Deer numbers to be subject of status meetings

Hank Murphy

      DNR wildlife biologist Jeremy Holtz said he expects to receive semi-final deer population models for Units 39, 40 and 50 in time for deer herd status meetings on March 9 and March 11 in Florence County.

      The status meetings are meant to inform people about local and regional deer populations while giving the public an opportunity to state views on a range of matters involving the herd. At last year’s meeting, for instance, attendees recommended that the DNR cut back dramatically on doe permits issued for units 39, 40 and 50.

      Early estimates, according to Holtz, indicate deer populations in units 39 and 40 remain far below goal, and Unit 50 probably is below goal as well.

      For the last few years, Unit 39 has shown zero growth even with the curtailment of doe permits.

      “I’m not confident that we’re going to see it come back to goal. Something will have to change from the current situation,” Holtz said.

      “Unit 40 I think will rebound,” Holtz said. Experience shows the unit’s population usually bounces back after two or three years of being conservative with antlerless permits. Also working in the deer’s favor is a more mild winter than in the previous two years. Holtz said he still is receiving reports of dead deer, but that’s normal.

      “In an average year, you lose 10 percent of your herd in the winter. That’s just the natural order of things,” he said

      The deer that are surviving “seem to be looking pretty good,” Holtz said.

      Deer populations, he said, are impacted by many variables besides the sheer size of Wisconsin’s annual nine-day gun hunt.

      “A lot of factors you can’t control the other 11½ months of the year,” he said.

      One such factor is national forest habitat, which impacts units 39 and 40.

      It’s a common misconception that deer are a deep forest species, Holtz said. The Chequamegon-Nicolet is managed for closed canopy, longer life hardwoods, he said.

      “That kind of management produces a kind of forest that doesn’t necessarily cater to whitetail deer,” he said.

      Unless deer are pushed into dense, closed canopy forest, they’ll occupy more optimal habitats elsewhere, he said.

      “I’m not saying that’s right or wrong,” he said of the national forest’s management. “I’m saying it’s not the kind of management you do if you’re trying to grow deer.”