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DNR's harvest report chart

As far as population trends, I'm thinking that this year is going to be a big drop. According to the harvest report, Iowa is at a total harvest of 76,500 deer as of tonight (12/10). Last year (which was a down year once again) the total at the end of Jan. was 127,000. I'm having a hard time seeing that there will be an additional 50,000 deer killed between now and the end of January. Last year there were less than 40,000 deer harvested in the second shotgun season, late muzzleloader and Jan. anterless seasons.

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Brian
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For some reason I kept a few of the trends over shotgun season the past two years. Kind of interesting showing we aren't too far behind from the past two years. In fact, we are right on track with the last two years. I started collecting data on the december 13th of 2009 and the 3rd in 2010. Since we don't have december 13th 2011 yet but we will in a couple days. We will look at the numbers.

On December 13th 2009 our total deer kill was 86,529

On December 13th 2010 our total deer kill was 87,513

On December 10th, 2010 we were at 78,028

On December 10th 2011 we are currently at 76, 833. If I was a betting man, if the 1st day of 1st shotgun would of been nice instead of pouring rain all across the state we would of beat last years numbers. That day was miserable and nobody was hunting.


So if we kill 10,188 deer over the next 3 days we will be right in the middle of the last two years.

In 2009 from the 13th to the 17th, 14,500 deer were reported and in 2010 from the 10th to the 13th 9,600 were reported so it is possible we will be right on track with the last two years.

What does that tell us besides I am a nerd for keeping the numbers?
 
What does that tell us besides I am a nerd for keeping the numbers?[/QUOTE]


That tells us we are going to have even fewer deer next year as the percentage of deer being killed is not dropping consinstently with the population drop.

Cant wait till next year!?
 
Just adding in the numbers...... Unfortunately it looks like we are right on track with the last two years. It actually looks like we may have a higher harvest than the past two years based on December 13th and the past data I had.

December 11th and at 84,349 total

Kind of crazy, the deer numbers are down but the harvest isn't showing it at all. That is not a good sign at all......
 
Some of the groups I talked to were mad as hell about how few deer sightings they had. Then they proceed to tell me that they still tagged out, just had to work harder to do it. Makes me shake my head. Won't be long, and the state will start to issue "Buck Only" tags again to try to get the population back up to mid 90's levels.
 
Well it happened........ We have surpassed 2009 harvest and will surpass 2010. Granted I am only looking at comparable dates since I started December 13th but we are now at 87,383 deer. Who knows how the rest of the season will go though.
 
JakeWym said:
Some of the groups I talked to were mad as hell about how few deer sightings they had. Then they proceed to tell me that they still tagged out, just had to work harder to do it. Makes me shake my head. Won't be long, and the state will start to issue "Buck Only" tags again to try to get the population back up to mid 90's levels.
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Some of us here are old enough to actually remember those days. :grin: If someone had an antlerless tag it was noteworthy. Nowadays some guys shoot dozens, in some cases many dozens, of does each year.
 
Liv4Rut said:
Well it happened........ We have surpassed 2009 harvest and will surpass 2010. Granted I am only looking at comparable dates since I started December 13th but we are now at 87,383 deer. Who knows how the rest of the season will go though.
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Maybe it was just an odd year for bowhunting? At this point I am absolutely baffled. Just talked to my friend that I bowhunt with in NE Iowa, as their family goes second season, he said they have seen as many deer as they have ever seen during shotgun season, maybe more. I just don't get it. I realize a couple stands of ours may have been burned out early, but I saw more than a significant drop in deer sightings this year out of the other dozen stands and at this point I do not have the faintest idea as to why. In fact, the stands in which we saw the fewest deer sightings and lack of sign, were holding the majority of the deer they saw during shotgun season.

I guess I still have a lot to learn, but I can't seem to make a learning experience out of this...

