Your Wisconsin Outdoor Community
Big Game => Whitetail Deer => Topic started by: Rancid Crabtree on February 17, 2009, 12:00:20 PM
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In looking at the SAK preliminary numbers I notices lots of units that are now below population goals. unit 39 is a good example. The goal is 20 deer per square mile of range. The new SAK data says unit 39 is now 59% below goal and in now down to 8 deer per square mile of range. |-)
What if Predation (wolves, bears, yotes) winter, car kills, natural deaths, etc are now enough to keep the population below goal or lead to further decline in population. All this before even factoring in hunting as a means of keeping the population in check??
Unit 39 is made up of 97% deer range and has a hunter density of 14 per square mile. Will those hunters keep hunting unit 39? Are they needed?
The same is true of unit 7 (7 deer per square mile of range) and a growing number of other units. Is there such a thing as an unhuntable population??