VA 2010 Bear, Dear, and Turkey Harvest Data

Bear, Deer, Turkey Harvest Data Announced

Richmond, VA – Wildlife biologists with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) have compiled preliminary figures for deer, turkey, and bear harvests for the 2010-11 fall/winter hunting seasons. The white-tailed deer, bear and wild turkey harvests all declined this year from the previous year which was not a surprise. Exceptional acorn crops across the state coupled with other environmental conditions both this year and last as well as management actions to meet population objectives all factored into fluctuations in populations and harvest trends. The harvest figures continue to indicate that good hunting is available across the Commonwealth for these popular game species.

White-tailed Deer

During the past deer season 219,797 deer were reported killed by hunters in Virginia. This total included 95,543 antlered bucks, 19,191 button bucks, and 105,063 does (47.8%). The fall 2010 deer kill total was 15% lower than the 259,147 deer reported killed last year. It is 3% lower than the last 10 year average of 227,430.
Deer kill levels were down across all of Virginia and showed a significant declining trend from east to west. In Tidewater, the deer kill was down 3%, and the Southern Piedmont and Northern Piedmont were down 14% and 19% respectively. The largest declines were seen west of the Blue Ridge where Southern Mountain and Northern Mountain deer kill totals were down 28% and 20% respectively. The combined West of the Blue Ridge deer kill total was down 24% and represents the lowest total deer kill in this area in over 20 years.
Archers, not including crossbow hunters, killed 15,579 deer. The bow kill comprised 7% of the total deer kill. The 2010 archery deer kill was down 10% from 2009.
Crossbows resulted in a deer kill of 8,606 deer or 4% of the total deer kill. The 2010 crossbow deer kill was down 10% from 2009.
Muzzleloader hunters killed 53,048 deer. Muzzleloading comprised 24% of the total deer kill. The muzzleloader deer kill was also down 5% from 2009.
On a side note, more than 150,000 deer (68%) were checked using VDGIF’s telephone and Internet checking systems.
A decline in the total deer kill was predicted for fall 2010 based on two factors. First, the Department deer management efforts over the past five to ten years to increase the female deer kill over most of the state, especially on private lands, have been very successful. Nearly all of the increase in the deer kill over the past couple of years has been due to an increased kill of antlerless deer. These high and sustained female deer kill levels were intended to eventually lead to a decrease in the statewide deer herd and a decline in total deer kill numbers.
The second factor was the winter of 2010 which may also have resulted in some winter mortality. After a poor mast crop in fall 2009 and more than a decade of very little snow fall, winter of 2010 saw much of the western half of Virginia covered in snow for up to two months. Snow in Virginia is not unusual, but snow that stays up to one foot deep on the ground for nearly two consecutive months is very unusual.
Winter starvation of deer in Virginia is uncommon. In winter 1993, following a near total mast failure in fall 1992 and a very big winter storm in mid-March, there was a winter starvation/mortality event in the Alleghany Highlands Region of Virginia. During that starvation event, the deer were literally eating the bark off trees. In winter 2010, staff documented deer again eating the bark off of trees in Bath County.
At some point during winter, because of the cold weather and snow, most deer will begin to burn more calories than they are taking in and begin to operate at an energy deficit. They will begin burning their fat reserves. It is not unusual for deer to lose a significant amount of their body weight during winter. To minimize weight loss and save energy, a deer’s metabolism actually slows down in winter. However, if they come into winter in poor condition and the winter is long and hard with deep snow, then starvation from malnutrition is a very real possibility.
In this winter race for survival, fawns are at a real disadvantage. In the fall, when adults are building up their fat reserves, fawns are storing fat but are also still growing. When deer die from winter malnutrition, a majority of the deer that die will be fawns.
Also, snow makes deer more vulnerable to predation. Crusted snow conditions allow small, light, soft-footed predators like coyotes to run across the top of the crusted snow, while the heavier bounding deer breaks through. Under these conditions even healthy deer can be very susceptible to predation. This crusted snow condition that favors predators was fairly common in western Virginia during winter 2010.
Data presented in this summary are preliminary and do not include deer taken during the late urban archery or special late antlerless only deer seasons.

