It's Not Too Late to Harvest Does

By DAVID RAINER

If you’ve fallen behind on the harvest of does on your lease or land, it’s time to play catch-up, according to Steve Ditchkoff of Auburn University and Gary Moody of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

According to the wildlife biologists, it’s better to already have removed the specified number from the herd, but hunters should not put it off until next season.

“If hunters still have not met their doe harvest quota, that should be their No.1 priority,” said Ditchkoff, associate professor in Wildlife Ecology and Management.

“Certainly it’s not too late (for doe harvest). Absolutely not,” said Moody, chief of the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries’ Wildlife Section. “We recommend harvesting them earlier. Every day they’re out there, they’re taking food from the rest of the herd. If you don’t get them off this season, they’re taking food all year.”

The problem for wildlife managers is that hunters tend to balk at doe harvest this close to the rut, which usually is in full swing in the middle of January.

“Hunters become more hesitant to harvest a doe because they think there’s a big buck around,” Moody said. “That’s another reason to harvest does early. Then you don’t interfere with somebody trying to find a big buck.”

Moody said the current management practices are radically different from those 20 years ago. Today the majority of the state has a liberal doe harvest for the majority of the season.

“We didn’t know as much then as we know now,” he said. “If you’re trying to get a herd started, you have to protect everything. But once you get the herd growing, ideally you want to catch it before you reach carrying capacity. We didn’t do that, not only in Alabama but also in the whole Southeast. Deer herds got way overpopulated.”

Alabama instituted the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) to work with landowners and lease holders to understand the consequences of overpopulation. Included in the program was a method for does to be removed from the herd through a tag system.

“We made an intensive effort on the Deer Management Program in the mid ’80s and early ’90s, when we didn’t have liberal doe harvest, to educate the hunters about doe harvest,” Moody said. “When we first started the DMAP, a lot of clubs saved the tags until late in year. They thought they would wait and a lot of deer didn’t get harvested.

“Our wildlife biologists worked closely with DMAP Cooperators and those who were taking does began to see results. Although many had concerns initially about the number of does to be taken, they began to get confidence in what we were doing. Then we moved into the statewide liberal harvest, got the message out and the public has become more knowledgeable about the need to manage does through proper.”

The educational campaign has become so successful that Alabama hunters now harvest more does than bucks. The 2003-04 Hunter Harvest Survey reveals that doe harvest comprised 54 percent of the total deer harvested and, similarly, 52 percent according to the 2004-05 survey. 

“We expect it to fluctuate from year to year,” Moody said. “But you’ve got to consider how much progress has been made. It used to be 70:30 bucks to does. It was tremendously skewed toward buck harvest.

“Today, clubs can get help from the wildlife biologists to determine what needs to be harvested to maintain healthy herds. Because we have a very liberal season, it gives hunters and clubs the opportunity to make the decision. The season framework allows the opportunity for hunters and managers to reach goals for each individual tract they hunt.  But, the liberal bag limit was never meant to encourage hunters to take a buck every day of the season.”

Ditchkoff insists hunters are too often short-sighted when it comes to deer management.

“If hunters would put management first and taking a buck second, I think they would kill more mature bucks in the long run,” Ditchkoff said. “After 10 years or more of proper management, they would have higher quality deer to showcase. They might not shoot as many bucks, but they would have higher quality bucks from which to choose.

“And, if hunters who don’t shoot does would just take two does, we would make great strides in achieving population goals.”

However, Ditchkoff knows it’s going to take a psychological adjustment for some hunters, and that a deer herd in balance with its habitat will also change the hunting. 

“Expectations of hunters are skewed,” he said. “I think we’ve gone through a long stretch where we expect to see six or 10 deer every time we go hunting. That’s fun, but it’s not realistic for sustaining healthy herds on many tracts. There will be a day when you see six or seven, but if you see 13 deer on a food plot, that’s possibly too many deer.

“I think hunters in the state are starting to make the right decisions about what they harvest, although we need to continue to improve in the management decisions we make.”

Yet, Ditchkoff is afraid that hunters will draw the wrong conclusions after the harvest goals have been achieved.

“You have less deer and they’re more wary,” he said. “What deer do for a living is stay alive. They avoid predators. If you put pressure on them, they’re going to be tough to see. When that happens, the knee-jerk reaction is we killed all our deer. But if you stop shooting does you lose any momentum you gained.

“The one thing I would like to add is hunters need to be more responsible and start shooting fewer bucks. Two bucks or less will go so far into improving our herd. I know the excuse of, ‘If I don’t shoot it, my neighbor will.’ Well, I can dang sure assure you if you shoot it, it’s not going to get any older.”

Hunters are urged to participate in the Alabama Deer Harvest Data Collection program. Go to www.outdooralabama.com/hunting/deerdata.cfm to fill out the harvest data.

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