Deer Management News This Week

Deer hunting: Here's what you need to know before the season starts November 14, 2018 Wisconsin, The Post-Crescent
... The deer population has continued to grow in northern counties ... and the cool conditions expected this season should help [Jeff Pritzl, a regional wildlife supervisor]. In 2017, hunters registered 195,738 deer, about 1 percent below 2016 and the lowest total in 35 years..,

... Total deer hunting license sales dropped by 5.8% between 1999 and 2017, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum ... an increase in federal funds from a tax on guns and other sporting equipment has helped lessen the impact in recent years ...

... Deer hunters spend an estimated $230 million in West Virginia, much of it in the rural areas of the state that depend upon the deer seasons for a large portion of their annual income. Hunting is estimated to be responsible for 5,400 jobs and $35 million in sales taxes on goods and services spent in West Virginia..,

Point Reyes National Seashore is a place for wildlife viewing. The California endemic tule elk live on these public lands. But a congressional bill is moving that may eliminate many of the elk in favor of cattle grazing. In your national park! November 13, 2018 California


Chronic wasting disease could reduce number of deer hunters November 13, 2018 Michigan, WZZM
... In 2008, a deer in a Kent County captive herd was the first in Michigan diagnosed with chronic wasting disease. In 2015, CWD was found for the first time in free ranging Lower Peninsula deer. Last month the first deer in the Upper Peninsula tested positive for the disease...

...  The hunt was initiated this year when the population surpassed 200 animals that included a high proportion of adult bulls... Over 38,400 Wisconsin residents submitted a $10 application to win one of four state tags, while approximately 5,000 more purchased a raffle ticket to win the final tag..,

Archery harvest stays ahead of 2017-18 November 13, 2018 Illinois, Chicago Sun-Times
... Through Monday, November 12, 2018, Illinois archery deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 42,654 deer, compared to 41,345 for the same period in 2017... 47% does and 53% males ...

Deadly Deer Disease Nears Indiana's Borders November 13, 2018 Illinois, WFY
... about 25 miles from Newton County... DNR encourages hunters in the northeast and northwest corners of the state to get their deer tested before eating them...

... statewide harvest numbers are down about 10 percent compared to the 2017 opening weekend of Nebraska’s firearm season...

... harvested 99,567 deer during the opening weekend ... Last year, hunters checked 94,886 deer during the opening weekend ...

Conservation department Collects 20,000 deer tissue samples November 13, 2018 Missouri, Houston Herald
... The Missouri Department of Conservation thanked Tuesday the thousands of deer hunters who participated in its mandatory CWD sampling efforts last weekend in 31 counties...

... a 72-year-old woman was shot and killed ... After the shot, the hunter heard Billquist’s scream and then called 911...

3rd CWD case suspected in Issaquena County November 12, 2018 Mississippi, Mississippi Sportsman
... A free-range 2.5-year-old female deer collected Nov. 1 has tested positive for CWD in initial testing ..,

Carnivores' return helps Yellowstone park streams November 11, 2018 Oregon, OregonLive.com
...a new study ... resurgent populations of wolves and cougars have restored the park's natural balance by knocking back elk numbers and changing the herds' behaviors, according to Robert Beschta and William Ripple of the Oregon State University College of Forestry...

Lakeway committee ramps up information-seeking campaign on deer November 11, 2018 Texas, Community Impact Newspaper
... Wildlife Advisory Committee ... voted 5-1 to conduct an additional spotlight survey ... “We know that 20 years ago we had 10 times as many deer here, and that was a problem because of the drought and starvation,”  [wildlife biologist Warren Bluntzer] ...

... combining breeding and hunting, is $1.6 billion annually, according to a study released by the Texas Deer Association. The number of permitted deer breeding facilities in the state also increased from 946 in 2006 to 1,257 in 2016..,

Prospects better for Wisconsin firearms deer season November 11, 2018 Duluth News Tribune 
... back in the early 2000s when hunters harvested more than 15,000 deer in Douglas County in one year alone, an all-time record that may never be broken ... The harvest likely will hit 5,000 deer after a kill of 4,554 last year in the county...

