Hey, Old Guys ??

[tunica du4u]

I musta been in the twilight zone those years...somewhere I got a picture from Old River Hunting Club here in Dundee(west of levee) taken in 1964 opening day, with 13 nice bucks strung up...I'll try to find it & scan to post

[h2o_dog]

I ain't THAT old, but I remember the 60's when seeing a deer track was a remarkable occurance.

I'm told in the 50's my grandaddy would leave Tallahatchie County with his hounds and camp for a week in Lafayette County deer hunting...I reckon the deer were more plentiful over there?

[RebelYelp]

You take all your does, the bucks are leaving and that's what has happened to us.

it's not that your bucks are leaving, it's that your entire population has dropped, theory # 1.

Theory # 2, over-pressure by you and your surrounding area could be a major cause of this, especially if there is a "sanctuary" for them nearby.

Theory # 3, the harvest of does in proportional values with bucks does not cause them to "leave to find does" contrary to popular belief. Less deer = more food, bucks are gonna breed the does there, if there aren't as many does in an area, then not as many will be bred, bucks and does are born at a 1:1 ratio, the bucks that "leave" are general yearling bucks run off by their mothers, aka nature's way of preventing inbreeding. Realistically, it's almost impossible to have a 1:1 ratio at maturity in deer in a wild setting, i don't have the #'s to give you the ratio for most areas of the state, but about 2 miles north of you we have pretty good hunting. Most of that area though is in cotton, not quite sure about exactly what is planted around your farm, but... cotton is generally only conducive to deer during the first few weeks of growth.

# 4--- attraction is key, FOOD pays off, year round. Not only food, but cover. If you've got neighbors that like to "over-kill", there is probably not a better substitute than GOOD cover and food, not to mention control your own hunting pressure. Food plot mixes can look $ but most are worth it. Heck, save some money and plant wheat, oats, arrowleaf clover and crimson clover. You'll have plenty of food starting abotu 3 weeks after you plant depending on soil moisture, running all the way through, well now, when soybeans and other summer crops should really start taking off. Soybeans = lots and lots of attraction because soybeans = lots and lots of tonnage of food AND high palatability and face it, taste. Just like you, a deer wants to eat somethin that's good to it. Having year round food plots is a dream for some people, but if you can't make that dream a reality, do the next best thing and really really work on your native food species (honeysuckle, mast crops, etc etc).



NOW.... to answer the original question..... A host of things.

From management practices (harvest rates, land management), relocation, not to mention the "boom" of the soybean market, I remember studying in high school that cotton wasn't "king" anymore, etc etc. Keep in mind, that a population of deer can double in size from year to year, so it wouldn't take long for the population to really boom given the proper conditions.

[SoftCall]

Beastmaster - I think that the soybean was the #1 boost for the population. We used to have a family farm on Kings Point...there were always tons of deer from what I remember as a kid in the mid 70's. Wheat and beans were relatively new on the place and cotten was king before. My great grandfather said that soybeans kept them fed and thick from what I remember. He died in 77 so I am digging deep in the halls of my memory. I do remember them talking about BIG bucks and how there weren't any more because there were too many deer and the woods were totally over browsed. We actually started the MSU pilot over there in November '78 I think...man those were the good ole days! Green lace up rubber boots with the yellow laces, walls or chiller killer coveralls, jones style hats and Willys jeeps....and freezin' yore booty off!

[crow]

I was born up in Winston County and hunted the Tombigbee Natl Forest in Winston all the way to Starkville all during my growing up years. Folks up there killed does indiscriminately as well as every buck they saw, day and night. The deer were poached to the point where the herd was very thin. It wasn't lack of food, because peas, corn, and beans were planted thick in the communities there. But, we had more deer than anywhere else in the state due to the efforts on Noxubee Refuge. They were stocking Wisconsin strain deer all during the 60's trying to get a new deer herd established. A distant cousin, Johnny Mack Dawkins, was the head ranger out there during that time and actually lived at the house by Bluff Lake. I killed a really nice ten pointer (21" inside spread, 4 yrs. old) that he thought was a first generation descendent of the original Wisconsin deer.

It was the early/mid 70's before better enforcement, regulations, and generally better understanding of management that the herd got really healthy, along with the turkeys. Funny how their increase in numbers mirrored each other. (I don't ever remember seeing a turkey in that area until the early 70's, but I sure got into them then!)

I think we are killing way too many deer these days in most areas. It's a little like the ducks in that it got to be cool (tv shows that show how easy it is and make it popular). There is a deer hunter behind every tree and all the family land I used to hunt is now leased to clubs. My uncle still has some unleased land just off hwy. 25 toward the refuge that I can hunt on. But, the deer and turkey just aren't there much anymore...certainly in the big racked versions I remember from the early 70's.

For the record, I was born in '51, so I saw all the period you young un's are referring to as "the good ole days." Well, the weren't all that good! Folks in that area were poor as a chuch mouse, my family included!

[Bankermane]

I tend to disagree. I grew up in the sixties. I believe you could only kill one deer per year back then. There were no deer except around the river. It was a migratory thing, similiar to what has happened to turkeys. Back then people hunted deer with shotguns. Hunters lined up down a gravel road and ran dogs through the area. Not much rifles or still hunting. Slowly the deer have migrated from the river counties throughout the state. Technology also has been a factor. People stunk, wore no camo, had no rifles, and did not have tree stands.

