The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) recently made their 2020 Whitetail Report available for download. This a completely free resource regardless of your membership status with QDMA.
The Whitetail Report is a great resource to better understand what is happening in deer hunting at a macro (the whole US) and micro (your specific state) level. Throughout the report, you’ll see harvest data comparisons from the three most recent seasons. In this case: 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19. In addition to harvest data, which includes comparisons of antlered vs antlerless numbers, weapon usage, and deer age, you’ll also gain insight into other topics surrounding whitetail management including information on diseases and their impact, guidelines for traveling with weapons between states, and QDMA’s recommendations on a number of topics.
As a Wisconsin resident, what the report revealed to me is that hunting numbers are on the wrong trajectory, having a 14% drop across the state. In addition, of the deer that were harvested, a low percentage of them were considered “mature” and having reached +70% of their maximum antler growth potential (3 1/2 years old or older). This is shown by the fact that Wisconsin, as compared to all other states in the US, had the highest percentage of yearling bucks while also being the state with the lowest percentage of 3 1/2 years old or older bucks in the buck harvest.
One of the US-level data points that really stuck out to me in the report was how rapidly crossbows have surpassed the use of vertical bows. In 11 of the 25 states (44%) where crossbows can be used, the harvest with crossbows exceeded the vertical bow harvest. From the 2018-19 total harvest, 66% of deer were shot with a firearm, followed by 23% with a bow, 10% by muzzleloader, and 1% by other means.
Another interesting fact that I wanted to highlight from the report that I’m sure flies under the radar for a number of hunters is how safe hunting has been in recent years. Think about it, you’re usually carrying multiple items that are capable of harvesting a deer (gun or arrows and likely a field knife). You find yourself climbing 20 feet up into a tree stand after walking a long distance. Then, if you’re lucky, you get to drag a 180+ pound deer (potentially by yourself) up a hill or across a swamp. With all that factored in, hunting is a safe form of recreation. Hunting contributes less than 1% to the overall number of sports related injuries. This ranks hunting higher in safety than recreational activities and sports including golf, tennis, and jogging. Unfortunately some injuries in hunting can be fatal, and there’s always room to further improve safety education and equipment, but I was happily surprised to see these numbers come in so low. I know the barrier of entry for some younger hunters might be parents thinking hunting is too dangerous. Hopefully stats like these can be shared to ease some of those concerns.
Finally and perhaps the biggest takeaway for me, and one of my main motivations for writing about my adventures in hunting, is hunter recruitment needs to drastically improve. I recently shared a link on Twitter to an article in the Washington Post that provided an in-depth look at the impact hunters have on funding government programs to protect wildlife and natural habitats. Imagine how the impact to deer all across the US would be affected if the decline in hunters continues. One impact would be the research of diseases that impact deer. Look at some of the numbers provided in the report…
The biggest issues and trends include the continued spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). CWD made major headlines in 2019. State wildlife agencies collected over 175,000 CWD samples in 2018. This is up from 53,000 a decade ago. The average wait time for a CWD test result was 36 days, and this ranged from four days in Minnesota to seven months in Connecticut. Twenty-eight states reported a combined CWD budget of just under $11 million. This ranged from $500 in Massachusetts to $3 million in Pennsylvania. Finally, state wildlife agency deer project leaders reported spending more time on CWD (22%) than deer management proposals (20%) or education and outreach (14%). — Kip Adams
If the number of hunters continues to decline, that $500 quickly becomes $0, that $3 million becomes $2 million, and so on. This will not only negatively impact the overall deer herd in the United States, but also all of our other amazing natural resources.
What does this report have to say about where you hunt? Please share in the comments below.
You can download a copy of the report here: https://www.qdma.com/2020-whitetail-report/. You can also find previous year reports, going back to 2009, available for free from here: https://www.qdma.com/about/whitetail-reports/.
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