Deer Hunting's Sweet 16 - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

ABOVE: Hunters willing to wait for a mature buck will find more opportunity on
some WMAs thanks to increased antler restrictions. Photo by Mike Wintroath.
LEFT:Deer on Arkansas’s Sweet 16 WMAs have huge potential when given
enough time to grow. AGFC photo.
By Randy Zellers
Shooting a jump shot amid a court full of defenders takes more
than just lobbing a ball toward a basket. Everything is constantly
moving. To hit your target, you need to stop, plant your feet and
judge where you are before you can be successful.
Biologists have a similar challenge in the real hardwoods.
Deer populations are constantly changing. Habitat conditions,
weather, urban sprawl and hunting success each play a role in the
herd’s condition from year to year.
6 ARKANSAS WILDLIFE SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2012

Yell
Game Plan
The AGFC’s deer team evaluates the agency’s strategic deer
plan every few years to keep it on target. The last update to the
plan was completed in 2007, and the next incarnation will be
complete in 2013.
Cory Gray, AGFC deer program coordinator, says the plan
constantly evolves with the latest conditions and hunter attitudes.
“We made some good improvements in management during
the 2007 plan, including more public input,” Gray said. “But the
on-the-ground work focused on private land through the Deer
Management Assistance Program and our private land biologists.
It’s time to take the next step and include more detailed
management on public land.”
After a thorough review of AGFC wildlife management
areas, the deer team selected 16 to be showcases in advanced
management and monitoring. The goal on these sweet 16 is
increased opportunity for public land hunters to harvest mature
bucks normally found only on heavily controlled leases and
clubs.
“We chose the WMAs based on their location and potential to
offer high-quality deer,” Gray said. “Some were already known as
big deer areas. We hope the rest will share that reputation soon.”
Sevier
Benton
Washington
Crawford
Sebastian
Polk
Scott
Little River
Howard
Franklin
Miller
Madison
Logan
Pike
Carroll
Region 7
Montgomery
Region 5
12
Hempstead
3
9
8
Johnson
Newton
Region 6
Lafayette
Nevada
Boone
Clark
Pope
Garland
Columbia
Perry
4
Hot Spring
Ouachita
Marion
Searcy
13
Conway
Saline
Dallas
Region 4
Union
Grant
Calhoun
Baxter
Van Buren
11
Pulaski
Stone
Faulkner
Cleveland
Bradley
Izard
Cleburne
White
Lonoke
Jefferson
Fulton
Region 8
Lincoln
Drew
Ashley
Sharp
Independence
Prairie
1
6
10
Region 3
7
Arkansas
Jackson
Woodruff
14
16
Desha
Monroe
Chicot
Randolph
Lawrence
15
5
Cross
Lee
2
Phillips
Greene
Craighead
Region 1
Poinsett
St. Francis
Clay
Region 2
Crittenden
Mississippi
In the Genes
Increasing the quality of deer involves age, nutrition and
genetics. Brad Miller, assistant chief of the AGFC Wildlife
Management Division says only two of these factors can be
impacted on public land.
“We boost nutrition with proper habitat management and
available forage,” Miller said. “And we can impact the age at
which bucks are harvested through regulations, but genetics is
nearly impossible to change on free-ranging deer.”
Miller explains that the genes to create superior antlers and
body size aren’t carried only in bucks.
“The doe that produces the deer carries half of the genetic
makeup as well,” Miller said. “And there’s no way to tell which
doe is carrying those superior genes.”
Miller also points out that you can’t control genetics when
the deer are never allowed to grow to their potential.
“White-tailed deer don’t reach their maximum potential until
five-and-a-half years old,” said Miller. “The average age at which
bucks are harvested on our WMAs is about two-and-a-half
years old.”
Aging Venison
Through the Sweet 16, biologists hope to increase the age
of harvested bucks. Just as the three-point rule protected
most fawns and yearling bucks from harvest, increased antler
restrictions will promote more mature deer on these WMAS.
“We want to move more deer into that three-and-a-half year
old age class,” Gray said. “To do that, we need to change the
way hunters measure deer in the field.
“There are three main ways to judge age by antlers,” Gray
said. “Counting points is the easiest way, but the least accurate.
1 Bayou Meto WMA
2 Dave Donaldson Black River WMA
3 Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’Arc WMA
4 Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA
5 Freddie Black Choctaw Island Deer Research Area WMA
6 Harold E. Alexander Spring River WMA
7 Henry Gray Hurricane Lake WMA
8 Hope Upland WMA
9 McIlroy Madison County WMA
10 Mike Freeze Wattensaw WMA
11 Moro Big Pine Natural Area WMA
12 Rick Evans Grandview Prairie WMA
13 Scott Henderson Gulf Mountain WMA
14 Sheffield Nelson Dagmar WMA
15 Shirey Bay Rainey Brake WMA
16 Trusten Holder WMA
SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2012 ARKANSAS WILDLIFE 7

