Here’s the deal though. Everyone is blaming the habitat thing as the main reason for low deer numbers. While that is a factor, hard winters probably kill way more deer than hunters. Doesn’t matter how much crp there is. When we get a nasty winter deer will be dead. I’m talking lots of snow and below zero for weeks at a time. We have had a couple pretty mild winters in a row. I’m guessing there will be more deer around this year in most of the state.
Crp in a bad winter does nothing cause whatever cover there is will be level with snow. The other thing is a water source. Deer will congregate in areas they can access water. We had probably 20+ deer in the yard till the middle of January. Then they all left. They had plenty of cover and food but no access to water.
Nobody can objectively look @ deer seasons pre-‘86, ‘86-‘08, and post’ 08 and believe that CRP doesn’t have an ENORMOUS effect on deer populations. “Habitat” however, is much more than just CRP. Tree-rows and farmsteads (inhabited or not), cattails, and even pastures with a few patches of buckbrush are all habitat. Rivers, creeks, springs, birdbaths, stock ponds, windmill powered ta nks, winter cattle waterers, and seeps are all water sources deer will travel to find.
No argument that tough winters can make an enormous number of critter-cycles. That said, any of the habitats I named above will allow more to survive than a harvested soybean field.
The other big reason for low deer in my opinion was the massive number of doe permits that were given out several years ago. Whoever came up with that plan was a moron. If I sold most of my cows and only had bulls around it wouldn’t make much sense would it to complain I wasn’t getting as many calves. You don’t get rid of the factory.
No argument that the big numbers of die tags went on for too long as the habitat was going away.
