Newspaper Page Text
2
1 SEPTEMBER 2007
Georgia needs to do
like South Carolina,
Florida, Alabama
and so on. Have you ever
heard this statement? We
sure have; wish we had
nickel for every time we
have heard it regarding
deer management. It often
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seems that a lot of time
is spent looking at the
neighbors’ grass and the
longer we look; the greener
it gets. Meanwhile, we don’t
inspect our own grass with
same detail. And, so it is
with deer hunting in Georgia
and Georgia’s deer herd. So,
EVANS NEWSPAPERS, INC,
Georgias Quality Deer Herd
how green is our grass? You
may be surprised!
Georgia supports a very
healthy, productive deer
herd. The most recent pre
hunt deer herd estimate for
Georgia was a conservative
1.2 million deer (2002). The
result of this healthy,
productive deer herd is that
Georgia’s 280,000 deer
hunters harvested 410,000
deer in 2002. On the other
hand, your comrades in
Alabama harvested 410,000,
Florida - 140,000, South
Carolina - 309,000 and
Tennessee - 157,000. This is
quite a feat considering our
pre-hunt population estimate
in 1980, just 20 years ago,
was only 473,000 and our
harvest was about 135,500
deer. Georgia’s deer hunters
and deer herd have come a
long way in a short period
of time and are no doubt
leaders in the South! Is their
grass still looking greener?
What about the successful
Georgia deer hunters? The
average deer hunter harvests
1.5 deer per season and it
takes the average deer hunter
just 14 days to harvest a
deer. This is incredible when
compared to 1980 when
the average deer hunter
harvested 0.4 deer, and it
took the average hunter 31
days to harvest a deer! Deer
hunting in the 1980’s was
good; now it’s great. No
doubt, the good old days of
deer hunting are right now!
Georgia deer hunters are
harvesting more deer and
are more successful than
ever before.
Good Ole Days of
Deer Hunting
Are Now
Well, we briefly described
the outstanding deer hunting
opportunity that we cherish
in Georgia. Now, what about
our deer herd? We have
mentioned its general size,
but what about its quality? It
may be of surprise, but
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Georgia actually has a
quality deer herd and has
since about 1996. There
are several ways to judge
the quality of our deer herd
including Boone & Crockett
records (B&C), Pope &
Young records (P&Y) and
the number of mature bucks
(2 Vi years old and older)
harvested.
Did you know that
Georgia has 80 B&C record
bucks? Our surrounding
states do not even
compare. We are numero
uno! At a distant second
to Georgia is Tennessee
with just 18 B&C bucks
and third is Alabama with
11. Our grass seems to
be quite green!
Boone & Crockett
Bucks Entered in All-Time
Records Book through 2000
in Georgia and Surrounding
States
Yet, our grass gets even
greener. Georgia has 198
P&Y record bucks! Once
again, Georgia is the
FourTrax Rancher
Recommended for riders 16 years and older.
HUMTING, fISHING A CAMPING
leader. Alabama is second
at 110 and then comes
Tennessee at 105. That other
grass is starting t© have
several brown spots (no pun
intended)!
Pope & Young
Bucks
Georgia and
Surrounding States
(1980-2001)
Finally, how does our
buck harvest look between
yearlings and adults? A final
testament to the quality of
your Georgia deer herd is the
fact that more quality bucks
are being taken in Georgia
than ever before. In 1975,
70% of the bucks taken were
yearling bucks (1.5 years
old) and only 30% were true
adults. In 2002, only 47% of
bucks taken were yearlings
and 53% of bucks taken were
quality, adult bucks.
see Herd pg. 8
. 52880
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