 100,000 adult females for harvest.
DECALS
Work is ongoing in the layout and development of the actual licenses , tags and reporting procedures to be used in the new DEC Automated License System (DECALS) scheduled for implementation during 2002.
DEER DISEASE WORKSHOP
A one day workshop and refresher covering a wide range of deer diseases was held in central New York and was attended by the Deer Team and others in early November. Pathologist Ward Stone provided an in-depth review of CWD, Foot and Mouth, anthrax along with the other traditional zoonosis found in NY's deer population.
DEER REPORT EDITS
Wildlife Services staff have been busy during December completing edits of deer hunter report cards and deer check slips. To date, approximately 179,000 report cards and about 21,000 deer check slips have been received. About 26,000 records with errors have been edited and corrected.
HOW WARM WAS IT ??
Weather records from the Mohonk Preserve, in Ulster County reveal that November 2001 was the warmest ever, and the third driest ever in the 105 years that detailed records have been kept at that location. It's hard to deer hunt when the woods are hot and noisy. But then again........that's why it's called "hunting".
BEAR
2001 BEAR HARVEST
Hunter report cards, biologist check slips and taxidermist check slips are still coming in, but reports to date indicate good to excellent harvests this year in our three bear ranges.
Reports from the Adirondack range show very good early season harvests, but a low regular season bear harvest. This is typical of a year with little rainfall and limited natural foods. The reporting rate and the calculated Adirondack take cannot be determined until all of our checkslips have been received, edited, and entered into the database.
The Catskill harvests also reflected the drought conditions of 2001. The archery season harvest appears to be a new record high of approximately 100 bears. The regular Catskill season harvest appears to be relatively low, also approximately 100 bears. It appears that bears reduced their activity and many denned early.
The Allegany bear harvest overcame the influence of the dry season and produce new record take of approximately 69 bears.
Both the Catskill and the Allegany bear take records must be checked for duplicates and other potential errors before the final harvests can be determined.
