By Nick Simonson

With the conclusion of the firearms deer season in North Dakota on Sun. Nov. 26, the work in managing the herd begins anew for agents of the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F).  Through the assembly of public input, surveys of hunters detailing their efforts and observations, and the tallying of deer through aerial surveys, the agency is able to get a better grasp on the health of the herd, and those numbers in turn along with depredation reports from operators, hunter concerns voiced in advisory board meetings, and an assessment of habitat for deer around the state help the team of biologists and managers make decisions that will affect the number of tags issued for next fall’s firearm deer season, according to Bill Haase, NDG&F Wildlife Division Assistant Chief.

In the days following the firearms deer season, the agency mails out surveys to select hunters who had a tag for the hunt in November.  Therein, hunters report days hunted, deer seen, and whether they were successful in harvesting a deer.  This is one of the first pieces of reviewing the previous season and helps determine the approximate numbers of deer harvested in each unit throughout the state, setting the stage for further analysis.

“Right now, we’re sending out our surveys to hunters and we’ll have a lot more information as to what that success rate was,” Haase relates, adding, “we survey a lot of the hunters out there – archery, gun and all those – and that gives us a lot of insight into the success rates out there, what people were seeing, and participation.”

Following the hunter surveys, in winters providing enough snow cover, NDG&F biologists and pilots will conduct surveys of whitetail deer census blocks in units throughout the state.  12 inches of snow, on the level in both low areas and on hilltops, is required for uniform visibility of whitetail deer as they can easily hide in the beige grasses of snow-free reaches.  Such winter surveys are a double-edged sword according to Haase, as snow is needed for an accurate count, but it’s also a stressor for deer in the winter season, which as was the case last year, can lead to significant mortality.

“Hopefully we don’t get any snow this winter, but if we do, we’ll definitely fly and count the deer on the landscape,” Haase says with a laugh, “when we do have those snowy winters, we’re able to get up into the air and get a pretty good count of deer in each unit,” he continues, adding that the winter of 2023 was the first winter ever that the agency was able to fly every single block for the survey.
Additionally, aerial surveys for mule deer will occur in the spring and fall, before trees begin to grow leaves and after they come off to get an accurate tally of the big game animals in their western habitat.

“We have a really good handle on those badlands units as to what that [mule deer] population is and the dynamics of it as far as the buck-to-doe ratio.  So we’re really able to manage that herd a little bit more intensively” Haase explains.

Following the assembly of public comments from fall advisory board meetings, hunter survey data pertaining to participation and harvest ratios in each unit, and the spring population tallies achieved during aerial surveys, the four big game biologists for the agency meet and confer about the status of the populations in the various units of the state.  Based on that discussion and the data and input provided by landowners and hunters, along with the status of the herd and its habitat, those four individuals make a recommendation to Haase and Wildlife Division Chief Casey Anderson for their consideration and modification.  Once finalized, the recommended firearms deer tag allotment for each unit is sent to the NDG&F Director for approval, and along with other regulations and updates, is sent to the Governor for inclusion in the state’s annual deer proclamation.

Tag numbers are set, and are based not on exact numbers, but rather the bootstrap estimates from information provided and noted in surveys, and the trend those numbers create in relation to the whitetail and deer herds around the state.

“We have some outstanding big game biologists and they’re taking into consideration what the hunters want, what the landowners want, and what the realistic carrying capacity of the land is and then we make our tag allocation in the spring,” Haase details, “we look at the trend, and obviously we have a trend of a reducing population…so we’re going to be conservative on the doe or antlerless population for a while until our population is able to rebound from a tough winter, and in portions of our state, a pretty big hit from EHD two years ago,” he concludes.

Hunters who participated in the firearms deer season may see surveys arriving via U.S. Mail in the coming days.  Firearms deer tag totals and numbers for each unit are typically announced in early May of each year, with the online lottery system open for applications through early June. 

Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.

Featured Photo: Mapping It Out. The number of tags issued in each deer hunting unit in North Dakota is based on many factors including hunter success, winter mortality, animal survey results, and depredation concerns.  Simonson Image.