By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Media Association (POMA)

The National Deer Association (NDA) has published a compilation of whitetail deer-hunting statistics for hunting seasons through year 2021 across the nation; the most recent season’s data for year 2022 will be available next year.  With Michigan’s new mandatory reporting requirements, a more detailed assessment is anticipated next year of how our state stacks up to 37 states in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast.

Nationally, the antlered buck (those 1½ years or older) harvest is at a record level, and Michigan’s buck harvest was 6 percent above the previous 5-year average.  The season was a record for hunters with the total buck harvest a whopping 3,041,544 which marked the first time it has surpassed 3 million adult bucks since 2009.

The top states for antlered buck harvest were Texas (449,933), Michigan (219,387), Pennsylvania (174,780), Wisconsin (158,236) and Missouri (40,855).  Michigan’s buck harvest is some 4 percent higher than each of the two previous seasons.

Comparing these totals to available hunting land, Michigan has one of the highest amount of bucks taken per square mile:  Interestingly, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Delaware all came in at 3.9 bucks per square mile – twice the national average.

The top states with the greatest antlered buck harvest per 100 hunters are Mississippi (74), South Carolina (65), Louisiana (58), Texas (58), and Georgia (55).  Michigan buck harvest totaled 39 bucks per 100 hunters.

One of the more noteworthy statistics relates to the age structure of bucks taken.  Again, Michigan has not reported these figures in several years but had been one of the states taking a large percentage of yearling bucks – those 1 ½ years of age.  Wisconsin hunters took 40 percent of its bucks as yearlings with Ohio, New York, Illinois, Maine, and New Hampshire close behind.  Nationally, it is encouraging that hunters are allowing bucks to mature much more than in past years.  Specifically, in year 1989 the tally of yearling bucks was 62 percent of the total kill, whereas in year 2020 the declining total has reached a scant 26 percent of all bucks taken.

On the other end of the scale are bucks of 3 ½ years of age or older taken.  Again, Michigan has not submitted these statistics but has never been among the leaders in this category.  Here are the nation’s top states in this regard shown as a percentage of total bucks taken:  Oklahoma (83), Louisiana (82), Mississippi (79), Arkansas (76), and Texas (71).

The antlerless harvest numbers are important in helping to balance each state’s buck-to-doe ratio.  Michigan’s antlerless take is a startling 25 percent higher than the previous two years at 191,252 or 3.4 per square mile; only Texas (402,515) and Pennsylvania (260,400) took more bald deer.

The sudden and significant increase in Michigan’s deer kill and that of other Midwestern states is no doubt a reflection of citizens’ new-found inclination to self-sufficiency courtesy of myriad governmental Covid-related dictates.  Empty store shelves inspired Americans to find a way out – way out in the wilderness, or any facsimile thereof.  Camping, fishing, hunting were all on the menu of first-time sportsmen and women.  Supply lines would become the direct responsibility of multitudes of outdoors people – many of whom were discovering or rediscovering their roots through hunting and fishing.  Some will have enjoyed the experience enough to carry on and only time will tell if the spike in participation morphs into tradition.

January 30, 2023 – An average of 88% of state white-tailed deer harvests occur on private land, according to the National Deer Association’s latest Deer Report, released today. Texas reported the highest rate of private-land deer harvest at 99% while Massachusetts reported the highest rate of public-land harvest at 43%.

“Most of America’s 600 million acres of public land are in the West, yet proportionally few hunters are residents of those states,” said NDA Chief Conservation Officer Kip Adams and one of the report’s authors. “Most whitetails live in the eastern states along with most hunters, and this new data underscores the conservation importance of habitat management and deer hunting on private land.”

NDA’s Deer Report is available for free download at this link. Read more

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)

During the 1980s in Utica, Michigan, I became good friends with a man known as “Big John” Stenvig.  When the ‘ol Finlander retired, he moved closer to his Yooper roots in Baraga, Michigan in a small house overlooking the Keweenaw Bay.  In 1986 Big John invited a close friend, Fast Frank, and me to hunt deer in the vast Upper Peninsula reaches of Iron County.

Big John Stenvig, Big Allice and Fast Frank (facing away)

Little did we know that the deer hunting was about as good as it was going to get.  We never saw many deer, but because we saw even less hunters, the serene experience suited our hunting style nonetheless.  We took some good bucks over the years – one of which is listed on the pages of Michigan’s Commemorative Bucks record book – and made the commercial forests of the U.P. hunting headquarters for the subsequent decade.

Deer numbers were in obvious decline, as evidenced by my only sighting of a whitetail after three days of hard hunting during our last trip to the land of Yoopers.

Buck harvest (a reliable barometer of deer numbers) was at an all-time high from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s and winters were noticeably milder during this time period. The consecutive severe winters beginning 1996 and 1997 have resulted in periodic declines in buck harvest since then. In fact, in the last 11 years, there have been six severe winters that have impacted buck harvest, further restricting the growth of the U.P.’s deer herd.

The most recent wolf population survey conducted in 2022 sheds light on a study by Kristie Sitar and Brian Roell:  Factors Limiting Deer Abundance in the Upper Peninsula.  The minimum wolf population estimate from the 2022 survey is 631 wolves, plus or minus 49 wolves.  A total of 136 packs was estimated with an average number of individuals per pack calculated at 4.5.

