THOMSON --- A decade ago, Ron Wright couldn't imagine a weekend of deer hunting without seeing a single deer. Today, such disappointments are commonplace in an environment some hunters contend has created a deer deficit.
"I've never been more discouraged than I have in the last five years," he told Georgia Wildlife Resources Division officials during a public meeting held in McDuffie County this week to discuss potential changes in hunting regulations.
As president of a hunting club in Taliaferro County for 30 years, Wright said his members see fewer and fewer deer, making it harder to retain enough members to cover land leases.
Potential causes, he said, could include overhunting made possible by Georgia's liberal, 12-deer bag limit, the impact of coyotes and -- quite possibly -- illegal baiting on neighboring properties.
He joined others to ask officials to consider a shorter hunting season or fewer "either sex" days when hunters can kill antlerless deer.
"If things don't change, we may have to give up our lease," he said.
Melvin Edwards, who has also seen a decline in deer numbers on the 112-acre parcel he bowhunts each year, said a possible solution would be to return to designated "doe days" in specific counties.
"Even a poacher would starve to death down where we hunt," he said.
Although not all areas are seeing a decline in deer, it is certainly possible that specific areas could have problems, said Mark Whitney, the division's Game Management Section chief.
The extended bag limit, he said, was not created to encourage everyone to take 12 deer each season, but rather to allow such heavy harvests whenever landowners deem them necessary to reduce the herd.
Vic VanSant, a Thomson-based regional wildlife biologist, said areas with numerous small parcels of land are more easily over-hunted than large tracts whose managers are able to plan and control harvest numbers.
"Generally speaking, where you have a lot of small land ownerships, and everyone who owns those small parcels is deer hunting, then the chances of reducing the herd is much greater," he said. "If you have 15 tracts of just 20 acres or so, and someone on every one of them thinks you need to shoot a deer or two, it's easy to overharvest."
Chuck Williams, who hunts in Oconee County, said he sees plenty of deer -- in part because of a quality deer management "co-op" in which adjoining landowners agree on strict rules that promote the opportunity to harvest mature bucks while also maintaining appropriate numbers of deer.
Although coyote populations are increasing in Georgia, and studies show they kill and eat newborn fawns each spring, Whitney said studies are still under way to get a more precise picture of their impact on whitetail deer numbers.
Georgia's statewide deer herd was estimated at about 1.4 million in the 1990s and has been intentionally reduced to about 900,000 to 1 million today under a statewide Deer Management Plan adopted in 2005.
That plan was also designed to create better opportunities for mature bucks, and that goal is being met, at least from a statewide perspective, VanSant said.
Tuesday night's meeting was the second of eight being held statewide to get input from outdoorsmen on any changes needed in state regulations.
Among the proposals being considered are increasing the bag limit on bears from one to two in some areas, abolishing a longstanding ban on Airedales on state wildlife management areas and implementing fees for the non-hunting public that uses state wildlife management areas.
They are a pest in my area and less would be good. I have also seen a coyote so that may be helping keep the numbers down. They are a good food source but hard to balance supply and demand. It seems less young people hunting these days but I am not sure about that. I remember when there were none to hunt.
You could have over killed the deer on a small parcel like 112 acres. Maybe the deer have relocated to the adjoining properties. The deer are a pest where I live. I saw 6-7 one evening last week and 7-8 one morning early this week. I think some of the deer are moving into areas where they are not hunted. They eat my shrubbery and most anything I plant. I have seen as many as 16 in my backyard. I live in a small populated sub-division.
coyotes coyotes coyotes ... Need to have programs to increase interest in hunting them ... and educational programs to teach how to hunt them ... and put bounties on them ... and have roundups and contests with prizes for most killed, largest killed, etc. (reasonably reducing the doe limit wouldn' hurt either)
I live in a rural area of McDuffie County, where the lake and wildlife are abundant, except the deer. Back in the mid 90,s, you could see 4-5 deer in my yard every night. Then the corps. logged some of the land to get rid of diseased timber, and along with the timber went the deer.On a metal plaque nailed to a tree in my backyard where my property connects with the corps. property it reads: WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA. What a joke, the only wildlife we see now is an occasional untamed cat. Notice I didn't say wild cat, because these cats are the regular house cats that have not had human contact in so long, you can't get close to them.
Mr. Wright's statements are on the money. I hunt a large tract of land in McDuffie County and for the last 6 years have seen the deer population drop dramatically. The introduction of the Coyote into the state of Georgia is largely to blame, with too large of a bag limit coming in a close second. Deer fawn are now rarely seen because they are one of the Coyotes favorite meals. As the deer population drops, the Coyote population is exploding and they are rapidly moving into surburban communities. If you think the deer were a problem, wait until you get over-run with Coyotes. It won't be long.
