Key Statistics from the 2012 QDMA Whitetail Deer Report
Agnieszka Spieszny 02.15.12
More bucks were harvested in 2010 than in 2009, according to the data from 35 states compiled in the 2012 Whitetail Report by the Quality Deer Management Association. The 60-page report (pdf) lists information on harvests, species’ range, sex ratio, and other popular management topics in the United States and Canada. In this article, I’ve compiled a short list of highlights of whitetail deer statistics below.
Antlered Buck Harvest
- Buck harvest for all the regions of the United States in 2010 was 2,776,867. Canada’s total harvest for 6 providences (Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan) was 116,147.
- The top five states for the 2010 antlered buck harvest were Texas with 357,378 bucks, Michigan – 212,341, Georgia – 155,255, Wisconsin – 148,378 and Alabama – 129,000.
- The top five states for 2010 buck harvest per square mile were Texas at 5.8 bucks per square mile, South Carolina – 4.8, Wisconsin – 4.4, Indiana – 4.3 and Georgia – 4.1.
Buck Harvest Age Structure
Western states did not report their harvested buck age data, therefore they are excluded from the findings.
- The top six states with the lowest yearling-buck harvest rates are Kansas at 9 percent of all harvested bucks being yearlings, Arkansas – 10 percent, Louisiana – 17, Missouri – 17, and Rhode Island and Texas which both averaged 22 percent yearling bucks.
- The top five states with the highest harvest of 3½-year-old and older bucks were Arkansas with a 68 percent of bucks that were taken were 3½ or older, Louisiana – 65 percent, Texas – 59 percent, Kansas – 56 percent and Oklahoma with 51 percent.
Antlerless Harvest
- Antlerless harvest totaled 3,347,150 in the United States. In six Canadian provinces (Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan) the total harvest amount was 80,587.
- The top five states for antlerless harvest in 2010 were Texas with 330,698, Georgia with 308,747, Alabama with 208,000, Michigan 205,509 and Pennsylvania with 193,310.
Deer Predators
- Coyotes have the most significant impact on fawn survival and recruitment rate. Every state and part of Canada allows coyote hunting within set perimeters except for the state of Delaware, which does not allow coyote hunting.
- In response to coyote predation, the following states have increased opportunity or changed their management model in the last five years: South Carolina, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba in Canada.
Fawn Recruitment Rates
- In the U.S., the average fawn recruitment rate declined significantly from 2000 to 2005 and again from 2005 to 2010.
- The top five states for fawn recruitment in 2010 were Iowa at a ratio of 1 fawn to 30 adult doe, Wisconsin at 1:7, South Dakota at 0:95, South Carolina at 0:88 and Ohio at 0:81.
Hemorrhagic Disease Outbreak
- The most significant viral disease affecting whitetails annually is hemorrhagic disease (HD). The outbreak of HD in the summer of 2011 was the not as bad as the 2007 outbreak that was the worst in 50 years, but it did affect deer in at least 18 states.
- Thirteen states confirmed HD by the time of this report. Suspected and confirmed states with hemorrhagic disease in 2011 include Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana.
- The Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study is conducting research into the disease and will release their full report on the 2011 outbreak in November 2012.
Hunting License Sales
- Hunting license sales have increased. About 4.9 percent of the United States population purchases a hunting license in any given year. From 2008 to 2009 each region of the United States saw more licenses purchased. The U.S. total for license sales in 2009 was 14,973,528.
- License sales increased every year from 2006 to 2009 in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina.
- The states where license sales decreased for two to three periods were California, New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
Hunting Numbers Increase With More Women Hunting
- At one point in time, the report admits that hunting numbers have steadily declined between 1979 and 2009, but speculates that the hunting industry may have made it across that hurdle. With more and more women hunting each year, hunting numbers have seen an uptick. QDMA credits the National Shooting Sports Foundation for their data that women hunters increased by 653,000 from 2002 to 2009, totaling 3,204,000 women hunters.
Look to the report itself to find contact information to your region’s deer project coordinators, QDMA branches, major branch events, to see who received various QDMA awards, and an overview of the REACH program.
