Late Opener Could Aid Buck Hunters

Late Opener Could Aid Buck Hunters 

By Brad Dokken, Herald Staff Writer
Published Sunday, November 05, 2006

North Dakota's firearms deer season opens the Friday before Veterans Day, and thanks to a twist of the calendar that only occurs every half-dozen years, this year's opener falls on the latest possible date.

According to biologists for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, that has some hunters licking their chops, because it means deer season should coincide with the peak of the rut - the time when mating instinct for bucks often overcomes common sense.

North Dakota's deer gun season opens at noon Friday and continues through Nov. 26.

“The buck hunters like it, because now they get to hunt over Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), which at least a good share of them feel is more the rut,” said Roger Johnson, big game supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Devils Lake. “It seems like the bucks are running more a little later in the fall. But as far as overall harvest, I don't think we see any difference.”

Johnson says the Game and Fish Department this year issued about 50,000 buck tags, which only are available by lottery. That means many hunters don't get drawn, but at the same time, restricting the availability of buck licenses boosts the odds of seeing a trophy deer because more bucks survive to old age.

“I think just from the taxidermist's experience, they're getting more big bucks than ever,” Johnson said. “In fact, a guy that's quite a bow hunter said, ‘I think there's more big bucks out there this year than there ever has been.'

“That varies by local areas, but from the standpoint of Quality Deer Management, which is usually referring to having more big bucks, we haven't gotten very much pressure to pursue that,” Johnson said. “I think most people have been pretty impressed with the bucks they've been seeing.”

A look through the record book indicates trophy racks - those that score 170 or better - still are relatively rare. The fourth edition of “North Dakota Big Game Records,” published in 2005, shows 40 typical whitetail racks have scored 170 or better in the state since the 1940s. Kevin Bruner of Drake, N.D., shot the record typical whitetail buck, which scored a whopping 194 6/8, in 1994.

Marty Egeland, outreach biologist for Game and Fish in Thompson, N.D., uses a people analogy to explain why trophy bucks are so rare. Like people, he says, not all bucks grow large.

“Only a small percentage of deer are going to get to be a good trophy deer,” Egeland said. “That's just the luck of the odds. Not all of them are going to get real big.”

With deer populations above goal in much of the state, it's important for North Dakota hunters to target does. But management needs aside, it's still the rack that reigns supreme among many hunters.

Johnson, the Devils Lake biologist, attributes the trend to several factors.

“I think part of it has to do with all the TV hunting shows and the promotional things,” Johnson said. “They make it sound like you can't be a hunter if you don't hunt a big buck.”

That shouldn't be the only reason to hunt, though, Johnson says - especially when populations are too high.

“Not that it isn't fun to have a chance at a big buck,” Johnson said, “but I like to hunt for the sake of hunting. And now, the idea that you can show something on the wall seems to be more important than the idea of getting out.”

But if that's your mission, being able to hunt when those bucks are most vulnerable can't hurt the odds of bagging a trophy. Rut factor aside, Johnson says the buck hunters who do the most scouting generally have the best success.

“When you're harvesting more does than bucks, you're continually leaving those smarter deer, and there's no doubt about it - I think those older deer are certainly smarter at avoiding hunters,” Johnson said. “To be smarter than an old buck takes some doing.”