One of my favorite ways of evaluating hunting pressure is to evaluate the instantaneous and net intensity (hunters/sq.mile/day) for a given property, something I routinely call the pressure flux. Which one would you choose?
Scenario 1: 3200 acres of public land that produces good bucks every year. This property sees the following hunting pressure out of a 16 week season:
- 32 hunters/sq.mile/day (2 hunters/40 acres/day) for 2 weeks of the peak rut
- 40 hunters/sq.mile/day (2.5 hunters/40 acres/day) for the 1 week of rifle season
- 32 hunters/sq/mile/day (2 hunters/40 acres/day) for the 1 week of muzzleloader season
- 6 hunters/sq.mile/day (0.31 hunters/40 acres/day) during the week for 12 weeks
- 12 hunters/sq.mile/day (0.75 hunters/40 acres/day) during the weekend for 12 weeks
The maximum instantaneous pressure in this situation is 40 hunters/sq mile/day during the 1 week rifle season. The net pressure flux for the season is 14.3 hunters/sq mile/day.
Scenario 2: 120 acres of private land shared between 6 hunters that can be classified as “weekend warriors”. The hunters and neighbors practice QDM. During rifle season, 3 of the 6 hunters bring one family member to hunt (9 total hunters). This property sees the following hunting pressure out of a 16 week season.
- 32 hunters/sq.mile/day (2 hunters/40 acres/day) for 2 weeks of the peak rut
- 48 hunters/sq.mile/day (3 hunters/40 acres/day) for the 1 week of rifle season
- 32 hunters/sq/mile/day (2 hunters/40 acres/day) for the 1 week of muzzleloader season
- 0 hunters/sq.mile/day during the week for 12 weeks
- 32 hunters/sq.mile/day (2 hunters/40 acres/day) during the weekend for 12 weeks
Similar to scenario 1, the maximum instantaneous pressure in this situation is during rifle season when pressure is at 48 hunters/sq mile/day. The instantaneous pressure is higher than public land each weekend (32 hunters/sq.mile/day); however, no one is hunting the property during the week. The net pressure flux for the season is 15.9 hunters/sq.mile/day, higher than public land.
Which one do you choose?