Tennesse Buck Totals for 2015 exceed 2014

[WG Taxidermist]

Ok you all have all these numbers showing what's been killed and what hasn't and some think they even know why the numbers are as they are. I think maybe the numbers that should be watched are the number of license that have been sold this past year and this coming year and see how that effects the numbers your coming up with. My guess is there will be a drop in license sales next year since they can't buy them early to get them cheaper but just because they're not buying them don't mean they aren't making an impact on your numbers. I know alot of you think that poaching numbers are irrelevant but a dead deer is a dead deer and by my count each one is counted as 1.

Sent from somewhere in the sticks using Tapatalk

 

[AXL78]

I would like the logic explained to me as to how the buck limit saved 5,000 bucks. If a deer without antlers does not cost you one of your antlered tags, then why would an antlered limit affect whether or not you shot that deer, that deer would be legal under any antlered limit. Hunter awareness may have saved a lot of antlerless bucks, but limits played no role. There is no need to tie out any numbers. I can see the bucks saved come from the 70% drop in antlerless. I want the theory as to why hunters were scared to burn that tag as it relates to the buck limit.

 

[TheLBLman]

I would like the logic explained to me as to how the buck limit saved 5,000 bucks. If a deer without antlers does not cost you one of your antlered tags, then why would an antlered limit affect whether or not you shot that deer, that deer would be legal under any antlered limit. Hunter awareness may have saved a lot of antlerless bucks, but limits played no role.

I believe the reduce "antlered" buck limit played a significant role in increasing that "hunter awareness".

In the meantime, this season's numbers are yet to be finalized, and I believe we need at least 3 years' worth of data to reach any meaningful conclusions regarding the effect of going from a 3 to a 2-buck limit. And with so many, many variables effecting the composition of each year's deer harvest, we may never be able to say just how much direct "cause/effect" the buck limit change will make.

Everything effects everything, and I don't think anyone expected a significant reduction in "antlerless" bucks this year.

However, most proponents of the 2-buck limit DID EXPECT an increase in overall hunter success (the number of hunters killing 1 or more deer). Tennessee's hunter success (especially considering the relatively long length of our gun season) has been comparatively low to other states, and basically "stagnant" for the past several years, with less than half of TN's deer hunters killing even one deer (buck or doe). I doubt we see much difference in this number, or any other number, this year.

 

[Vermin93]

I would like the logic explained to me as to how the buck limit saved 5,000 bucks. If a deer without antlers does not cost you one of your antlered tags, then why would an antlered limit affect whether or not you shot that deer, that deer would be legal under any antlered limit. Hunter awareness may have saved a lot of antlerless bucks, but limits played no role. There is no need to tie out any numbers. I can see the bucks saved come from the 70% drop in antlerless. I want the theory as to why hunters were scared to burn that tag as it relates to the buck limit.

I believe a plausible explanation has been provided. If a hunter shoots a yearling and it turns out to have a 3"+ antler, then they burn one of their 2 statewide buck tags. As a result, some hunters may not have been willing to take the risk of shooting yearling bucks with very small antlers for fear that they may burn a tag that they would rather use on an older, bigger buck.

Here's the scenario...an ethical, honest hunter sees a yearling buck. The antlers look to be small...maybe 2" or maybe 3"...it's hard to tell. With the 3-buck limit the hunter is willing to take the risk of shooting the yearling because if he guesses wrong and burns a buck tag he still has 2 left. However, with a 2-buck limit its not worth the risk of burning that buck tag. So, he lets the yearling walk.

Another possible theory is that the 2-buck limit is accelerating a change in hunter mindset about harvesting yearling bucks. This would be akin to the desired affect of Oklahoma's "Hunters in the know, let young bucks grow" information campaign. It's possible that many Tennessee hunters this past season bought into TFWC's objective to improve buck age structure and decided not to shoot small yearlings that they may have shot in years past.

Another theory is that there just weren't many yearlings around to be shot compared to seasons past, but that seems like a very unlikely scenario.

It will be very interesting to see if a similar "antlerless" deer harvest occurs again next season and a new normal starts to become established.

 

[AXL78]

I guess it's hard for me to relate to that mindset, but I do think it could be more prevalent than I may have realized, and those numbers do seem to support that.

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

I'm more interested in the quality of bucks rather than just number of bucks taken but I know that's impossible to calculate

 

[redblood]

I think it did its job. it saved over 5k bucks. a good start

 

[Boone 58]

Notice how quiet this thread is compared to all the threads the 2-buck supporters were pushing early in the season talking about buck kills drastically being down? Lol

EXACTLY!

 

[Boone 58]

I think it did its job. it saved over 5k bucks. a good start

Check the math, the buck kill is up in proportion to the total, not less than last year.

 

[TheLBLman]

Since at the moment, there remains a couple hours of the final juvenile hunt, still some noteworthy aspects of this year's deer harvest I doubt will change much once the numbers get finalized.

First, over 160,000 deer have been checked in by hunters for the 2015 deer season (excluding WMAs).
Secondly, over 46% of those deer (and remember this is for the entire state, not just Unit L, etc.) ---- 46% of the deer are females. On a statewide basis, that's very close to a "balanced" sex harvest.

In summary,
Percentage female of total harvest:
2011 = 42.83% of 162,609 total killed
2012 = 43.40% of 171,431 total killed
2013 = 43.90% of 162,703 total killed
2014 = 42.18% of 158,410 total killed
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seems to be fairly "stable" year-to-year numbers?
2015 = 46% plus of 160,000 plus . . . . . . Total deer kill essentially unchanged, but a noteworthy jump in percentage female.

