Kill Numbers Decline

[JeepKuntry]

Curious as to what others experienced. I mainly hunt 4 counties here in East Tn. In 2016/17 season Anderson Co 1256, Campbell 1342, Morgan 1368, Union 571. This past season Anderson Co 741, Campbell 787, Morgan 800, Union 467. Blessed to take a 7 pt, but overall sightings were way down. I will be more selective of what I pull the trigger on the next few years.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Archery was lower than normal number of deer sightings for me, but with the warm weather I was not too surprised. ML and rifle season, I saw deer just about every sit, but a lot of those were way out of range. I did shoot 5 deer this year though, so I am happy with my season. Wish I had had my shotgun in my popup with me a couple times when a flight of canada geese buzzed over me. I could have popped a couple out of each group had I had it.

 

[Mike Belt]

... in part that selectivity may be based on you don't have as many deer to select from.

 

[dg7080]

In my neck of the woods, the deer herd has been overshot. The past couple of years reminds me of hunting in the late 70's and early 80's. Go out for a hunt expecting to see nothing and if I do, then it's awesome.

Some parts of my county may justify the unit L status, but not this holler around my farm. I live on my place and am outside in the fields and woods daily, run cameras year round, so I have a pretty good idea of what's out there (or aint out there).. Just my 2 cents, aint worth much. hey, but we got turkeys! :mrgreen:

 

[TX300mag]

I think there's as many different reasons as there are areas, but it seems like east TN has low deer numbers and EHD might have been a factor?

In the areas I hunt in west TN the top factors seem to be:
1. Hunters not shooting does (the newness has worn off)
2. The new antlerless regulations affecting the few that do (don't want to use a buck tag they may not even have on a mistake)
3. Weather on weekends was terrible. I know a lot of people who didn't hunt opening weekend of MZ OR opening weekend of rifle.

 

[JeepKuntry]

In my neck of the woods, the deer herd has been overshot. The past couple of years reminds me of hunting in the late 70's and early 80's. Go out for a hunt expecting to see nothing and if I do, then it's awesome.

Some parts of my county may justify the unit L status, but not this holler around my farm. I live on my place and am outside in the fields and woods daily, run cameras year round, so I have a pretty good idea of what's out there (or aint out there).. Just my 2 cents, aint worth much. hey, but we got turkeys! :mrgreen:

You may not realize it yet, but you have just invited me on a turkey hunt! j/k We don't have a ton of turkeys here either. Just started turkey huntin and haven't killed one yet.

 

[TazmanianDevil]

Think I heard there was a virus in East TN this year. Same thing in Middle TN in 2006 season. Devastated the deer population here for a few years in Cheatham in my area. Might explain the lack of deer sighting thought it was mostly around Knoxville.

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

There was a significant drop compared to decade past. TN recorded it's lowest harvest total t
Since starting to log the data in 2005. At 143,000 deer total. Another trend I noticed recorded was the number of antlerless males checked in. It went from 8000-8400 down nearly 50% to 4200-4700 in a matter of one season. What changed.

 

[TX300mag]

There was a significant drop compared to decade past. TN recorded it's lowest harvest total t
Since starting to log the data in 2005. At 143,000 deer total. Another trend I noticed recorded was the number of antlerless males checked in. It went from 8000-8400 down nearly 50% to 4200-4700 in a matter of one season. What changed.

This had an immediate affect on button buck harvest, as it was intended to. It also had an affect on the antlerless harvest overall as people are now more worried about loosing a buck tag if they shoot one with antler poking through.

Although I know the kill on button buck has dropped quite a bit, I imagine there were a lot that were not report. I've often wondered what I would do if I did happen to kill one poking through by accident and didn't have that second buck tag. I want to do the right thing, but I don't need fines and be known as a violator either. I rarely use a buck tag, so it's not an issue for me, but I try to look at it from another angle.

I'm curious to see what the antlerless male harvest is in East TN since the change. I would guess most are afraid of shooting a doe, but if times were hard and I needed a legal buck for the freezer I'd shoot a button.

 

[Heath423]

I just starting hunting again after a 14 year break. A decline in numbers is not the news I want to hear.

 

[TX300mag]

I just starting hunting again after a 14 year break. A decline in numbers is not the news I want to hear.

Keep in mind a declining harvest may not automatically mean a decline in deer population. As a matter of fact, coupled with a good dawn crop from last year (or even this year) a lower kill may very well make a noticeable difference in sightings.

The areas I hunt in TN have stable deer populations. I think terrible weather on both MZ and rifle openers had an impact. These weekends generally produce a large percentage of total kill. The other factor I think may come into play is the 3" antlerless reg changing.

