As stated earlier, the MDC's computer population models estimate the state's deer herd to be slightly over 1 million animals -- 1.3 million to be exact. Each autumn, before the deer seasons begin, about 40 percent of that population is male, including button bucks. In all, about 40 percent of our deer are fawns, deer that are six-months old, each fall hunting season.
The MDC has a computer population model built for every county that gives the agency its best guesstimate on how many deer there are in that county, given the number of deer taken in a season, reproductive rates, and how many deer died.
"In our population models, in order to have a stabilized deer population (one that isn't increasing or decreasing), we need to have about 23 percent of our does die each year, and 15 to 20 percent of that must come from hunting," Hansen said. "From a buck standpoint, it doesn't matter. We could kill a high number of bucks because all of the bucks left would breed does."
The key to maintaining our deer population doesn't really relate to how many bucks versus does we kill, but rather how many deer we have to begin with. There's no reason to believe that we couldn't have another record-breaking deer season sometime soon.
"The 2007 deer seasons ought to be good," Hansen predicted. "We had a great harvest in 2006, and I doubt that we will beat that this year. But I really do expect it to be a great year."
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