Managing your own deer herd

LUXEMBURG -      While many hunters look toward the DNR to control the deer herd for optimal hunting, many hunters are taking it into their own hands, managing their own land to ensure the bucks that take up residence are worthy of the wall.

     “It's very important and if you can, harvesting an animal like this,” said Kevin Jeanquart from Casco, standing by his newly harvested 12 point buck.  “You can show other people what can be done if you just go through some management practice on your farm and if the neighbors start doing it, it really expands the structure of the deer herd quickly.”

      Jeanquart says he works on it 365 days a year, with baiting, monitoring and learning about how to age deer by sight.  By controlling what happens on the property he hunts, he is able to become almost like a DNR of his own domain.

    By getting neighboring properties together, and working on it all year long, hunters can manage on their own property.  Janquart’s neighbor and cousin, Cory Cochart, also follows the same principles, and so is able to be choosy which deer is harvestin, meaning the hunt can be a successful one every year.

      “We just kind of select, we know which ones we'd like to get and we go by that, we go by what our cameras tell us,” said Cochart, with a 10 pointer of his own. “We try to harvest the mature ones and leave it at that.”

     The DNR hopes other hunters will be as vigilant, as they look at how the deer population has rebounded.  “The deer population in some areas should be as expected and of course deer aren't spread evenly throughout the landscape so some are going to see deer and some aren't,” said Appleton office DNR representative Josh Jackl.  “Generally with the weather the way it is, should be a great season, it's a great opening weekend so far and we expect a pretty good harvest because of that.”

      If hunters are able to take care of their hunting land with an eye towards a good hunt year after year, they can keep the harvest good every season.