I think I the population density is likely creeping back up as long as fawn recruitment is steady.

I can't speak for east TN. I think it may be down for other reasons.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DMD]

I just starting hunting again after a 14 year break. A decline in numbers is not the news I want to hear.

Keep in mind a declining harvest may not automatically mean a decline in deer population. As a matter of fact, coupled with a good dawn crop from last year (or even this year) a lower kill may very well make a noticeable difference in sightings.

The areas I hunt in TN have stable deer populations. I think terrible weather on both MZ and rifle openers had an impact. These weekends generally produce a large percentage of total kill. The other factor I think may come into play is the 3" antlerless reg changing.

I think I the population density is likely creeping back up as long as fawn recruitment is steady.

I can't speak for east TN. I think it may be down for other reasons.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think you are right. I think several factors contributed to low kill numbers in East Tennessee, imo:

1. We did get hit with EHD, it was spotty - some areas worse than others. But, the way it was played up around here, I believed, caused a lot of hunters to just stay home. There were horror stories of "no deer left", "they're all dead", etc. Public land that is normally teeming with people, was pretty much deserted. Yet, I saw deer and lots of deer sign.

2. We had the most prolific acorn crop I can remember in my life in my area. Deer didn't have to move. They didnt' make much feed sign. They were picking acorns off the top of the leaves without even moving any leaves. It made scouting in bow season and early ML a nightmare. It was really hard to pattern deer. And, deer just weren't moving as much.

3. Then, I noticed a significant turn toward night movement for deer beginning the end of the first week of ML. This lasted till the middle of December. My cameras had lots of night movement - ZERO daytime. I don't know if it was weather, moon phase or what.

4. Finally, around the last two weeks of December, I started seeing wide spread daytime movement of deer - but, the weather was cold and nasty by then and hunters were so discouraged, there were very few out in the woods.

So, I believe several factors were involved in the kill number being down.

 

[Heath423]

I just starting hunting again after a 14 year break. A decline in numbers is not the news I want to hear.

Keep in mind a declining harvest may not automatically mean a decline in deer population. As a matter of fact, coupled with a good dawn crop from last year (or even this year) a lower kill may very well make a noticeable difference in sightings.

The areas I hunt in TN have stable deer populations. I think terrible weather on both MZ and rifle openers had an impact. These weekends generally produce a large percentage of total kill. The other factor I think may come into play is the 3" antlerless reg changing.

I think I the population density is likely creeping back up as long as fawn recruitment is steady.

I can't speak for east TN. I think it may be down for other reasons.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think you are right. I think several factors contributed to low kill numbers in East Tennessee, imo:

1. We did get hit with EHD, it was spotty - some areas worse than others. But, the way it was played up around here, I believed, caused a lot of hunters to just stay home. There were horror stories of "no deer left", "they're all dead", etc. Public land that is normally teeming with people, was pretty much deserted. Yet, I saw deer and lots of deer sign.

2. We had the most prolific acorn crop I can remember in my life in my area. Deer didn't have to move. They didnt' make much feed sign. They were picking acorns off the top of the leaves without even moving any leaves. It made scouting in bow season and early ML a nightmare. It was really hard to pattern deer. And, deer just weren't moving as much.

3. Then, I noticed a significant turn toward night movement for deer beginning the end of the first week of ML. This lasted till the middle of December. My cameras had lots of night movement - ZERO daytime. I don't know if it was weather, moon phase or what.

4. Finally, around the last two weeks of December, I started seeing wide spread daytime movement of deer - but, the weather was cold and nasty by then and hunters were so discouraged, there were very few out in the woods.

So, I believe several factors were involved in the kill number being down.

Both of the previous replies sounds very logical. I only made it out for gun season this year (starting earlier next season) and I can see where the weather played a part. It was hot/ warmer than normal.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Atchman2]

My friend is a deer processor. His business was down 35 percent.

Sent from my K90U using Tapatalk

 

[Winchester]

This was another year of several negative factors lining up imo. First off EHD was definitely a factor in several East TN counties, but this alone I dont think would have had much of an overall affect on statewide kills. However when you couple this with the worst Weather for the entire bow season that we have had in several years (it was 80+ deg for the majority of Archery) Then absolutely terrible weather for both Openers of MZ and Gun, with continued bad weather throughout the season and you will def have negative impacts. I also think the Unit L 3 does a day has finally done what was intended and then some, and by then some, I mean the does have become much like the bucks with all the pressure applied to them that used to only apply to the bucks for the majority of the season. In a nutshell we now have fewer does in Unit L and the ones we do have are now much more hunter savvy and have reacted to the pressure like any deer will with enough of it! Matter of fact the Doe hunting Opportunities are much higher now than in recent years in all units of TN and the harvest has went up while populations have went down and the deer remaining are now hunter smart!! Perfect example of "careful what you wish for"!!!

