The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) has released it's 2010 Whitetail Report. The manual is 77 pages long and chock full of all sorts of goodies including how states compare in management practices, a wealth of information from case studies done on whitetails, and general management information including where the herd is and where it is going. There is not much they do not cover in the report.
As the report states, it is an attempt to commend states who are doing well rather than point a finger at them.
States are ranked based on the QDMA's findings. In terms of New York, we do not rank in the top 5 of 13 Northeast states due mainly to only 21% of WMUs meeting harvest objectives and the high number of yearling bucks harvested (62% of all bucks). The 2009 report actually found that Vermont was tops in the Northeast for overall QDM.
Predation is a very interesting section of the manual. Some of the data regarding fawn predation is pretty frightening. Not only does it cover coyotes but it also covers bears including one study area in Pennsylvania where bears accounted for more fawn predation than coyotes.
They even cover feral hogs and their impact on whitetails including some information about how coyote populations actually increase as feral hog populations increase. Pretty good stuff.
There is far too much information in the report to go over here so we have listed the table of contents from the report below
to give you a glimpse in to what it covers. The link to the report is below the TOC.
Part 1: Regional Rankings
- Top Deer Management Programs by State
- White-tailed Deer Harvest
Part 2: Current Issues & Trends
- License Sales
- Hunter Effort
- State Agency Budgets
- QDM Cooperatives
- Deer Predators
Coyotes
Black Bears
Feral Hogs
- Fawn Recruitment Rates
- Doe Fawn Breeding Rates
- Buck Fawn Harvest Rates
- Could GonaCon® Replace Deer Hunting?
- Deer Farming
- The Cost of Chronic Wasting Disease
- Deer Population Goals by State: A Progress Report
- QDMA’s Agency of the Year
Part 3: Deer Management Reference and Research
- Antlered Buck Management
- How Many Antlerless Deer Should I Harvest?
- Detecting the Rut Peak
- Did You Know?
- Deer Management Strategies
- What is Carrying Capacity
- Mature Bucks: Who Needs ’Em?
- Habitat Management
- Is Culling Necessary?
- Aging Bucks on the Hoof
- QDMA’s REACH program
- Media Resources
To view the report, simply click on the link below to be taken to the QDMA Website. Once you get there, you can access the report. It is in PDF format and 77 pages long.
Click Here to View the QDMA 2010 Whitetail Report