The goal for quality deer on the KQDC is not just to produce nice racks - rather the emphasis is on the quality of the deer herd on KQDC. A quality deer herd is in balance with forage and cover, which means that deer will be healthy, well nourished, have a well-balanced ratio of bucks to does, will produce healthy fawns that survive winter, and have an even distribution of deer age classes. And there will be the occasional great rack.
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Poor Quality Deer
A poor quality deer herd is characterized by thin, emaciated deer in fall, a high proportion of does in the population, few and weak fawns and mostly yearling bucks with small racks. |
High Quality Deer
A high quality deer herd is characterized by fat, sleek deer in fall, about a 1:2 buck:doe ratio, many older bucks, and nice racks with the occasional great rack. |
The goals for a quality deer herd are:
Deer density that is in balance with the habitat, including forage. Science has shown that in forested landscapes such as on the Kinzua Quality Area, a density of ~15 deer overwinter per square mile (about 1,700 total deer) benefits all forest resources - deer, other wildlife such as grouse, turkeys, and non-game wildlife like neotropical migrant songbirds, habitat for deer and other wildlife, and regeneration of tree, shrubs, and wildflowers.
Buck:doe ratio of approximately 1 buck for every 2 does. This ratio will assure that all does get bred at the right time (too few bucks may result in does having fawns later in the summer - these fawns generally have higher overwinter mortality). The ratio also assures that there will be plenty of bucks for harvest.
Fawn:doe ratio of 80 fawns for 100 does. This means that fawn reproduction was good (the does weren't stressed by lack of food over winter) and that fawn losses during spring/summer (to predators such as bear and coyotes) was low. Fawns have better protection against bears and coyotes if fawning cover is dense - this happens only when deer are in balance with their habitat - again at about 15 deer per square mile.
Buck age structure that is not heavily skewed to yearling deer. In the recent past in all parts of Pennsylvania, hunters were so focused on harvesting any deer with antlers that all bucks, including yearlings, were harvested. This meant that few yearlings survived to become mature bucks (3 1/2 years and older), when antlers begin to achieve their best form and bucks begin to get heavier. The 3-point regulation imposed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on buck harvest has resulted in a much more balanced age structure of bucks with many more in the older age classes.
Heavier bucks, does, and fawns. When deer are in balance with their food supply and there is enough food to go around, especially in winter, deer begin to approach optimal body weights, signifying good health. For the KQDC desirable average field-dressed weights of bucks is ~ 150 pounds, for buck fawns it's ~ 75 pounds. As deer density has come down on the Kinzua Quality Area, and forage has increased, body weights of adult and fawn bucks has increased dramatically, although average weights are not yet at goal levels.
Bigger and better antlers. As the deer herd gets into balance with forage, and as the buck age structure includes many mature bucks, total antler points, antler spread, and antler beam diameter all increase. Target average antler characteristics for adult deer on the Kinzua Quality area are: 8+ total points, average spread of 16" or greater, and average antler beam diameter of 25mm or greater.
To see how well the KQDC has achieved its goals for quality deer, click on banquet summary.
