Deer Population Peak

[risto2351]

Daver,

Some very god points.
This particular one is what I am hoping for.

I also think now that the deer hunting is harder, that some will fall away from the sport too.

Maybe they will take up coypote hunting since we have
such a strong population.

 

[JOSHBRNDT]

Someone put on here about the aerial counts as being relatively similar to past years. One reason I think this is occuring is these deer are becoming more comfortable on certain properties. Meaning that there maybe 30 head on one piece of ground and none on the other. There are probably reason's for this such as less hunting pressure and more food plots. Turkeyriver is also spot on with his comments. The more pressure the farmers put on the habitat the deer population is going to decrease. The less habitat we have to provide wildlife to survive, is a direct correlation to their survival rate. If every field is farmed from road ditch to road ditch and all the trees are bull dozed down these animals have to go somewhere. So the congregate to the properties with the timber which means there is increased deer numbers and more mouths to feed in a smaller area. Thus when there are cold temps and less food you are going to have mother nature take things into her own hands and the weak will die and the strong will survive. Its scary to think that there might not be any wildlife to hunt if farming and the demolition of the habitat continue. Take the Pheasant population for instance. That used to be a yearly tradition and has come to an end as there aren't any birds and the ones that are left we don't hunt hoping we get good weather and hope the birds are able to survive in the little habitat is left.

 

[sep0667]

This I have to agree with, back in the 80's and early 90's I would have shot any buck over 130 inches, now I just don't see them or the occasional 160's to 170's I saw back then. It won't get better and I'm going out on a limb and say that hunter numbers and (hype) will decrease in the next 10 years significantly because I think deer hunting has hit it's peak also at least it's my hope.

I agree that the hunter numbers will begin to decrease. Having just graduated college it seems that the younger people that have an interest or would have an interest do it, they go out hunting. Others don't, they spend their time doing other things. Add in a decreasing herd and tougher and tougher to get permission somewhere to hunt and less people will want to even get into it. It's getting to if your family has some land, then the kids will hunt it, and maybe a couple of their friends. Not to many people will just try and get into and then stick to just public, only to find that half the time they run into other people, get stuff stolen, and have hunts messed up.
I don't know about the hype though. I think mostly thats driven by the younger generation. But, once they realize the majority of the deer they see shot on these shows are from outfitters or off some multi-thousand acre farm for hunting purposes and put the connection to it that the host of the show just paid $3500 to shoot that deer that they won't think its that cool anymore. I for one am getting so sick of all the adds of "I use this or that" and just all the different brands and marketing.