Posted October 30, 2010

By Art Lander Jr.

Outdoors Kentucky. Com

                                                Kentucky Deer Restoration Chronology 1750-2010

In the mid-18th century, the unique area west of the Appalachian Mountains that would become America’s 15th state in 1792, was bounded on three sides by major rivers, and had five distinct physiographic regions. There were 13,000 miles of rivers and streams teeming with fish and mussels. Old-growth forests covered 90 percent of the 40,395 square miles.

          There were vast tall grass prairies, licks where salt water bubbled out of the ground, and an estimated 1.5 million acres of wetlands. In the rolling land of the interior, park-like savannas stretched for miles, with clusters of burr oaks and blue ash trees interspersed by grasslands, and vast stands of river cane.

          The first explorers found thundering herds of bison, majestic woodland elk, and a white-tailed deer seemingly in every forest opening.

           But decades of subsistence hunting took their toll. By 1915 deer are absent from most of the state. It would be 84 years before deer restoration efforts would be complete in all 120 Kentucky counties.

The state’s remnant deer herds were in Caldwell, Christian, Lyon, and Trigg Counties in western Kentucky. Upon recommendation of the Division of Game and Fish, the Kentucky General Assembly prohibited deer hunting in 1916. Deer hunting in Kentucky would not resume until 1946.

          In his biennial report, dated October 1, 1917, Executive Agent J. Quincy Ward, of the Kentucky Game and Fish Commission, reported that “deer imported from Michigan and New Jersey were liberated in an enclosure on Pine Mountain in Bell County and at the State Fair Grounds in Louisville. Pine Mountain deer increased to 48 and will be distributed and liberated during the late winter months. Deer at Louisville, 26, have increased splendidly and as the enclosure is small it will be necessary to liberate at least two-thirds of them from that enclosure.”

Deer restoration in western Kentucky got underway in 1919 when the Hillman Land Company acquired 30 white-tailed deer and 20 fallow deer from Wisconsin and released them on its land holdings between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers in modern-day Lyon and Trigg counties.

By the early 1940s deer herds scattered throughout Caldwell, Christian, Lyon, and Trigg counties, in western Kentucky, had increased to about 2,000 animals.

          First legal deer hunt in 30 years was held January 2-14, 1946.  Successful hunters were required to buy a $15 tag. The controlled hunt was held on Bernheim Foundation property, and surrounding counties.

          In 1946, wildlife managers initiated a three-pronged restoration plan to restore white-tailed deer in Kentucky. First, a series of refuges would be established, then deer would be live trapped from existing populations and transported to WMAs for stocking, and thirdly, habitat improvement work would be done on lands where deer were to be stocked. This would include forest management – the creation of wildlife woods openings, water holes, and food plots.

          Thirteen refuges were set-up across the state, 11 on federally- or state-owned property, and two on private lands.

Trapping and relocation began in 1947, and 77 deer were captured at Kentucky Woodlands NWR and Jones-Keeney WMA, and released on Beaver Creek WMA (McCreary and Pulaski Counties), Kentucky Ridge State Forest (Bell County), Mammoth Cave National Park (Edmonson and Hart Counties), and Pennyrile State Forest (Caldwell and Christian Counties).

By the mid-1950s, deer restoration efforts shifted to establishing herds on a statewide basis, including privately-owned lands wherever suitable habitat was present. Just seven years into restoration efforts, deer numbers increased sufficiently on Mammoth Cave National Park, and Pennyrile State Forest, to allow trapping. Deer are relocated to Estill, Jackson, Lee, and Menifee Counties.

          In 1955, bottomland along the lower Ohio River in Ballard County is purchased to establish a wintering area for Canada geese, but the new Ballard WMA will prove to be just as important to Kentucky’s deer restoration efforts. Deer live-trapped at Kentucky Woodlands NWR are released on Ballard WMA beginning in the late 1950s.

          A total of 8,373 acres were bought for $433,000, using department and matching federal funds. 

The number of Kentucky counties open to deer hunting continued to increase, with the growth of the state’s deer herd. By the 1962 season, 43 counties can be hunted, and nearly 14,000 hunters take part. About 5,000 deer are harvested.

          Deer trapping and translocation continues, with counties stocked with a minimum of 50 to 75 animals. Additional deer, usually 50, were transported to counties when initial stockings appeared unsuccessful. In order to give the newly released animals time to become established and populations to increase to huntable levels, deer hunting is closed in these newly-stocked counties for at least five years.

          In 1964 Kentucky Woodlands NWR is incorporated into the newly-created Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL), managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). By the early 1970s, LBL’s deer herd is huge, offering some of the best hunting in the state. Archers from all over Kentucky crowd the area’s many campgrounds for the opening of bow season each fall.

After 1965, Mammoth Cave National Park and Ballard WMA become the two main sources of animals for Kentucky’s deer restoration efforts.

          The best hunting was often on public hunting areas. In 1965, 51 percent of the statewide deer harvest occurred on Ft. Knox. By 1968, it had dropped to 46 percent, as the deer statewide herd grew.

Throughout the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Kentucky’s deer herd grew very slowly, and the harvest continued to be monitored by a mail survey. The herd estimate was about 35,000.

          In 1971, archery season goes statewide for the first time, and the use of chemically treated arrows is prohibited for taking deer.

