FOR FIRST TIME EVER–MORE MATURE BUCKS KILLED THAN YEARLING

[BassBoysLLP]

http://wiredtohunt.com/2016/01/13/for-f ... ed+To+Hunt)

By Mark Kenyon

The Quality Deer Management Association has just released their annual Whitetail Report and this 2016 edition is headlined by a pretty huge announcement. For the first time in recorded deer management history, more mature bucks (3.5 years old+) were killed than 1.5 year olds!

Specifically, 34% of the reported buck harvest was 3.5 years or older, compared to 33% being 1.5 years old. This data is from the 2014/15 season, which is the latest available, so I’d imagine these numbers might be even more dramatic for the 2015/16 season that we just wrapped up. Pretty crazy, right?

That said, these numbers are looking at buck harvest nationally, so the age-structure of the buck harvest in your state might be different. But even in my home state, where yearling bucks are still the most commonly killed age group, positive change is happening. In fact in 2008, when I first launched Wired To Hunt, 61% of the bucks killed in Michigan were 1.5 years old. Now that number has dropped nearly 20 points to only 43% of the kill. That my friends, is good news.

If you’re interested in seeing what the situation is in your own state, be sure to download a copy of the 2016 Whitetail Report.

And for more on this exciting news, check out the QDMA’s press release, copied in full below.

***

ATHENS, GA (January 13, 2015) – U.S. whitetail hunters are taking more mature bucks than 1½-year-old or “yearling” bucks for the first time in modern history, according to data compiled by the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) for its 2016 Whitetail Report, now available online.

In the 2014-15 hunting season, the most recent season with complete deer harvest data available from every whitetail state, the percentage of yearling bucks in the national buck harvest dropped to a new record low of 33 percent, falling below the harvest rate for 3½-year-old and older bucks – 34 percent – for the first time since whitetail populations were restored in the mid-1900s.

“Since QDMA was founded in 1988, we’ve watched the harvest pressure on yearling bucks decline steadily from the extremes seen after restoration, and this resulted in climbing rates of mature-buck harvest as more older bucks became available,” said Kip Adams, QDMA’s Director of Education & Outreach, who compiles the annual Whitetail Report. “However, the 2014-15 season will be remembered as the first where the two trends intersected and hunters took more mature bucks than yearlings.”

Of the 26 whitetail states that collect age data on older bucks, the top state in harvest of mature bucks for the 2014-15 season was Mississippi, where 74 percent of bucks killed were 3½ years old or older. Rounding out the Top-5 were Arkansas and Louisiana at 67 percent, Texas at 62 percent, and Oklahoma at 60 percent. Not surprisingly, these same states achieved some of the lowest rates of yearling-buck harvest in the nation. In fact, for the third year in a row, Arkansas claimed the lowest rate at only 8 percent.

“The ongoing decline in harvest pressure on yearling bucks means that more and more hunters are enjoying an opportunity to see and kill mature bucks,” said Adams. “They’re also enjoying other benefits of hunting deer populations with healthy numbers of older bucks, like intensified rut activity, more rubs and scrapes, and better success with rattling and grunt calls. This is good for hunter retention and participation, which is good for ensuring the future of deer hunting.”

While the age divisions of the buck harvest are tilting more favorably toward older bucks, overall buck harvest numbers were down again in the 2014-15 hunting season. Nationally, the total estimated buck harvest declined 4 percent for the second year in a row, from an estimated 2.73 million in 2013 to 2.61 million in 2014. Seven of 13 states in the Midwest, eight of 11 states in the Southeast, and all 13 states in the Northeast shot fewer bucks in 2014 than 2013.

Complete state-by-state estimates of total buck harvest, buck age structure, and other harvest parameters are available in the full Whitetail Report, which also includes a look at numerous other critical issues for whitetails and deer hunters. Download a free PDF of the 2016 Whitetail Report, or purchase a printed copy for $10.

[mheichelbech]

Interesting....if "let them walk" could ever be a tenth as popular as catch and release there's no telling what could happen...