Baiting still tops list of Minnesota deer hunt violations November 11, 2018 Duluth News Tribune
... Hunters who set out corn, apples, carrots or prepared bait products to lure in their buck continue to be the leading source of violations ... Statewide licenses sales, at 392,056 through opening day, were down 2 percent compared to last year...

.... more than 187,000 deer hunters ... for the opening day of the deer gun season... a deer population in Oklahoma estimated anywhere between 500,000 and 1 million ..,

... Each year, large game animals consume nearly $32 million worth of forage on private lands in Montana. They also expose livestock to disease and attract predators... those interested in protecting corridors should explore voluntary conservation measures that can make elk an asset rather than a liability for landowners ...

Expect to see plenty of deer this season  November 10, 2018 Mississippi, The Clarion-Ledger 
...  one of the poorer acorn crops I've seen in a while ... Hunters have harvested fewer and fewer deer for a number of years. In some areas, officials have said fewer deer have been harvested due to an apparent decline in the population ..,

... deer numbers look good. Many areas have recovered from the large die-off in 2012 from epizootic hemorrhagic disease... Mule deer prefer more open areas in the western part of the state ..,

Deer hunt could notch safety record in Wisconsin November 10, 2018 Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal ·
... DNR records show deer hunting grew increasingly safer the past 55 years. The accident rate per 100,000 deer hunters was 27 from 1964 to 1973, 15 from 1974 to 1982, 10 from 1983 to 1992, 6.4 from 1993 to 2002 and 4.0 from 2003 to 2013...

Thirty-eight deer test positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in Pennsylvania November 10, 2018 poandpo.com
... 36 captive deer from a quarantined breeding farm and hunting preserve in Fulton County have tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)... Two additional deer from a quarantined Bedford County hunting preserve also tested positive...

... an estimated deer population of 155,000, likely the highest amount in a couple of decades as a result of several mild winters, fewer hunters and fewer areas to hunt... hopes to control the suburban deer by expanding archery hunting..,

New DNR rules nix baiting and feeding deer November 9, 2018 Michigan, Petoskey News-Review 
... In response to diseases that are spreading throughout the state and impacting deer [bovine tuberculosis, chronic wasting disease] ... baiting and feeding deer will be prohibited in the Lower Peninsula in 2019...

Deer are plentiful this hunting season November 9, 2018 Michigan, Toledo Blade
... The biologists from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources that monitor and manage Michigan’s estimated 1.75 million white-tailed deer ... Spring had relatively mild weather ..,

... 12-mile stretch of central Washington’s main north-south route ... More than 350 deer are hit each year... The best solution they’ve found: constructing wildlife underpasses... could reduce collisions by 50 percent ...

... regular testing and strict laws have kept Arizona CWD free... Last year, the department tested more than 1,200 samples statewide, and officials hope to test even more this year...

Two-week deer season quickly approaching November 9, 2018 West Virginia, The Inter-Mountain 
... the DNR estimates that 200,000 to 225,000 hunters will be going after that great deer with antlers... hunters are telling me that they have not seen the number of deer like they are seeing this year for several years...

... The constitutional amendment was approved by more than 57 percent of voters on Tuesday ... adds language protecting the right to hunt and fish to the North Carolina Constitution while establishing public harvest by sportsmen using “traditional methods” as the preferred method of wildlife management...

Deer hunters ready to fire modern guns November 9, 2018 Arkansas, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... deer were nearly extirpated in the early 1900s because of unregulated hunting. Through restocking and conservative management, deer herds recovered to such abundance that hunters have taken more than 200,000 deer per year for nearly a decade... [Ralph Meeker, the Game and Fish Commission's deer project leader]

... four additional deer from a deer farm in Crow Wing County that has been quarantined since 2016 have tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease...

Decades of Deer Hunting November 9, 2018 North Dakota, NDGF News
... In 1931 some two thousand big game licenses were sold to deer hunters [the first official deer season]  ... [In 1945] The entire deer herd of North Dakota probably does not exceed 10,000 animals...  the statewide deer population remained relatively stable through the 1960s and early 1970s ..,

... Tibbetts has a problem with the default position of the Maine law, which gives the hunter — or trespasser, in the eyes of some — the right to access another person’s land as long as it hasn’t been marked...

