Depredation Permit

FireDuck401

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
An adjacent property to one of the tracts I hunt has recently acquired a depredation permit.
The tract I hunt is 100 acres. The permit holder owns roughly 400 acres; his property forms L shape around the tract I hunt.
Everything to the east and south.
To the west is another 250 acre tract that is owned by a close friend who doesn’t hunt often, and we share a similar outlook in the type of deer to harvest.

The tract I’m on is primarily young hardwoods, with a couple of small food plots. The depredation permit holders land contains several large (10-20) acre ag fields. They rotate between beans and corn.

I am not upset that they’ve acquired a permit, and I understand that crop production is their only interest.

My question to those who have hunted lands adjacent to an active permit, how did it effect deer movement? What should I be expecting?
 

ksherb

Six Pointer
Contributor
I was on a dep permit 4 summers ago. Farmer made it a prerequisite for hunting his land in the fall. I took 10 does off the property that summer. All while i was sitting in the same spot. Opening day of rifle (eastern zone) I took a big doe from that same spot. Let her lay a few minutes, then went out to mark where she was in the beans. On the way back to the stand, looked up and there was the biggest buck I have taken in NC to date. Pretty 10 point. Now residing on my wall and in my belly.

You will get a lot of different answers to your question - mine is you’ll be just fine.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
What should I be expecting?


gallery02.jpg
 

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
Because of the "bedroom" 250 acres next door, I don't think you'll hurt much.
We use DEP Permits bout every 3-4 yrs and have 200 acre next door that is lightly hunted and never DEP hunts and can hardly tell we take up to 20 does in summer.
This year we are getting permits actually...because the hunters only took 12 deer off our 106 acres each of the last 2 hunting seasons. If they take 20 then we typically don't need the DEP Permit the following summer.
we let these walk last year, too.
3 bucks on cam.JPG
 

Redneck Rocker Dude

Old Mossy Horns
Because of the "bedroom" 250 acres next door, I don't think you'll hurt much.
We use DEP Permits bout every 3-4 yrs and have 200 acre next door that is lightly hunted and never DEP hunts and can hardly tell we take up to 20 does in summer.
This year we are getting permits actually...because the hunters only took 12 deer off our 106 acres each of the last 2 hunting seasons. If they take 20 then we typically don't need the DEP Permit the following summer.
we let these walk last year, too.
View attachment 29951
Do believe that one on the left would've had to go

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
we were after the 2 BIGGER ones NOT in the photo actually.
1 was bagged by a neighbor and the other seen post season on trail cams.
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
Hunted some small private land in Ohio with a friend a few years ago... thought I had stepped into TV.

Never seen so many huge bucks.

Come to find out the farmer next to it had killed 25 deer on DEP permits that summer...

Couldn’t tell it
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Depends on their attitude and how many they take. My experience with it has not been good. Thinning was not the objective, it was elimination.

There's no way to predict it, you just have to adapt. Our experience was the area nearest the crop fields was a dead zone. What was normally the major attraction during late summer which drew deer from long distances was almost completely empty. The difference in camera sightings was impressive.
 

MAM3006

Six Pointer
Just my experience - Depredation permits basically means shoot any deer that moves. From what I have seen most are not selective at all about what they do.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
it's as much a disturbance as poaching. except it's legal. dead summer deer are dead summer deer.
great idea and a necessary evil in places.
It makes life easy on you in terms of "having" to shoot does to "control" the herd.
I think the process is better now in the allowing of the useage of the deer.
I don't know how you really can say the impact it has on your hunting. Too many other variables in play.
I have decades of experience in hunting adjacent to and on permit property and cant say exactly how it impacts the overall experience.
I still hunt they still kill we all survive. :)
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I don't know how you really can say the impact it has on your hunting. Too many other variables in play.

Cameras that are run in the same place year after year give pretty objective info.

Browse lines on the beans that go from typical NC conditions - where the first 4-5 rows, and the corners are browsed (and the rest of the field is fine), to a situation where theres not a bean leaf in the entire field that has been touched is pretty obvious. If you plant a 30 acre bean food plot in the middle of deer habitat and there isn't a leaf that has been touched, the deer population has been decimated. I don't believe that's what the WRC had in mind when they issued the permit.

