Kansas Deer News

Opinions vary on Quivira refuge regulations May 5, 2013 Kansas, Kansas.com
... the beginning of deer and wild turkey hunts on the refuge...  Zach Simon, a Quivira hunter who also guides clients on area private lands... an accomplished amateur photographer ... supports the creation of more public hunting opportunities across Kansas, Klataske said he feared too much of at it Quivira could impact wildlife viewing.... “What Yellowstone is to Wyoming, Quivira is to Kansas,” [Ron Klataske, Audubon of Kansas director] said. “There should be at least one place in Kansas where a wildlife refuge is a wildlife refuge.” ...

...Conditions are also affecting the deer population, especially in the eastern Kansas whitetail herds. Lloyd Fox, coordinator of the state's big game program, said there were about 1,200 reports in 2012 of deer either becoming sick or dying of a hemorrhagic disease spread by the biting midges.  Deer are forced during droughts to congregate at scarce water supplies. Fox said the cracked, muddy flats were breeding grounds for the midges.  There are more than 600,000 whitetail deer in Kansas ...

KDWPT changes add more hunting opportunities April 20, 2013 Kansas, Pratt Tribune
... Previously, nonresidents had to purchase a $300 permit for antlerless deer and a separate $50 permit for antlered deer so the new permit will save the hunter $35... For the crossbow enthusiast, crossbows are now legal equipment during archery seasons for anyone with a valid archery permit...  Restrictions to electronic devices attached to bows were amended to allow cameras and range finders plus allowing radio frequency devices attached to arrows to make finding hit deer more efficient...

... although considered to be one of the worst outbreaks in the state, data suggests that this disease had “patchy” impacts on populations ...  A total of 1,274 deer were suspected of having Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease ... surrounding states reported the following figures for 2012: Illinois – 2,925; Iowa – 2,974; Nebraska – 5,998; Missouri – 10,177...

Crossbows will now be legal for all hunters during archery deer seasons in Kansas... Any centerfire rifle or handgun cartridge can now be used for big game hunting during the appropriate firearm season. Previously, rifle cartridges had to be at least .22 caliber and handgun cartridges had to be at least  1.28-inches long...

... the agency will ask the commission to approve the following:   Allow the use of any centerfire rifle or handgun ammunition for hunting big game... some hunters spoke against such a change, fearing it could lead to wounded deer shot with smaller bullets ...  Approve the use of crossbows by all hunters ... Many bowhunters disagree, saying the ease of crossbows will lead to more deer killed...

... CWD was first found in a lone deer in Cheyenne County, in extreme northwest Kansas, in 2005. It’s since moved steadily eastward and southward. To date 52 Kansas animals have tested positive for the disease from more than 20,000 tested. In 2011, eight Kansas deer tested positive for the disease... Wildlife and Parks’ testing program has changed since the loss of federal funding this year. Only about 375 deer were tested this year, compared to about 2,500 in 2012...

Deer disease continues to spread eastward March 6, 2013 Kansas, Kansas.com (blog)
Chronic wasting disease continues to move eastward through the Kansas deer herd ... Shane Hesting, Wildlife and Parks disease biologist, said four more cases have been identified from animals tested in 2012... One each was found in Ellis, Norton, Trego and Sherman counties...

Hunting celebrity, “Spook” Spann sentenced in poaching incident February 28, 2013 Kansas, Kansas.com (blog)
...  was formally sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City Thursday morning for a deer he shot illegally in 2007.  As per a plea agreement initially levied against Spann last November, according to court records provided Thursday, Spann’s sentence includes - Paying $10,000 in fines for the crime.  – $10,000 in restitution for the value of the buck...

A few details from Thursday's Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission meeting in El Dorado. - The agency wants regulation changes to allow all hunters, statewide, to use crossbows through the archery big game seasons ... the agency would like to liberalize regulations so all centerfire rifle and handgun ammunition could be used for legally killing deer in Kansas.

Deer numbers debated December 26, 2012 Kansas, Graphic Online
...  Lloyd Fox, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks’ big game program coordinator, said ...  from about 1911 to 1965 hunting deer was illegal because of the decrease in population.  Until the late 1940s or 1950s, it was unusual to see a deer .... a lot of misinformation has been floating around about the transmission of EHD.
“Some of the misinformation out there is that it is caused by stagnant water or because there are too many deer in one area; it’s not really a density-dependent disease,” he said.  Fox said that the midges that transmit the disease breed in low-water areas ..

