Far Afield
Allegany, Steuben County DMP tags double
With Oak Duke

Though last year's deer take went up 14 percent in Allegany and Steuben counties over the previous year, according to the DEC, the Deer Management Permits (DMPs,) formerly called doe permits will nearly double (up 47 percent) for the upcoming '07 season.

This is a significant change compared to the prior year (2006) when the permits were only increased slightly, (up 5 percent) over the 2004 New York state deer season.

The five geographically determined units in Steuben County were issued 17,990 permits last year, for the 2006 whitetail season.

This year, the DEC is releasing 29,500.

The spike in allocations is paralleled in Allegany County with 29,400 permits issued in the five Units for this season, compared to just 14,200 for the 2006 deer season.

Statewide, the total permits issued for the upcoming season is up 30 percent over last year, with 328,160 issued in 2006 versus a total of 466,220 to be available for deer season 2007.

Why the big increase?

Last year, the DEC's own calculated harvest figures showed that the deer herd overall, statewide, was about where the management objectives had been set. (Therefore the slight increase, from 313,840 in 2005 to 328,160 in 2006.)

The DEC recognized the need to cut back the doe permits and made significant cutbacks in tags for hunters in some DMUs, in others they had increased.

But whitetail deer management varies with different range types, holding capacity, hunter patterns, whitetails' effect on human habitation, and driving patterns.

So the DMP allocations differ from one DMU to the next.

n 2005, the state released an initial 313,840 DMPs, which was a decline of 40% from the 2004 season, recognizing a need to rebuild the deer herd in many areas. (But then subsequently increased the total to a final 328,160.)

During 2006, deer hunters saw the total release of 328,160 permits was up just 14,320 permits, and that, statewide.

In not one of the 10 DMUs in Steuben and Allegany County, did hunters take enough deer to meet the Buck Index quota last season (2006.) The Buck Index is the standard for the deer population in that specific Unit.

In Steuben County, the various Buck Index totals (which are bucks taken per square mile of deer range during 2006) were: Unit 8P, 3.4 with a target of 4.2; in Unit 8T, 3.6 bucks tagged per square mile in 2006, against a target goal of 4.8; in Unit 8W, 2.7 harvest against a goal of 3.8; Unit 8X (no goal set) with a take of 4.1, and 8Y with a goal of 4.5 bucks per square mile, only 3.2 were calculated as harvested by the DEC.

Again, Allegany County mirrored the Steuben County pattern with the following take after all the results were in after the 2006 season: Unit 9P with a goal of 6.0 bucks per square mile, showing just 4.3 bucks taken, Unit 9W, with a goal of 4.4 bucks per square, showed 3.9 per square mile, 9X with a goal of 5.8 per square mile, having a harvest of just 3.7, Unit 9Y, set at 5.0 bucks per square mile with a total take of 4.6; and 9N (numbers not available.)

Adjacent DMUs vary in population objectives, determined by the deer range and determined by Unit meetings of Citizens' Task Force (CTW) in each DMU.

However, in Region 8, there are two DMUs, which have never had a Citizens Task Force meeting to set a goal in the Units. They are: Unit 8N, north of Steuben County, and in 8X, the southwest quadrant of Steuben County. No target population goal has been set.

hitetail population objectives can differ greatly from one area of the state to another, but generally less so in Units next door to each other, due to land use patterns and range type.

Usually, when a Unit does not meet its objective, the population is considered low in that specific unit, so the permits are cut back to let the deer herd rebuild so the desired objective can be met.

Though it might seem counterintuitive, many deer hunters may be unhappy with the significant release of permits this year, because with more permits issued, logic tells us more deer will be harvested and the whitetail numbers can be expected to precipitously drop even further, down the road.

In Steuben County the probability of getting a DMU permit is considered "High" in Units 8Y, 8X, 8W, and 8P. The DEC is rating hunters only a "Medium" chance to get a DMU permit in 8T (in central Steuben County.) Incidentally, in 8N, directly north of Steuben County, where no deer management goal has been set, applicants have a "High" chance of getting two DMU permits!

Allegany County is similar again to Steuben, in that hunters applying in the five DMU Units of 9N, 9P, 9W, 9X, and 9Y have a "High" chance of getting a DMU permit. In 9N (northwestern corner of Allegany County,) applicants have a "High" chance getting a second permit too.

And in 9Y, hunters who buy a nonresident license have a "High" probability of getting a DMU permit in Units, 9Y, 9X, (both in southern Allegany County) and in 9N. (For more specific Unit probabilities, check out the DEC Deer Management Permit Selection process at: www.dec.ny.gov/permits/30409

Oak Duke, publisher of the Wellsville Daily Reporter and the Sunday Spectator, writes a regular column on the outdoors.