Deer Harvest Key
Harvest is a key component of managing white-tailed deer populations and their habitat. The underharvest of deer means habitat will be overused by the remaining deer, which negatively impacts the condition and quality of deer remaining in the herd.
The overharvest of deer causes its own set of problems. If too many deer get shot over a period of time then annual fawn production and age structure in the deer herd declines.
This reduces deer hunting opportunity down the road because fewer animals are produced and available for harvest in subsequent years. It’s a balancing act between deer, habitat and hunter opportunity.
In short, the number of deer harvested each year is critical for the long-term management of whitetail populations; sustainable use is an important part of natural resource management.
Doe Harvest Expanded
Some white-tailed deer hunters across the Oaks and Prairies region of Texas had the opportunity to harvest antlerless deer during the new 4-day “doe days” during the Thanksgiving holidays.
Due to mandatory reporting, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists now have a good idea of the number of antlerless deer harvested during the archery season, October youth-only season, and the 4-day Thanksgiving period.
While harvest reporting likely was not 100%, the hunter-submitted data is valuable information that was not available to TPWD in past years. This no doubt provides the state with a better perspective on how new hunting regulations/doe days directly impacts antlerless harvest, deer populations.
Harvest In for Doe Days
For decades, the harvest of antlerless deer in these counties has been very limited. The harvest of does was limited to archery season and to those properties managing deer populations through TPWD’s Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP), so the addition of doe days during the General Season is kind of a big deal. So how many antlerless deer were shot during the doe days?
Season totals by county have been summarized in Table 1 with data through December 5th, 2019. January muzzleloader season and youth-only season harvest will be added later. Also, Table 1 does not include antlerless harvest for properties using MLDP tags; this data will be compiled and summarized after the program’s April 1 reporting deadline.
Overall, TPWD biologists in the Oaks and Prairies District believe that the additional harvest (to date) by the newly implemented doe days regulations and seasons is an annual harvest rate the whitetail population can withstand.
TPWD says it will continue to monitor white-tailed deer densities through annual surveys, which are conducted from late July through September on a landscape basis throughout the region. Annual deer surveys are recommended for all landowners interested in managing local deer populations.