As predicted, Michigan’s deer management strategy continues to be an abysmal failure. And, to prove it, all one has to do is to review the statistics. According to State Farm Insurance, the number of vehicles on U.S. roadways has grown by 7 percent over the last five years. But the number of times those vehicles have collided with deer has swelled by much more than that. Michigan remains second in the nation on the list of states with car/deer crashes – a 1 in 78 chance for any one vehicle to collide with a deer statewide.
Using its claims data, State Farm estimates 2.4 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the U.S. during the two-year period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009 (100,000 per month). That’s 18.3 percent more than five years earlier. To put it another way, one of these unfortunate encounters occurs every 26 seconds (although they are much more likely during the last three months of the year and in the early evening).
These findings are nothing new to us in Michigan but a June 2011 report issued by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) offers some insight on how hunters are impacting the results of deer management policy. In spite of newly created deer hunting seasons that run nearly one third of the entire year, in year 2010 hunter numbers decreased 4 percent and their hunting effort decreased 6 percent from the previous year. Yet, the MDNR’s survey of some 50,000 deer hunters indicated increased satisfaction with their hunting experience. On the surface such news may seem encouraging – that is, until one discovers that over 55 percent of the same hunters surveyed were not satisfied with their overall hunting experience. So, what’s the rub?
There has been plenty of change with rules that allow hunters to hunt from trees with firearms and lenient crossbow regulations. Youth and disabled veteran seasons and early antlerless seasons and even more days in the muzzleloading season in Zone III have all been adopted in recent years, yet there remains an over-abundance of deer in many areas and hunter numbers are declining.
As part of the deer herd management equation, Michigan misses the target when it comes to the quality of the hunt based on hunters’ feedback. What does that mean? To most hunters, it means bucks seen and bucks taken. And, with our liberal 2-bucks-per-hunter-per-season rules, nothing will change, because we continue to kill adolescent deer – bucks that are a 1 1/2 years of age with any type of headgear. At the same time, we are not removing enough does from the herd.
To increase hunter numbers, the quality of the hunt must be improved – and not just more deer but more mature deer. A short-term sacrifice for long-term results indicates three specific remedies: 1) Antler point restrictions statewide, 2) One buck per hunter per season, and 3) Drastically lowering the cost of antlerless permits, instead of the recent 50-percent increase.
In so doing, the buck to doe ratio will have been improved, more deer will have been taken from over-populated areas, and in short order hunters’ satisfaction will have been improved. That’s change I can believe in.
