Surprising Statistics

[Buzzard Breath]

Type 94 Permit is $25. It's required to hunt wma's and to shoot does in unit L during rifle season. For someone who just wants to shoot a deer or two, why spend the extra $25 when they can shoot bucks for free? IMO, Doing away with the requirement to buy a type 94 Permit to shoot does in unit L would save far more bucks than any 2 buck limit.

 

[fishboy1]

You have to remember that half the state is NOT unit L and doe harvest is restricted.
Many hunters only hunt rifle season and that means buck only for most of the season in units A & B.

The non hardcore hunters living in units A & B hunt until they kill a buck then call it quits for the year since they don't need the extra meat.

I catch myself thinking that other hunters are all as passionate about hunting as I am, then I meet someone who hunts a couple weekends per season and only wants 1 deer and doesn't really care how big it is.

 

[pass-thru]

button bucks are not factored into the buck/doe ration. So in order to extrapolate the ratio into a statewide population breakdown, you need to figure out a way to account for fawns.

 

[AT Hiker]

Type 94 Permit is $25. It's required to hunt wma's and to shoot does in unit L during rifle season. For someone who just wants to shoot a deer or two, why spend the extra $25 when they can shoot bucks for free? IMO, Doing away with the requirement to buy a type 94 Permit to shoot does in unit L would save far more bucks than any 2 buck limit.

Making the deer tag a freaking deer tag is overly simplified. What a novel idea for your deer tag to be good for ANY deer, this is what hunters should be fighting for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Griswold]

Type 94 Permit is $25. It's required to hunt wma's and to shoot does in unit L during rifle season. For someone who just wants to shoot a deer or two, why spend the extra $25 when they can shoot bucks for free? IMO, Doing away with the requirement to buy a type 94 Permit to shoot does in unit L would save far more bucks than any 2 buck limit.

Making the deer tag a freaking deer tag is overly simplified. What a novel idea for your deer tag to be good for ANY deer, this is what hunters should be fighting for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

this is true but that "deer tag" will cost you 25 more dollars because they aint doing away with anything to make extra money

 

[tsc]

Most recently the TWRA estimated that Tennessee Deer Population to be right at 1,000,000 deer. (Correct me if that number has been updated)

The most recent sex ratio estimates have the Buck to Doe ration at 1:1.4-1.8.

Averaging that out, that means there approximately 390,000 Bucks, and 610,000 Does in Tennessee.

So perhaps I'm the only one surprised to see that the harvest number last year indicate that of the 165,000 deer taken, 99,500 were Bucks, and 66,000 were does. That just really surprised me. I would have never guessed that fewer does were being taken,

Especially since I know some people that take the 3/day very literally! LOL.

Tennessee hunters are doing some work!

I'm not good at math so somebody that is look at those numbers and with the fawn sex ratio being 50/50, would not bucks continue over time to loose ground more and more???? If 99,500 are shot with the other loses how does that work out? So you have 550,000 does having 275,000 buck fawns and roughly half are killed per year then add in fawn death and all the other reasons deer die other than hunting? Doesn't the total population have to be higher to support that?

 

[tsc]

Which way are they slanted?

 

[megalomaniac]

...So perhaps I'm the only one surprised to see that the harvest number last year indicate that of the 165,000 deer taken, 99,500 were Bucks, and 66,000 were does. That just really surprised me. I would have never guessed that fewer does were being taken...

Why would that surprise you? The VAST majority of hunters would much rather kill a buck than a doe. Even though I'm primarily all about herd management/ herd health, I would much rather shoot a buck than a doe. Even meat hunters would rather shoot a buck than a doe.... we are just ingrained (and therefore often subconsciously) to think of does as 'motherly'. That's exactly why my kids chose to come home from TN this past juvie weekend without a deer. They didn't want to shoot the does in range that had fawns in tow (their choice, not mine... when I was their age, I just killed them... a deer was a deer to me then )

A mix of antler addiction (no matter how big or small) compared to the thought of orphaned fawns (even though they will most likely survive if their mother is killed after their spots are off) causes most hunters to selectively kill bucks over does. I don't think the harvest percentage will ever change... I think we've hit the max harvest effect that educating the general population that taking some does is biologically sound.

 

[tsc]

I've wondered about grown fawn survival after momma is in a freezer? Do the attache to another group of does/fawns or bunch together as a orphan club? Does it even matter with the does trying to run them off at this time of year anyway? Do they go it alone? I've seen fawn deer late in the season running around by themselves often.

 

[megalomaniac]

I've wondered about grown fawn survival after momma is in a freezer? Do the attache to another group of does/fawns or bunch together as a orphan club? Does it even matter with the does trying to run them off at this time of year anyway? Do they go it alone? I've seen fawn deer late in the season running around by themselves often.

Buck fawns will wander aimlessly during daylight until either someone mistakes them for a lone doe and shoots them or till they gain another year.

Doe fawns seem to wander alone or with their orphaned twin in their general home area until after the rut, then attach themselves to their doe extended family group if there is one present.

At least that is what I have observed over 31 years of whitetail hunting.

 

[tsc]

I've wondered about grown fawn survival after momma is in a freezer? Do the attache to another group of does/fawns or bunch together as a orphan club? Does it even matter with the does trying to run them off at this time of year anyway? Do they go it alone? I've seen fawn deer late in the season running around by themselves often.

Buck fawns will wander aimlessly during daylight until either someone mistakes them for a lone doe and shoots them or till they gain another year.

Guilty as charged!