Georgia Deer Restocking 1928-1974 Program History

fishtail

Senior Member
I actually knew one of the game wardens that participated in the relocations.
One trip trailering the deer to a release location he almost got arrested for assault when a guy ran into the trailer. This was while passing thru a town during a Shriners parade, I forgot the location.
 

BornToHuntAndFish

Senior Member
It's more likely an adaptation to a southern climate rather than dilution of genes. Do a google search for Bergman's rule and Allen's rule. This can help explain why deer are larger in colder climates.


Thanks, Killmaster. Bergman's rule & Allen's rule is an interesting read.


For Bergman's rule brief details from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann's_Rule

In zoology, Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographic rule that correlates latitude with body mass in animals.[1] Broadly it asserts that within a species the body mass increases with latitude and colder climate, or that within closely related species that differ only in relation to size that one would expect the larger species to be found at the higher latitude.

The earliest explanation, given by Bergmann when originally formulating the rule, is that larger animals have a lower surface area to volume ratio than smaller animals, so they radiate less body heat per unit of mass, and stay warmer in cold climates. On the other hand, warmer climates impose the opposite problem: body heat generated by metabolism needs to be dissipated quickly rather than stored within. Thus, the higher surface area-to-volume ratio of smaller animals in hot and dry climates facilitates heat loss through the skin and helps cooling of the body.


For Allen's rule brief details from:

The theory behind Allen's Rule is that endothermic animals with the same volume may have differing surface areas, which will aid or impede their temperature regulation.

Consider eight cubical boxes of unit volume and unit area of a side. A rectilateral stack two boxes wide, one long and four tall will have a volume of 8 units and a surface area of 28 units. A cubical stack two boxes wide, two long and two high will have the same volume of 8 units but a surface area of only 24 units.

In cold climates, the greater the exposed surface area, the greater the loss of heat and therefore energy. Animals (and humans) in cold climates need to conserve as much energy as possible. A low surface area to volume ratio helps to conserve heat.

In warm climates, the opposite is true. An animal will overheat quickly if it has a low surface area to volume ratio. Therefore, animals in warm climates will have high surface area to volume ratios so as to help them lose heat.

In a nutshell, it simply means there is a ratio between body surface to body mass. For example, Fur or Tutsi people of Africa release body heat more readily because their ratio is high. However, Eskimos and Inuit have a lower ratio and therefore retain body heat.
 

Buck Trax

Senior Member
Bill Collins Jr. wrote The Last Deer Trapper. He was the leader of the deer trapping effort on the Berry College lands and you can see his last name repeatedly in the document posted above. It's a great read.
 

jmharris23

Moderator
What is now my driveway is where they put out the deer in Pike County. I think thats pretty cool!
 

parksbobby

Member
I've never researched this person myself, but where i grew up in s. ga. crisp/dooly co. area Holt Walton was a big name in the private relocating of wisc. deer into ga. anyone ever heard of this person?
 

fountain

Senior Member
my dad said they released several on out place from WI. i know 2 were killed--a big 20" 10 pt and a big 9 that resides on our wall.
thanks for sharing the info
 

RNC

Senior Member
What is now my driveway is where they put out the deer in Pike County. I think thats pretty cool!

That is cool .... I killed my first deer in Molena when I was a teenager .......



Lots of good stuff in this thread !



BUMP
 

Xrallison

Senior Member
I've never researched this person myself, but where i grew up in s. ga. crisp/dooly co. area Holt Walton was a big name in the private relocating of wisc. deer into ga. anyone ever heard of this person?
Holt Walton had a very big impact on the restocking deer around here and his family still own a large piece of land almost 10000 acres out hwy 257 in between crips and dooly co I hear his name still mention around cordele all the time and I also know Sevreal people that hunts his old land
 

Dirtroad Johnson

Senior Member
Good thread, thanks for sharing,that's interesting. My land is 5 miles south of Abbeville & I did not know that Wisconsin deer were released in that paticular area, however I have heard all through the years that Wisconsin deer were released in a lot of counties in this area.
 

TOORED

Senior Member
Great post!! Lots of good info!

This may be a stupid question but why were deer "restocked" in Georgia? Were they plentiful in times past but lost due to disease, pestilence, or over-hunting?

Both of my parents were born in the 30s and raised on south Georgia farms. When I asked them about deer populations when they were young, both said that they rarely ever saw deer. They also said that their fathers rarely killed any for food, and they were poor and needed the meat.

I do remember hunting in south Georgia in the early seventies and deer were much more rare then than they are today.
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
TOORED,

subsistence hunting and market hunting primarily.


T
 

Fire Eater

Senior Member
Hard to believe that there were NO deer in this state 100 years ago...I wonder what role the extinction of the American Chestnut played in the extirpation of deer from Georgia. Some are trying to bring them back.
 

deerdander

Senior Member
Interesting to see how many deer were brought in from TX.
I had been told that a lot of deer brought into Georgia came from Virginia but that information was obviously bogus.
 

OmenHonkey

I Want Fancy Words TOO !
I just saw this thread. It's Great BTW. I had the pleasure of getting to know Mr. Whittington. Great Man, unbelievable outdoorsman. He never sat in a deerstand. And according to him he has some Giant horns...He was our caretaker at our club in Crawford county. he walked our lease many times and gave us detailed instruction on browse line and how many does needed killing. We shared many conversations and i learned alot about the restocking from him directly. Yes there were great numbers restocked privately. Usually still had the DNR's help just no real records were kept. I'm lucky to live in a county that had both Texas and WI strain placed. There here just dang hard to find...
 

HossBog

Senior Member
I noticed that neither Columbia nor Lincoln counties are listed, but I guess the deer from Clarks Hill WMA must've increased and migrated over in the early '60s. When I started deer hunting in 1964, I had never met nor heard of another deer hunter in my part of Georgia. I had never even seen a deer, just some sign, so I knew they were around. I killed the first wild deer I ever saw, a nice little 8 point buck, whose head is in my office at home. November 5, 1966 at 2:05 pm, 45 yards through heart shot from shotgun slug. Hehehe, I was a bit lucky, eh? Senior in high school. Then, went to Vietnam returned, and everybody and his brother was deer hunting! I felt as if I had lost my secret! Oh well, man, those were the days!
 

AnchAk1961

Senior Member
Ground zero Harris County...

Looks like my lease is very close to the area of Harris County's release site. Kinda cool. Thanks for posting.
 
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