Monday, September 12, 2011
Data & Censusing
Ok, you’re sold on deer management. You’ve taken stock of what you’ve got to work with, set your goals and laid out a strategy. Now, you need good data to establish your baseline, guide your decisions and monitor your progress. Let’s now take a look at the data you need and how to get it.
Deer data can be divided two ways – harvest data and herd data. Data taken from harvested deer tell us about deer size and condition by age class and sex and is essential in monitoring herd quality. Key data from harvested deer include sex, age (somebody needs to be able to age harvested deer by tooth wear and replacement), weight (live and dressed), the gross B&C score of bucks (or some other standard means of measuring antler size and dimensions) and, of course, the total number of each sex taken. When and where deer were harvested and who took them is also important. I like to keep notes on injuries, parasite loads and other pertinent observations. Some managers also keep records on the weather conditions and hunting circumstances to help determine movement patterns and hunting trends.
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