 

[Scioto]

^^^^^^ this ^^^^^^

I agree that the other factors listed have all contributed, but I think we have "educated" the does on where we are hunting and when.

 

[fishboy1]

Doe education is a big factor in sightings.
We have 3 doe family groups that use our farm on a regular basis and 2 others that cycle in less often.

Once the guns started up in MZ, daytime sightings went to nearly zero. I honestly thought the neighbors killed them all. Finally put the trail cams back out and discovered a lot of night time movement and almost no daytime activity.

Once hunting season ended, a week or 2 later I started seeing the family groups on their regular daylight patterns again. Of the 3 regular groups, only one was missing a member. Of the 2 roaming groups, the 5 pack was missing 2 members, and the 7 pack was missing one. They knew the deal and adapted very quickly.

 

[mike243]

Seen almost 20 deer in Claiborne county sat standing in fields ,they aint all dead :tu:

 

[TLRanger]

The part about the doe deer getting to smart to be killed is true.....On the places that I hunt, they have become so smart that
they drag branches behind them to erase their tracks just like they did in the old western movies! :rotf:

 

[CBU93]

Bad weather early and loads of acorns made for a poor rifle season on the ag fields of southern W TN IMO.

 

[2HUNT]

I understand that this is just a small part of the decline, but has to be taken into account. The number of hunting license sales in on a gradual decline as well. A lot of us hunters are not getting any younger, and because of that, we tend to only hunt the ''perfect'' days. When I was younger, I must have been a lot madder at the deer than I am now, because weather was never a factor in hunting plans. I went every day that I didn't have to work.

 

[Hunter 257W]

I think one major factor with kill numbers being down when looking at the state as a whole, was the terrible weather on the two biggest weekends of the season. Opening of Muzzle Loader weekend it was 80 degrees and lots of people, including myself, didn't even go. Kill numbers mirror the lack of hunter numbers too with 2016 Opening ML weekend kills at 10,328 and 2017 dropping to 4,478. Again just 2 weeks later for Rifle Opening weekend, the weather was rotten, only this time it was even more un-huntable than ML Opener being that winds were very high with hard rains all day. Sunday was much better but Saturday is the big day and it was lost. Rifle Opening weekend kill numbers showed a similar drop to ML when comparing 2016 and 2017. Rifle Opening weekend 2016 (16,253) was much higher than the 2017 (10,823) number. These two key weekends alone account for a total drop in kill numbers of 11,280 deer statewide for 2017 compared to 2016. This was the 1st time since I started deer hunting as a teenager that I've missed an opening weekend and I missed both this year! :shock:

As for my personal hunting when I did go, I saw as many bucks as I've ever seen when I hunted. It was definitely as good a year as I've ever had for deer sightings. I do agree that does are getting harder and harder to see while hunting though. I have lots of doe pictures proving they are there but I see probably more bucks than does and it's been like that for several years now.

 

[Mike Belt]

I can understand fewer doe sightings due to them being hunted more often and their ability to dodge the hunters better; often going more nocturnal. Those deer, even if nocturnal, still have to walk. I don't ever remember seeing one fly. In doing so they have to leave tracks. In prime hunting areas where their movement has traditionally been heavy and with field roads running for miles through them where tracks were always present in high numbers, you would expect to at least see signs of their nocturnal movement. When I don't find 1/10 the sign in or crossing these roads that alone tells me the deer aren't there in the numbers of past. Fewer deer = fewer deer sightings = a decline in kill numbers.

 

[poorhunter]

I can understand fewer doe sightings due to them being hunted more often and their ability to dodge the hunters better; often going more nocturnal. Those deer, even if nocturnal, still have to walk. I don't ever remember seeing one fly. In doing so they have to leave tracks. In prime hunting areas where their movement has traditionally been heavy and with field roads running for miles through them where tracks were always present in high numbers, you would expect to at least see signs of their nocturnal movement. When I don't find 1/10 the sign in or crossing these roads that alone tells me the deer aren't there in the numbers of past. Fewer deer = fewer deer sightings = a decline in kill numbers.

Fewer does fewer deer...it really is that simple. TWRA wanted a lower deer population and they have it. I'm not saying they are wrong to want fewer deer, I just like lots of deer. Within reason of course, not to where they get so numerous they eat themselves out of house and Home.