by John Jefferson

Hunters cannot get enough information about deer. We’ve learned a lot since I started hunting but much more will be unearthed in the future.

Al Brothers, wildlife manager for the large Zachry Ranch, and co-author of Producing Quality White-tailed Deer, recommended to me a new organization called the “Quality Deer Management Association.” He highly praised their work and scientific information about deer. I have quoted them extensively.

QDA merged with another organization and became National Deer Association (NDA).

Their thrust is still about quality deer, and not just about growing large antlers although that’s certainly a by-product of their research.

Population management, adequate doe harvest, protecting yearling bucks, sustainable and ethical hunting, and habitat improvement are of utmost importance to them.

On June 30, NDA’s Communication Director, Lindsay Thomas Jr, released a bulleted history of Whitetails in America. It’s been a roller-coaster ride, as Mr. Thomas called it — good times and bad — beginning before the arrival of Europeans in the 1,500s.

It’s an interesting study of our favorite big game species.

Deer populations were considered stable at that time, according to history. European diseases decimated Native American tribes.

With fewer hunters afield, deer numbers increased. But as commerce increased between Native Americans selling deer hides and colonists hunting for food, deer populations began to tumble. That led to the first hunting regulation.

1646 — Rhode Island, a state seldom mentioned in current deer literature, enacted a summer ban on deer hunting.

1679 – New Jersey outlawed export of deer hides by Native Americans.

1699 – Virginia enacted a short season and banned doe harvest in 1738. Most colonies had varied regulations by then, but enforcement was lacking; game wardens were 150 years in the future!

By 1776, whitetails had been on a 300-year decline. Market hunting, unregulated hunting, and agricultural practices had taken a toll.

1878 – Restocking deer began. Ony 300,000 deer remained from the earlier 30 million. Deer had vanished in the Midwest and Northeast. In the South, they were in deep swamps and Appalachia.

1887 – T. Roosevelt formed the Boone & Crockett Club, and the Fair Chase ethic. States began seriously enacting hunting regulations.

1900 – U.S passed the Lacey Act banning shipment of illegally harvested game. Roosevelt established the first wildlife refuge. The Forest Service and National Parks Service provided habitat.

1937 — Pittman – Robertson Act passed requiring states to use license revenue to fund wildlife conservation in order to receive matching federal funds instead of providing a source for financing “pork projects.” That was a turning point in whitetail history.

I’ve added some Texas events from my files that NDA didn’t include. The Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission was created in 1895.

It merged with the State Parks Board to create the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1963.

In 1948, Texas bought its first Wildlife Management Area.

1953 — first antlerless deer harvest opened in Mason, Kerr, and Gillespie counties, starting “The Doe Wars.”

In 1973, most counties came under authority of TPWD.

And there’s more to come!

JJ