I know it can get a little crazy when we start throwing around deer harvest numbers. I sympathize with you because I find it difficult to read my own columns without having a calculator in hand when I begin rattling off kills of bucks and does in the state as well as in regions and counties. Toss in percentages up and percentages down when compared with other years and you need a slide rule.
If you are too young to know what a slide rule is, go to Wikipedia.
Having said that, I have found some Maryland deer kill numbers that I have to share with you. I think they are interesting.
I know that there are readers out there in Almost Maryland who believe that the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service is less than honest in reporting harvest numbers. If you are such a reader — one who believes the agency pulls the numbers out of thin air — don’t torture yourself by reading any further.
First, let’s take a look back at deer kills, moving forward from the first year of recordation, that being 1931. We will go by decades instead of year by year.
I mean I don’t have all day here and I’m sure you don’t either.
Unless I tell you differently, all of the deer were bucks.
In 1931, there were 21 deer killed in Garrett County and 11 in Allegany.
In 1940, 289 in Garrett and 48 in Allegany. Hunters in 1950 bagged 374 in Garrett and 188 in Allegany. The 1960 kill was 869 in Garrett and 781 in Allegany.
It appears that 1961 was the first year that hunters began killing more bucks in Allegany than in Garrett, a trend that generally held true until 1984.
Then in 1970, 402 bucks and 28 does were whacked in Garrett and 556 bucks and 10 does in Allegany. In 1980, Garrett gave up 1,150 bucks and 119 does, while in Allegany the numbers were 1,361 and 116.
Moving ahead to 1990, we find that 2,856 bucks were checked in Garrett along with 2,474 does. In Allegany, the numbers were 2,705 and 2,317. In 2000, Garrett hunters put 4,340 bucks in the freezer or on the wall along with 3,215 does. Allegany gave up 4,271 and 3,703. That buck kill in Allegany in 2000 was the highest ever recorded. Garrett’s top buck year was 2001 with 4,443.
In our most recent year of deer hunting, that being 2009, there were 2,649 bucks and 2,273 does taken in Garrett and 2,315 bucks and 2,193 killed in Allegany.
Let’s talk public land deer hunting.
I will go public land by public land, giving you the best year of buck harvest and the most recent. In Allegany County: Billmeyer Wildlife Management Area, 43 bucks in 2002 and 23 in 2009; Dan’s Mountain WMA, 355 in 1995 and 112 in 2009; Warrior Mountain WMA, 163 in 1999 and 67 in 2009; Green Ridge State Forest, 1,089 in 2000 and 388 in 2009; Rocky Gap State Park, 66 in both 2000 and 2001 and 17 in 2009.
Remember, these numbers are for all deer hunting seasons combined.
In Garrett County: Mount Nebo WMA, 76 in 2001 and 36 in 2009; Garrett SF, 172 in 1999 and 86 in 2009; Potomac SF, 143 in 2000 and 52 in 2009; Savage River SF, 701 in 1995 and 266 in 2009.
Some observations:
• You will find the percentage differences from year to year and from decade to decade basically reflected in the deer harvest numbers in nearby West Virginia counties.
• In the late 1990s and early 2000s in Allegany County, hunters were killing as many bucks during the firearms season as are being taken nowadays in the combined bags from the firearms/bow/muzzleloader hunts.
• The annual buck kill in Allegany County has been amazingly stable during the past six years: 2,333 in 2004; 2,428 in 2005; 2,648 in 2006; 2,478 in 2007; 2,582 in 2008; and 2,315 in 2009.
That’s it for this week. I have run out of fingers and toes.
Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
Columns
Caution: numbers ahead!
- Columns
-
-
Not all grasshoppers wind up like Aesop’s
I was reminded of an old story recently while talking with a friend about Aesop’s Fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper.
-
Sobering facts about developing world
With the exception of sports and social news, a large portion of the information we get is rather negative, focusing on crime, foreclosures, nasty weather, verbal attacks of one candidate against the other(s), and foreign threats.
-
History of chopsticks and related subjects
Now there are some big questions in life, like where did we come from, and even bigger questions in life, like where are we going? Today, however, I prefer to talk about chopsticks.
-
Sines & Simpson perfect at Rainbow
C.P. Sines and Todd Simpson both bowled perfect games in Rainbow’s Men’s Civic League. Sines was Rainbow’s top bowler for the week with a 766 set. Simpson scored 720/300. Rich Baker with a big score rolling 744/666.
-
Looking Back: 1923
Thomas Footer knew the formula for wealth. He was a chemist after all. You take one part of good and add to it eight parts of determination and one part belief in yourself.
It was a formula that had worked for him. He was born in England in March 1847. His father was a papermaker, but “he lost both parents in early childhood and began to earn his own living as a boy,” according to the Cumberland Evening Times. -
Here’s your chance to meet the bears
This afternoon our weekly Sunday programs will resume at 4 p.m. in the Compton Science Center, Room 224. Compton is the large building across the Tawes Hall, set for demolition.
-
They got while the getting was still good
I occasionally make reference to an unidentified woman as being “one of my numerous ex-girlfriends,” and the other night I sat on my back porch with my whiskey and cigars while conducting a review that went as far back as first grade to Indy and Sandy.
-
For Harper, a great day to be a Mountaineer
A dozen years ago or so, there was a Pee Wee League football player scoring virtually at will and forcing everyone in the stands to take notice.
-
Bob Greene’s 816 leads area
Bob Greene bowled a near-perfect 299 game and an 816 set at Wilson Lanes and was highest of the local area bowlers for the week. Scott Hixenbaugh was next high at Wilson, scoring 746/267. Clay Corbin rolled a big 290 game in his 707 set.
At The Bowler, Dave Yates set the week’s top mark, scoring 766/278. Tim Yutzy was next, rolling 715/269. -
Somewhere over the rainbow starts here
During a break in the program Sunday night, former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Bob Robertson sat at a table backstage sharing some stories from the day when he played some of the finest defensive first base and hit some of the longest home runs in the major leagues in helping the Bucs to the 1971 world championship.
- More Columns Headlines
-
Not all grasshoppers wind up like Aesop’s
