Outdoors: Deer harvests on decline, but new reporting methods may have had By BOB SAMPSON
sports@norwichbulletin.com
Posted Feb 17, 2010 @ 08:19 PM
Since the beginning of the shotgun/rifle deer hunting season, hunters have been complaining about their lack of success in both harvesting and in some cases, even seeing deer in their hunting areas.
Department of Environmental Protection biologists recently compiled preliminary harvest statistics from the 2009 deer season, and they concur with what many hunters knew already: The number of Connecticut deer kills was down, though not as much as one might have expected.
Some of the discrepancies between expected values of this year’s data and the “real” values are a result of a huge acorn crop statewide, poor hunting conditions caused by numerous storms, cold temperatures, early deep snowfall, the new online deer reporting system (instituted for the 2009 season) and a surprise 100 percent license fee increase in place as of Oct. 1, 2009.
The doubling of license and permit fees was one reason only 59,161 permits were issued this year. This was the first time permit sales fell below 60,000 since 1993, a 7.6 percent drop from the 64,000 permits issued in 2008.
Archery permits were down only 2.5 percent, largely because the season started in September, prior to the increase. Shotgun/rifle permits dropped 7.6 percent, while muzzleloader permit sales fell 15 percent. That was unexpected because the season was expanded by a week, providing additional hunting opportunities for those who may have failed to bring home venison during the gun season.
Bows up, guns down
Surprisingly, despite a constant barrage of heavy rains and wind, Connecticut bow hunters reported (online) shooting 4,718 deer, a 31 percent increase over the 3,608 reported during 2008.
This unexpected anomaly might represent a more precise bow harvest number due to the convenience of reporting over the Internet.
The gun season brought a major change in deer checking. This year, hunters were required to take deer to check stations from Wednesday’s season opener through the first Saturday, a total of four days. All other deer had to be reported to the DEP via the new online reporting system.
Deer checked during those four days totaled 2,687 in 2009 as compared to 3,556 during that same period in 2008. This 24 percent decrease combined with the online deer kill reports pushed totals in 2009 to 5,082, a 29 percent decrease from the 7,208 deer killed during the 2008 shotgun/rifle season.
Was this large drop in deer harvest due to:
A) The acorn crop and weather factors?
B) A lack of reporting by legal hunters unfamiliar with the Internet?
C) The possibility that some legal, permit-carrying hunters became poachers due to the increase in license costs?
Or D) All of the above?
My guess is “D” — plus a few other factors.
Honor system
This is a classic example of why annual reports of this kind may be relatively accurate, but may not tell the real story, due to changes in methodology.
Unlike in past years, the online reporting system relies on participants being honest. But once the deer is hanging in the barn or shed, who’s going to know? Only you, and that’s only if you forget to fire up the computer within the 24-hour reporting period. But if you did, I’d recommend doing it anyway and lying about the exact date rather than neglect adding your information. Reporting the deer taken from the system is far more important than the exact date of the kill.
The 2009 Connecticut deer harvest is tentatively estimated at 11,774 deer, only a 7 percent overall reduction from the 12,682 deer killed in 2008 and well within expected ranges for the annual Connecticut deer harvest.
Honesty in reporting is the key factor. If you kill one, log it in by phone or computer — either way works.
Hunters will continue to speculate about their lack of success last fall and blame it on coyotes, weather or acorns, all valid reasons for individual successes or failures.
However, when the statewide statistics are analyzed for 2009, it looks like bow hunters did well enough to nearly make up for the lack of success by gun hunters.
That’s something that has never happened.
Not an easy answer
But the question hunters will muse over until next year is, did all or most hunters who harvested deer with a gun or muzzleloader report their kills to the DEP through the online system?
If reporting among bow hunters apparently increased due to the computer system, why wouldn’t gun hunters, who were often spared long trips from their hunting areas to designated check stations then back home, not follow suit?
Biologists won’t know until the online system has had a few seasons to stabilize.
Harvest statistics, along with other biological data, are what hunting regulations rely upon. In order to manage our deer, turkey, and small game populations properly, these numbers must be precise.
If you are a hunter and care about the sport, remember, honesty is the best policy. Be sure to fill out report cards: Call or go online to log your deer kill data into the system next year — for the benefit of both hunters and the hunted.