[duck_nutt]

opening the season up on doe's has had no ill effects in carroll county...see more and more every year...damn near a nuisance

[MemphisStockBroker]

My late grandfather grew up in Lexington, MS. He said that he never saw a deer in the wild in his life, and he never heard of anyone ever killing one. And he hunted allot....

[DuckDeke]

A distant cousin, Johnny Mack Dawkins

Man, I haven't heard that name since I was a wee tike. Is Johnny Mack still around these days? If so, how's he doing?

On the subject at hand, my uncle always expressed to me that he noticed a sustained increase in the deer herd around the same time that soybeans were being planted everywhere in the state. That and the deer being re-introduced into the area (Oktibbeha Co.) is what he attributes most of the increased number of deer to, or at least what started the population increase. As a young man he was the only one in the family that really bothered to deer hunt...the rest of them all quail hunted. My how things change. Now theres deer everywhere and no quail to be found.

[B-80]

wonder how much the introduction of soybeans/corn to MS played a part. figured most farm land was cotton.. when did soybeans really take off?

My grandfather always said it was the soybeans and corn that made the deer plentiful in Bovina !

[sportsman450]

Antlerless Deer Seasons
May 2002


Lately, some deer hunters have been asking, "When are the doe seasons going to end?" Deer hunters in Mississippi have been enjoying antlerless hunting opportunities for almost a decade. The majority of hunters and landowners are pleased with their freedom to harvest deer of either-sex while hunting. Deer populations in most locations can now be correctly managed for the first time in the history of deer management in Mississippi.

However, some hunters still believe that our antlerless seasons are the reasons for their declining deer harvest and observation woes. These hunters accurately assess the deer population as being reduced from the high numbers of years past. Population reduction was an objective of the antlerless seasons and has been successful in some areas. But there is more.

Many hunters have assumed that the antlerless seasons would become more restricted or even discontinued when deer populations were reduced. In addition, these hunters want the historically abnormally high deer population (with its out of proportion buck-doe ratios) to return. They expect to see deer population levels at unrealistically high numbers and will continue to compare every future year to some time in the past when deer numbers were too high and even harmful to the habitat.

Biologically, we believe that antlerless seasons should continue. If deer numbers exist to justify buck hunting, then antlerless opportunity is warranted as well. In general, wildlife biologists believe it is best for the resource and the habitat to recommend either-sex opportunity on private lands, concurrent with any open deer season.

Besides either-sex deer seasons, there are other biological questions to consider. There are important decision makers in the process other than biologists. Consider this analogy.

A young child is sick. The anxious parents carry the child to the pediatrician. The experienced doctor has seen this type sickness and has made the same routine diagnosis hundreds of times.

A simple long-term series of injections will cure the child. The parents are relieved that their child will be fine. While in the doctor's office, the first injection is given, and, of course, the child cries.

Time for the second injection rolls around, and the parents drag the child into the doctor's office. At home, the child begins whining about the third injection. "Is it really necessary?" the child asks. "How long will I have to take these shots? Will they ever end?" the child cries.

The loving parents begin questioning the doctor. Could he be wrong? Could their child possibly be cured with fewer injections? Maybe the doctor could prescribe some pills, anything but the injections that make the child cry.

Antlerless seasons have similar players. The sickness is the unrealistically high deer population in need of antlerless harvest, and the injections are the antlerless seasons prescribed by the wildlife biologist.

What all hunters should remember is that setting Mississippi's deer seasons are never easy. Various hunting groups want different things, and there are many players in the deer hunting scenario.

Biologists justify their antlerless recommendations to the MDWFP executive director and the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks after on-the-ground evaluations in their respective areas. But when it comes down to it, the executive director and the five-member Commission really take the heat on this issue.

Deer populations produce young at about a 50-50 buck to doe ratio. Herd stabilization demands removal at equal rates. When deer populations fall to unacceptable levels, culprits other than antlerless opportunity (e.g., poaching, disease, and habitat quality decline) become limiting factors. As soon as any limiting factors are identified and removed, populations respond in increased numbers with the presence of antlerless seasons.

Over the years, we have made a lot of progress in deer management across Mississippi. We think this is partly due to a strong, determined group of decision makers. Mississippi hunters should be given high marks for working with the MDWFP in helping to make the time-honored tradition of deer hunting something special that we can hand down with pride to future generations of Mississippi sportsmen.


About the Author: Larry Castle is a wildlife biologist and the White-tailed Deer Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

[tunica]

I was around then but cant remember anything of the 60's or early 70's....guess Monsanto and Dow are to blame

[sportsman450]

In my less than humble opinion, you could look for a long time and not find a greater wildlife management story than our whitetail deer herd.

When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s we primarily hunted ducks and squirrels. We did very little deer hunting because there were so few deer. Back then you just didn't see any deer. At least we didn't. Today, in those same places, it's rare to go and not see deer. Lots of em.

What was done to accomplish this? I'm pretty sure that all of the following played a part. Very restrictive harvest (followed by selective harvest), restocking with non-resident deer, supplemental feeding.

I would love to hear Scott Baker's input about what brought the turnaround.

[crow]

So, Tunica, are you saying you rode your bike behind the fogging machine a lot?! Me, too!

[weimhunter]

Things must have been different in the Golden Triangle area. When I was a kid in the 70s, I could remeber seeing deer all the time. It seemed my dad killed a deer every weekend and my brothers.