NWA 11/29/13

A Northwoods Almanac for Nov. 29 – Dec. 12, 2013   

Deer Hunting Stats

I’m keenly interested in the deer hunt from the perspective of one who broadly observes the natural world and who often sees the extensive impacts of too many deer on understory trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species. The plant impacts cascade down to alter food and cover habitats for birds, small mammals, amphibians, various insects like butterflies, and many other species. Thus, I try to pay attention to harvest numbers, and how we try to manage deer on the landscape. Here’s a summary of Wisconsin’s deer-hunting statistics in even-numbered years (for the sake of brevity) since 1966:

	Archery Harvest	% Hunter Success	Gun Harvest	% Hunter Success	Total Harvest
1966	5,986	7%	110,062	25%	116,048
1968	6,934	6%	119,986	23%	126,920
1970	6,529	6%	72,844	14%	79,364
1972	7,087	7%	74,827	14%	81,914
1974	12,514	10%	100,405	18%	112,919
1976	13,636	10%	122,509	20%	136,145
1978	18,113	11%	150,845	23%	168,958
1980	20,954	13%	139,624	22%	160,578
1982	30,850	16%	182,715	28%	213,565
1984	38,891	19%	255,726	39%	294,617
1986	40,490	18%	259,240	39%	315,046
1988	42,293	20%	263,424	40%	305,817
1990	49,291	22%	350,040	50%	399,331
1992	60,478	27%	288,820	43%	349,298
1994	66,254	28%	307,629	46%	373,883
1996	72,941	31%	388,791	57%	461,732
1998	75,301	31%	332,254	49%	407,355
2000	86,799	33%	528,494	76%	615,293
2002	54,133	24%	317,888	51%	372,021
2004	103,572	41%	413,794	63%	517,366
2006	113,918	44%	393,306	61%	507,224
2008	99,284	37%	352,601	54%	451,885
2010	83,833	33%	253,038	40%	336,871
2012	94,267	35%	274,047	43%	368,314

Analyzing this data requires an understanding of a dizzying array of factors, all of which combine to create endless discussion and controversy. I certainly claim no truth, particularly any with a capital “T”, but I do have some thoughts and questions:

 - Note the dramatic increase in archery harvest success and the percentage of hunter success over nearly 50 years. Archery now accounts for around one-quarter of all deer harvested.

- The up-and-down variability in harvests from year-to-year indicates just how many factors are involved in the hunt. Hunter success clearly is not a simple and direct result of a high deer population. (I did not include the buck vs. doe/fawn harvest numbers, but they tell an essential part of the story as well, and require interpretation. Harvesting antlerless deer helps reduce deer numbers and has been used effectively to do so.)

- The total harvest today is akin to that seen in the 1990s, and well above the previous decades.

- The number harvested in 2000 was the extreme high – nearly 100,000 above any other year (including the odd-numbered years not listed). Was this a “perfect storm,” and what were its implications?

- I often hear that the reason for our recent lower deer harvest numbers is that deer habitat is changing for the negative – forests are aging – and thus we need far more tree harvest to support the deer. I question that conclusion, though clearly deer prefer younger forests. We harvested over ½ million deer in 2006 (and in 2007) – there’s simply no way forest habitat could have changed that much in 6 years to cause the harvest decline we’ve seen in the last four years.

- Note the variability in percentage of hunter success, which begs the question: What is a reasonable expectation for success? If 4 out of 10 hunters experience success, is that reasonable? Success through the mid-1980s was less than 3 out of 10 hunters. I remember my father-in-law, who passed away three years ago at age 95, saying that in his prime hunting years even seeing a deer during the hunt was considered a pretty big deal, and he was an excellent, mobile hunter, not just one hunched over a bait pile.

            There are dozens of other thoughts and questions to ponder here, but the major question that bedevils anyone who loves the Northwoods is: What should we consider a “normal” hunt? And more importantly: What should we consider to be a desirable deer population within our overall ecological framework?

            My sensibility, when looking at the big picture of sustaining all native species, is that deer populations are still too high statewide. The trophic cascade they cause is real and serious. However, local variability in numbers is another set of stories, which adds yet other layers of complexity to consider.

