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04/19/24 12:34:08am [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, [5] ]

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Date Posted: 05/22/07 7:27:27am
Author: Casey
Subject: Article being released from the FWC- June 1st, 2007

Below is an article that is going to be released on the 1st of June by the FWC. It will be in the Woods-n- Waters along with 10 other publications:

NEW DEER PLAN


Vision for a brighter deer hunting future

By Tony Young




Come up with bold and innovative ideas for a new statewide deer management plan. That’s the directive from the commissioners of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to the agency’s staff. And we created a deer management team just for this purpose.

The team includes some of the FWC’s best biologists, land and habitat managers, a regional director and senior law enforcement officers. It’s headed by biologist and state deer management coordinator Dr. Robert Vanderhoof.

The team, which really kicked it into overdrive before the year’s end, has met every month since October 2006 to discuss possible strategies and methods that will meet future goals and objectives for deer management and hunting. A big part of that vision is to improve customer satisfaction by providing more quality hunting experiences for the state’s more than 200,000 deer hunters.

Previous surveys of licensed hunters have provided insight into deer hunting in Florida and what deer hunters want. One common thread that appears to be a resonating voice among those hunters is they want to see more deer in the field, and they want to see more bucks. They also said they wanted more access to hunting lands and additional opportunities.

It’s clear from the feedback there’s a diversity of ideas and opinions about deer management and regulations. Hunters recognize deer management and hunting issues vary widely from one end of the state to the other.

Besides the monthly meetings, key members of the team also meet each month with members of the public who have a serious interest and stake in deer management. They represent many of the state’s hunting organizations/associations, other governmental agencies and large landholding companies that lease much of their properties to hunters.

Valuable input is gathered from this stakeholder group, which includes the Future of Hunting in Florida, Florida Wildlife Federation, Allied Sportsmen’s Associations of Florida, United Hunters of Florida, Traditional Bowhunters Association, Florida Bowhunters Council, Everglades Coordinating Council, Florida Sportsmen’s Conservation Association, Kissimmee River Valley Sportsman Association, Unified Sportsmen of Florida, Florida Dog Hunters and Sportsman’s Association, Lykes Brothers, Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Forest Service, Quality Deer Management Association, St. Joe Land Company, Deseret Ranch, National Rifle Association and all five Florida water management districts.

The meetings are facilitated by Dr. Perran Ross, wildlife ecology and conservation scientist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. He’s an avid deer hunter and does a good job of keeping the meetings on schedule and not letting them get "bogged down" as you can imagine they might when certain issues are discussed.

Together, these folks are spending countless hours hashing over the many details, obstacles, differences of opinion, theories and strategies that need to be discussed and figured out so the best deer management plan can be drafted, presented to the Commission at its September 2007 meeting to receive further feedback and direction, and ultimately to be finalized and implemented.

The challenges this group faces are many and multi-faceted, and there are no clear-cut, easy fixes that can be applied to solve every issue.

Florida’s deer are unlike any other state’s. Much of our state is not blessed with rich soils capable of producing high-quality, year-round nutrition for deer. Florida’s herd has adapted to the sandy soils in which it lives and gets by on only 6- to 8-percent protein found in native deer forages, compared to 12 to 20 percent found in forages grown in the clay soils of northern states. Not to mention the added heat and parasites that Florida deer must endure.

Try bringin’ in some deer from a northern state and turning ’em loose in Florida without giving ’em a bunch of supplemental feeding, and see how they make out. History’s shown it wouldn’t work out very well.

So you might be thinking, OK, Florida’s unique but relatively infertile coastal habitats affect our deer’s overall body weights and antler development. But, it influences more than that. It also means Florida’s does don’t produce as many fawns each year, and that equates to fewer deer and herds that have more trouble "bouncing back" from hard times or too much harvest pressure.

Throughout most of Florida, we don’t have the problem of "too many" deer like some states have. In fact, that doesn’t sound like a problem at all, unless you’re an auto insurance company having to pay out deer-collision claims or you’re a farmer trying to grow soybeans or replant citrus crops for a living.

That’s why we have to be careful harvesting does in most parts of Florida compared to other states. You think we don’t have enough deer here now? If we’re not careful about the number of does we shoot, just watch the deer population in this state decline. Where do you think buck fawns come from anyway?

The point is, you can’t just take what another state is doing for deer management and apply it to Florida. And, to make matters even more complicated, whatever bold and innovative plan the FWC’s deer team does come up with, can’t be applied in a "broad brush" fashion across the entire state.

Florida’s northern-tiered counties that border Georgia and Alabama actually have pretty fertile soil, and you have to manage that herd differently than you would the deer that attempt to scratch out a life in the poorer habitat of Southwest Florida.

And speaking of habitats, Florida’s are so diverse that the deer team is looking at creating deer management units (DMUs). These units would help the FWC manage deer at more of a local level. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be different season dates for each DMU. But it might mean more variation than the three hunting zones we currently have.

At this time, the team doesn’t know just how many DMUs there may be. But, the many factors going into "where" they may be and where to draw the boundaries include similarities in vegetation and land cover, soil compositions, geographic features, deer population densities and timing of the rut. When feasible, major roads and rivers would be used as boundary lines to make the DMUs easily identifiable on the ground.

Some ideas being tossed around by the team and stakeholders include shorter hunting seasons and more conservative bag limits and antler restrictions in some places. These are things other states are doing, and the group just needs to decide what blend of those type things might work here.

As you can see, the team’s definitely got its work cut out for it.

But believe it or not, the FWC’s always tried to please as many of the state’s anglers and hunters as possible in regards to fishing/hunting rules and regulations, while at the same time, managing the plethora of wildlife resources so they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

And that’s all the FWC’s deer team is trying to do – please the majority of deer hunters by increasing the quality of the hunting experience on public and private lands, now and into the future.

So be on the lookout for a new deer management plan coming down the pike that’s really going to be good for Florida’s hunters and good for the quality of deer we have here. A plan designed by deer hunters – for deer hunters. The future’s definitely looking bright for those of us who’ve been looking forward to a progressive, positive change. And change is a-comin’.



Tony Young is an avid deer hunter and co-manages the timber and wildlife resources on family-owned property in Franklin County. He lives in Tallahassee and is the media relations coordinator for the FWC’s Division of Hunting and Game Management.

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