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Lockdown]

Not tryin to be negative on a positive post...

How can this be accurate? Pretty sure when we register deer in MN they ask if it's an adult male, adult female, or fawn. Nothing else.

Furthermore EVERYONE would have to have their deer aged???

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[kenn1320]

Not tryin to be negative on a positive post...

How can this be accurate? Pretty sure when we register deer in MN they ask if it's an adult male, adult female, or fawn. Nothing else.

Furthermore EVERYONE would have to have their deer aged???

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I don't know how other states do it, but Michigan has check stations. They also visit the same processors every year at the same time to age deer and take data like number of points and main beam diameter. No they aren't checking every deer, but looking at trends over many years.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Lockdown]

Not tryin to be negative on a positive post...

How can this be accurate? Pretty sure when we register deer in MN they ask if it's an adult male, adult female, or fawn. Nothing else.

Furthermore EVERYONE would have to have their deer aged???

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I don't know how other states do it, but Michigan has check stations. They also visit the same processors every year at the same time to age deer and take data like number of points and main beam diameter. No they aren't checking every deer, but looking at trends over many years.

[ Post made via Android ]

I wish MN was more in depth like that. DNR and deer management is a sore subject with me. Recently they even added online registration.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Stanley]

I would have to see it to believe it.

[Dewey]

:think: I would have to see it to believe it.

Yeah I find this hard to believe. Wondering where they collected their data from? A vast majority of deer killed every year are never physically aged especially now with electronic registration.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dan]

Sounds awesome... But I don't buy it... Probably derived from a sample that was skewed.

[cedarsavage]

:think: I would have to see it to believe it.

Yeah I find this hard to believe. Wondering where they collected their data from? A vast majority of deer killed every year are never physically aged especially now with electronic registration.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

E registration can skew big time I've seen guys call a spindly 5 pt three years old

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[JoeRE]

Yea, Iowa only has a hunter record antlered buck, button buck, or doe, so no complete data there either. I am certain more yearlings were shot than 3.5 year old bucks in the state - zero doubt in my mind. Its not even close. My trail cameras show twice as many yearlings as 2 year olds, twice as many 2 year olds as older bucks, etc. That skewed age distribution only happens when most bucks get shot before age 2, even here in Iowa. Lots of places would be worse.

I am sure something was estimated from a sample survey but to cover the entire nation...surveys would have to be enormous to be accurate.

I will say this - more yearlings get through now than 10-20 years ago in Eastern Iowa. I agree with that. Its still a minority though.

Just a thought, maybe the article was ONLY talking about QDMA properties.

[fishlips]

Looks like 2014 in WI yearling buck harvest was 38 - 56% of the buck kill depending on what region you are in. The 38% is definitely the exception, the next lowest is 48%, so around 50% for the state is probably reasonable. I would bet that 2 y/o is the next largest age class, with 3+ being fairly small. Doesn't seem to hold true in WI and would imagine it doesn't in other Midwest states.

Crazy to see the yearling doe %. That is around 30% for the most part. We like our antlers here in WI!

[cbigbear]

Yes there are major flaws in the qdma reporting. See page 6 of the attached 2016 report.
https://www.qdma.com/uploads/pdf/Master_WR_2016.pdf

MS is the top state in harvesting mature bucks & it's followed close by LA. Well here's the problem MS has absolutely ZERO mandatory harvest reporting. The state doesn't even issue harvest tags. LA issues antler & antlerless tags that only require the date of kill, sex, & parish to be telechecked in. So the only possibly data for these reports must be coming from private lands enrolled in the DMAP program or the select public lands that require jaw bones from harvested deer. No way is it possible this data is representative of the entire states.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[PK_]

It's all them there trophy hunters

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Tufrthnails]

Ky is telecheck also. Male or female no age input. Florida does collect jawbones at the public land check stations if the hunters is not mounting the animal.

[Tufrthnails]

page 14 shows the methods for reporting