One way or another, I find the discussion very challenging for everyone to get their arms completely around because so many factors and values enter into it.

            In the meantime, the hunt continues, the temperature is 7° (at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, 11/24), the wind is blowing hard (the wind chill is -23°), and I’m cold just sitting near the window. Despite our efforts, our 106-year-old home still loses heat quickly on a windy winter day. It’s the same home that Mary’s grandparents, her mother and father, and her brothers all hunted from beginning in the early 1900s. They took their share over many decades, and there’s still plenty of deer out there, as there will be in the future. My most immediate desire is for the ones jumping our fence and eating our apple trees to meet their demise.

Grace/Beauty/Reverence

            In the endless arguments over deer management, we often lose sight of the white-tail’s beauty, strength, and grace. One book I go back to again and again is Richard Nelson’s brilliant work, Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America. He writes, “I realize that deer have always lingered somewhere beyond my understanding, elusive as moonlight on water. Enchanting, fascinating, beloved, bewildering strangers. Yet I am driven to know about them, to comprehend their lives more fully, to fathom more clearly my own relationship to them, and to consider their existence as wild animals on a continent they have shared intimately – for thousands of years – with humankind.

            “No scientist, no shaman, no stalker, no sentimentalist will ever understand the deer . . . and for this I am grateful. I am possessed by a powerful curiosity about this animal, but what I desire most is to experience and acclaim its mysteries. In our explorations of scientific and practical information about deer, we should always keep in mind what the elders and philosophers teach: that while knowledge dispels some mysteries, it deepens others.”

Sightings – Carolina Wren, Snow Buntings, and Bobcat

            Colleen Henrich in Lake Tomahawk has had a Carolina wren visiting her feeders since mid-November. Since the range of Carolina wrens barely reaches the Illinois/Wisconsin border, Colleen has a very uncommon sighting for the Northwoods. However, Carolina wrens are known to wander widely, their roving described by Sam Robbins in 1991 in this manner: “The simplest way to summarize their status . . . is to list it as rare at all times, but apt to turn up anywhere in Wisconsin in any season of the year.”

            Cherie Smith sent me photos of snow buntings that she observed in her yard, noting that “This is only the second time I have ever seen them at our place in Lake Tomahawk.” Snow buntings rarely remain the winter in our area, not because they can’t tolerate the cold, but because they’re ground feeders and finding food in our typically deep snow is simply too difficult. Most, if not all, should be well south of here by now.

            For over a month, a bobcat has been occasionally hanging around the birdfeeders during the day at the North Lakeland Discovery Center in Manitowish Waters, apparently having failed to read that it is supposed to be secretive.

Christmas Gift Ideas

            I’ve been reading two books by Robin Wall Kimmerer that are both highly informative and beautifully written: Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History and Braiding Sweetgrass.  

I also recommend nearly all the books published by Kollath+Stensaas Publishers in Duluth because all focus on the natural history of the Northwoods. Among them, consider Cora Mollen’s Fascinating Fungi of the Northwoods, Butterflies of the Northwoods by Duluth naturalist Larry Weber, Orchids of the Northwoods by Kim and Cindy Risen, and Dragonflies of the Northwoods by Kurt Mead.

Mary and I both extensively use Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest by Black and Judziewicz to identify herbaceous plants.

             We own waterproof binoculars, and wouldn’t be without them on any hike or paddle. Try Eagle Optics (www.eagleoptics.com) in Middleton for high quality, lifetime guaranteed, waterproof, and relatively inexpensive binoculars.

Lastly, consider giving gift certificates to local organizations and facilities that offer great outdoor recreation opportunities like Winter Park, the North Lakeland Discovery Center, and many others. You might even consider tempting someone into something they might never do otherwise, like dogsledding – try Two Moons Kennel in Springstead or Wolfsong Adventures in Bayfield.

Celestial Events

            Today, November 29, we are down to 9 hours of daylight, and headed for winter solstice where we’ll bottom out at 8 hours and 39 minutes before turning the corner. November 30 marks the first time on average since March 6 that our average high temperature drops below freezing (32°F).

            Keep your ears open for news of Comet ISON and whether it has become visible to the naked eye.

            And on 12/1, look for Saturn just over one degree north of the crescent moon. The new moon occurs on 12/2.