It may be premature as to say "how" or "why" this happened,
but in 2015 we took a turn towards a more "balanced" sex harvest, which should help to improve buck:doe ratios, which should contribute to slightly more intense rutting activity in the future (more competition between bucks for the available does), i.e. better deer hunting.

And if you look at all those above numbers for 2011 thru 2015, they seem to add credulence to those claiming the total deer harvest is effected more by the number of gun hunting days, than the buck limits. Seems "noteworthy" that the total deer harvests has only varied between 158,410 and 171,431 over the past 5 deer seasons.

 

[Land Between the Lakes]

Were there more mature bucks taken this season compared with last year? Or were there more smaller bucks taken?


It's going to take several years to evaluate the result of the 2 buck limit. The overall deer harvest was up this season in many local states including Kentucky. It's obvious that if there was a 3 buck limit this season some people would have taken 3 bucks which would have resulted in even more bucks being taken.

So like I previously said the 2 buck rule very likely saved some bucks in Tennessee this year. There are people on this site that say they passed on more bucks this season as a result of the 2 buck limit.

 

[TheLBLman]

Another interesting tidbit regarding the stability of TN's annual deer harvest . . . . . .

For the Deer Seasons 2011 - 2014, the statewide (excluding WMAs) annual deer harvest averaged 163,788 deer.
The low-year harvest was 158,410 (in 2014); the high-year harvest was 171,431 (in 2012).
The 2015 total deer harvest appears to be well within and near the average of 2011-2014.

This thread started with the title
"Tennesse Buck Totals for 2015 exceed 2014"
but then 2014 was the lowest annual deer harvest for the entire period of 2011 - 2014.
The fact that 2015's is higher than 2014's isn't particularly remarkable.

While we debate the number of antlered vs. non-antlered vs. male vs. female, most of us remain "deer" hunters, with the primary purpose of killing "a" deer on any given hunt more than just any particular deer. I believe that proof is in the total deer harvest of the past 5 years.

Not only does the stability of these numbers (year to year) add to the idea the total harvest is more determined by the number of gun days than the deer limits, but it also adds to the idea that most deer hunters have a "practical" limit of somewhere between 1 and 3 deer annually, being all they are willing to drag out no matter how long the season or how high the limits.

The buck limit being higher or lower will effect the percentage females in the harvest,
but may have little effect on the total annual deer harvest?

 

[walker]

i just can't wait till 3 or 4 more years till there is a 130" buck every year like doc is saying!! lol

 

[Outdoor Enthusiast]

... I believe we need at least 3 years' worth of data to reach any meaningful conclusions regarding the effect of going from a 3 to a 2-buck limit. And with so many, many variables effecting the composition of each year's deer harvest, we may never be able to say just how much direct "cause/effect" the buck limit change will make.

Therein lies the truth of the whole matter regarding the buck limit change. I enjoy the back-and-forth discussions, but it is difficult (maybe impossible) to identify how the 2-buck limit impacted the total harvest with such limited data.

I do find it perplexing that the antlerless harvest changed so greatly. I will be interested to see how that data trends over the course of the next 3-5 years with the buck limit change.

Maybe we can all revisit these threads in 3 years to see who got it right....... :smash:

 

[landman]

Since at the moment, there remains a couple hours of the final juvenile hunt, still some noteworthy aspects of this year's deer harvest I doubt will change much once the numbers get finalized.

First, over 160,000 deer have been checked in by hunters for the 2015 deer season (excluding WMAs).
Secondly, over 46% of those deer (and remember this is for the entire state, not just Unit L, etc.) ---- 46% of the deer are females. On a statewide basis, that's very close to a "balanced" sex harvest.

In summary,
Percentage female of total harvest:
2011 = 42.83% of 162,609 total killed
2012 = 43.40% of 171,431 total killed
2013 = 43.90% of 162,703 total killed
2014 = 42.18% of 158,410 total killed
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seems to be fairly "stable" year-to-year numbers?
2015 = 46% plus of 160,000 plus . . . . . . Total deer kill essentially unchanged, but a noteworthy jump in percentage female.

It may be premature as to say "how" or "why" this happened,
but in 2015 we took a turn towards a more "balanced" sex harvest, which should help to improve buck:doe ratios, which should contribute to slightly more intense rutting activity in the future (more competition between bucks for the available does), i.e. better deer hunting.

And if you look at all those above numbers for 2011 thru 2015, they seem to add credulence to those claiming the total deer harvest is effected more by the number of gun hunting days, than the buck limits. Seems "noteworthy" that the total deer harvests has only varied between 158,410 and 171,431 over the past 5 deer seasons.

If you go back and look at the year TN went from 11 bucks to 2 bucks the Doe kill was higher on the 2 buck limit, and if you look at the following year when it went to 3 bucks the 2 buck year had a higher doe kill than that year

 

[knightrider]

:whip:

 

[Winchester]

Laughing so hard my side is hurting!! No matter what the #'s say the 2 buck limit saved all the young bucks right guys????

 

[Vermin93]

Laughing so hard my side is hurting!! No matter what the #'s say the 2 buck limit saved all the young bucks right guys????

I don't think the numbers are funny, but they are interesting and a possible indicator that the yearling buck harvest in Tennessee is heading in the right direction.

9/1/2014 - 1/12/2015
Antlered bucks: 76,610
"Antlerless" bucks: 10,618
Button bucks: 8,272
Total bucks: 95,500

9/1/2015 - 1/11/016
Antlered bucks: 78,742
"Antlerless" bucks: 3,063
Button bucks: 8,393
Total bucks: 90,198

 

[megalomaniac]

really encouraged seeing an improvement toward a more balanced sex harvest...