Photo by Charles R. Brower III

From the Piedmont to the Midlands to the Lowcountry last season, I saw a lot of deer sign in almost every place I hunted. There were tracks galore and I saw plenty of scrapes, rubs and droppings to keep my enthusiasm high. However, when it came to hunting, I spent more hours sitting in the stand seeing fewer deer than I felt I should.

However, several of the deer I saw, and some harvested by friends, were really healthy-looking, big-racked bucks. If you encountered this scenario last season, you're not alone. Most hunters I talked with reported seeing fewer deer, and some really good deer. This actually corresponds directly with the data that the state has compiled.

Another question commonly discussed since the close of the 2004 deer-hunting season has been regarding the status of the deer herd. A number of hunters have come to the conclusion that the deer herd population is down. They base this on their harvest results during the 2004 season, as well as the 2003 season.

Well, the annual harvest results for 2004 results are in and there's good news and acceptable news. Let's discuss the good news first. According to South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Deer Project supervisor Charles Ruth, there are no big health issues facing the statewide deer herd.

"The herd, on a statewide basis, is in good condition. We're beginning to stabilize, I think, in terms of the size of the herd. Plus, we also scored a lot of big bucks harvested from last season in our annual scoring sessions across the state in the early part of 2005," Ruth noted.

The "acceptable" news is that the deer harvest and projected population is down from the record high in 2002. The 2004 total harvest of deer in South Carolina was down 8.1 percent from the 2003 harvest. The 2003 harvest was down roughly 14 percent from the record high in 2002. The estimated herd numbers in the state has gone from 1,000,000 deer going into the 2002 season to 800,000 animals going into the 2004 season.

According to Ruth, that's over a 20 percent drop in the harvest in the past two years and that's reflected in the population estimate figures. While that seems like bad news, it's acceptable when other factors are considered, according to Ruth.

"The harvest figures last year had some good points, despite the lower numbers," Ruth said. "First, hunters harvested 125,550 bucks and 124,655 does in 2004, for a total harvest of 251,205 deer. Hunters should be commended for the ongoing efforts to take equal numbers of bucks and does. This is a positive note because it is important to keep deer numbers at reasonable levels, particularly with the increased interest among many hunters in improving deer quality."

Ruth also notes that after many years of rapid herd and harvest increase, the deer population in South Carolina has been relatively stable since the mid-1990s.

"The reductions in harvest over the past two years can likely be attributable to three factors. First, the state experienced a very significant drought during the period from 1998 through 2002. Although rainfall has been more than normal during the past two years, any reduction in reproduction, recruitment and survival of deer during the drought would result in reduced deer numbers in years immediately following the drought.

"Second, the good rainfall that was experienced in the spring/summer of 2004 produced an abundance of natural foods for deer and that included acorns. This worked to keep deer movements low during the fall hunting season.

"Finally, fall temperatures in 2004 were unseasonably warm, which also contributed to decreased daytime movements of deer during the hunting season," Ruth said.