It's pretty easy to say it has an impact when the best spot on the property becomes the worst in a matter of a couple months.
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
There are a lot killed here for damage. Some here use permit but it’s not needed. From what I understand some use the permit so they can add other names to help shoot the deer. As far as eating them don’t know anybody eats them when they see they are covered in ticks. they usually take front end loader or backhoe and burry them. Some years back we did get a permit for the first couple weeks of gun season but there was still crops in the field. Get a lot more use out of the deer that time of year but most of the damage is done in summer
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
well we are lucky that we get to hunt them.
they are truly pests that cause zillions in crop, auto, disease damage.
the permit process really puts them in their proper place in terms of their value amongst the masses.
dey be expendable.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Seems like a great opportunity to talk to the farm owner and see if you can help him with the deer.
 

Roanoke

Eight Pointer
Does the land owner that he can get as much as $25 per acre for good deer hunting land. He would make more money leasing it to cover his crop yield loss. I do not believe in crop deprivation permits. Insurance lobbyist were the ones that got that passed. Do you still have to leave the deer laying in the field. What a waste. So many other ways to get rid of deer.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Does the land owner that he can get as much as $25 per acre for good deer hunting land. He would make more money leasing it to cover his crop yield loss. I do not believe in crop deprivation permits. Insurance lobbyist were the ones that got that passed. Do you still have to leave the deer laying in the field. What a waste. So many other ways to get rid of deer.
With a permit you can possess the deer, without the permit you have to leave them.
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
Does the land owner that he can get as much as $25 per acre for good deer hunting land. He would make more money leasing it to cover his crop yield loss. I do not believe in crop deprivation permits. Insurance lobbyist were the ones that got that passed. Do you still have to leave the deer laying in the field. What a waste. So many other ways to get rid of deer.


The trouble those that can pay 25 a acre dont shoot does or not enough to make a difference. They are looking horns. If you have 30 or 40 deer comming in a soybean field they can easly destroy more than 25 a acre
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
That may have been a warning shot.
Kill more deer or I will.....
Who knows.

We were told thst before on property.
If we did not start killing more he would kill everything.
 

HarryNC

Eight Pointer
The trouble those that can pay 25 a acre dont shoot does or not enough to make a difference. [/B]
My hunting club leases a farm from a farmer that is not real fond of deer. He doesn't want hunters sitting around all season waiting for a big buck, and killing nothing. So, we got the lease with a stipulation. You have to kill a doe on his property, before you can kill a buck. The club enforces the rule with a $100 fine for violations. We take maybe 12 - 15 does off his property each year, which seems to keep him satisfied, and we've taken some real stud bucks there, too.
 

nchunter78

Six Pointer
It can be a win for a lot of participants. A local farmer usually brings me in when needed on a depredation permit.
Many people associate with "shoot any deer that shows up" or "shoot them and leave them."

The truth is that with the permits I have been associated with, it was "doe only." Additionally, since they were taken with a permit, I can process them and then I donate the venison to food pantries or others in need.

It can be a win for the hunter, a win for the farmer (fewer deer & less crop damage), a win for the processor, and a big win for the person in need of high quality meat.

I have also seen that this helps to build great relationships with the land owner / farmer. They understand that you are willing to come out and hunt in less than ideal conditions (it was right at 100 degrees when I was hunting the other day & the ticks and mosquitoes are not fun) to help protect & minimize his crop damage. That same fella is going to be a lot more willing to let you continue hunting his property in the future and he is going to drop your name to his landowner/farming buddies in the area too.
 

JoeR

Eight Pointer
My experience is different than most posted here. It made a huge difference on the farm I hunt. If I remember correctly they took about 65 deer out during the summer 3 years ago. It's been a ghost town there now compared to what it was before. The place is still very quiet this summer. I thought by the following year it would fill back in, but it hasn't happened yet.
Joe
 
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