How many clubs are harvesting more than 10 deer per 600 acres?

mattb78

Senior Member
Deer density varies greatly in Georgia, but with an average density of 25-30 deer per square mile, a rule of thumb to keep a level deer herd is harvesting 33% to 40% of your deer herd every year. So that is about 10 deer per every 600 acres. More in some areas, less in others.

The density in Georgia is the lowest it has been in several years. That was by design as the state was above the carrying capacity and the lowered numbers have produced higher quality deer and sustainable browse lines.

But the population is lower now and it is up to landowners and club presidents to help preserve the deer herd. The DNR has given everyone the tools to manage their own land (that is why the doe limit is so high, to allow large property owners the ability to reduce their herd size). But that doesn't mean everyone needs to kill their limit of does! "It depends on your property" is the answer to any question about your deer harvest numbers.

These 1000 acre clubs with 15 members really need to be a thing of the past. I know alot of folks don't have the money to be in higher acreage clubs, but it is either less members or limiting members to 1 deer each. Neither of these is popular.

If folks don't want the deer herd to get smaller, its time to make some hard harvest decisions and club decisions.
 

simpleman30

Senior Member
13,400 acres.
45+/- members.
100 +/- deer harvested for the last 5 years.

works out to around 5-6 deer harvested per 600 acres, or 1 deer harvested per 128 acres. not sure what the actual population would be, but there were many deer shot at and missed last year too.

on my 500 acre lease, we average 4-5 deer killed a year.
 

yellowhammer73

Senior Member
bobby bond dnr agent out of fort valley came out to our club in crawford co. and told us we needed to kill one doe for every 100 acres of land. this was to keep the heard in check for our deer population. we have averaged 5 bucks a year over 3 years old. we have 2300 acres and 30 members seems to work for us.
 

albridges

Senior Member
I maybe overkilling but on my small 150 acres, between 4 of us we have taken at least 7 Deer a year for last three years. And I believe there are more deer now than ever before.
 

Jim Boyd

Senior Member
We have a small 270 acre lease and I will be surprised if we do not take more than 5 deer off of it.... that would be roughly 11 on 600 acres.

We have hunted the same farm in Bulloch County GA for 25+ years now - about 300 acres - and we often take 8-10 does off of it each year - and they just keep pouring back in there...

SC deer totals are at a low point right now... not sure if it is coyotes or what - because we are actually selling less licenses now.
 

ted 88

Senior Member
i usually take a buck (if its a shooter) and 2 does off my 140 acres every yr. has worked fine for me. see plenty of deer every yr
 

Hairtrigger

Senior Member
We have a small 270 acre lease and I will be surprised if we do not take more than 5 deer off of it.... that would be roughly 11 on 600 acres.

We have hunted the same farm in Bulloch County GA for 25+ years now - about 300 acres - and we often take 8-10 does off of it each year - and they just keep pouring back in there...

SC deer totals are at a low point right now... not sure if it is coyotes or what - because we are actually selling less licenses now.

We saw more deer this season in the LC than we ever have..but heard rumors that yotes have moved back in. Trappers have been having great luck since end of deer season.
 
We took 9 off of 300 this season. I think we took 12 off the same 300 the previous year counting the one I lost with my bow as a kill. That doesn't count the ones that a member we kicked out killed but didn't tell us about. We suspect there may have been several of those. Got a feeling that it may be a slow season on that property this year.
 

Jeff Phillips

Senior Member
The herd can recover from a 30% kill rate without considering yotes into the recruitment rates.

A kill rate in Georgia of anything more than 9 deer per square mile (640 acres) IS reducing the herd. Like it or don't, that is a biological fact...
 

mattb78

Senior Member
Sounds like most folks on this thread know what they are doing..

Jeff you are absolutely right. There are some exceptions for high density counties in the eastern part of the state but otherwise your numbers are pretty close.

My worry is that tons of clubs out there are harvesting way too many deer, then blaming coyotes, the DNR, Florida hunters, etc. for the declining deer herd.
 

Laman

Senior Member
The herd can recover from a 30% kill rate without considering yotes into the recruitment rates.

A kill rate in Georgia of anything more than 9 deer per square mile (640 acres) IS reducing the herd. Like it or don't, that is a biological fact...

Again you cannot paint with such a broadbrush and be accurate for every locale within the state. We have averaged 30 does a year for the last 8 years off of my 1325 acres and yet we still have more numbers every year to the extent that late in this past season I saw my first evidence of what I considered to be overbrowsing of less than desirable foods. Analyzing our kill records shows that our does weights have been declining also. Our goal this season is 45 does.

The 10 doe limit gives us the ability to manage the herd in our area even though we bring in guest to kill most of the does. We will be planting additional acres of late season food plots. Each locale needs to be managed according to its actual herd dynamics.
 

Jeff Phillips

Senior Member
Each locale needs to be managed according to its actual herd dynamics.

Biology is based on facts.

You may have started with high doe numbers, higher overall population, or you may have large unhunted properties around you. If you kill 30% of the herd your population is stable, any more than that and it is declining.
 

ted_BSR

Senior Member
Biology is based on facts.

You may have started with high doe numbers, higher overall population, or you may have large unhunted properties around you. If you kill 30% of the herd your population is stable, any more than that and it is declining.

Actually, like any other science, it is based on the scientific method, which is based on hypothesis and experimentation.
 

RipperIII

Senior Member
over the last three seasons we've avg. 5 doe and 2 bucks per year,...that is on 1280 acres in Butts co. with 8 hunters...but we do have yotes
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Not us, we've been very conservative with our harvest. And it's paying off per trail cameras pictures we're getting.
We averaged about 7 deer per 600 acres for the last two years. Most of our members pass on does and young bucks.
 

mattb78

Senior Member
I know of clubs averaging 50 acres/member or less, with membership rights allowing the member, spouse and kids to all harvest deer under the membership.

Their 50 acres averages to about .78 deer for that membership. Less than one deer per membership would be a sustainable harvest, but instead each membership takes several deer wiping out the population quickly. Clubs like that need to be a thing of the past or the deer herd will continue to fall.
 

ted_BSR

Senior Member
Stats for the last three years are 9, 20, 18 on 900 acres. No sign of decline. You just can't tell how many deer leave or enter your property.
 

wmahunter

Banned
Deer don't recognize property lines. It is not unusual for at least 1 of the neighboring properties to be underhunted while another may be overhunted.

IMO the 30% harvest goal has to be calculated based on the entire range of the herd and not just your club property...impossible in most cases.
 

Mako22

BANNED
The herd can recover from a 30% kill rate without considering yotes into the recruitment rates.

A kill rate in Georgia of anything more than 9 deer per square mile (640 acres) IS reducing the herd. Like it or don't, that is a biological fact...

No its not.
 

patterstdeer

Senior Member
We have 2400 acres 15 members and usually take right at 40 deer a season which comes out to about 6 per acre harvested.
 
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