Sent from my DROID3 using IW
 
shadowpeople said:
Maybe it was just an odd year for bowhunting? At this point I am absolutely baffled. Just talked to my friend that I bowhunt with in NE Iowa, as their family goes second season, he said they have seen as many deer as they have ever seen during shotgun season, maybe more. I just don't get it. I realize a couple stands of ours may have been burned out early, but I saw more than a significant drop in deer sightings this year out of the other dozen stands and at this point I do not have the faintest idea as to why. In fact, the stands in which we saw the fewest deer sightings and lack of sign, were holding the majority of the deer they saw during shotgun season.

I guess I still have a lot to learn, but I can't seem to make a learning experience out of this...
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Don't judge how many deer they are seeing during 2nd season as how many that property is holding during archery season. If they didn't touch it first season, that is more than likely why all of those deer are in there now. I would use the numbers that you were seeing in archery season as a more accurate figure of how many deer call that farm home.

It is interesting looking at the numbers. As of the end of 1st season, Allamakee and clayton counties had around 6000 deer harvested and as of today it is around 7000. Must not be many guys doing 2nd season up this way?

Liv, we may have surpassed the numbers as of this date, but I think the overall harvest will fall short! The numbers have really slowed in NE Iowa and we make up a huge share of the overall harvest. We'll see what happens this weekend, but all of the groups I have talked to aren't seeing much, but still filling their tags. I think it will get harder and harder and by next weekend the pressure will be way down.

Made a 35 mile loop last night through some prime whitetail habitat along the Turkey river and saw a whopping 3 deer total. :( I'm sure alot of it has to do with full moon and warm temps mixed with the gun season, but 2-3 years ago I could have taken you for that same drive on the worst night of season and showed you atleast 20+. I don't know about you guys, but I'm worried.
 
I agree it is going to fall short, I just find it interesting that it "APPEARS" we are right on track. It is going to get worse before it gets better I have a feeling....
 
dedgeez said:
Don't judge how many deer they are seeing during 2nd season as how many that property is holding during archery season. If they didn't touch it first season, that is more than likely why all of those deer are in there now. I would use the numbers that you were seeing in archery season as a more accurate figure of how many deer call that farm home.

It is interesting looking at the numbers. As of the end of 1st season, Allamakee and clayton counties had around 6000 deer harvested and as of today it is around 7000. Must not be many guys doing 2nd season up this way?

Liv, we may have surpassed the numbers as of this date, but I think the overall harvest will fall short! The numbers have really slowed in NE Iowa and we make up a huge share of the overall harvest. We'll see what happens this weekend, but all of the groups I have talked to aren't seeing much, but still filling their tags. I think it will get harder and harder and by next weekend the pressure will be way down.

Made a 35 mile loop last night through some prime whitetail habitat along the Turkey river and saw a whopping 3 deer total. :( I'm sure alot of it has to do with full moon and warm temps mixed with the gun season, but 2-3 years ago I could have taken you for that same drive on the worst night of season and showed you atleast 20+. I don't know about you guys, but I'm worried.
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I sincerely hope that you, as well as my initial thoughts on the deer numbers are completely wrong and we really have nothing to worry about. But, I can totally relate as the route we usually drive during bow season, ~10 miles where in previous years it was not uncommon to see 20+ deer a trip, this year we were lucky to see more than 2 or 3. But I still don't get where all of the deer came from for shotgun season? WTH
 
Tuesday night (dec 13th) on my way home from work I looped through one of the areas where I hunt and the deer were out in droves. 3 dozen in a corn field, 1 dozen in a bean field and half a dozen eating grass in somebodys front yard. That was only about 1/4 mile streech of road. The numbers arent as high as they normally are in my area, but my area has quite a few urban santuaries and quite a few deer get hit on the interstate.
 
SquirrelBoy said:
Tuesday night (dec 13th) on my way home from work I looped through one of the areas where I hunt and the deer were out in droves. 3 dozen in a corn field, 1 dozen in a bean field and half a dozen eating grass in somebodys front yard. That was only about 1/4 mile streech of road. The numbers arent as high as they normally are in my area, but my area has quite a few urban santuaries and quite a few deer get hit on the interstate.
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You just explained why you saw so many there.......urban area. Limited hunting. I'm sure that every other person that drives through there that does not fully understand the subject thinks that "deer are everywhere," and thats part of the problem. You add that and deer are now beginning to herd up for wintering and if people do not fully understand the topic people are mislead.
 
