Crunching Some Deer Numbers

A post on http://www.indianasportsman.com/ inspired me to look up the 2009 Indiana deer harvest statistics. More than anything, I did this out of interest from my earlier article Indiana Bucks vs. The Rest of the Midwest.

In that article I wrote about Indiana's trophy bucks and how they stacked up to the rest of the Midwest. The general idea was that Indiana was behind those other states. I brought up several different issues included in this. Two key issues that worked together were the buck to doe ratio and the proposed shortened firearm season.

In the short research I did today, I found that the total deer harvest beat the previous record by 3,000. The total number of deer harvested was 132,752. That number was not surprising.

Another number I found was that 60% of those that were harvested were does. That is a huge positive. In most of Indiana the estimated doe to buck ratio is around 2:1. A near 1:1 ratio is desired. Harvesting more does than bucks is a step in the right direction.

The other number that I found interesting was that 64 percent of the bucks taken were 2.5 years old or older. That is another good step. I wonder what percentage were 3.5 or older, though. I would venture to say that the percentage would drop significantly to around 30 percent. (Just a guess.)

My thing about Indiana is that I think too many hunters harvest bucks that are not yet mature (3.5 years or older).

I've said before that I am an advocate of moving gun season back into Thanksgiving week and the week after. For now, though, that's not the train I'm on.

Personally, I think antler restrictions would be a good step in the right direction for Indiana. The easiest to enforce would be a minimum number of points. I would suggest six. There are some mature deer that never get past six. This would allow most 1.5 year old bucks to walk and some 2.5 year olds to walk. Spread restrictions may also be an option, but that seems hard for the hunter to judge on the hoof.

Some people would argue that such restrictions would take out those bucks with superior genetics that get them to 6+ points at 1.5 or 2.5 years old while leaving those with inferior genetics to breed. I would say, however, that genetics play a small part in the making of big bucks compared to age and nutrition.

I'm not sure that these are the right answers, but I'm trying to get a feel for what the legislators and DNR are dealing with in these issues. Feel free to weigh in at http://www.indianasportsman.com/.