...  a white-tailed buck harvested in southern Liberty County and a mule deer doe harvested within the CWD-positive area in Carbon County came back positive for chronic wasting disease...

Hunters urged to monitor Ohio deer for disease November 8, 2018 19 Action News 
... Since the disease was detected in January 2018, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is requiring hunters who harvest a deer within the 2018-19 Disease Surveillance Area ... to bring the carcass in to an inspection station during Ohio’s gun s or DSA, easons...

Deer hunting tradition resumes Friday, but many don't get tags November 8, 2018 North Dakota, The Dickinson Press 
... According to Game and Fish statistics, more than 113,000 prospective hunters applied for tags in the June lottery, and nearly 55,000 were unsuccessful..,

... making plans to kill up to 150 more deer in January during the city's fourth-annual deer cull.  Before that, the city plans to conduct another round of nonlethal sterilizations of female deer to surgically remove their ovaries ... 

...  Scientists are studying their reproduction and creating a self-sustaining population in human care with the help of animal keepers. SCBI is one of four institutions in North America accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that breed the species...

Minnesota opening weekend deer harvest down from last year November 7, 2018 Grand Forks Herald 
... registered 62,702 deer, of which 36,149 were bucks, during the opening weekend of the state's firearms deer season ... That's down about 14.5 percent from last year's opener ... 

2018 Louisiana Deer Forecast November 7, 2018 Game & Fish
... Deer numbers and harvest trends remain consistent ... Deer face many challenges ... none represent a bigger threat than chronic wasting disease...

Outlook good for modern gun deer hunt November 6, 2018 Arkansas,  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... "Summer was a good one for people and deer. "Not too hot. Not overly wet." ...  This year's acorn crop is "decent to low,"   ... white-tail harvest has been just more than 200,000 deer for six consecutive seasons..,

... increase from the 4,949 recorded on the 2017 opening weekend...

Two rarely seen woodland caribou spotted in Montana November 5, 2018 The Spokesman-Review
... an aerial survey of the South Selkirk Mountain caribou herd found only three surviving members, all female... Canadian officials move the surviving members of the South Selkirk Mountain caribou herd they hope to breed the animals in captivity ...

2018 Texas Deer Forecast November 5, 2018 Game & Fish
... “The statewide deer population is going to be right around that 4.3 million to 4.6 million range. If you look at statewide trends, it’s slowly creeping up each year,” [Alan Cain, the whitetail program leader] ... “It really has just been an inconsistent year for rainfall statewide... good fawn crops in 2010 and 2013 ..,

Vermont hunters asked to submit deer teeth November 5, 2018  WCAX 
... [help] evaluate regional differences in ages ... as well as to help estimate population ...

Fall Mule Deer Survey Completed November 5, 2018 North Dakota, NDGF News
... Biologists counted 2,446 mule deer in the aerial survey in October. The buck-to-doe ratio of 43 bucks per 100 does was higher than last year and the same as the long-term average. The mule deer fawn-to-doe ratio was 84 fawns per 100 does, which was higher than 2017 but slightly lower than the long-term average of 89 fawns per 100 does..,

...  the deer population on national forest land is now growing rapidly because of the lack of management in the national forests. Deer like to have open areas ... and in recent years the U.S. Forest Service has not done much timber cutting. So there is simply not as much open space ..,

Kentucky deer season to open Nov. 10 November 5, 2018 Portsmouth Daily Times
... Wildlife officials encourage the taking of does to control a herd that exceeds 800,000..,

North Dakota Deer Preview November 4, 2018 Grand Forks Herald
... After peaking in the mid-2000s, deer numbers plummeted during a series of three severe winters in the later part of the decade. Coupled with declining habitat, especially in the eastern part of the state, deer numbers in many areas have been slow to recover..,

...What caught my attention was the following quote by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries deer biologist, who said his “greatest fear about chronic wasting disease is the toll it could take on hunting — particularly given the state’s recent efforts to recruit more hunters.”  ...

Amid graying of population, DNR tries to attract new young hunters November 3, 2018 South Carolina, Charleston Post Courier
... Last year, 146,044 deer licenses were sold statewide, a 5 percent increase over 2016, Lucas said.  “License sales have held pretty steady ... And large-scale development has significantly reduced the amount of available land...