This year was one of the earliest years I can remember having all of the corn out around here..... I wonder if that's why we are on track with previous years trends because the deer don't have as many places to hide.... I think/hope it will taper waaaayy off over the next few weeks and we will fall way short of harvest totals.
 
Regardless of numbers,,the SPIN, will always be,"Was one of the Best Seasons Ever". That has been the message from the MI-DNR, since I began hunting up there. If you or a friend or loved one hit a deer,,Too Many! If your wife's special flowers or bush is eaten,,Too Many! If you lost a row of Corn,,Too Many! General public feeling,,TOO MANY!!
 
You just explained why you saw so many there.......urban area. Limited hunting. I'm sure that every other person that drives through there that does not fully understand the subject thinks that "deer are everywhere," and thats part of the problem. You add that and deer are now beginning to herd up for wintering and if people do not fully understand the topic people are mislead.
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Agreed! So would you guys agree its good to reduce numbers in this area?
 
I would agree its good to reduce numbers in that area. I hunt ground with the same situation, refuge areas and limited hunting. The rants on here telling everyone to stop shooting does get old. I may be a meat hunter but that doesn't mean I don't spend hours in the stand and driving around my hunting areas keeping tabs on the herd.
 
Liv4Rut said:
For some reason I kept a few of the trends over shotgun season the past two years. Kind of interesting showing we aren't too far behind from the past two years. In fact, we are right on track with the last two years. I started collecting data on the december 13th of 2009 and the 3rd in 2010. Since we don't have december 13th 2011 yet but we will in a couple days. We will look at the numbers.

On December 13th 2009 our total deer kill was 86,529

On December 13th 2010 our total deer kill was 87,513

On December 10th, 2010 we were at 78,028

On December 10th 2011 we are currently at 76, 833. If I was a betting man, if the 1st day of 1st shotgun would of been nice instead of pouring rain all across the state we would of beat last years numbers. That day was miserable and nobody was hunting.


So if we kill 10,188 deer over the next 3 days we will be right in the middle of the last two years.

In 2009 from the 13th to the 17th, 14,500 deer were reported and in 2010 from the 10th to the 13th 9,600 were reported so it is possible we will be right on track with the last two years.

What does that tell us besides I am a nerd for keeping the numbers?
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I like the fact that you have (pretty much) day-by-day numbers for the past few years. However, as of today (12/19) we are at the end of the two shotgun seasons.

The total harvest is at 100,738. I'm sure that the reported kill will climb a little bit as people that shot deer yesterday finally get around to reporting the kill, but we won't be much over 101,000.

Last year, we had 9,465 deer killed in the late muzzleloader and 8,476 in the Jan. antlerless. Even if we have the same numbers as last year, we will still be 8,000 down from last year. Or am I missing something that you have in your stats?

Brian
 
ArcheryIA44 said:
I like the fact that you have (pretty much) day-by-day numbers for the past few years. However, as of today (12/19) we are at the end of the two shotgun seasons.

The total harvest is at 100,738. I'm sure that the reported kill will climb a little bit as people that shot deer yesterday finally get around to reporting the kill, but we won't be much over 101,000.

Last year, we had 9,465 deer killed in the late muzzleloader and 8,476 in the Jan. antlerless. Even if we have the same numbers as last year, we will still be 8,000 down from last year. Or am I missing something that you have in your stats?

Brian
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To be honest with you I only kept track of a very small time frame within those dates. It seemed bow season was over and I had nothing better to do. I quickly got bored with it and it is the only data I have. I should of done better note taking.

I think we will fall short as well, at least I hope we do!!
 
Far better hunting this year than last for the shotgun hunters. Success numbers being down tell quite the story but I doubt those in charge will understand the reasons.
 
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