Bob Sampson’s outdoors column appears every Thursday in the Norwich Bulletin.
sports@norwichbulletin.com
Posted Feb 17, 2010 @ 08:19 PM
Since the beginning of the shotgun/rifle deer hunting season, hunters have been complaining about their lack of success in both harvesting and in some cases, even seeing deer in their hunting areas.
Department of Environmental Protection biologists recently compiled preliminary harvest statistics from the 2009 deer season, and they concur with what many hunters knew already: The number of Connecticut deer kills was down, though not as much as one might have expected.
Some of the discrepancies between expected values of this year’s data and the “real” values are a result of a huge acorn crop statewide, poor hunting conditions caused by numerous storms, cold temperatures, early deep snowfall, the new online deer reporting system (instituted for the 2009 season) and a surprise 100 percent license fee increase in place as of Oct. 1, 2009.
The doubling of license and permit fees was one reason only 59,161 permits were issued this year. This was the first time permit sales fell below 60,000 since 1993, a 7.6 percent drop from the 64,000 permits issued in 2008.
Archery permits were down only 2.5 percent, largely because the season started in September, prior to the increase. Shotgun/rifle permits dropped 7.6 percent, while muzzleloader permit sales fell 15 percent. That was unexpected because the season was expanded by a week, providing additional hunting opportunities for those who may have failed to bring home venison during the gun season.
Bows up, guns down
Surprisingly, despite a constant barrage of heavy rains and wind, Connecticut bow hunters reported (online) shooting 4,718 deer, a 31 percent increase over the 3,608 reported during 2008.
This unexpected anomaly might represent a more precise bow harvest number due to the convenience of reporting over the Internet.
The gun season brought a major change in deer checking. This year, hunters were required to take deer to check stations from Wednesday’s season opener through the first Saturday, a total of four days. All other deer had to be reported to the DEP via the new online reporting system.
Deer checked during those four days totaled 2,687 in 2009 as compared to 3,556 during that same period in 2008. This 24 percent decrease combined with the online deer kill reports pushed totals in 2009 to 5,082, a 29 percent decrease from the 7,208 deer killed during the 2008 shotgun/rifle season.
Was this large drop in deer harvest due to:
A) The acorn crop and weather factors?
B) A lack of reporting by legal hunters unfamiliar with the Internet?
C) The possibility that some legal, permit-carrying hunters became poachers due to the increase in license costs?
Or D) All of the above?
My guess is “D” — plus a few other factors.
Honor system
This is a classic example of why annual reports of this kind may be relatively accurate, but may not tell the real story, due to changes in methodology.
Unlike in past years, the online reporting system relies on participants being honest. But once the deer is hanging in the barn or shed, who’s going to know? Only you, and that’s only if you forget to fire up the computer within the 24-hour reporting period. But if you did, I’d recommend doing it anyway and lying about the exact date rather than neglect adding your information. Reporting the deer taken from the system is far more important than the exact date of the kill.
The 2009 Connecticut deer harvest is tentatively estimated at 11,774 deer, only a 7 percent overall reduction from the 12,682 deer killed in 2008 and well within expected ranges for the annual Connecticut deer harvest.
Honesty in reporting is the key factor. If you kill one, log it in by phone or computer — either way works.
Hunters will continue to speculate about their lack of success last fall and blame it on coyotes, weather or acorns, all valid reasons for individual successes or failures.
However, when the statewide statistics are analyzed for 2009, it looks like bow hunters did well enough to nearly make up for the lack of success by gun hunters.
That’s something that has never happened.
Not an easy answer
But the question hunters will muse over until next year is, did all or most hunters who harvested deer with a gun or muzzleloader report their kills to the DEP through the online system?
If reporting among bow hunters apparently increased due to the computer system, why wouldn’t gun hunters, who were often spared long trips from their hunting areas to designated check stations then back home, not follow suit?
Biologists won’t know until the online system has had a few seasons to stabilize.
Harvest statistics, along with other biological data, are what hunting regulations rely upon. In order to manage our deer, turkey, and small game populations properly, these numbers must be precise.
If you are a hunter and care about the sport, remember, honesty is the best policy. Be sure to fill out report cards: Call or go online to log your deer kill data into the system next year — for the benefit of both hunters and the hunted.
Bob Sampson’s outdoors column appears every Thursday in the Norwich Bulletin.