Harvest figures in a recently released report on the 2005-06 deer season don't tell the full story of the success Arkansas hunters experienced last fall and winter.
According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission report, hunters statewide checked 132,415 deer, representing a tiny increase of 0.5 percent over the 131,639 checked during the 2004-05 season.
At the least, the harvest figure indicates hunters were able to overcome a dry and relatively warm winter and a bumper crop of acorns on the ground.
The season summary also supports a positive trend for the state's deer herd. After the harvest peaked at 194,687 deer in 1999, it fell steadily over the next four seasons, dropping to 108,456 in 2003 before rebounding over the past two seasons.
However, the main factor that last season's harvest results don't take into account is the impact of the one-buck limit in most of the Ozarks, including all of Northwest Arkansas. Otherwise, the kill would have been substantially higher.
One can tell from the substantial decline in the buck harvest in the hunting zones of the region. In Zone 1 of Benton and Washington counties, for example, the 2005-06 buck harvest was down 25 percent from the previous year.
Declines in other zones amounted to 32 percent in Zone 2, 27 percent in Zone 6 and 28 percent in zones 7 and 8.
The declines are also reflected in the actual deer kill compiled county by county, even though those figures include bucks and does. Comparing the figures of the past two seasons, the harvest in Benton County dropped from 1,246 to 1,055, while Carroll County dropped from 631 to 501.
Declines in other counties included Madison County, down from 1,469 to 1,378, and Newton County, down from 1,011 to 718.
Washington was one of the few onebuck counties with an increase due mostly to a greater harvest of does, with the overall harvest going from 1,001 in 2004-05 to 1,043 in 2005-06.
Among the statistics revealed in the deer report was the percentage of statewide harvest by method, including archery, muzzleloader and modern gun. Between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, the archery harvest dropped 11 percent and the muzzleloader harvest was down a substantial 24 percent, while the modern-gun harvest increased by 4 percent.
Maybe the hot, dry weather last fall discouraged some bowhunters and muzzleloaders from going hunting, but the one-buck limit may have also caused more hunters to concentrate their efforts on the modern-gun season.
The report also noted that moderngun hunters statewide were generally aided by the peak of the rut occurring later than usual. Modern-gun hunters in the Ozarks were certainly helped when the peak of the rut happened in early November near the opening of the modern-gun season.
Regarding the overall health of the deer herd, the bumper acorn crop that was kept palatable by the dry winter provided a big boost for does going into the fawning season. This was indicated by the "kidney fat index" of does collected and examined in early spring.
Considering that a fat index of 35 percent is the minimum desirable for fawning season, the fat index of does in the Ozarks last spring shot up to 145 percent. As an indicator of good fawn production, the high fat index set the stage for a boost in the Ozark deer population.
And that has come to pass, according to Bob McAnally, regional wildlife supervisor in Russellville.
"The deer population is up all over the Ozarks," he insisted Monday while we discussed the deer report.
As noted several weeks ago, McAnally expected a big decline in the Ozark buck harvest due to the one-buck limit.
In fact, he was anticipating it with enthusiasm.
It not only had the effect of boosting the region's buck population, but also allowed a lot of bucks to get a year older and grow bigger antlers. Hunters will reap the dividends this fall and winter with one of best opportunities for big bucks in years.
"Based on my own observations in the field, I've never seen so many bucks in all my life," McAnally said.
As another measure of herd health in Arkansas, the deer report included a positive update on a three-year study to detect if any deer in the state have become infected with Chronic Wasting Disease.
During the course of the study, tissue samples were collected and tested from a minimum of 50 hunter-harvested deer from each of the state's counties. To date, 3,641 deer have been sampled and tested, and no evidence of the disease has been found.