Although the deer herd in Quebec has reached record highs (quantity), the rapidly growing hunter population of Qc has observed the two following phenomenon’s; an unbalanced herd in the favor of females, and a lack of mature males among the deer population.
30 years ago in Qc you could hunt whitetail deer of any age or gender. When the alarming numbers of deer that were harvested every year declined dramatically (1964/11 409 to 1973/ 3 492) Quebec had no choice but to change its hunting regulations. There would be no more hunting of doe’s or their fawns for many years. The lack of deer and the low chances of success also contributed to a huge drop in the sales of hunting permits from 126 474 to 68 565 over the course of those (+/-)10 years.
In 1974 there were 57 734 permits sold and 1155 deer’s harvested, a success rate of 2%. 30 years later in 2004, 57 926 deer were harvested with a success rate of 35%. This goes to show that the regs were made in a fashion to increase the deer population, and that it did it well…. Too “well” in certain areas actually. There are some places in QC where the deer density is estimated to be as high as 15.8 deer/km².
An overabundance is usually not healthy for a species. In the case of the overabundance of deer in Qc we have encountered several problems; Higher deer related traffic accidents, damage to farmers crops, and there is also a risk of disease and malnourishment where there are high concentrations of deer. A study has shown that there has been a decline in the overall size/weight of the bucks found in Quebec in the last 30 years. From 1973-1980 the average weight for a 1 ½ yr. old buck was 57,64kg, the average from 1996-2000 was 52,33kg. As for mature bucks (5 ½ yr. old) the average weight in 1973-1980 was 99,59kg and 76,60kg in 1996-2000. Is this from malnourishment? Genes? Pollution? Habitat changes? Other? You be the judge. (I will not go into great detail, but this same study has shown us that the antlers of our bucks have also seen a decline in size).
In the year 2000 54% of bucks that were harvested in QC were approx. 1 ½ yrs.old, and 11.5% were estimated to be over 4 ½ years of age. The remaining 34.5% that were harvested were either doe’s or fawns. There are even area’s that have up to 74% of their harvest being composed of bucks approx. 1 ½ yrs.old. It is also interesting to note that in the year 2000 the average age for the entire Quebec harvest was 2,41 yrs.old.
As hunters we have had to change our ways over the course of the last +/- 30 years to help the growth of our deer population. Wouldn’t it be time to collect the fruits of our labor? With over population of females and a low number of mature males I believe that changes in our wildlife management programs are in order. Couldn’t hunting be used as a tool to help fix these problems?
30 years ago in Qc you could hunt whitetail deer of any age or gender. When the alarming numbers of deer that were harvested every year declined dramatically (1964/11 409 to 1973/ 3 492) Quebec had no choice but to change its hunting regulations. There would be no more hunting of doe’s or their fawns for many years. The lack of deer and the low chances of success also contributed to a huge drop in the sales of hunting permits from 126 474 to 68 565 over the course of those (+/-)10 years.
In 1974 there were 57 734 permits sold and 1155 deer’s harvested, a success rate of 2%. 30 years later in 2004, 57 926 deer were harvested with a success rate of 35%. This goes to show that the regs were made in a fashion to increase the deer population, and that it did it well…. Too “well” in certain areas actually. There are some places in QC where the deer density is estimated to be as high as 15.8 deer/km².
An overabundance is usually not healthy for a species. In the case of the overabundance of deer in Qc we have encountered several problems; Higher deer related traffic accidents, damage to farmers crops, and there is also a risk of disease and malnourishment where there are high concentrations of deer. A study has shown that there has been a decline in the overall size/weight of the bucks found in Quebec in the last 30 years. From 1973-1980 the average weight for a 1 ½ yr. old buck was 57,64kg, the average from 1996-2000 was 52,33kg. As for mature bucks (5 ½ yr. old) the average weight in 1973-1980 was 99,59kg and 76,60kg in 1996-2000. Is this from malnourishment? Genes? Pollution? Habitat changes? Other? You be the judge. (I will not go into great detail, but this same study has shown us that the antlers of our bucks have also seen a decline in size).
In the year 2000 54% of bucks that were harvested in QC were approx. 1 ½ yrs.old, and 11.5% were estimated to be over 4 ½ years of age. The remaining 34.5% that were harvested were either doe’s or fawns. There are even area’s that have up to 74% of their harvest being composed of bucks approx. 1 ½ yrs.old. It is also interesting to note that in the year 2000 the average age for the entire Quebec harvest was 2,41 yrs.old.
As hunters we have had to change our ways over the course of the last +/- 30 years to help the growth of our deer population. Wouldn’t it be time to collect the fruits of our labor? With over population of females and a low number of mature males I believe that changes in our wildlife management programs are in order. Couldn’t hunting be used as a tool to help fix these problems?
