On the days following the hunts, refuge managers watched anxiously to see how many deer were left. Gradually, they were reassured. There were still plenty of deer, in fact, there were still too many.

Though these first antlerless hunts successfully increased the deer harvest, they did not reduce the herd as much as needed. When biologists recommended increasing the number of hunting days the following year, there was stiff opposition. The bucks-only hunting rule had been oversold. It had become so engrained that most hunters could not accept any more doe harvest. For two years, they blocked any expanded season.

Damage to native vegetation worsened, and the health of the deer continued to decline. A turning point was finally reached when there was a massive die-off on the Daniel Boone Wildlife Management Area. Dr. Frank Hayes of the Southeastern Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Georgia, was called in to find the cause.

When Dr. Hayes and his team had completed their work, they set up a news conference to present their findings. You could hear a pin drop in the audience as he made his report. He showed slides of the many different parasites found in the dead deer, and described them as villains who were stealing deer from the hunters. He skillfully showed how the starved condition of the herd caused their weakened state, and this in turn allowed parasites to take over. More deer had died through starvation than the hunters had harvested.

He got the attention of those hunters! When the next year's hunt proposals included a four-day antlerless season, the hunters wanted to know if it was enough to turn things around. More die-offs on Mount Mitchell, Fires Creek and other management areas also helped convince them that doe hunting was needed.

Hunters gradually came to accept that antlerless seasons would not ruin their hunting. On the contrary, they found hunting was actually improved. More deer were harvested, and people discovered that does and young deer did not have the strong taste of big bucks. As herds came more in balance with habitat, weights and antler sizes increased. Eventually, antlerless hunts progressed to "either-sex" hunts, and deer numbers came under control. The severe browse lines once so clear in Pisgah Forest have gradually faded.

Today, white-tailed deer continue to do well throughout our state, and are hunted in every county. By 1996, the number of deer in the state was estimated at 1,000,000, and over 154,000 of them were legally harvested during that season.

It is interesting, however, to note the findings of the most recent harvest surveys. Though equal numbers of male and female deer are born each year, it seems that more bucks are always harvested. As Wayne Wiggins predicted, some hunters have still not shaken the old stigma against shooting does.