Originally posted by jjas: [b] BTW, it's impossible to tell how much of an impact crossbows have had on the antlerless harvest as the data isn't broken down that way.
My point is, statistically you can't make an apples to apples comparison of harvest percentages (harvest numbers mean squat as the the harvest varies annually) unless the weapon opportunity is directly comparable.
Think of the total harvest as a whole pie. The more slices you cut into a whole pie, the smaller the slices become. The crossbow added a slice that didn't exist before. That difference cannot be accounted for pre-2012. [/b]
The difference in the archery percentage of total antlerless harvest can be compared pre/post crossbow inclusion.
From 2009/2011 (pre-crossbow inclusion) that number was 24% of the total antlerless harvest. From 2012/2016 (post crossbow inclusion) that number was 28% of the total antlerless harvest for a difference of 4%.
And as such, the firearms percentage of total antlerless harvest dropped in the 2012/16 time frame as I said earlier...
Perhaps I should have made that clearer...
Quote
From 2009/2011 (the last seasons I have data for before the late antlerless season was implemented), antlerless deer killed with a firearm (firearms and muzzleloader seasons) made up (on average) 74% of the total antlerless harvest or 59,000 antlerless deer per season. From 2012/2016 (after the late antlerless season was implemented), antlerless deer killed with a firearm (firearms, muzzleloader and late antlerless season) made up (on average) 70% of the total antlerless harvest or 54,000 antlerless deer per season. In other words....on a statewide basis, the late antlerless season hasn't increased the antlerless harvest (on average) by either percentage or number of deer with a firearm.
