State of the Deer Nation
QDMA lays out their take on the whitetail deer population
ORLANDO, Fla — The Quality Deer Management Association — which posted one of 18 booths listed under wildlife management at the SHOT Show — put out its 2009 Whitetail Report on Thursday.
It's 100 pages, but QDMA executive director Brian Murphy broke it down into a 20-slide presentation on Thursday. Here are a few of the points that caught my eye:
Last spring, Sam Eifling reported on ESPNOutdoors.com what many outdoor writers across the nation were reporting — lead in deer could be a serious problem.
In March, 2008, the North Dakota departments of Health, Agriculture, and Game and Fish considered the seriousness of lead poisoning, particularly for children and pregnant women, and took precautionary measures. It was recommended that food pantries halt distribution of ground venison.
On April 10, 2008, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture announced that laboratory tests confirmed the presence of lead fragments in 76 of 299 samples of ground venison from food pantries.
As a result, the food pantries were asked to destroy any remaining venison.
Murphy, citing a report by the North Dakota Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said all that was a knee-jerk reaction and has since been debunked.
"If people view venison as unsafe to eat, we're in a lot of trouble," Murphy said.
According to the QDMA's report, the CDC conducted a study to measure the risk, if any, of eating wild game harvested with lead bullets. The study involved testing 738 North Dakotans who volunteered to have their blood tested for the presence of lead.
In a news release dated November 7, 2008, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported there was no evidence that lead or "traditional" ammunition posed any risk to consumers of harvested game meat. This statement was in response to study results from the CDC research.
The report said the average level of lead in the people tested is actually lower than the level of the average American.
Whitetail drives hunting
The QDMA's report said that 78 percent of hunters in America hunt whitetail deer — that's more than 10 million people. And it's almost four times more popular than turkey hunting (the next most sought after species).
"I don't think there's any question that whitetail deer drive this entire industry," Murphy said.
Over a decade that has seen some rough numbers in hunters lost, Murphy said deer hunter numbers have remained steady, and that those who continue to hunt are spending more money and hunting more often.
But while that seems good on the surface for a non-profit like QDMA, Murphy said it's setting the whole industry up for failure because almost all hunters start on small game.
"Starting a new hunter on deer is a real dangerous pattern to get into," Murphy said.
Most dangerous animals in the world
I've never really thought through the danger deer pose, but the numbers prove they are one of the deadliest animals in the world.
According to Dr. Michael Conover, Director of the Berryman Institute at Utah State University, deer vehicle collosions are responsible for an estimated 200 human fatalities, 29,000 injuries and over $1.1 billion in property damage each year.
Even more shocking is that since there are about 32 million whitetails in the U.S., one of every 21 deer will be involved in a collision with a vehicle.
The report said this was hard data to collect because it's not something that most state agencies keep numbers on, which left them getting most their numbers from State Farm Insurance. Here are a few more deer in the headlights facts.
- Over the past five years, Pennsylvania has had the most collisions (averaging about 99,000 per year) and Michigan is second with 93,000.
- In terms of deer-vehicle collisions per harvest, Texas and Wisconsin led the list with DVCs, which is equivalent to only 9 percent of their legal harvests.
- Of the top 10 deer-vehicle collision states, the average number increased over 9 percent from 2002-03 to 2006-07. North Carolina led this list with a 31 percent increase.
