PODCAST - 2023 Deer Harvest with Richard P. Smith 

We've always had severe winters, predation is the #1 reason for the population decline. The deer herd was just fine with bear, coyote, and bobcat on the landscape it wasnt til the wolf population took hold that the deer population started to tank hard.

Zero severe winter 💯...all wolves

I'm in Texas and we don't have a show dedicated to the outdoors so I've adopted you people. 😃

His numbers don't add up. The DNR themselves via an official document in 2021 stated bears eat 1.4 fawns per bear per year. 10,000 bears in the Yoop then thats 14,000 fawns. Bears don't prey on adult does. The DNR also stated for many years in their hunting digest that wolves kill 30 to 35 deer per wolf per year. Keep in mind these are the adult deer that produce the fawns. They stated the minimum wolf count is 631 currently so using 30 deer a year thats another 18,930. Lets assume coyotes take another 14,000 fawns a year. Richard himself said bears and coyotes take about the same number. The DNR said Bobcats take 6.6 fawns each per year but the over all population of bobcats is very small compared to other predators. A general estimate is 1000 to 1500 adult cats in the U.P so thats another 9900 fawns using the higher of the two numbers. Hunters in the U.P. took 17,000 deer in 2023. There were 3000 car deer accident reported last year in U.P. So total kill in 2023 is aprox 76830. With population numbers the way they are it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the U.P. deer can't sustain this sort of removal every year. It takes 18,500 does to produce 37000 fawns just to feed the bears, coyotes and cats (DNR numbers) if they have twins and aren't stress from running from wolves all winter. In 2014 the estimated U.P. deer population by the DNR was thought to be at 136,000 deer total. In 2020 the DNR said the population was probably around 200,000. The really have no clue and have stated as such. Richard Smith has always been waving the flag for shooting whatever size buck a hunter wants to take. From spikes up. Now he wants hunters to be able to shoot more does because he states the land can't carry them through winter. Well it seems to me the wolves are already doing the job on the wintering deer population. More antlerless hunting is not whats needed. Currently we can't keep a stable population and its been on the downward swing for years, why in the world would you want to shoot even more does. One big thing he fails to mention is the amount of stress and the secondary kill effect the wolves cause the deer when bunched up in the wintering yards. Wolves are running those deer 24/7/365 on 17% of the land and deer are using up their fat reserves when needed most just trying to avoid the wolf. Bears aren't causing this in the winter. Its no wonder does are having more still born or unhealthy fawns that are less likely to survive after birth or grow quick enough to evade predators after birth. Is there even a way to measure this damage to the deer herd? This was never an issue until the wolves came back. Whats needed most is bring the wolf population down to around 200 as the government stated was their original goal to meet recovery and keep it there. Do this so we can maintain the adult population of does that can reproduce the fawns in numbers so that when the bears, coyotes and cats take fawns there still enough left over to make a positive gain. Shoot coyotes every chance you have. Lastly, stop the doe permits. The U.P. can easily carry more deer on the landscape, its a matter if the DNR allows it and the hunters stop believing we need to shoot does just because the DNR gives out doe tags. We know the truth in the DNR's numbers over the years and we know what we see out in the woods. The two story lines don't match up. So who's numbers do we believe? All I know is theres a lot less deer now ever since the wolf numbers have gained traction to whatever their real populations numbers are. Lastly, I knew it was a matter of time before someone said it was the weather. Every year that the harvest continually falls its always the weather, the hunter that gave up, the rain, opener during the week, no snow, too much snow, too many acorns, no bait, baiting itself, full moon, no moon....the excusses they've used for the last almost 25 years now is getting old. The fact is the deer population has fallen bad. There's too many furry things eating them in the woods with the wolves being the primary factor.

Michigan has more deer hunting season day's than all the neighboring states combined, and as far as I know Michigan has more deer hunting days than the whole mid western states combined, the DNR is worried more about revenue than wildlife management, the bear hunting crew I talked to in baraga county said the wolves ran the bear completely out of the area, the party was from Ohio and apply every year for a bear tag the four of them, and draw a bear tag on average every 10 years, bottom line is the status quo, will end deer hunting in the upper peninsula, like it did in the lower Michigan over 100 years ago

You forgot to mention the wolves 🐺 a adult wolf can take up 30 deer 🦌 to survive . They need to get out of the office and go talk to farmers or loggers and interview hunters . My opinion it’s just like Northern Wisconsin to many wolves .

Great job Richard. My camp is mid upper. My bear population is crazy they outnumber the deer easily 2/1 on my cameras throughout the summer.

Just because they do a study in one area doesn’t mean it’s like that all over wolves 🐺 cover a big area.

Michigan wolf population has entered the chat….

Yes thank you! Someone who knows deer and deer hunting! Wish this had made the episode!

RPS- You spoke too soon about the year-round coyote season. The NRC just voted 4-2 in favor of closing the coyote season from 4-15 until 7-15. The NRC as well as the DNR are in the insurance companies back pocket. I'm not so sure you aren't in the same boat. Worried about bears but didn't mention the real problem, WOLVES.

I've followed Richard P Smith for at least 20 years and always respected his opinion but he's using data from at least 10 year's ago .if he was to look at the last few years he would see that they canceled dogsled racing because there's no snow so they really need to stop that excuse! It's wolves

Oof, this guy is a shill for the wolf lovers 🙄🤦🏻

Wolves are the only variable that has changed … this guy is a delusional

Sounds like deer season in the up needs to cease for 5 yrs

its called over hunting of deer time to get rid of the youth hunt and go back to the old tag system one tag for bow one tag for gun and no more doe hunting why do you think they got rid of doe hunting back in the 60s and not brought back to the mid 80s.

In my opinion, Richard Smith has no credibility or common sense when it comes to deer management. His arguments are not only flawed, but he contradicts himself constantly. He says we have to few deer, but then he says we have to many deer. His solutions for two few deer include allowing hunters to kill more bucks and does even in low deer areas. He also wants more bear shot to save more deer when he says that we have to many deer for winter carryover already. Of course his hatred of anything to do with antler point restrictions gets mentioned repeatedly. Oddly though, he's somehow OK with having one restricted buck tag, but just not two. He's a self proclaimed expert at deer management, but the reality is he a menace to deer management in the U.P.

Give up on Michigan deer and go to Iowa , Illinois or Kansas.