BrowningRage
Long Time Member
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Got a little bored today and started to look at some deer numbers in the Book Cliffs. Curious what some of you may think of these numbers and how they affect the deer population there, and likely elsewhere in the state.
The deer population objective for the unit is 9000 according to the DWR webpage. They are reporting a current number of 4550. Adam Eakle did a story a couple months ago about the deer herd dwindling in the Book Cliffs and said the population dropped from 7700 in 2015 to 4500 in 2019, a loss of 41.5% in just 4 years. How do we lose so many?
According to the DWR, the Buck to Doe ratio in the Book Cliffs is currently at 33 bucks for every 100 does. If we take that 100 does + 33 bucks we get a group size of 133 deer. If we believe there are 4550 deer in the Book Cliffs, that gives us roughly 34 groups of 133 deer. 34 (number of groups) x 33 (bucks per 100 does) then we estimate there are roughly 1129 bucks in the Book Cliffs. (Personally, I can find that many with my eyes closed in just one morning, just sayin...)
This year, there are 248 total buck deer tags for the Books. That is roughly 22% of all bucks in that unit. (what do you think of that?) If we account for the DWRs report of a 74.5% harvest rate, then 187 bucks will be killed this year. (what do you think of that harvest number, high, low?) Ultimately, the DWR anticipates 16.6% of all bucks in the Books will be harvested this year. What's more, that 187 bucks accounts for only 4% of the total deer population in that unit.
Part of me feels like that is a really low number of the population being harvested each year and we would probably be happy with it, if the herd was in good shape. I would assume that with 3421 does running around, they'd have enough fawns to replace those harvested by hunters and then some. But I think we are all thinking the same thing, hunters are not causing the decline in this unit.
41.5% population drop in just four years. Even if the 4% yearly harvest added up to 16% of that over four years, there is still another 24.5% decline to account for. That would assume there are only enough fawns born every year to replace those bucks harvested, and they would all have to be buck fawns to boot. We know that's not true. But I digress.
I truly hope biologists can make some very good findings and then have the cajones to report accurately what is killing off our herds. We can't fight what we don't know is there. Aside from predators and winter kill, anybody want to venture other ideas of the decline in that unit.?
The deer population objective for the unit is 9000 according to the DWR webpage. They are reporting a current number of 4550. Adam Eakle did a story a couple months ago about the deer herd dwindling in the Book Cliffs and said the population dropped from 7700 in 2015 to 4500 in 2019, a loss of 41.5% in just 4 years. How do we lose so many?
According to the DWR, the Buck to Doe ratio in the Book Cliffs is currently at 33 bucks for every 100 does. If we take that 100 does + 33 bucks we get a group size of 133 deer. If we believe there are 4550 deer in the Book Cliffs, that gives us roughly 34 groups of 133 deer. 34 (number of groups) x 33 (bucks per 100 does) then we estimate there are roughly 1129 bucks in the Book Cliffs. (Personally, I can find that many with my eyes closed in just one morning, just sayin...)
This year, there are 248 total buck deer tags for the Books. That is roughly 22% of all bucks in that unit. (what do you think of that?) If we account for the DWRs report of a 74.5% harvest rate, then 187 bucks will be killed this year. (what do you think of that harvest number, high, low?) Ultimately, the DWR anticipates 16.6% of all bucks in the Books will be harvested this year. What's more, that 187 bucks accounts for only 4% of the total deer population in that unit.
Part of me feels like that is a really low number of the population being harvested each year and we would probably be happy with it, if the herd was in good shape. I would assume that with 3421 does running around, they'd have enough fawns to replace those harvested by hunters and then some. But I think we are all thinking the same thing, hunters are not causing the decline in this unit.
41.5% population drop in just four years. Even if the 4% yearly harvest added up to 16% of that over four years, there is still another 24.5% decline to account for. That would assume there are only enough fawns born every year to replace those bucks harvested, and they would all have to be buck fawns to boot. We know that's not true. But I digress.
I truly hope biologists can make some very good findings and then have the cajones to report accurately what is killing off our herds. We can't fight what we don't know is there. Aside from predators and winter kill, anybody want to venture other ideas of the decline in that unit.?