The coyote factor is a big unknown - wildlife agencies are hesitant to correlate a decline in deer numbers with the growing coyote population. But more and more studies say coyotes - in the Southeast in particular - may have more effect than previously thought on whitetails. Check out this recent article from the Journal of Wildlife Management that was co-authored by US Forest Service researcher John Kilgo and UGA deer expert Karl Miller. Some scary numbers are in there:
http://www2.allenpress.com/pdf/wild-74-05-929-933.pdf
My 85 year old Dad grew up in Burke county and says that in the 30's, 40's and maybe up to the 50's there were no deer. They had all been hunted to extenction. He remembers seeing his first deer along Highway 25 at Brier Creek. I started hunting in the 70's and killed a lot of good deer in Western Burke county. Bag limits and proper training of young hunters will restore the herds where they are slim. Younger hunters with a lot of deer tags kill any and all deer within range. I might have been that way early on but I had bucks to kill and never tried to kill them all.The deer were gone and made a tremendous comeback and they will survive with good hunting techniques and management. Oh, for the guy that looses his plants to deer. Guess what they were there before you. Urban sprawl has taken a great chunk out of the deer's natural habitat.
Good hunting!!! It is a great sport!! Great article, Rob.
They're in Warren County, ready to jump out in front of you every morning! That's not fun by any means.
I think I know why the hunters aren't seeing them. It's because they've all moved to Columbia County. No kidding, on any given night, I can count 5-10 deer on the empty lot across the street from my house. They just sort of stand around. It's mostly does and fawns. Haven't seen many bucks. We have to be really careful driving through the neighborhood at night, because deer will walk (not run) right out in front of the cars. One afternoon, my dogs started barking like crazy in the back yard, so I went out to see what was going on. My husband and I counted 14 deer just walking calmly through the woods that separate our street from the one behind us. Apparently, we live along the deer superhighway or something.
It's a sad situation on our 1100 acres. We've been trophy managing for years, but 5 years of heavy coyote infestation has devastated our herd. Fawns have all but disappeared in the past 3 years and this was the worst year ever for deer harvest. It's the same story by everyone, "not seeing any deer". I have a teenager that has always enjoyed hunting but took him 5 times this year and he didn't see a single deer. The patience level of a teenager or younger kid is low and they want to at least see deer to keep their interest. I believe our entire hunting tradition is at stake, yet there seems to be a "trivialization" and "denial" of the problem by the wildlife department and many hunters a well. The deer appear to be more heavily populated around the subdivisions and the coyotes are frequenting the subdivisions as well now. Hunting is my lifetime passion and I never thought I would see the day when I would consider NOT buying a hunting license, but 2011 may be that year. With the cost of hunting leases continuing to rise and the deer disappearing as fast as you can say "coyote", finding enough hunters to fill the leases will be impossible. Even worse, one of the greatest traditions in this great country may disappear.
Sweet son (5:30) and Eubie (10:05) are well written and exactly correct. Many people don't even realize the coyote population is so bad because coyote are typically nocturnal and secretive. But on my McDuffie County lease (on Columbia County line), once heavy deer sighting have become almost non-existent and coyote signs are everywhere. Something absolutely must be done. I've leased this same tract since early 80's (nearing 30 years!) and, after what I've seen happen over the past 3 years, thinking about not renewing, and not buying license (or ammo, camo, stands, etc.). The DNR need to get its collective head out of dark places and immediately implement measures to reverse this trend.
I agree with those who say it's the coyotes. They're having a huge impact on the deer populations. And get ready for all the disappearing family pet stories. They're coming.
"The patience level of a teenager or younger kid is low and they want to at least see deer to keep their interest."
Have them hunt to eat instead of hunting for fun and I'm betting they'll keep an interest then.
This was the lowest number of deer sightings hunting in Lincoln and Columbia Counties since the late 70's.
There are huge numbers in Columbia County Subdivisions near the Savannah River, Bettys Branch, and Euchee Creek.
Bow hunting in a SD is too nerve racking. Gun hunting is insanely irresponsible.
@emergencyfan (3:34) - Believe me, we eat everything we kill and my teenager loves to eat venison. Not sure why you interpreted my post to mean that my son only hunts for fun, although hunting surely is meant to be enjoyed! He has truly been a sportsman over the few years he has hunted, only taking 2 deer while enjoying watching many others go by.
I was only stating a fact, and that is that there are so many things to distract kids in these days of mass technology and electronics that patience is just not a characteristic of most teenagers. I find that very unfortunate and hopefully my son will continue to enjoy the outdoors and to learn to have patience, not only while hunting, but in all things in life as well. I truly believe patience is a virtue and I believe hunting helps teach patience.
That said, I believe everyone would agree, it is far more fun to see deer than to not!!!
Yes in the past we had a lot more deer but that was realty a bad thing. It was making the deer to small because of the lack of food the numbers created. Now a lot of people are seeing way bigger buck than ever before.
I do think we need a shorter gun season so more buck can make to trophy size.
They should do away with muzzle loader season because there is nothing primitive about the modern guns. It is nothing but a way for gun makers to sell more guns.
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