Deer numbers down for shotgun season

Hunters participating in Iowa's shotgun deer seasons - the first of which opens Saturday - will likely have to hunt longer and harder this year to get their deer.

“Deer numbers in many areas are near the department's objective, and we are now encouraging hunters to be more selective with their harvest,” said Dale Garner, the Department of Natural Resources' wildlife bureau chief.

The state's deer population has declined about 12 percent, from an estimated 505,000 deer at the start of last year's deer seasons to 445,000 this year, according to DNR deer biologist Tom Litchfield.

The decline, under way since 2006, is attributable to the DNR's encouragement of hunters to shoot more does as a means to shrink the herd to socially acceptable levels.

“We have been hearing complaints from hunters that they are not seeing the number of deer that they had in the past and some are voicing their concerns that the herd reduction may have gone too far,” Garner said.

Hunters who feel that way should consult with landowners to determine if they think the deer population is at an acceptable level and adjust their doe harvests accordingly, Garner said.

The ongoing shrinkage of the herd will translate into another reduced harvest - “probably a 5 percent to 6 percent reduction from last year,” Litchfield said.

Last year's reported harvest for all seasons was 127,094. Litchfield expects this year's total harvest to be about 120,000 deer.

About 60 percent of the state's total harvest occurs during the two shotgun seasons.

Litchfield said about 60,000 hunters with either-sex licenses will hunt during the first season, which runs Saturday through Wednesday. About 43,000 will hunt during the second season, which runs Dec. 10-18.

Another 25,000 hunters with landowner tags can hunt either season.

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, the reported harvest so far this year - by archers, muzzleloader hunters and youth hunters - stood at 32,167, which is slightly ahead of last year's pace. But Litchfield said he does not expect that pace to hold.

For one thing, hunters will likely opt to shoot fewer does than they have in the past. “They are definitely not buying antlerless tags as fast as they have in the past,” Litchfield said.

Despite declining deer numbers, Litchfield expects Iowa hunters to enjoy a productive shotgun deer season.

“The crops are out of the fields, and deer should be concentrated in the remaining cover - timbers, woodlots, stream corridors and Conservation Reserve Program grasslands,” he said.