CNC, just a thought. I know your theory because you’ve posted it in this thread a couple times. I have a couple of theories myself. What if the deer populations are growing in the areas with higher percentage harvest, and therefore providing more opportunity?
Do you think that folks feeding corn is having any significant impact on reproduction rates and overall fawn survival?
I believe corn is having a negative impact in some areas, as people who previously had no hope of killing a deer due to poor habitat or deer having no reason to be on their property, now do. It’s increased harvest rates in areas where you had larger land managers with high populations. Those deer previously not being shot are getting shot with regularity now because everybody has a corn pile in their little corner of property, with a cell camera, and additional days to shoot. I could see this being a very big problem in areas with broken or smaller land ownership patterns. It’s why we proposed a reduced doe season in the TN Valley when I was with DCNR.