Kansas deer quantity, quality won't get better December 15, 2012 Kansas.com
... For three specific reasons, I'm thinking we'll see serious declines ...Drought. Never since our first modern deer season in 1965 have we dealt with this kind of drought... Poaching. Kansas is about as close as you can get to ground zero for trophy deer poaching... Pressure. Every year more hunters hit the fields, hoping for a buck with memorable antlers. By legislative mandate, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism must meet the demand for out-of-state deer hunters ...

Texting whereabouts of deer illegal in Kansas December 11, 2012 San Francisco Chronicle
Kansas wildlife officials are reminding hunters that it's against the law to exchange text messages on the whereabouts of deer and other game that might be headed their way ... prohibits the use of a radio or other mechanical device, includes cellphones.

Kansas white-tailed deer playing in a field in Shawnee, KS



Elk sightings on the rise in Kansas December 9, 2012 Kansas City Star
... Ed Markel was almost as shocked to see another member of the deer family in Reno County last Sunday.... Elk on the Kansas prairie haven’t always been unusual. James R. Mead, an early day buffalo hunter, trader and one of the founding fathers of Wichita, described big herds of Kansas elk between 1859 and 1875...

... “We’ve had two years of exceptional drought in parts of the state  ... an effect on fawn recruitment and it’s been reduced ...  two years of more-severe-than-normal problems with hemorrhagic disease.... There are areas of the state where deer numbers are going to be down compared to historical levels ...It appears to be worse in the northeast part of the state ... ”  Lloyd Fox, big game program coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism

Shawnee, New deer cull set for Shawnee Mission Park November 30, 2012 Kansas, Kansas City Star
The Johnson County Park & Recreation District said law enforcement sharpshooters will be killing deer on several dates to reduce the population ... The park board has said it wants to keep the deer population at 50 per square mile...

... William “Spook” Spann admitted that in mid-November 2007 he unlawfully took a white-tailed deer in Stafford County, Kansas....At the time the deer was promoted as the largest whitetail buck ever taken on video. The story of Spann's hunt was featured in national magazines, videos and TV shows ...

... Two years of severe drought ...  the drought has hurt populations in some areas ... some eastern Kansas counties that had EHD outbreaks ... CWD is most prevalent in the eastern one-third of Kansas, and very rare in western Kansas.  In many places, particularly southwest Kansas, Fox said the drought has been very tough on fawns. ...

It's the third photographed by a deer hunter's trail camera. Biologist say mountain lions roaming into Kansas can be linked to their population increase in western states...

Disease blamed for rise in number of dead deer, EHD November 17, 2012 Kansas, Lawrence Journal World
... epizootic hemorrhagic disease, one of a family of viruses that includes bluetongue virus that kills deer across the U.S. every year. The virus infects deer through biting midges ...Shane Hesting, wildlife and disease coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, said the overall effect on Kansas deer was negligible, with 400 reported deaths out of a total population exceeding half a million. 

Mountain Lion confirmed in Stafford County November 17, 2012 Kansas, Kansas.com (blog)
Despite rural legend, the state has not been releasing mountain lions to control the deer population for several years, nor has a reproducing population been documented in the midwest, except for the Black Hills of South Dakota and northern Nebraska... After an absence of about 100 years, one was shot by a rancher in Barber County in 2007 ... More Information About the Lion Confirmed in Kansas from Department of Wildlife

Kansas, Sumner County deer poaching fines increase November 14, 2012 Dodge City Daily Globe
... huge economic impact hunting is for the local communities, especially deer hunting. Some non-resident deer hunters pay in excess of $3,000 to hunt deer in Kansas for a few days ... those caught spotlighting, hunting without permits, hunting with illegal landowner/tenant permits, shooting at deer from a motor vehicle (road hunting), hunting during closed season or trespassing while hunting deer could face fines in excess of $15,000... K.S.A. 32-1032

Elk rare in county, in spite of recent sightings November 10, 2012 Kansas, AugustaGazette.com
... Elk are very rare in Pratt County. Since 2005, a sighting as occurred about every other year. At least one of those was an escaped captive, said Matt Peek, a research biologist and the Elk Program coordinator for Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.  Elk have been seen sporadically in the western half of the state. There are several places where they are known to reproduce, mostly in western Kansas but there is a very small herd, also called a gang, in Ford County and one in Reno County as well ...

Rare video footage of Kansas buck pursuing and breeding a doe. - November, 2012


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Kansas data: More than 600,000 deer estimated in 2013.  Population estimated at 511,000 in 2012 after legal hunting.  Deer population in 2010: 550,000.  Two years of drought and significant EHD last year.  An estimated 30,000 deer in 1965.

Other useful links:
Report Sick and dead deer for KDWPT at this link: surveymonkey.com/s/WHZKVNS 
- 2012 Hunting Regulations
- The Deer Paparazza blog
- Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
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