As Sam stated, the 80's were way different than things are now. I did not know a soul that passed A buck, let alone multiple. There was no talk about an animal being "mature". A deer was a deer, and if a person -especially a bowhunter- got a shot at one and killed a buck, friends and neighbors would drive a half hour to see the dang thing! Roger Rothar became a legend in Ohio deer hunting...he had killed about a half dozen nice bucks in Ohio! People took off work for gun season. Everyone that hunted deer did it with a shotgun, the really good ones could hit a pumpkin at 75 yards, clean kill shots of 100 yards were almost fantasy. Bowhunters would go to extremes in an effort to simply see deer...like skunk scent all over themselves (which is a lil stinkier than smoke). The fastest bows on the market reported speeds of 200 fps, and the archer would be drawing 80lbs to do it. Brass pins painted with brightly colored tips were high tech. Bowhunters actually spent hours a day shooting, cause those rattle traps took skill to hit a plate-sized target at 30 yards...The few that could do it at 40 were God-like. I killed my first deer then, with a bow (82 or 83, I think). I was ten or eleven. I killed it on a farm behind my parents home...we actually SAW a deer there the summer before while riding dirt bikes, so we knew it was a "hot spot". I was really excited, obviously, but heartbroken when gun season rolled around because I couldn't skip school and go to Grandpa's Vinton County farm with my Dad and brother. BTW, my brother hunted the entire shotgun season without seeing a deer that year...
Yeah, comparing the 80's to today is a little like apples and oranges.
On the bright side, I guess if things continue as it seems, I may get really excited by a scrawny 4 point like I did in the 80's!
Brock,
Thanks for reminding me of how old I am getting.
I killed my first deer with a bow in 1975. I remember when the first doe permits were offered by drawing. My dad, brother and I always applied in hopes of keeping someone else from getting one and actually shooting a doe. I remember the first year that crossbows were permitted in the primitive weapons season only. I also lobbied for years with the OBA, Al and George to welcome crossbows hunters once they became legal in the archery seasons. It could have strengthened the weakening voice of the OBA with the DNR. Instead of embracing the crossbow hunters and becoming a stronger voice for bowhunters they, OBA, took an adversarial position to crossbows, a mindset that still prevails today in many circles. At that time I was the president of the largest 100% OBA affiliated bowhunting club in Ohio, near Lockbourne, I think you know which one it is. This created some pretty heated discussions for sure.
I do not deny that there may be a population decline, especially in specific regions of the state. What I can't do quite yet is buy into the reasons for nor the levels that many seem so ready to accept. I don't know what the populations are and certainly don't know what they are in the areas that you hunt. I really don't think anyone knows what the actual populations are including the DNR. If they knew for sure there would be no need for the questionnaire asking about our opinion on the population.
The data that Huntn2 compiled was great. He did however clearly express that if you change a couple of the assumed variables it changes the numbers. We don't know the exact fawn recruitment numbers, do they vary by region of the state? What is the impact of poaching, dying of natural causes (old age), car collisions, none of that was factered in. What is the actual fawn mortailty rate, does it vary by region?
As an example if you take Huntn2 numbers and only change the the fawn mortality rate from 41.5% to 30% then the numbers show an increase in the deer herd from 700,000 to 708,173 in the same 3 year period an increase of 1.2%. That is a drastic comparison from the numbers he offered at 425,568 an 39% reduction.
Which is reality? There is a very high probability that neither is right.
I know that many feel strongly that the DNR is out to screw the hunter and is lying to us about the populations, I just don't fall into that camp yet until I know more facts versus speculation.
By the way I personally saw less deer in the 7 days of gun season than I normally see in one day.
