Deer Gun Harvest Totals Decline
- Thread starter cspot
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Y'all need too take it to a PM Or just put your dicks away.... Takes away from the topic.....
I don't think it's a direct cash flow to the DNR so much as to the politicians who influence the DNR....
What some of you are failing to realize is this isn't about my season, your season, Jesse's season, Joe's season, Ted Nugent's season, Or J's season. It's about the future, education, and the betterment of the passion and conservation of the whitetail deer that we all love to hunt.[emoji122] [emoji106]
OO2
Well-Known Member
Buckmaster
Senior Member
It's always about the money. I feel bad I support the double edged sword. Nationwide is my insurance carrier and if I Pay the Farm Bureau $90 per year for a membership I save 10% off my insurance rates with Nationwide saving me money.
I did the same for a while. Told both to pound salt 2 years ago because I felt guilty. I'm still saving money and I'm no longer contributing to two of the "evils" we so often point a finger at.
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Well here's how it works. The head of the DNR is appointed by the governor, those under him are appointed by him. In an election year when a new governor takes office it's not uncommon for them to appoint a new DNR leader. He then either keeps the previous leaders management team or puts who he wants in place. This would include the head of the DOW.
The DOW does not set the hunting regulations as they're state laws. They make a recommendation to the wildlife council for the new regs who then votes to send it to the state legislature.
So that's the flow of things. What happens is the farm and insurance lobby donate campaign contributions to the governor and the state legislators. They do this to get their way. So if they want the states deer population reduced they just call up their bought and paid for politicians and tells them to put pressure on the DNR, who then puts pressure on the DOW. It's not likely the guys at the DNR will tell the politician who put them in that job to go piss up a rope.
To answer your question about money.. There were 21,314 vehicles involved in deer vehicle accidents in ohio in 2015 costing insurance companies 85.1 million dollars in insurance claims. That's money leaving their pockets every year. So they decide they want to keep more of that money. Their solution. Get the DOW to cut the deer population in half. If they can do that they'll keep an extra 42.5 million dollars in their pockets each year. What would your budget be to save 42.5 million dollars a year? Even if the spend half, say 21 million per year buying politicians they will still make 21 million for their troubles.
So I can't tell you how much they spend. Only that they can spend a massive amount. Especially when you consider your average state reps entire campaign might cost a couple million max. Thats a lot of cheese to spread around buying politicians.
It doesn't necessarily take a ton of money. Votes count alot too and legislators in big hunting states don't want to lose those votes.
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And that is one major reason why we as hunters need to organize. The insurance and farm lobby's can dump all the money they want to buy politicians but there is one thing that politician needs more than money, and that is votes. Governor kasich beat Strickland by 77k votes. Something like 270k hunters bought at least one deer tag last year. If hunters where an informed and organized group, politicians would fall all over themselves for the deer hunters vote.
And you also go after the insurance companies. Find a deer hunter friendly insurance company to partner with, offer your members a discount. Insurance companies who want the deer gone can't fight you in the public eye, it's bad for business. Doing so would be admitting that they're actually not "on your side." If you're a deer hunter.
I just don't understand . I feel this vibe here of "We are better and more informed" but I really don't see it . Maybe it's just that my circle of friends whom I talk to don't represent the average hunting public either.
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The best post of this whole thread.... In the end... WHO PULL'S THE TRIGGER?? Just because the ODNR says more deer should be harvested doesn't make it right to go out and decimate the herd. Sounds like a lot of Ohio hunters have the same mindset as New Jersey hunters. The state says kill,kill so lets do it.. Well they did it here with our long seasons and very liberal bag limits.. Now the same ones are bitching about no deer.. They have no one to blame except themselves. Seasons here run from Sept thru Feb with some areas being UNLIMITED does. These same seasons that run into Feb. result in shed bucks being shot. Then they bitch about our deer quality not being the same as Ohio or Illinois.. How can you have quality deer when your shooting them after they drop their horns?? Years ago when the doe day's were "ONE DAY" and were limited to a certain quota through a lottery we would would apply and if drawn, would burn the permit.. We werem trying to preserve the deer herd one deer at a time.. Little did we know that all the Y2K hunters would wipe them out...
The issue is hunters like to blame other hunters instead of putting differences aside. You see all the time people blaming archery hunters, crossbow hunters, rifle hunters, Non-resident hunters, etc. instead of pulling together to voice an opinion where it really matters.
Asking hunters to be wildlife biologists is a bit much in my opinion. For one most hunters don't spend that much time in the woods. How do they know what the deer population is? If a deer comes by they are going to shoot it if they have a tag. The wildlife agency is responsible for adjust tags and/or seasons to keep a stable population. Again as hunters we need to stop blaming each other.
Hence the educational component of this venture. A lot of guys are fixing on the "blame the DNR" part of this and really, that's not the point. I was guilty of letting the DNR influence me early on and then I got wise to what was going on. I stopped shooting does on our farm 5 years ago, as did one neighbor. Now we have a decent herd of does and we know what restraint can do. That's a message we plan to present to membership: At the end of the day, we as hunters also have control and we can make a difference if we are educated.
So you would say this forum is comprised mostly of uneducated and lesser hunters? Or am I misinterpreting what you're saying? Please expand on this thought if you have time Jake.
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I don't think anyone has said we are better and more informed here. What we have said is we want to start a massive survey and data-gathering campaign to see if what we suspect to be true actually is. What we see everywhere we look is a bunch of really pissed off deer Hunters. Now that may not be the case in your circle of friends. And I would hope that they participate to share their data when the time is here.
We may be totally off base in our observations. If that is the case an organization would be a complete waste of time. If there's no reason to organize then doing so is fruitless. Now if we see a commonality worth pursuing we'll form the org and dive in to it deeper collecting data and surveys on just that area. From there the organization board will vote to make a priority issue and drive for change. We are a long way away from that today. First we need the data from it the truth will rise.
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Where's my dang like button. We can only blame hunters if they're educated to the fact that what they're doing is not good. If we have a DNR telling hunters to kill kill kill and the hunters trust the DNR to have their best interest at heart, then the hunter is not to blame. They were deceived and used as a tool to accomplish the DNRs goal to their own detriment. And while it was they who pulled the trigger they have every right to be pissed at that DNR once the reality hits. The key is education, unification, and communication. If successful the DNR can set the limit at 10000 each and hunters will say no. Fool me once.