Agricultural News
Older Bucks Coming Through Oklahoma Check Stations
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:55:37 CDT
The management of the deer population falls squarely on the shoulders of the more than 250,000 licensed hunters in Oklahoma, and they have been doing a great job.
Check stations throughout the state have seen increasing numbers of older bucks being harvested. The Quality Deer Management Association reported, from 2011 harvest totals, Oklahoma ranked in the top five states with the highest harvest of bucks aged 3.5 years and older.
This is a major step up, as the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service study years ago noted the average age of deer at check stations was 1.8 years. That number had increased to 2.4 years of age in 2007.
"Large antlered or trophy class deer are generally 4.5 to 6.5 years of age," said Jim Shaw, emeritus professor in Oklahoma State University's Department of Natural Resources Ecology Management. "Occasionally, 3.5-year-old deer will have trophy class antlers."
In Oklahoma, 51 percent of the buck jawbones were 3.5 years or older, from the 2011 numbers. In comparison, the national average was about 33 percent.
"I think that Oklahoma has done a tremendous job protecting yearling bucks and improving the age structure of their deer herd," said Kip Adams, director of education and outreach and certified wildlife biologist for the Quality Deer Management Association. "This is very positive for the deer population and especially for Oklahoma's hunters."
The pressure has been put more on does during the past several hunting seasons, which has helped in the management of deer. Taking only bucks causes the worst of all worlds, too many deer and not enough trophies.
"The idea would be to have a little more balance in the system," Shaw said. "You would like to have a healthy population of deer, and little by little, as they increase the number of doe days and increase the harvest pressure on does, you see a little bit older age of bucks coming through the check stations."
Past management, including the "Buck Law," which allowed the harvest of only antlered deer, can be largely blamed for the lack of trophy bucks and overpopulation of deer in the state. However, those days may be disappearing in the rearview mirror.
"We are living in the best time to be a deer hunter in the history of our state," said Erik Bartholomew, big game biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. "We have archery, muzzleloader and modern firearms seasons, youth seasons, liberal antlerless hunting opportunities, liberal harvest limits, and literally 100 days out of the year that hunters can be out there looking to harvest a deer if they want to. Hunters are better educated and they are being more selective about what they harvest."
Through the ODWC management practices, and the increased education of Oklahoma deer hunters to understand waiting for the "perfect buck" is important, the deer population has a healthy future.
Results from the 2012 harvest are expected this summer.
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