ENC deer harvest down?

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Random sample 2018 harvest so far

Bertie- 2,201 deer
Bladen- 2038 deer
Edgecombe- 2245 deer
Halifax- 3032 deer
Northampton- 3424 deer

Buck harvest sample 2018 v 2017

Bertie- 950 v 1406

Bladen- 1115 v 1443
 
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turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
No surprise hurricane and lot bad weather this year. May be other factors as well but the former will cut down lot people had more worries. Heck its rained about every wknd since Oct lot occasional hunters not gonna fool with that
 

Ambush

Twelve Pointer
Random sample 2018 harvest so far

Bertie- 2,201 deer
Bladen- 2038 deer
Edgecombe- 2245 deer
Halifax- 3032 deer
Northampton- 3424 deer

My gosh it should be with the reduced buck limit in the east. That said yotes really knocked down our doe population this year.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
All kinds of variables. Need multiple year harvest data to make comparisons. I'm sure less bucks got tagged/registered, though. On the properties I hunt, just plain saw less deer killed. Hunters seeing fewer deer yet the NCWRC wants to shift the pressure off bucks onto does. Don't make a lot of sense to me. Yes, they stopped the bonus tags, but that harvest was only 1874 does statewide. I know not all areas are the same but in the Eastern areas hit hard by EHD a few years ago.
 

Cootmeurer

Six Pointer
On our club, which has some ground in Bladen, the kill was way down. The archery/bow kill was single digits because of Hurricane Florence, and then later Hurricane Michael - big chunks of ground were underwater and remained that way for a week or more.

By the time rifle season opened things were a little better - but we had at least two more stretches of rain enough to flood out the roads again and make sections inaccessible.
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Just my own personal experience this season, weather played the biggest role. Hot during the early season & hurricanes later on cut down on my hunting. The 2 buck limit played a role also, as I passed on several small bucks that I might have taken for freezer-fillers in previous years, holding out for that bigger buck that never showed up.

Only took 2 does this year; usually I tag 3 - 4.

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cheapdate

Eight Pointer
Fewer bucks were killed in eastern counties than in previous years, which has to be in large part due to fewer buck tags. That is what the hunters in the East wanted, and that's what they got. Almost every eastern county is down about 300 bucks killed compared to last year. I'm pleased with that.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
water is the simple easy answer. Funny thing is when I mentioned that months ago it was laughed off with the heat and mosquitoes being bigger factors supposedly. a nasty trifecta for sure.
wait'll next year. all those bucks that didn't die will be in play.
 

cheapdate

Eight Pointer
water is the simple easy answer. Funny thing is when I mentioned that months ago it was laughed off with the heat and mosquitoes being bigger factors supposedly. a nasty trifecta for sure.
wait'll next year. all those bucks that didn't die will be in play.
Pretty much every eastern county went down in buck harvest, but not every county was flooded. Your logic doesn't hold water. (pun intended).
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Pretty much every eastern county went down in buck harvest, but not every county was flooded. Your logic doesn't hold water. (pun intended).
understand what you are saying.

Which eastern county wasn't flooded? I am sure they would be glad to know that. :)
 
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bryguy

Old Mossy Horns
Pretty much every eastern county went down in buck harvest, but not every county was flooded. Your logic doesn't hold water. (pun intended).
while every eastern county was not flooded, all that water had an effect as far as being able to access areas and the water also pushed deer out of lots of areas that they normally are in. There were days I could not get on my farm due to paths being so bad due to rain. but I was very lucky that I managed to kill 2 bucks, one a really nice 8 ptr and an ooooopps 6ptr that would have been a nice deer in a couple of years, and I also saw enough deer to feel comfortable enough to take 2 does off my place. all the rain probably kept a lot of folks at home. I know I skipped a bunch of days due to rain.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
Pretty much every eastern county went down in buck harvest, but not every county was flooded. Your logic doesn't hold water. (pun intended).
Hurricanes might not have affected all the eastern counties, but the constant rainfall sure did. I am interested to see what the harvest on Roanoke Willdife refuge looks like. I guarantee its way down. When I hunted Pollocks Ferry in early December, all the roads were flooded out. I found about the only dry ground and used it to my advantage. Game warden stopped by while was there and said I was the first person he had seen hunting that tract in several weeks. I believed him. There was little evidence of others having been around. I have some friends who had RRNWR permits who didnt even bother to make the drive down this year due to flooding.
 

JJWise

Twelve Pointer
Not sure the exact reasons, but around Havelock/ New Bern after Florence I didn’t see deer moving at all. Usually great spots had gone dead and didn’t really pick up again till late October.

On MCAS Cherry Point, around mid October I believe there had been about 15 deer killed. According to the warden on base, at that point in the season it should’ve been 60+
 

cheapdate

Eight Pointer
Next year, it will be close to the same harvest totals, hurricanes or not. Wait and see. There are a lot of Eastern hunters who want an age structure in their buck population, which is what the commission's surveys overwhelmingly showed.
It's like one forum member put it: Sure some people like to eat green tomatoes, but there a whole lot more who like to eat red ones.
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Warren county wasn't flooded, but we had a high number of heavy rain days that kept many hunters out of the woods, and you have to wonder how many hunters who would otherwise have traveled to eastern Carolina to hunt stayed away because of the storms.

Warren county report is 1829 for 2018 season, vs 1477 for 2017, a drop of 352. But you also have to wonder if the final tallies are in yet; is that NC Wildlife harvest report truly kept up to date in real time, or did the fact that the holidays were upon us slow down reporting somewhat?
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
Next year, it will be close to the same harvest totals, hurricanes or not. Wait and see. There are a lot of Eastern hunters who want an age structure in their buck population, which is what the commission's surveys overwhelmingly showed.
It's like one forum member put it: Sure some people like to eat green tomatoes, but there a whole lot more who like to eat red ones.

The ones that wanted it say it worked. Many that didn't, took a chance and didn't tag the bucks. I stay legal, but I can assure you many did not. I personal did not witness any not being tagged, but it was a problem before sure it still is. Just now even less tagged.
 

hayco10

Eight Pointer
Random sample 2018 harvest so far

Bertie- 2,201 deer
Bladen- 2038 deer
Edgecombe- 2245 deer
Halifax- 3032 deer
Northampton- 3424 deer

Buck harvest sample 2018 v 2017

Bertie- 950 v 1406

Bladen- 1115 v 1443

Where did this “data” come from?
 

hayco10

Eight Pointer
All kinds of variables. Need multiple year harvest data to make comparisons. I'm sure less bucks got tagged/registered, though. On the properties I hunt, just plain saw less deer killed. Hunters seeing fewer deer yet the NCWRC wants to shift the pressure off bucks onto does. Don't make a lot of sense to me. Yes, they stopped the bonus tags, but that harvest was only 1874 does statewide. I know not all areas are the same but in the Eastern areas hit hard by EHD a few years ago.

Where did the bonus doe data come from? It would also include antlerless button bucks.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I have it book marked on another computer but it came from some of the NCWRC data on justification of the regulation changes.
 

ditchbank

Banned
There are two bucks living that I would have shot if had a tag, just saying!! But honestly I’m glad they lived another season. It’s hard for me to let an 115” buck walk but I had to.


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