Post by Ron on May 1, 2009 11:56:32 GMT -6
How many Bowhunters does it take? To harvest a buck that is. Has our efficiency maxed out? During my numbers crunching in the last month, I went back to the historic Bowhunting harvest data from the DNR that takes us all the way back to 1966. I looked at how many licensed hunters it took to harvest a buck. (bucks harvested per archery licenses sold)
In 1969, it took 67.7 licensed Bowhunters to bag a buck. The trend of the 60's remained pretty constant and took anywhere from 59 to 67 Bowhunters to tag one buck.
That rate remained until 1971 but changed dramatically In 1972 (compound bows) in 1973, the number of licensed Bowhunters that it took to harvest a buck dropped to 41 and has been dropping ever since.
Here are the totals in 10 year increments
Year...............................licensed Bowhunters per buck
1968............................................ 67.7
1978............................................ 24.38
1988............................................ 9.47
1998............................................ 5.74
2008.............................................7.50
The best rate was experienced back in 2003 when it took 5.4 licensed Bowhunters to bag a buck. ( a 12.5 fold reduction from 1967) Did we max out in 2003?? Bowhunting is growing in popularity. Gear is getting better. Is the gear the limiting factor?
In 1968 everybody used a longbow or recurve. Most used wooden arrows and broadheads that one had to sharpen themselves and there were far fewer deer back then so it's understandable that harvests were low but I think the limiter was the gear and not the deer numbers. Today, I think the limiter is the opposite. It's not the gear but instead the numbers of available deer that will dictate the success rate per tag sold.
By contrast, here are the gun hunter numbers in the same span
Year...............................licensed Gun hunters per buck
1968............................................ 8
1978............................................ 7.3
1988............................................ 5.3
1998............................................ 4.4
2008.............................................6.2
In 1969, it took 67.7 licensed Bowhunters to bag a buck. The trend of the 60's remained pretty constant and took anywhere from 59 to 67 Bowhunters to tag one buck.
That rate remained until 1971 but changed dramatically In 1972 (compound bows) in 1973, the number of licensed Bowhunters that it took to harvest a buck dropped to 41 and has been dropping ever since.
Here are the totals in 10 year increments
Year...............................licensed Bowhunters per buck
1968............................................ 67.7
1978............................................ 24.38
1988............................................ 9.47
1998............................................ 5.74
2008.............................................7.50
The best rate was experienced back in 2003 when it took 5.4 licensed Bowhunters to bag a buck. ( a 12.5 fold reduction from 1967) Did we max out in 2003?? Bowhunting is growing in popularity. Gear is getting better. Is the gear the limiting factor?
In 1968 everybody used a longbow or recurve. Most used wooden arrows and broadheads that one had to sharpen themselves and there were far fewer deer back then so it's understandable that harvests were low but I think the limiter was the gear and not the deer numbers. Today, I think the limiter is the opposite. It's not the gear but instead the numbers of available deer that will dictate the success rate per tag sold.
By contrast, here are the gun hunter numbers in the same span
Year...............................licensed Gun hunters per buck
1968............................................ 8
1978............................................ 7.3
1988............................................ 5.3
1998............................................ 4.4
2008.............................................6.2