Coyote diets in West Virginia November, 2018 Geriann Albers, West Virginia University
... white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to be the most frequently occurring item in samples at 59.5%, followed by plant material (39.7%), small mammals (19.3%), fruits and seeds (16.1%), and squirrels (Sciurus spp., Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) and chipmunks (Tamias striatus; 11.4%). Deer also had the highest mean percent volume (44.9%), followed by small mammals (11.8%) ...

Mule Deer in Nevada November 2, 2018 SoundCloud [audio interview]
    Discussion of mule deer habitat and population trends.  Effect of wildfire.  Very few mule deer in the early 1900s, brought in from other states by railcar to feed the miners....

... hundreds of reports across 49 counties of white-tailed deer who may have died from epizootic hemorrhagic disease ... In 2012, the hottest year on record in Illinois, the state saw its worst epizootic outbreak ..,

Deer poacher chased down by SC wildlife officer on electric bike November 2, 2, 2018 South Carolina, The Post and Courier 
... the S.C. Department of Natural Resources wildlife officer whirred up almost without a sound. He had an electric bike. When the flashlight turned on, the suspect just raised his hands...

Lance Cpl. Jeff Day with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources shows off his electric bike, which he says improves his efficiency and abilities on the job.


... Colorado State University is running a confirmation test, with results expected next week.  In addition, a white-tailed buck harvested in southern Liberty County was found to be suspect for chronic wasting disease  ...

Citizen soldiers take up CWD fight, providing much-needed leadershipNovember 2, 2018 Wisconsin, Green Bay Press Gazette
... Duren, 59, has been working with the DNR to set up self-serve CWD kiosks at six sites in Sauk and Richland counties so hunters can leave deer samples for testing. He’s also working to provide 10 dumpsters so it’s convenient for hunters to dump deer bones, too...

... to conduct three research projects to investigate and delineate important mule deer movement corridors and obtain landscape-scale movement data. The research will help guide mule deer management recommendations in these areas and mitigate wildlife habitat fragmentation as Arizona continues to grow...

Idaho eyes new deer management plans November 2, 2018 Lewiston Tribune Online
...  a sizable and vocal contingent of whitetail hunters in the Clearwater Region is concerned by the lack of information available on the size of the whitetail herd and the age class distribution of bucks... More detailed information on the whitetail deer survey [PDF] ... Information on the mule deer survey [PDF] ...

2018 Oklahoma Deer Forecast  November 1, 2018 Game & Fish 
... recovering from those drought years.   ... Most remember the heart-breaking season of 2013, when the harvest plunged from a five-year average of more than 105,000 down to about 88,000. After four years of drought, deer numbers in western Oklahoma were noticeably thin, and elsewhere production was spotty, with a herd that just generally was not as healthy or productive as it might be otherwise..,

...  “They out-compete native wildlife for habitat and food. For example, places with a lot of feral hogs will see their wild turkey and deer populations diminish.” ...

...  the proportion of older bucks in the deer harvest has never been higher. In 2017, three out of every four antlered bucks were 2.5 years old or older, and this remarkable accomplishment happened with hunters freely able to choose what type of buck they want to harvest..,

... Sixty percent of hunters wanted IDFG to spend more resources developing access to private land, because, according to the survey, “whitetail deer are often tied to private agricultural land and cause depredations.” ...

...  The Mendocino National Forest entered into agreements in 2017 on a project with the Mendocino County Blacktail Association and the Mule Deer Foundation in a 600-acre area that has been the focus of wildlife habitat improvement and hazardous fuels reduction as funds were available...











Searching the internet to find and conserve deer information.  

Deer in the News

Biologists bail deer out of bucket-related jam November 13, 2018 Nevada, Reno Gazette-Journal
... The top portion of the food bucket came loose and got stuck on the deer’s neck.  It wandered around the area with the plastic cylinder around its neck  ...

Deer rescued from CTA tracks euthanized November 13, 2018 Illinois, WGN-TV
... because of multiple fractures, (a) severely broken back leg, open wounds and low likelihood of survival in the wild ...
... deer got stuck ... appeared to be OK and unharmed...


