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Key Facts About the 2019 QDMA Whitetail Report - Continued
Submitted by: TBC Press
Posted on: 06/10/19
Article # - A19-2129
This year’s Whitetail Report lays a finger squarely on the pulse of America’s deer hunters and provides a long-term look at what’s truly happening in the world of whitetails. Here are a few important figures from the 2019 QDMA Whitetail Report.
Guns, Bows, or Muzzleloaders?
Firearms hunters account for roughly 66 percent of the kill, followed by archers at 23 percent, muzzleloaders (which are also firearms) at 10 percent, and “other” killing only one percent. Bowhunting seems to show the most growth, with their portion of the overall kill rising from 15 to 23 percent since 2002.
The five top states for percentage of overall deer kill taken by archers (including crossbows) are:
- New Jersey (58%)
- Massachusetts (43%)
- Ohio (43%)
- Illinois (39%)
- Kansas (37%)
That interesting mix represents both densely-developed states in the Northeast, where gun hunting may be impractical or limited, more rural states with longer, more liberal bow seasons, and Ohio, which has a good mix of both. The Midwest also has the most bowhunters, but the Northeast is the leader in terms of bowhunters per square mile.
Alternate Mortality
Hunters aren’t the only thing impacting deer populations. Average fawn recruitment rates declined significantly from 2000 to 2005, dropped again from 2005 to 2010, then remained similar from 2010 to 2017. The Report didn’t elaborate, but recent research throughout the southeast shows that coyotes are having a growing negative effect on recruitment rate.
Though it still lingers, deer herds have survived the last big EHD outbreak that caused some severe, localized die-offs. CWD seems to be a far greater and increasing threat, and recent research showing yearling buck dispersal as a possible mechanism for spreading it has raised concern over protecting this segment of the population. QDMA suggests an equal focus on antlerless deer to keep herds balanced with habitat.
Deer-Vehicle Accidents
Unless you’ve recently been involved in one, you probably don’t think much about deer-vehicle accidents (DVAs). QDMA thinks about them a lot, and they compared three periods 2002-03, 2011-12, and 2017-18 to illustrate expected trends.
In general, DVAs went up in all regions, with the southeast seeing the most dramatic increase (72 percent). On a local level, Pennsylvania led the nation and results for DVAs per road mile were about as expected.
Top States With Deer-Vehicle Accidents, 2017-18
- Pennsylvania 141,777
- Michigan 87,959
- New York 72,314
- North Carolina 64,200
- Texas 60,857
The Report also compared DVAs and harvest, anticipating the former would be a small percentage of the latter. In 2017-18, the southeast DVA total was 14 percent of the 2017 deer harvest; or one deer hit for every eight taken by hunters.
“This seems high, but it is far worse in the Midwest (22 percent), Northeast (36 percent), and West (39 percent),” The 2019 Whitetail Report suggests. “Motorists in the Northeast and West hit nearly four deer for every ten taken by hunters, and nationally the three worst offenders were Connecticut (87 percent), California, and Massachusetts (81 percent)!”
If you’ve driven in any of these places you can probably understand why. This represents a wasted resource and a personal safety risk. The Report concluded that “It would be far better to take more deer during the (hunting) season and fewer on our roads.”
For more information and to download the entire 2019 report, please visit: https://www.qdma.com/about/whitetail-reports/
Stock Image & article courtesy of https://www.outdoorlife.com/
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Top States With Deer-Vehicle Accidents per Road Mile
- Pennsylvania 0.57
- Maryland 0.43
- Delaware 0.39
- Virginia 0.37
- Michigan 0.34