Black Bear

During the 2010-11 bear seasons 2,221 bears were reported killed during the archery, muzzleloader, and firearms seasons. The 2010 harvest was a 3.6% decrease from last year’s kill of 2,304, but similar to the 2008 harvest of 2,204 bears. In 2010, bears were harvested in 69 counties with successful bear hunters coming from 18 states other than Virginia. Equaling the average over the last five years, female bears, or sows, represented 39% of the 2010 harvest, which was less than the 42% sows in the 2009 harvest.
Archery hunters accounted for 423 bears during 2010 and 19% of the total harvest. Even though this was the second year of two extra weeks of statewide opportunity for bowhunters, the archery kill was much less than the numbers taken in 2009 (1017 bears) and 2008 (517 bears, before the season was extended). In the last five years, the archery harvest has averaged 29% of the total harvest. As happens during excellent mast years like 2010, archery success decreased compared to the past two very poor mast years. Crossbow hunters accounted for 38% of the total archery kill (five-year average 40%). The harvest from the archery season was composed of 41% sows compared to 44% in 2009, and the five-year average of 40% sows.
Expanded muzzleloader opportunities during the last two years resulted in similar muzzleloader harvests with the 2010 (355 bears) and 2009 (356 bears) seasons. The 2010 muzzleloader harvest accounted for 16% of the total harvest. The muzzleloader sow harvest was 41% of the muzzleloader kills (51% in 2009, five-year average of 45% sows). A total of 43 counties reported at least one muzzleloader season kill.
Representing 66% of the total harvest (similar to the five-year average of 63%), the firearms season yielded 1443 bears, an increase from the 2009 firearms harvest of 931 bears but a decrease from the 2008 firearms harvest of 1592 bears. Hound hunters accounted for 56% of the firearms kill in 2010, which was an increase over the portions that occurred in 2008 (47%) and 2009 (48%), and the five-year average of 50%. General firearms hunters who did not use hounds harvested 41% sows (42% in 2009, and five-year average of 42% sows), while hound hunters harvested 36% sows (30% in 2009, five-year average of 33% sows).The top five general firearms counties were Rockingham (128 bears harvested), Bath (115), Augusta (89), Highland (87) and Nelson (87).
As occurred during last year’s 2009-2010 seasons when snowy weather and poor mast conditions resulted in an unusual distribution of the harvest, there will always be annual seasonal harvest fluctuations due to environmental factors. However, the 2010-2011 seasons represented a very typical harvest year and reinforce the fact that Virginia continues to maintain a high and healthy population of bears.

Fall Wild Turkey

In Virginia, 2,687 turkeys were harvested during the 2010-2011 fall turkey season. This harvest was 24% below last year’s reported kill of 3,538 birds. The harvest declined 34% in counties west of the Blue Ridge Mountains (1,664 last year versus 1,102 this year). Counties east of the Blue Ridge Mountains decreased 15 percent (1,874 vs. 1,585). Bedford led all counties with a harvest of 92 birds. Most of the harvest was reported on private lands. Thirty-seven birds were harvested on the Youth Fall Day Hunt.
The harvest was not surprising given the exceptional acorn crops seen across Virginia this past fall. Turkey harvest rates typically decline when acorns are available. With good acorn crops birds spend most of their time in forested habitats instead of openings or fields. Furthermore, with abundant acorn resources birds do not have to move much to find these preferred, nutritious foods. As a result their home ranges shrink and they leave less sign. Collectively, these circumstances challenge hunters to find and pattern fall flocks.
Additionally, it appears reproduction was below-average. Turkey reproduction is typically highly variable and may be influenced by many factors; the greatest is believed to be inclement weather during the two weeks following hatching. Juvenile birds typically make up a majority of the fall harvest, so a poor hatch in the spring can also depress the fall take. Taken together, exceptional mast crops and below-average reproduction likely contributed to the harvest decline.


Virginia’s Black Bear Management Plan can be viewed at www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/blackbearmanagementplan.pdf

Information about black bears in Virginia can be found at www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/

Virginia’s White-tailed Deer Management Plan can be viewed at
www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/management-plan/

Information about white-tailed deer in Virginia can be found at www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/

Information about wild turkeys in Virginia can be found at
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/turkey/