Possibly oldest deer jaw in North America found in Ellensburg November 8, 2018 Washington, Daily Record-News
... “The hillside directly above the jaw is 4.9 million years old,” ... “We think the deer came across the Bering Sea land bridge ... Burke Museum on the University of Washington ..,


White-tails NY’s big game kings forever November 4, 2018 New York, Uticaod
... White-tails and their relatives ... are believed to have migrated from Asia at least a million years ago ... Deer numbers began to drop dramatically in the middle of the 19th century ... land was cleared for farming ... unregulated subsistence hunting. By 1890, white-tailed deer were considered rare to non-existent outside of the central Adirondacks..,

... what they thought was an eight-point buck...  It's either a doe with a high amount of testosterone or a true hermaphrodite deer which is basically half-and-half in the gender spectrum...

... The former Seneca Army Depot, about 57 miles (92 kilometers) southwest of Rochester, was the U.S. Army's main East Coast munitions storage facility for six decades until it was decommissioned in 2000. Now it's home to approximately 75 white deer...


Pet Deer Found After Weeks-Long Search In Kane County October 28, 2018 Indiana, WBBM NewsRadio 
... Gerdisch rescued Abigail from a processing plant in Indiana and said he felt sick not knowing how she was doing...

... the deer’s back legs were jammed between two metal bars no more than eight inches apart... When the Advance arrived at the scene at 4 p.m., the deer was found dead in the Bloomfield Conservancy...

...  Her [Facebook] post says: “Local Hunters... Please don’t shoot the 7pt with the yellow tape around his antlers if you see him, its George! ..." The post has now gone viral and folks are sending their George-spotting updates ...

Tama County white, second deer, die as result of their antlers interlocked in battle October 24, 2018 Ohio, Tama News-Herald - Toledo Chronicle
...   The cause of the white deer's death was immediately apparent because its antlers were interlocked with the antlers of another whitetail's... the white deer had been dead for days and the survivor had tried unsuccessfully for days to free himself ...



Fawn displaced by the Carr Fire returned to the wild October 23, 2018 California, KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2
... along with ten other fawns who were found injured or abandoned. Now, the fawns are roaming free in the Shasta Valley Wildlife Refuge, an area where deer hunting is prohibited...

... After learning the deer was still there on Monday, 11 News called Parks and Wildlife to get answers. They said there is a break in the deer's leg but it is not severe. The deer can live a full life with the type of injury it has ...

Historic Deer Population, Wildlife official issues deer caution during peak mating season October 17, 2018 New Jersey, app 
... October to November is peak deer mating season ... deer are more apt to suddenly run onto roadways as bucks pursue does ... New Jersey's white-tailed deer population plummeted to a handful of deer in the early 1900s, however, due to conservation efforts the herd rebounded..,

Police in Parma Heights, Ohio, saved a deer after she got trapped in a fence. The ensuing video wound up going viral with numerous praises for the officers taking the time to help the deer. (Video posted on Facebook by Parma Heights police)



Burlington Township man seeking lost pet deer October 14, 2018 Illinois, Daily Herald 
... offering a $500 reward to anyone who can bring back the pet doe who ran away after a storm last week... Abigail ... knows her name and is very friendly...

Doe survives from the raised current in Sturgeon River. October 14, 2018 Michigan


PETA Calls for End to Deer Hunting in Cornell-Owned Sapsucker Woods October 11, 2018 New York, The Cornell Daily Sun
... Over 9000 people have signed a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals petition against deer hunting in Sapsucker Woods, a Cornell-owned sanctuary which currently permits bow hunting to regulate the deer population...

Firefighters Lasso Deer Stranded In Canal October 9, 2018 California, CBS Sacramento 
... “When we got up to the doe she was very, very tired and came up to our direction almost asking for help,” ...  ‘Hey I have a lasso in my truck,’” ...

  Two Rare Albino Deer Spotted In Field  October 9, 2018 Missouri, WFMY News 2 
... a person can legally kill an albino deer in Missouri ... Killing an albino deer is illegal in six states, including Illinois...

Terrifying moment cyclist is almost wiped out by deer hit by car October 7, 2018 North Carolina, Yahoo7 News
... A cyclist has nearly been wiped out by a flying deer after the buck was hit by a car...

... Biologists managed to free one of the elk but the other died from injuries sustained while fighting wrapped in barbed wire...