Agricultural News
Deer Ready for Rut; Hunters Ready for Deer
Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:32:12 CST
Don't tell Walt Disney, but it is by no accident deer hunting season is in the fall in Oklahoma.
"Bambi got it wrong. (In the movie) the deer were courting in the spring. They actually do this in the fall," said Jim Shaw, emeritus professor of natural resources ecology management at Oklahoma State University. "When the does come into estrous, the bucks only have one thing on their mind."
It is the urge to breed that leads to the poor choices made by a young buck, which ultimately leads to the harvest of that buck. The shorthand expression for these actions is "testosterone poisoning."
"Bucks will take more risks, get in fights with rivals and do riskier things," said Shaw. "It is easier to kill bucks in the fall. It doesn't really effect does that much."
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) will have a pretty good idea of how the harvest will go after the first weekend of the season. Due to the mandatory check stations throughout the state, the ODWC keeps track of the total number of deer checked during the season.
"The biggest harvest is always on the opening weekend of the deer gun season," Shaw said. "What messes us up a little from year to year is the weather on opening weekend. This time of year, we could get anything."
This deer gun season opens on Nov. 17. Hunters should keep an eye on the weather forecast and look for good hunting conditions.
"Your ideal hunting weather is crisp, cold, dry and no wind," Shaw said. "With those conditions, the bucks can get the scent of those estrous does and they go berserk and don't show their normal caution because they have only one thing on their mind."
This time of year is the peak of rut for the deer. Fawns will be born in the early spring and have an opportunity to mature during the summer months.
"The young deer of the year are more or less independent in the fall," Shaw said. "The impact of taking out some of those animals is going to be less than it would in the spring."
The research and wildlife management over the years has provided the ODWC with the information to know about the breeding patterns of white tailed deer in the state. Even before this information was available, most of the hunting was still done in the fall.
Shaw said before the advent of freezers and refrigerators, hunting would commence in the late fall or winter so that hunters could hang their harvest and freeze it for storage.
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