NY deer counts...how do they get them????

[Bob Macioch]

Does anyone know how EXACTLY the biologist get their deer numbers every year?
Deer harvest....is it only from reported deer kills?
Deer number per square miles?
How many DMPS to give out every year?

Thanks Guys

[Chris O]

Here's some info I found from a google search. I'm not sure how accurate it is because it's from a newspaper article but it has some of the info you were looking for from 2008 and 2007.

 http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/03/03/deer_harvest/

If I remember correctly a DEC officer told me that deer numbers on Long Island were about 40 per sq mile. This was several years back though.

[Jeremy]

Most of the population density figures come from aerial surveys.  They'll do X number of flights across an area and count the visible deer, then apply a correction factor to get the actual density.  For wooded areas when there's snow on the ground that figure is 2.1; it's higher when there's no snow and lower if there's less woods (crop land out West comes to mind).

[Wapiti Chaser]

I know they check deer at the processers and record the tag numbers and then compare them to reported deer.

[lpcjon2]

If it's like jersey they guess a good number that will make them look busy and allow them to keep their jobs...LOL

[No-sage]

They do what Bob said.  They check the deer at processors and get a figure on the percentage of deer reported compared to the number they counted there.  

In the past it's been reliably about 60%unreported.

I don't think it's good use of our money, having to check up on hunters that are supposed to be reporting their kill.  Seems wasteful.  Just do the right thing..... it's easy to do.

So if a hunter wants to balme someone for poor deer management, numbers wise, they need to look no further than their fellow hunters.

[swampbuck]

A good many of us process our own sometimes on the spot so they can,t get good numbers from processors of which some go under the radar on that too like the guy that lives a few house's from me.He gets paid under the table like many so the state wouldn't know to check there.

As for reported kill's I think No sage is probably right 60% go unreported tagged sure but not called in or mailed in a long time ago

[Littlejake]

Don't know how they do it In N.Y. but in Pa.I think they use S.W.A.G.
     (Scientific Wild ASS Guess.)

[lpcjon2]

In jersey years ago you had to go to a check in station and they checked age and other things(F&G officers and Biologist)then they stopped it and now we go to a deli and some guy who makes sandwiches just writes down basic info they don't even look at the deer.I don't know how they could have accurate #'s most people don't even bother with the checking of deer.It's like F&G just gave up on the check stations.

[Bob Macioch]

Thanks guys I just dont understand how they come up with accurate numbers ....

Thanks
Bob

[Two blade]

Talked to a man that works for the forestry in MN and he said that they go into the woods all over the state in the winter and count deer droppings.  By studying penned deer, they know how many times a deer craps per day so they divide the number of droppings by the average number of times a deer goes in one day and magically the deer density population is there.  This, along with arial surveys are how the estimated population is figured.  
     Counting deer in the winter is easier than any other time of the year but with deer herding as they do, I think it is too errant.

[JoeM]

I went to a meeting a few months back on LI where the biologist and local DEC hosted a discussion.  The biology readily admitted that the #'s are indeed an educated guess.  They go to processors, check vehicle incidents,etc.  They do not do fly overs as they say they are very costly and could never cover enough ground in a night to come up with accurate #'s.  I found the meeting, although having the best intentions, a let down.  A lot of time was spent with guys telling war stories that were totally irrelevant. Most questions were answered with data that as an educated hunter you know is way off.  For instance they believe the buck to doe ratio in NY is 2-3 to 1.  Anybody who spends enough time in the woods would tell you it is probably closer to 7-8 to  1.  What they basically do is lump areas into three basic categories High/Stable/Low and then issue doe tags as they see fit.  Joe

[Builder]

I know in Wisconsin where I hunt it is a very uneducated guess at best by the DNR. I can't imagine how they can possibly be so far off and then try to manage by their estimates.

[Bob Macioch]

good stuff guys  Thanks