trends across 26 specific zones of the property, and
biological specifics of harvested deer. Such data help
hunters determine where they might be successful
and which hunting method to employ. For example,
a hunter who likes to stalk deer might want to
choose a lightly hunted area where deer may be less
wary due to lower hunting pressure.
Logistics. The Cary property includes mixed hardwood and softwood forest stands, old field habitats,
open meadows, and wetland habitats. About 1,500
of its 2,000 acres are open for hunting. The state’s
23-day southern zone shotgun deer season begins in
mid-November, with legal hunting hours from sunrise to sunset and check-in beginning at 5 a.m. After
checking in, each hunter places a pin in the property
map showing where they plan to begin their hunt;
later arriving hunters avoid these locations. Temporary tree stands are permitted, but no nails or
cutting of live vegetation is allowed. Hunters bring
all harvested deer to the hunter check station.
Strategies. Institute hunters employ three basic
methods. Most hunt from stands, waiting for deer
to approach—a tactic that accounts for 60 to 80 percent of the harvest in any given year. Some quietly
stalk deer on the move, an approach that requires
more skill and patience and contributes about 16
percent to the annual harvest. Others walk in small
groups to drive deer out of the thickest cover or
off the highest ridges to a member of the group, a
method accounting for an average of 12 percent of
the harvest and particularly effective for does, as 63
percent of deer taken through drives are females.
Data Collection. Dates, hours, and areas hunted
are recorded in a daily log at the hunter check
station. Trained staff process all harvested deer,
recording dressed weights, lactation status, antler
points, antler beam diameters, and deer age. They
also record time and location of kill, method of hunt
(drive, stand, or stalking), distance of shot, number
of shots, distance deer traveled, and number of deer
present at time of shot.
Harvest Levels. Harvest is controlled not by
bag limits but by limiting the number of hunters
and antlerless permits. For the first 21 years of the
hunt, fall counts of deer via night spotlighting were
conducted to index trends in deer numbers. Today,
these data are derived from a group of bowhunters
(prior to the firearms season) reporting deer observed per hour afield. Most years, Institute hunters
A white “vegetation density board” stands clearly visible in a heavily grazed forest
(above) managed to favor deer abundance to benefit recreational hunting. in contrast,
robust sapling growth obscures a density board in a Cary institute forest (below), where
aggressive doe harvests limit deer abundance and encourage understory growth.
Credit: Ray Winchcombe
Credit: Ray Winchcombe
have access to a single buck tag and two doe tags.
For the past ten years the average deer harvest has
been 41 deer ( 13. 7 per square mile), while the average for the previous ten years was 67 deer ( 22. 3 per
square mile).
Measures of Success
Institute biologists conduct annual spring browse
surveys to measure deer impacts on forest vegetation, the best metric of program effectiveness. These
surveys, done at 45 sites in the Cary forest, quantify
the percent of available buds actually browsed by
deer. On average we’ll examine 6,100 buds on seven
of the most abundant tree species to determine
whether browsing levels are low enough to accommodate forest regeneration. The long-term, overall
browsing rate of buds examined each spring has