Main
Beam
Approximately 15 inches
Inside
spread
LEFT: If the buck’s antlers extend midway between his eyes and nose, his
main beam is longer than 18 inches; RIGHT: Antlers that extend past the
ears at their widest point reach the 15-inch minimum spread regulation
common on Sweet 16 WMAs. Photos by Mike Wintroath.
Doe Dilemma
Antler restrictions may grab attention, but high-quality
deer management isn’t all about the bucks. Gray says proper
management also includes harvest of does.
“During the recovery of Arkansas’s deer herd, shooting a doe was
out of the question,” Gray said. “We needed those does to increase
the overall population. But now that the population has rebounded,
we need hunters to shoot does and put the ratio of male-to-female
closer to a natural balance.”
Too many does limits the growth of the bucks. It also hurts the
overall health of the herd.
“A piece of property can only feed so many mouths. If you have
eight or nine does for every buck, the available forage will be spread
too thin for bucks to grow large bodies and high-quality racks.
Antlers are genetically based, but nutritionally dependent, so we
want to ensure the deer herd has plenty of available forage.”
AGFC Wildlife Biologist Mark Hooks takes antler measurements of a
harvested deer at Freddie Black Choctaw Island Deer Research Area WMA.
AGFC photo.
Measuring the size of the antler’s base is the most accurate, but
is nearly impossible in the field. But judging the distance the
antlers spread out and the length of the main beam is more
accurate than points and still possible in the field at the distances
most deer are taken.”
At first, judging the inside spread of a buck’s antlers may seem
difficult, but Gray offers this advice.
“When a buck has his ears in the alert position, if the outside of
the antlers at their widest point match the width of his ears, he’s
got a spread that’s over 12 inches wide. If the inside of his antlers
reaches outside his ears, that’s 15 inches.”
Determining main beam length is trickier.
“The profile view is the best way to estimate a buck’s main beam
length,” Gray said. “A main beam that extends to the midway point
between the eyes and the tip of the nose is likely going to exceed 18
inches. A profile and full frontal view of the deer’s antlers are the
best to fully determine if the buck is legal to harvest.”
Measuring Success
Gray and Miller both stress that hunting regulations are only
one component of the Sweet 16 program.
“Data has to be gathered to assess where each WMA is at and
what needs to be tweaked for the future,” Gray said. “We’ll
have check stations at these WMAs during the times when most
hunters harvest deer on them. These stations will be taking a
variety of biological indices, including weight, age and antler
characteristics.”
Hunters may think increased management means more food
plots, mineral blocks and other supplemental food sources. But
Gray says most of these WMAs already have good to excellent
habitat. The work biologists will conduct won’t be as easy
to identify as a freshly plowed plot, thinned timber stand or
prescribed fire.
“These techniques are already part of our management
practices, and we’ll continue doing them,” Gray said. “But
the really labor-intensive work will be in surveys to assess the
effectiveness of these techniques.
“When hunting season is over, we’ll be doing a bunch of
biological surveys, including thermal imaging to measure
populations, browse surveys to determine the variety of plant
8 ARKANSAS WILDLIFE SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2012

species on the property and what is being used by the deer. We’ll
also be conducting summer disease monitoring to keep an eye on
the population’s health during the most stressful time of year.”
Building an Audience
Biologists can paint a detailed picture of the habitat and deer
herd through increased monitoring. But that picture may be
different than how the hunters who use the area view it. Increased
hunter participation is crucial to the success of the Sweet 16.
“We can manage an area a few different ways, and the biology
will tell us what the limits are,” Gray said. “But we need as much
information as possible from the hunters that use the areas to
increase their satisfaction.”
To gather that information, the AGFC is requiring all hunters
that use one of the Sweet 16 to supply their contact information
at agfc.com and receive a free permit to carry with them on the
WMA.
“We’ll use the contact information to survey each area’s users
about observation rates, success rates and hunter opinions,” Miller
said. “We can send surveys to the people who use these WMAs to
gather more data on deer observations, hunter success and opinions
on different aspects of the area.”
Deer hunters aren’t the only ones who have a say in the area, so
any hunter using the area needs to sign up and carry the permit.
“The WMAs are for much more than deer,” Gray said. “We
want to hear from everyone who uses the WMA before we make
management decisions that could affect them.”
Adding Options
Miller compares the Sweet 16 Program to some of Arkansas’s trophy
bass fishing destinations.
“We manage well over 100 WMAs across the state, and this
management change is only going to impact 16. We want to give
hunters a variety of experiences. If they just want to go out and take a
deer, we have places for that. But some hunters are willing to pass up
a small buck and wait for a wall-hanger. These WMAs will offer more
opportunity for that.”
Gray adds hunters still have plenty of opportunities to fill a freezer
on the Sweet 16.
“We need hunters to harvest does on these WMAs to balance the
population,” said Gray. “Shooting those does gives just as much meat
and will give most folks the same satisfaction as shooting a yearling
buck. Why not let that buck grow and become something special?
Patience will pay off. Just wait for the right shot.” AW
A couple of years can make a big difference in the quality of a deer’s rack. Photo by Mike Wintroath.
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ARKANSAS WILDLIFE
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