Responsible Deer Management; May

Well - I've been kind of busy lately, with Dr.'s appointments, getting ready for some reconstructive surgery on my face, and addressing issues about my lack of balance. Thirtyfive years ago I tried to commit suidcide with a shotgun, by putting the barrel of a 12 guage to my lower jaw and pulling the trigger. I almost died, and the story was on all the local news channles and in the newspapers. I did loose my sight and hearing, along with most of my lower jaw, upper jaw, left cheek, nose and hard palate - which were all partially repaired during the next 10 years and 21 surgeries, I never finished those surgeries- because was tired of it. Now, after 25 years of no surgery, and some complications, I've decided to resume reconstruction of my face.

After 25 there have been some advances in surgery techniques. So, the doctor's plan is to start out by removng my lower jaw and replace it with steel and bone from my lower leg bone. If that all goes well he will attempt to put some bone into my upper jaw and palate, so I can get some functioning dentures, and for support for the next surgery, which will be to replace my left cheek and straighten out my nose, because I can no longer breathe out of the left side.

The Dr. tells me it wil be a long painful recovery, and it may all take about a year to complete, and that I will need some good family support to help get me through it all. I know I've got that. I told he Dr. I want to look like Brad Pitt when I get done ... Probablynot going to happen.

My wife Diane is recovering very fast from her lung cancer surgery, although the loss of one lung leaves her with less stamina than she had, So - she cannot work as hard, walk as far and needs more rest than she did. But, we are all glad she is doing so well - and that we still have our beloved wife mother, sister and grandmother with us. Thank you God - I know without you we could not have gone through this.

Many hunters and animal lovers want to know what the deer are doing now, , and how to prepare for deer hunting - year round. Here are my ideas on the subject.

May Deer Management

During May both bucks and does may begin to move to summer home ranges. Does will begin looking for fawning locations.

More and more hunters are interested in hunting for trophy animals. But, because State game managers are often interested in providing a large, healthy, balanced herd, and not necessarily trophy animals, these hunters are taking it upon themselves to try to increase their chances of seeing a trophy by some type of deer management (sometimes with the emphasis on growing trophies) and improving the habitat. Hunters who are only interested in helping the animals grow bigger racks by providing food plots, minerals and limiting their hunting to larger racked animals often unwittingly improve the quality of the entire herd. Not only will the bucks use the food and minerals, but so will the does and fawns. If the hunter then passes up smaller animals he gives them a chance to mature, develop fully and contribute to the gene pool.

Management Practices

There is no question that deer herds must be managed. Increasing human populations, urban sprawl and changing land practices have led to less available deer habitat while deer herds have continued to increase, which has led to an overpopulation of deer in many areas. This has compelled wildlife managers to issue abundant doe permits each year in order to keep the deer herds within the carrying capacity of the available habitat.

The deer management practices of many wildlife agencies revolve around the need to balance the deer herds in relation to the habitat while still trying to keep deer populations high enough for hunting, with hunting as the primary method of deer reduction. The current practice of keeping deer populations high enough that they can be hunted, and the past management practice of bucks only hunting, combined with the belief by many hunters that they should only shoot bucks if they want to keep deer numbers high, is precisely the reason why there are too many deer, particularly does.

To add to the problem of too many deer, but not enough bucks, the interest in trophy hunting for white-tailed deer has skyrocketed in the past few years. This interest in high scoring whitetail racks by numerous hunters puts added pressure on the already depleted number of large antlered animals, and further reduces the number of available older dominant breeding bucks. Fewer numbers of bucks, particularly older dominants, result in fewer contacts between the does and the priming pheromones deposited by bucks at rubs and scrapes. These priming pheromones are thought to cause the does to come into estrus and help synchronize the rut activity between the does and the bucks. When these pheromones are absent the does may come into estrus from as early as mid-October to as late as January.

In a deer management study by Larry Marchinton between 1981 and 1986, an increase in the buck to doe ratio from 25:100 in 1981-82, to 54:100 in 1983-84 resulted in the average breeding date changing from November 11 in 1981 to October 15 in 1982, almost a month earlier than normal, and the length of the breeding period was shortened from 96 to 43 days. In another study using quality management techniques, the average breeding date occurred almost two months earlier.

This article is adapted from T.R. Michels' Deer Managers Manual ($9.95), and from the Deer Addict's Manual, Volume 1 ($9.95).

If you are interested in more whitetail hunting tips, or more whitetail biology and behavior, click on Trinity Mountain Outdoor News and T.R.'s Hunting Tips at