ABA53
08-25-2004, 12:31 PM
Below is an article from the Arkansas Bowhunters Association's newsletter. If you are not a member of the ABA send Cory an email at the address listed below and sign up for the program. We need all the bowhunters we can get.
Arkansas’ bowhunters will have a unique opportunity to provide invaluable information to wildlife biologist during the upcoming season. Deer Program Coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Cory Gray, has launched an aggressive new program to help manage Arkansas’ whitetail deer. According to Gray the AG&FC is capturing pretty good data on what deer we are killing, but those deer are gone, out of the herd. What we are missing is data on the deer we are not harvesting, according to Gray.
That "missing link" is called observation data. Gray intends to rely on Bowhunters to provide that data. Each bowhunter that wants to participate will be mailed an observation data book, similar to the Commission’s new check station books. Each hunt will be recorded on a separate, scanable, form. The form is very simple and will only take seconds to fill-out. The participating bowhunters will record information such as county, zone, date, start and stop time, number of bucks seen by antler class, number of does seen number of fawns seen, etc.
According to Gray this information can provide the Commission with the "missing link" to their deer management program. It can tell us what is really out there in terms of doe to fawn ratios and how many young bucks are still out there for next year.
The key to the program will be participation. If Arkansas’ Bowhunters do not "show-up" in force for the program the sample size will be too small to mean much to the over deer herd.
The ABA has gotten involved with and is in full support of the program, although the program is not limited to ABA members only. It is open to all bowhunters. Gray wanted bowhunters to gather the data because of the fact that they must get so close to the deer the identification will be much more reliable. And the fact that they typically spend so much time in the woods is also a factor.
This is a unique opportunity for Bowhunters to step up provide the data the biologist need to manage the deer herd. Although the Commissioners did not give the ABA exactly what we ask for in the last regulation setting process, the bowhunters in the state still need to support the biologist that are charged with the day to day management of our deer.
Each ABA member should be getting a letter from the AG&FC about this program. I urge you to participate and get your bowhunting buddies to sign up also. We need the numbers and we need to make a strong showing.
The letters should be arriving in September and will include a return envelope for bowhunters to send back in for registration in the program. Contact information for Cory Gray is listed below if you do not receive a letter and want to participate in the program.
Cory Gray
Deer Program Coordinator
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
771 Jordan Drive
Monticello, AR 71655
Office: 1-877-367-3559 (toll free)
E-mail: mcgray@agfc.state.ar.us
Tom White, Past President Arkansas Bowhunters Association
tom@monticellonews.net
Arkansas’ bowhunters will have a unique opportunity to provide invaluable information to wildlife biologist during the upcoming season. Deer Program Coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Cory Gray, has launched an aggressive new program to help manage Arkansas’ whitetail deer. According to Gray the AG&FC is capturing pretty good data on what deer we are killing, but those deer are gone, out of the herd. What we are missing is data on the deer we are not harvesting, according to Gray.
That "missing link" is called observation data. Gray intends to rely on Bowhunters to provide that data. Each bowhunter that wants to participate will be mailed an observation data book, similar to the Commission’s new check station books. Each hunt will be recorded on a separate, scanable, form. The form is very simple and will only take seconds to fill-out. The participating bowhunters will record information such as county, zone, date, start and stop time, number of bucks seen by antler class, number of does seen number of fawns seen, etc.
According to Gray this information can provide the Commission with the "missing link" to their deer management program. It can tell us what is really out there in terms of doe to fawn ratios and how many young bucks are still out there for next year.
The key to the program will be participation. If Arkansas’ Bowhunters do not "show-up" in force for the program the sample size will be too small to mean much to the over deer herd.
The ABA has gotten involved with and is in full support of the program, although the program is not limited to ABA members only. It is open to all bowhunters. Gray wanted bowhunters to gather the data because of the fact that they must get so close to the deer the identification will be much more reliable. And the fact that they typically spend so much time in the woods is also a factor.
This is a unique opportunity for Bowhunters to step up provide the data the biologist need to manage the deer herd. Although the Commissioners did not give the ABA exactly what we ask for in the last regulation setting process, the bowhunters in the state still need to support the biologist that are charged with the day to day management of our deer.
Each ABA member should be getting a letter from the AG&FC about this program. I urge you to participate and get your bowhunting buddies to sign up also. We need the numbers and we need to make a strong showing.
The letters should be arriving in September and will include a return envelope for bowhunters to send back in for registration in the program. Contact information for Cory Gray is listed below if you do not receive a letter and want to participate in the program.
Cory Gray
Deer Program Coordinator
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
771 Jordan Drive
Monticello, AR 71655
Office: 1-877-367-3559 (toll free)
E-mail: mcgray@agfc.state.ar.us
Tom White, Past President Arkansas Bowhunters Association
tom@monticellonews.net