Annual Deer Season Report: 1980-81 Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area

Big Cypress National Preserve

Very little information has been documented about the deer herd(s) in the Big Cypress Swamp or about hunting pressure/distribution, thus the information collected during the managed hunts this year (and future years) will be of extreme importance. These information collection efforts can be put into two broad objectives; 1) Determination of the amount of hunting pressure and the concentrations of pressure, and 2) collection of biological data from harvested animals. The description and history of the big Cypress is well documented and will not be discussed here, however, the hunting conditions and hunting methods used is worth mentioning. Due to the abundance of water and the vastness of the area, the Big Cypress is relatively inaccessible to conventional vehicles and hunting methods. Basically, two types of vehicles are used to hunt the area. In the area south of Loop Road and along the mangrove line south and east of Ochopee, airboats are the primary mode of travel. Hammocks within the wet prairies are searched (usually with dogs) and flushed deer are shot or pursued by the airboats. This appears to be a relatively efficient way to harvest deer in this type habitat. Swamp buggies are used primarily in the remaining portion of the Big Cypress. Some hunters use the buggies only as transportation to their camps or general hunting areas, while the great majority do all of their hunting from the buggy. This, in essence, involves riding in the buggy with guns ready and shooting any legal deer which flushes. These buggy hunters are limited to the more open areas, thus the strands and sloughs are not hunted to any extent at all.