With Kentucky’s 2015-16 deer season set to open in 10 days, with the start of archery hunting, the outlook for the season is excellent, with more opportunities for hunters to take antlerless deer in the counties with the highest deer densities.
“We’re excited about deer season,” said Gabe Jenkins, deer and elk program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Herd health is good, hunter numbers are up and herds knocked back by outbreaks of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) have rebounded to pre-2007 levels.”
This is reflected in changes to the zone status of seven counties in the west central region of the state. Bullitt, Nelson, LaRue, Green and Hopkins are now Zone 1 counties, and Grayson and Ohio are now Zone 2 counties.
Hunters in Zones 1-2 may take deer of either sex during the entire 16 days of modern gun season for deer Nov. 14-29, 2015. Jenkins said there was a significant die-off of deer in some counties in the region in 2007 caused by EHD, and compounded by a less severe outbreak in 2010.
Although archery season is the longest deer season — 136 days opening Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015 and continuing through Jan. 18, 2016 — hunting with firearms drives the harvest.
“We’ve got a lot of deer, the weather during modern gun season for deer has been good in recent years, and numbers of deer taken by hunters has been fantastic,” said Jenkins.
During the past five seasons, the overall number of deer reported taken has climbed from 110,376 in 2010 to 138,898 in 2014. During that five-year period the firearms deer harvest rose from 79,026 in 2010 to 102,893 in 2014. The record deer harvest by firearms hunters occurred in 2013 (104,621).
Harvest by archery hunters has been steady to improving, too. During the past five seasons, archers have taken an average of 18,547 deer. The five-year low was 16,650 in 2010 and the five-year high was a record 20,835 in 2013. Jenkins said early season (September) hunting is becoming more popular with archers.
“They’re not just buck hunting, a lot of does are being taken,” said Jenkins.
Early in the season deer are still in their summer pattern, feeding early and late in fields before acorns begin to drop in the woods. A rainy summer has caused an unusually green August, with quality stands of clover and alfalfa still remaining. Trail cameras are a good way to decipher changes in deer feeding, bedding and movement during the transition period, from late summer into the cool down of fall.
The archery harvest may increase again this season, due to a change in regulations. Seniors were handed another perk (they already can buy a license for $5) when the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to allow legal resident hunters, age 65 years or older, to hunt deer with a crossbow during the entire 4 1/2-month archery season.
While Jenkins said it’s too early to assess this spring’s deer production, reports from the field have been positive.
“Because of the wet weather there was plenty of food and cover for fawns,” he said. “Every year we sample deer on our WMAs (wildlife management areas). The deer we’re seeing are fat and healthy.”
Hunter participation in deer season has been consistent.
“There are more deer hunters afield because of a growing number of youth hunters,” said Jenkins. “We had about 102,000 successful deer hunters last season.”
The hunter success ratio was calculated to be 34 percent, with successful deer hunters taking an average of 1.3 deer.
“Last season we sold about 300,000 deer permits,” said Jenkins.
Hunters who would like to donate venison to the less fortunate in their community should contact the Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry (KHFH), a non-profit volunteer organization that distributes venison to homeless shelters and food banks across the state.
Thanks to a new revenue stream, $2 donations from persons renewing their car or truck registration, KHFH now has more money to pay for deer carcass processing. They also have a program that matches hunters with landowners who need help in controlling depredating deer. Visit their website at this link.
In other deer season related news, Jenkins said the department is preparing to launch a deer hunter survey.
Paper surveys will be mailed to some hunters, while others will receive links e-mailed to them.
“There will also be a link to the survey posted on our website ( www.fw.ky.gov ) so that anyone can contribute their opinion,” said Jenkins.
One of the issues that will be addressed in the survey is the high deer densities in some Zone 1 counties.
“We want to see what hunters will support,” said Jenkins. “We are partners with hunters. Together we are the stewards and we want to do the best job we can at managing Kentucky’s deer herd.”
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.