The images are pretty much ingrained in our minds – a monster whitetail buck in a wilderness woodland setting or lush farm field. Since our infancy, those classic images have appeared in paintings, on calendars, in advertising and in magazines. So it's no small wonder that when hunters think of trophy-racked bucks, remote woods and big farm fields come to mind.
However, many bowhunters seeking trophy bucks this fall won't be found in a stand in the deep woods or big field edges. Instead, they're apt to be within a stone's throw of a housing or commercial development. Increasingly, more trophy bowhunted bucks are being taken near developed areas, and recent entries into the New York State Big Buck Club records validate that trend.
The reason is twofold - the bucks found there are older, more mature animals, and whitetails, by their very nature, have rapidly adapted to the preserve-like conditions and habitat offered by these populated areas. The real challenge for bowhunters, as well as deer managers, is how to access these more populated areas to manage what has become a problematic and overabundant deer Mecca in many locations.
Another incentive for improved deer management in these areas has been the presence and spread of chronic wasting disease (CDW). As we know, the disease can be spread more easily when deer density is high in any given area. With some areas being home to deer densities that are three or four times those recommended by wildlife managers, the spread of always-fatal CWD could rage through the herd, resulting in slow and terrible deaths and also a waste of a valuable and renewable natural resource. And Lyme disease is considered to be the fastest growing infectious disease next to AIDS, and scientists see a strong link between high deer densities and Lyme disease in some areas.
The total failure of the various deer contraceptive methods being touted by the anti hunting groups, coupled with increasing concern by and complaints from residents of the problem areas, has created a foot-in-the-door opportunity for bowhunting as the most logical method of deer management in these areas. This means bowhunters are steadily gaining permission and access to lands that haven't been hunted in years. Bucks in these areas have been allowed to reach maturity and sport trophy – and even record book-size racks, and the results of these new opportunities are surfacing in the increasing number of record-book bucks taken there each year
Although Chenango County doesn't harbor the same large suburban areas the more heavily populated regions of the state do, the trends for higher deer densities existing around residential and commercial areas is much the same. Demographic changes have also resulted in an increasing percentage of the county's privately owned lands being closed to hunting. Complicating this is the fact the once plentiful low-growth browse on abandoned pastures that deer depended heavily on has matured into early-stage forestlands, forcing deer to move into residentially landscaped habitat where better food exists. Many homeowners enjoy seeing deer on their properties, but don't enjoy them when they start destroying their gardens and shrubbery.
Another growing challenge is the steady decline in the number of hunters, both county and statewide, and that is beginning to show in the state's bowhunter ranks as well, as hunters, as a group, are aging. It stands to reason that bowhunting generally requires more physical effort and strength than hunting with a gun. And as a bowhunter ages, he reaches the point where the demands of the activity - which includes being able to draw and shoot a bow accurately, as well as putting up and using tree stands – begin to outweigh the enjoyment. Add the fact that lands where he once hunted are now off limits, and the results are inevitable – he quits hunting. I'm a life-long bowhunter, but as my hair and beard have turned gray, I can readily associate with those who have or are planning to quit.
The allure of seeing more deer, and trophy-size deer in particular, is what is drawing some bowhunters to seek permission to hunt near developed areas, but even that will probably not be enough incentive to halt the bowhunter decline. And make no mistake, habitat is what deer density and management is all about -- the highest densities will be where the best habitat is, and that is probably your suburban or cluster development backyard, or close to it. Unfortunately, there are very few answers surfacing to reverse these trends and attitudes.
Which brings up a final point. One of the biggest stumbling blocks are the deer hunters themselves. It's no longer enough to be "just a deer hunter." These days we have so many special interest hunting groups and attitudes that they tend to work against each other, much to the delight of anti hunters and exasperation of wildlife managers. There are groups that represent bowhunters, rifle hunters, muzzleloader hunters, handgun hunters and quality deer management hunters. Each group wants a piece of the proverbial pie that the state's deer herd offers. The fragmentation has resulted in wildlife managers trying to satisfy all the groups, but in actuality, making effective deer management almost impossible.
Perhaps the increased interest in hunting nearer populated areas could be the catalyst that will allow deer hunters to combine their interests and wants in such a way that it will allow both increased hunting opportunities as well as better, more effective deer management. And how the public (and some hunters) view deer hunting needs to be modernized to reflect it.
The simple fact that deer hunting and management will increasingly need to be done nearer populated areas pretty much rules out firearms use. And bowhunting by itself won't be the answer, especially as that group's ranks continue to shrink. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to halt the hunter decline and also bring more hunters back into the fold that have an opportunity to hunt where deer management is most needed now. If that means allowing crossbow hunting, then special interest hunters and groups need to set aside their differences and unite again. Otherwise, deer hunting could become a thing of the past ... like those classic wilderness and field buck images of years past.