Deer population could see sharp decline
ARIZONA - Survival rates among baby deer could drop 25 to 80 percent
this summer, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Despite recent rainfall, officials say this year's record breaking
dry weather could lead to a sharp decline in the population of fawns
that survive in Arizona's deserts and mountains, followed by more
declines next year in the adult deer population.
"It's pretty much a certainty we will experience problems with
the deer herd," said Jim DeVos, Game and Fish's research chief.
Last year's extremely wet season was good for the deer, but it probably
won't be enough, he said. "The deer from last year will probably
do well," DeVos said. "Our concern when we see a prolonged
dry period is the ability of moms to raise fawns. Both white tail
and mule deer commonly have twins. The energy demand of twins is
very, very high."
If the drought persists as predicted, many fawns will die within
days or weeks of being born.
Right now, the mothers' energy demands are peaking, DeVos said,
because the fawns are growing very rapidly as fetuses.
"The following five months are a pretty important time from
a nutritional standpoint for the deer," DeVos said. "The
fawns aren't born yet, but Mom needs a whole lot of groceries to
make those fawns be fat and happy."
The next crucial period will be right after birth in the summer,
when mothers are lactating. Fawns live solely off their mothers'
milk.
A decline in deer herds also means fewer deer for hunting. At $24.50
a tag, that could mean a financial hit to Game and Fish.
Since 1994, Game and Fish has reduced the number of deer hunting
tags it sells by 46 percent, to 36,665 annually. That has sliced
deer tag revenues by about $788,000. The reduction costs the state
nearly $2.4 million more annually in federal matching contributions,
according to department officials.
The decline in deer hunting also hurts the local economies of some
small towns that typically draw a lot of hunters, DeVos said, although
there isn't data to prove it.
"This is a fairly complex economic issue, not just to the department,
but to hotels, gas stations and local sporting goods stores,"
DeVos said.
Long term drought already has caused a 20 year long reduction in
the deer population statewide.
Mule deer numbers have dropped about 33 percent, and white tailed
deer have dropped 15 percent statewide since the wetter years of
the early 1980s, said Brian Wakeling, a big game management supervisor
for Game and Fish.
The species aren't in danger of vanishing from Arizona, DeVos said.
"Mule deer evolved in the Southwest. They are a desert adapted
species here," he said. "What we're looking at is a species
that will persist at lower numbers until we get additional rainfall."
In the meantime, a decline in the deer population could have other
harmful effects. Mountain lions depend on deer for food. Their populations
also could drop, or lions may stray into the Tucson metropolitan
area this year to look for javelina, rabbits, coyotes and even bobcats.
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