The Deer Group managers conduct dead deer surveys after the hunt. These are counts of deer not removed from the field by hunters-for many reasons. Hunt club members and others can conduct similar studies. They are easily done and people can learn much about the outdoors by getting off the trail. The way these surveys are conducted may be of interest.
A manager places about 20 brown burlap bags (filled on the spot with leaves and branches) in the woods throughout the representative area that will be surveyed by people. The surveyors line up as if they were conducting a deer drive. They walk through the area in a line, talking and keeping well-aligned. They count the dead deer seen and the bags seen. These bags represent dead deer. The equation is:
D = [(B+1) (d+1)/(b+1)] -1
For example, where 23 bags were placed out at random in the survey area, then the crew saw 5 dead deer and 4 bags, the result is that
D = [(24) (6)/(5)] -1
D = 28.
The estimate, 28, is of likely deer dead in the area. If the bags are scattered in a representative way and if they are seen in the same way as actual carcasses are seen, then the estimate D is fairly realistic. The trend in the estimate over a few years may be equally or more informative.
The losses due to crippling or to hunters failing to find, recover, or report deer need to be reduced. They need to be estimated well, along with illegal kills and accidents, and included with estimates of the harvest to obtain an estimate of the total kill.
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This Web site is maintained by R. H.
Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.
