Is Archery Hunting Season Destroying Our Deer Herds?

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A letter writer for the Observer-Reporter says that pre-rut archery hunts are destroying the deer herd because of the removal of larger bucks – i.e. the stronger, dominant genes – from the mating period called the rut. Here’s what he says.

For 30 plus years the Pennsylvania Game Commission, as well as every other state Wildlife Agency, have bought into this “mindset” that you can remove the dominant members of the herd, to no detriment of the species, because all the trophy genes are already in there. By allowing 300,000 plus archers to systematically remove the best genes from the gene pool through a pre rut archery season that spans six plus weeks, including the rut itself, you have doomed the whitetail deer to its current sorry state. There is absolutely no reason to hunt a mature buck before the rut unless you desire to eliminate all deer from an area.

What do you think? Is there scientific proof to support this man’s theory? Read the rest of his letter and respond in the comment section below if you would like to add something to this debate.

Tom Remington

G.MOCK

NOT EVERY ARCHER GETS A BUCK OR EVEN A DEER FOR THAT MATTER.AND NOT EVERYONE WHO HARVESTS A BUCK TAKES A BIG DOMINATE BUCK.THE GENES ARE STILL THERE WITHIN THE HERD.THE HARVEST REPORTS IN PA. ARE STILL HIGH.IT SOUNDS LIKE SOME FIREARMS HUNTERS DON’T LIKE SOME PEOPLE GETTING FIRST CRACK AT THE BIG ONES.
G.MOCK

ALSO IF THE HERD IS BEING REDUCED,I THINK IT’S BECAUSE OF BUCK AND DOE SEASONS BEING AT THE SAME TIME NOW.MANY HUNTERS WHO USED TO HUNT ONLY BUCKS ARE NOW TAKING DOES.
http://n/a JACK RAT

Archers have it a lot harder than rifle hunters. We have a range of 60 yrd’s at the most, if you practice your butt off. Most hunters will limit themselves to 40 yrd’s to get good penitration and make an ethical kill.I have witnessed rifle hunters aiming over the back of an animal to compensate for the bullet drop at the range they were presented with, instead of stocking closer.And I can’t remember when the mature whitetail deer ever dropped it’s guard.Maybe the middle of the rut, in rifle season.
http://deerPhD.com Bryan

Tom,

What this author is claiming is absurd. This author’s argument is based on the assumption that a trophy buck only passes its ‘big buck genes’ when it has a large rack. What is left unmentioned is the fact that genes are permanent. A trophy buck may have mated for several years before he sports a trophy rack. If he is harvested prior to mating that year, there’s still a great possibility (almost a guarantee?) that he mated and passed his genes SEVERAL TIMES in the past.
http://www.simplyoutdoors.net Arthur

I have to say that Bryan tooks the words right out of my mouth. There are plenty of times a particular buck has a chance to pass on his genes before he is described as mature. Geesh. Not much logic behind that thinking in my mind.
http://www.outdoorsman.com Jared Nichols

The point of hunting is to control herd sizes. If it were hurting the herds too badly, the permits would be eliminated in the hurt areas until they made a come back. Gotta love articles such as this one, makes you wonder what research and credentials they have to back it up.
George

Has anyone out there heard from Texas, Michigan, or New York complaining about NO DEER? Is it just Pea Ay that has all the whiners?

With Pennsylvania’s deer herd at an estimated 1.37 million animals, I wonder why so many are complaining about NO DEER??
Tom Remington

George – I think at least to some degree, it’s what you grow up being used to. PA has had tons of deer for a long time. Perhaps too many perhaps not. Where I grew up we were used to hunting in areas where 10-15 deer per square mile was good. Over the course of one season, hunting maybe 5 or 6 days total, I would see anywhere from 0 – a doz deer, sometimes bagging one.

So, for me, when I hear complaining that it’s so bad that on one day’s outing hunters bitch because they only saw maybe 30 -50 deer, that doesn’t compute well with me.

That still doesn’t answer your question or the one as to whether or not PA has enough, too many or not enough deer.
George

I have hunted many seasons in the hills of PA. Some years were bountiful. Others not so. It always seamed to flow in a cycle, depending on how severe the winter was. Ice covered snow pack was always hard on the Deer Herd. Not to mention all other critters that need browse. As well as the fall mast how much or how little to provide food, as we all know.

For myself I have watched the forests of PA turn down right ugly. Granted in the summer the dead trees do not stand out, and on the surface the beauty of the hinterland is still on the surface. But in the stark cold of the winter the devastation is evident. Are the Deer to blame for the deforestation? Are they destroying the new growth? Or do we look for invasive species of insects like the Chinese Beetle and others that have blighted the forests.

Do deer herds need to be reduced in some areas for the health of the forests? Many think so, especially those involved in forestry products. Need to be reduced for their own protection to not eat themselves into starvation like Easter Islanders. (We may get there ourselves one day)

I have to STILL side with the researchers at Penn State and other studies that know far much more than myself about how all contributing factors fall in on the subject of deer herd densities. I can’t just throw out that Archery is gutting the herd of dominant Bucks to eliminate deer as a blanket statement. The logic of the article is reasonable but is it factual, given that PA Deer populations are among the top in the Nation.
Tom Remington

The following three articles address this topic nicely. Bear in mind when reading the Newsweek article that several scientists have proven that the research information used in the article was shown to be faulty and conclusions reached based on bad data.

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2009/01/13/trophy-hunting-produces-survival-of-weak-and-scrawny/

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2009/01/14/does-trophy-hunting-spoil-the-gene-pool/

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2009/01/19/rebuttal-dr-valerius-geist-responds-to-newsweek-article-on-trophy-hunting/

Is Archery Hunting Season Destroying Our Deer Herds?

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