Taking from the surplus?

[juneaulongbow]

I've read and heard a lot about guys "only taking from the surplus."  I suppose the question is what is a surplus?  Certainly a lot of deer can survive and even thrive on a small piece of land.  Say you've got 50 deer within a relatively small area of land, where's the surplus if the habitat can support those deer?

I'm pretty sure there will be a good Winter die-off around here this year but I'll still be hunting Sitka Blacktails come August.

[MickT]

This is what game biologists look at when setting bag limits. The idea is to maintain your harvest in line with what would have died off anyways. This is called compensatory mortality. When harvest exceeds this, you have additive mortality. Additive mortality is not always a bad thing. Many deer herds are managed below carrying capacity to improve herd health. Without collecting scientific data on herd dynamics and mortality, you can't really know what the surplus is.

[Forester]

Also...what are your/our/landowner objectives for the property where this herd and habitat exist?  Maximum deer #s with surplus would be at the habitat carrying capacity, which can be changed by manipulation.  Ecological balance in an overall sense may mean fewer deer and a lower threshold for surplus.  Sustainable timber production with habitat as a byproduct would create a different level and so on....  It can be complicated and often is impacted by the neighbors habitat as well.

[Forester]

For example, your 50 deer in a relatively small area will definately impact the available browse/food/habitat for the deer and all other species living there.  In many parts of whitetail range a density of 15+ deer/square mile (640 acres) of forested habitat produces browse effects that impact tree regeneration, ground level habitat for little critters and changes plant dynamics in that ecosystem.  

These changes may be good or bad based upon your objectives and point of view.  Some folks feel that 30+ deer/sq.mi. are needed to have an enjoyable hunting season with surplus to harvest.  Others feel that tree regeneration is important (and can be economically valuable) so 12 to 18 deer/sq.mi. is fine and the surplus should be killed - and when densities of 15 are maintained the hunting is more difficult.