          The 1972 season consisted of two months of archery hunting (October and December), and a five-day firearms season in November, timed close to the peak of the rut.  Any deer can be taken by archers, but during the firearm hunt only deer with a forked antler or antlers can be harvested. There is a one deer per hunter (per year) bag limit, and all counties except Jackson and Owsley are open for hunting.

            Mandatory hunter orange regulation for deer hunters passed by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission on March 12, 1973.

Staff biologists were puzzled by the data they are receiving from the deer hunter mail survey. Given the high quality habitat found over two thirds of Kentucky, deer numbers should be growing faster than kill data indicate. They surmise that the herd is being over harvested, or the legal harvest is being under reported. They decide that Kentucky needs an improved method of recording and tracking harvest. So, in 1976, mandatory deer check stations open throughout the state. That season hunters check in 3,431 deer.

          Quota hunts on state and federal WMAs still make up a large percentage of deer kills, about 3,500 deer (50 percent) of the statewide harvest.

          From 1978 through 1981, the deer herd starts to take off. Herd estimates climb from 64,000 to 149,000, and a deer management zoning strategy is adopted. Under this system, each of Kentucky’s 120 counties is assigned a zone status, which determines deer season length and bag limit. There are six deer management zones.

This strategy provides the flexibility needed to encourage greater antlerless harvest pressure in counties where high deer densities are starting to develop, yet still limits or prohibits antlerless take in counties with newly-established, or slow-growing deer populations.

With restoration efforts completed in all regions of the state except the mountain counties, Kentucky now has a 75-day archery season and a three-day November firearms season. Only antlered deer (must have at least one forked or unforked antler that is four inches long or longer) can be harvested. The season limit is two antlered deer per hunter, but only one of them can be taken with a firearm.

Despite the translocation of hundreds of deer to southeastern Kentucky during the previous 30 years (coupled with the application of restrictive harvest regulations designed to promote population growth), most counties in the region still have deer densities of only two to four animals per square mile of land area.

Harassment and predation by free-ranging dogs, lack of early successional or “edge” habitat, and illegal harvest are cited as reasons for the failure of deer restoration in Appalachian. Poaching in particular is thought by staff biologists to be the most important factor.

So biologists decide in 1984 to begin a high-density stocking program in which 500 whitetails are released in each county demonstrating stagnant or slow population growth.

The stocking strategy is intended to get enough deer into a county to reach the threshold density necessary for population establishment and growth even in the presence of considerable illegal harvest pressure.

In addition to capturing and transporting deer to southeastern Kentucky, the staff also mounts a public education effort (in the form of local newspaper, radio, and television interviews, talks to sportsmen’s clubs in the region, and publishing articles and project updates in the agency’s magazine) to discourage poaching and encourage control of free-ranging dogs.

About 150 deer are trapped each year by the employees at Ballard WMA, and 200 more at Kentucky State Parks and military bases by a mobile trapping crew of seasonal employees, for the saturated stockings.

In 1986, after evaluating several computerized deer population simulation programs, deer managers select DEER CAMP. It will be used with harvest data from previous seasons to generate estimates of the number of deer that will be present on the ground in a county when the next season opens. This information will then be used (along with crop damage complaint and deer/vehicle collision data) to formulate county deer zone recommendations for the coming deer season.

For the 1986 season the DEER CAMP program estimates that there are 206,557 deer in Kentucky. About 175,000 deer hunting permits are purchased for the 1986-87 season, and 39,520 deer are harvested.

In a move that will put Kentucky in the record books for decades to come, the one-buck is established and phased into the regulations over a three-year period, from 1989 to 1991.

          Deer trapping winds down in 1991 at Ballard WMA. Mobile trapping team continues catching deer for the southeastern Kentucky restoration project at several Kentucky State Parks and military bases around the state.

          In 1999, deer restoration ends in March with the release of the final load of animals in Perry County. That fall, for the first time, all 120 counties were open to deer hunting. Before that, from 1956 to 1998, one or more counties had been closed, during Kentucky’s deer restoration era.

 After 52 years, 10,096 white-tailed deer have been trapped and re-located around the state. While some of the deer released in Kentucky’s restocking efforts came from out-of-state sources (Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin), the overwhelming majority were translocated from in-state trap sites, and their lineage ultimately traces back to early 20th century remnant deer populations in Caldwell, Christian, Lyon, and Trigg Counties.

             For the 1997‐1998 season, archery hunting for deer extended, with opening day in early September. Bow hunter observation program initiated.

All landowners must check harvested deer.

Kentucky’s Youth-Only firearms season for deer was first held in 1996. The season was created to offer resident and non-resident boys and girls ages 15, and under, an introduction to deer hunting, with the maximum opportunity for success. Youth hunters must be accompanied by an adult who is in position to take immediate control of the youth hunter’s firearm at all times. Deer of either sex may be taken during the statewide, weekend season.

Unhappy with the poor data on check cards, and the laborious task of reading them, deer managers go to an automated phone system for reporting deer harvest information.

The Telecheck Deer Harvest Reporting System debuts during the 1999-2000 season. Hunters phone in a harvest of 95,229 deer.

            For the 2000-2001 deer season, the county deer zoning system is restructured and simplified. Six zones are condensed down to four.

In 2002, there was a change in the computer population models used to manage Kentucky’s deer herd. The Downing Reconstruction Model was adopted, and Deer Camp was abandoned.

Today, this model is used in all southeastern states. It’s based on the number of bucks, does and fawns in the harvest, allowing deer managers to predict populations.