QDMA Articles
By: Kip Adams
As you know the QDMA stresses education. People educated on a particular topic do two things: 1) they make better decisions with regard to the topic, and 2) they inform others and therefore pass that education on. This is a major building block of the QDM movement in PA and the Northeast. So here is some information to pass on to your friends, neighbors and hunting buddies.
For better or worse, people do not like change. Take for example when the Game Commission proposed an October antlerless season. Many hunters went out of their minds and screamed like newborn babies. Most of these people had never participated in an October antlerless season (except for archery season) in Pennsylvania or anywhere else, but it was different and they did not like it. Well I am here to tell you from a biological perspective, everything is good about Pennsylvania’s early antlerless season.
We need to increase the harvest of female (notice I did not say antlerless) deer. Fawns can be/are weaned by October so they will survive fine on their own. The greatest post-weaning size discrepancy between adult females and fawns occurs during October (this size discrepancy is not as evident during our rifle season). Thus it is very easy to select an adult doe for harvest and select against shooting a button buck. This helps reduce populations to levels compatible with the habitat and increases the percentage of buck fawns surviving to become yearlings (in 2001, hunters killed approximately 65,000 button bucks in PA).
A second advantage is the nutritional savings from an early doe harvest. During autumn, deer can eat 5 pounds of feed per day. By shooting a doe on opening day of the early season versus opening day of rifle season (44 days earlier this year), you have saved: 1 deer * 5 lbs feed per day * 44 days = 220 pounds of forage. This could be in the form of seedling buds, corn, clover, etc. If your management plan calls for shooting 20 adult does, this would be a savings of over 2 tons of vegetation! The saved forage could be divided among other deer, creating heavier deer and larger antlers, or not used at all thereby allowing forest regeneration and reducing crop damage.
A third advantage is does that have/had fawns will be lactating during October. This is critical harvest data that you should be collecting and it’s an important piece of information to assess progress in your management program. Does harvested in December are likely to be “dry” even though they had fawns that year.
Now I know people complain about meat spoiling in October because it is warm and people will get shot because there are leaves on the trees. Neither of these arguments is valid. The heat issue fails because most states’ archery seasons start well in advance of our early antlerless season. New Hampshire’s moose season even starts earlier, and most southern states’ entire deer seasons are warmer than our October season. The safety issue fails because whether leaves are on the trees or the ground, you have to know what is behind your target. If you are not 100% sure – do not pull the trigger!
From a deer biologist and the QDMA’s perspective, everything is good about Pennsylvania’s October antlerless season. Be sure to tell your neighbor, the guy or gal you see at the sporting goods store and your local commissioner about the benefits of shooting doe in October.
Kip’s Korner is written by Kip Adams, a Certified Wildlife Biologist and Northern Director of Education and Outreach for the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA). The QDMA is an international nonprofit wildlife conservation organization dedicated to ethical hunting, sound deer management and preservation of the deer-hunting heritage. The QDMA can be reached at 1-800-209-DEER or www.QDMA.com.
This article was taken directly from a previous issue of Quality Whitetails, the bi-monthly journal of the QDMA. The $30 annual membership to QDMA includes a subscription to this acclaimed publication. For information on joining QDMA, click here.
