Can any of you tell me how many deer are killed in the state using the depredation permits.I tried to get the info from a the state and I was told that I could drive down and she would give me access to her files.But she would not get me the info herself.How big of a impact does the depredation tags have on seeing less deer this season?

I hate depredation permits....I've experienced it first hand! Nothing like a guy bragging about a big velvet monster he shot with his gun before bow season even opens! Been there......doe numbers have fell off too......of course!

As far as #s go.......I would love to see the data too!

No idea on the numbers, but 4-5 years ago the farmer got 20 permits for the 10 acre field by the house. He filled them and I saw nothing back there for a couple of years doe wise and little buck activity during the rut the year and the next. They've rebounded quite nicely this year luckily. He didn't take any this past fall even though he had beans.

A few years back I had a farmer tell me he was issued 70 depredation permits one year. The problem I have is that a big majority of corn damage isnt from deer at all. It is from racoons and squirrels. Some farmers gripe because they think deer eat so much of their corn, but how much corn is wasted by the farmer himself running over end rows with the combine or spilling grain on the ground while unloading to grain wagons. Just saying.

The latest info I could find showed 2777 were reported killed in 2008 on 429 permits.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-MR_979_Deer_Damage_Control_Program_2009.pdf

Let me throw some history to this, at least from my perspective. Many years ago when the depredation issue came up, it had quite a few angles. It included what weapons would be allowed, how much damage was needed and so on. There was plenty of meetings with many who visit this site included in the meetings. One of the thoughts, not to say it was a good one, by the then deer biologist was that the use of the depredation tags might appease legislators and Farm B., basically arguing that the initiative would help solve very specific localized problems and not then necessitate a broader statewide or even county wide deer pounding. Certainly such an approach would "harm" those who hunted close to the property that the depredation tags were used on but there was some thought that it was a better approach then a county wide situation. Back then, corn might have been $3 a bushel so the $500 damage level was felt acceptable. although the issue of how many acres a farmer had that accounted for the $500 was never really resolved. But, last year for instance at $7 a bushel, or close, $500 of damage is reached pretty quickly. Anyhow, it certainly could be argued today that with bonus permits as high as they are, the depredation tags aren't really needed but again, that was some of the ideology at the time, right or wrong.

Thanks, John. Maybe Chad Stewart will be able to put the 2013 deer depredation numbers (number of landowners, permits issued, and deer killed) in the annual Deer Harvest Summary report. Or, just update the Deer Damage Control Program report.

Now, now , now…..not ALL farmers….this tight wad and his farming partner take turns walking the end rows with 5 gallon buckets picking up all the knocked down corn and throwing it in the head when the other guy is dumping on the wagons!!!!

Agreed, coons and squirrels do 90% of the damage around here. Dave is exactly right too. $7.00 corn at 200 bushel to the acre doesn't take long to add up to $500.00. I know the District Bio for our area. He is family. He doesn't like handing them out, and WON'T unless all other options have been covered first. Last call he said he went out on, he said it probably was $500.00 worth of damage, by coons, squirrels, and a small family group of 4 deer in a little 5 acre patch woods surrounded by corn. Most of the times, its just a "feel good" for the farmer, knowing he killed one of those terrible crop destroying machines! :rolleyes:

If the field is close to a creek/river/ditch with beavers, they'll do more damage than coons/squirrels combined, and use the growing stalks in their dams ....

I would like to know how many permits are issued to each county.Last year I tried to get that info and the farmers names for my county and she refused to do so. I have a neighbor that gets 40 permits each year.He used 5 last year and 0 this year but he tells the dnr that he uses all permits.

It is public information that the DNR has to legally provide. You might have to drive to a biologist office to get it but they cannot not provide you access to the information unless some law has changed. If you would like, I will speak to the DNR about this since I'm here in Indi and get clarity on this.

Do a formal Public Records Request. http://www.in.gov/pac/

Individuals may experience some negative impact from the use of depredation permits locally but state wide the impact is negligible. I know the total reported most years state-wide is much less than 5000. there's another FWCC meeting next month. I'll try and ask for totals.

HatchetJack

Thanks for the data.

I've already heard back from Chad Stewart this morning and he has data for this year. He wants a couple of weeks to compile and confirm the data before he releases it. I will post when I see it.

Jack

P.S. Keep in mind that I never describe myself as a deer hunter just an average hunter of many things.

Chad got back very quickly wth this info:

"We have a summary of deer damage reports from 2012 and forward that can be found at the following website:

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3352.htm

Simply click on the “Search Reports” link under WILDLIFE and type in “deer damage” under the report title. There still might be some minor changes to this year’s data set, but it looks like there were about 2,400 deer reported taken on summer damage permits this past year, which compares similarly to recent years."

HatchetJack

It would be nice to know the harvest by county, but its probably not collected that way.

Looks like the past several years Indiana has averaged about 2-3,000 deer removed via the depradation program.

Table 6. Summary of Indiana's deer damage control program, 1987-2012.
Year Permits DeerAuthorized #DeerHarvested
1987a 30 271 104
1988 88 754 207
1989 68 610 148
1990 135 1,113 349
1991 193 1,819 529
1992 137 1,218 382
1993 59 531 207
1994 226 2,063 545
1995 249 2,357 994
1996 226 2,516 1,048
1997 288 2,674 837
1998 158 1,459 453
1999 169 1,494 536
2000 199 1,701 625
2001 204 1,814 640
2002 201 1,685 687
2003 302 2,627 1,282
2004b 330 3,228 1,431
2005 413 4,035 1,406
2006 398 3,802 1,499
2007 486 4,970 2,181
2008c 429 6,869 2,777
2009 535 7,346 3,126
2010 457 6,672 2,282
2011 460 6,124 2,358
2012 456 6,152 2,359

a. The Deer Damage Control Program was initiated in August 1987 and was not fully implemented until 1988.
b. Data for District 20 lost due to computer error. Thus, deer authorized for 2004 is likely 8-15% higher and deer harvested is likely 10-20%
higher than reported.
c. Some data from District 12 was lost, and numbers may range 1-5% higher than reported.

Looks like it is collected by district (not sure if that's bioloogy district or LE district but I am assuming biology district).

I would have thought those numbers would have been higher.

Thanks for the numbers.