However, wolf density appears to have shifted over time.

“The density of wolves may have decreased in some areas of the west U.P. and increased in some parts of the east U.P.,” DNR wildlife biologist Brian Roell said.

In the Upper Peninsula, coyotes kill more fawns than any other predator, followed by black bears, bobcats, and wolves. Other non-predatory types of mortality, including malnutrition, disease, abandonment, vehicle-collisions, etc. have a greater impact than predation from any specific predator in the Upper Peninsula.

Gray wolves are currently on the federal list of threatened and endangered species. Consequently, they cannot be killed legally, unless in defense of human life.  Regardless of changes in legal status, wolves in Michigan have surpassed federal and state population recovery goals for 22 years.

The abundance of each predator is important in determining how many fawns are killed across the landscape. In the Upper Peninsula, each coyote kills about 1.5 fawns per year, on average. However, coyotes are so numerous that the overall impact from coyotes is the greatest for all predators. Black bears are also effective predators on fawns, killing 1.4 fawns per bear each year. Bears are also abundant, and therefore, have a large impact on fawn mortality. Bobcat and wolf populations are much lower, so even though they kill more fawns per year (6.6 per year for each bobcat and 5.6 per year for each wolf), their overall impact on fawn mortality is reduced.  The math indicates that wolves, therefore, kill over 3,500 deer per year in the U.P.

In the Upper Peninsula, occasionally very severe winters with deep snow lasting 100 days or more are substantial enough to cause high adult doe mortality due to malnutrition. In those years, adult doe survival is the most important factor driving deer population growth until the population rebounds.  The question of any resurgence in the Upper Peninsula deer population is “if” it will ever rebound, rather than “when”.

MISSOULA, Mont. (January 13, 2023) – After convening a special judges panel today at the Wild Sheep Foundation’s 2023 Sheep Show in Reno, Nevada, the Boone and Crockett Club announced a new World’s Record Rocky Mountain goat. Justin Kallusky’s British Columbia billy officially scores 60-4/8 points, eclipsing the previous World’s Record by three points. Each horn measures well over 12 inches.

“This new World’s Record is truly a sight to behold,” said Mike Opitz, chair of the Special Judges Panel. “A Rocky Mountain goat of this caliber is a true testament to continued conservation efforts and one tough hunter.”

In 2019, Justin Kallusky and a friend were hunting Rocky Mountain goats along the Stikine River of northwestern British Columbia (B.C.). The Stikine is big water with steep canyons, loved by whitewater kayakers and hunters looking for adventure. “On that hunt, I told my friend there’s a goat over 12 inches in this spot,” Kallusky says. “It’s really good habitat.”

He returned in 2022 to see if his prediction would pan out. When he first spotted this billy, it was in an odd position. “It was bedded facing uphill and stuffed up under a rock to hide from the sun,” Kallusky says. The only thing they could see was a big goat butt, he adds. After four hours, the goat finally stood up, but something looked slightly off. “I asked my friend, ‘Why does his head look so small?’ I knew it was a good billy, but not until I walked up to it after the shot did I really understand.”

Kallusky with his Rocky Mountain goat taken near British Columbia’s Stikine River. The previous World’s Record was also taken near the Stikine River in 2011 by Troy M. Sheldon.

Kallusky, a do-it-yourself backcountry hunter from B.C., went on his first sheep hunt with his uncle when he was 15. Growing up, he was always drawn to the outdoors. While other kids watched Saturday morning cartoons, he would watch hunting shows. Now 42, Kallusky works as a lineman at BC Hydro and hunts every chance he gets. He wasn’t expecting to find the biggest Rocky Mountain goat in the book. “I’m not a trophy hunter by any stretch of the imagination,” he says. “I’m out there for the experience.”

After a hunter kills a Rocky Mountain goat in B.C., they are required to have it inspected by a provincial inspector. The biologist took one look at the goat and said Kallusky needed to talk with Grant Markoski, a local Boone and Crockett Official Measurer.

When they met, Kallusky thought Markoski was going to have a heart attack. “I pulled this goat head out, and this old boy almost had a jammer,” Kallusky says. “He put his hands on his head and started walking around in circles.”

Markoski has been a Boone and Crockett Club Official Measurer since 1991. During his three decades of service, he’s measured quite a few goats, though nothing prepared him for this billy. “When I saw this thing, I could not believe it,” Markoski says. “It was so much bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. When you see it, your jaw will drop.”

The Importance of Records in Big Game Management

When you enter your trophy into the Boone and Crockett system, you aren’t just honoring the animal and its habitat. You are participating in a data collection system that started in the 1920s and was refined by Club members in 1950. Today, there are nearly 60,000 trophy records. By establishing a records database more than 70 years ago, the Boone and Crockett Club established a scientific baseline from which researchers can use to study wildlife management. If you’re still on the fence about entering your trophy, we encourage you to read Why Should I Bother to Enter My Trophy. To the best of our ability, we ensure that the trophies entered into the records were taken in accordance with the tenets of fair chase ethics. Despite what some may think, the Boone and Crockett records are not about a name or a score in a book—because in the end, there’s so much more to the score.

About the Boone and Crockett Club

Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and associated wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include enlarging and protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Montana. For details, visit www.boone-crockett.org.