shotgunner
Ten Pointer
I recently spent some time with the "Honor Roll of Whitetail Deer" found on an earlier thread on this forum. I was a little surprised by the numbers. I looked at the state as 2 different regions and 2 different time periods. The first numbers I pulled were for the area that went to the 2 buck limit back in 2001. If you look at the number of bucks killed after 2001 (16 years) and then look at the previous 16 years ('86-'01) I was a little surprised there was not more of an increase. Prior to 2001 there were 81 typicals and 9 non typicals for a total of 90 killed in these counties. Then for the period from 2002-2017 there were 94 typical and 15 nontypical for a total of 109. So the total recorded for this time was 199 with 55% coming after and 45% before. I really thought there would have been a much higher percentage killed after the change in regs. I actually would have thought with more folks managing by choice there would have been a greater increase than that. That is roughly 1 more buck per year.
I then compared the eastern region under the same criteria (86-01) before the western part of the state went to the 2 buck limit and (02-17) afterwards just to look for general trends. Though the overall numbers were lower in the east, the percentages were suprisingly really close. For the 02-17 period there were 52 total with 46 typcials and 6 nontypicals. For the period 86-01 there were 43 typical and 4 non typical for a total of 47.
So in the 2 buck area 55% were killed after the change and 45% before. The area that stayed a 4 buck limit was 53% after and 47% before. I really thought with the increase in management practices in general that there would have been a much larger percentage killed in the later period even without the 2 buck limit.
Thoughts......?
I then compared the eastern region under the same criteria (86-01) before the western part of the state went to the 2 buck limit and (02-17) afterwards just to look for general trends. Though the overall numbers were lower in the east, the percentages were suprisingly really close. For the 02-17 period there were 52 total with 46 typcials and 6 nontypicals. For the period 86-01 there were 43 typical and 4 non typical for a total of 47.
So in the 2 buck area 55% were killed after the change and 45% before. The area that stayed a 4 buck limit was 53% after and 47% before. I really thought with the increase in management practices in general that there would have been a much larger percentage killed in the later period even without the 2 buck limit.
Thoughts......?