Down

[Schu72]

I didn't see a single deer in 9 hours across two days. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

I never left the woods during shooting hours on Saturday. Sat all day and saw 2 doe. Could have shot them, but thought better of it. Not the kind of day I was hoping for.

 

[brock ratcliff]

There is an older couple that come into our shop every week. They both deer hunted a lot 15-20 years ago. Neither hunt anymore. Last night they sat there talking about how good the hunting USED to be around here. Sure brought back good memories. It was so much fun to run deer out of nearly every woodlot you went into. It hasn't been like that around here for a long, long time. I'm really hopeful the DOW will cut back on harvest and we will see a return to "the good old days" of the mid-90's...back when we had a statewide herd of 500k.

 

[Carpn]

If the 1% can't find them we're screwed.

1% ?

 

[brock ratcliff]

1% ?

It's a reference to Mtneer. He claimed he was a 1 %er... essentially better than 99% of deer hunters. If he can't find a deer, no one can.

 

[Gordo]

I wouldnt say we are 'hurting' that bad just yet.

A quick scroll through the TOO harvest thread shows that.

Now as for the long run, its obvious that right now we are seeing a decline. Where it ends, no one knows.

Whats the reason for the decline?

Is it as simple as reducing the amount of tags and/or changing the length/time of seasons?

I find myself saying this alot, but there are a lot of other variables.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I wouldnt say we are 'hurting' that bad just yet.

A quick scroll through the TOO harvest thread shows that.

I think all this shows is that even with a diminished deer herd, this group is capable of killing deer in an efficient manner. My buck population is acceptable right now, it is the extreme lack of does that I am upset about. Without does, bucks cannot be born and before long, my buck population will be in the shitter with the rest of the herd. I had ample opportunities to kill bucks this year, but only 2-3 chances to a kill a doe and at this point, I'm thankful the doe I shot on opening day survived our little encounter.

The lack of deer not only puts a hurting on my one true passion in life, it will hurt my pocket book. We eat 2-3-4 deer a year and at this rate, I will not be killing more than one a year which means increased need to purchase meat at the grocery store. It could cost me hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year if I don't have deer to kill. In the past two weeks alone, we have eaten 7 pounds of ground and 3 pounds of steaks. That adds up in a hurry if it is coming from Krogers and not the woods! I'm already saving my change to purchase a WV non-resident license next year so I can go there and shoot the shit out of their deer to fill my freezer and save Ohio for buck only...

 

[Jackalope]

I wouldnt say we are 'hurting' that bad just yet.

A quick scroll through the TOO harvest thread shows that.

.

You have to understand something though. Online hunters who are members of forums are going to be some of the most dedicated and informed deer hunters out there. These are the guys that eat, sleep, and breathe hunting. And you have to consider the numbers of hunters participating in the thread and the thousands of hours they cumulatively spend in the stand.

 

[CritterGitterToo]

You have to understand something though. Online hunters who are members of forums are going to be some of the most dedicated and informed deer hunters out there. These are the guys that eat, sleep, and breathe hunting. And you have to consider the numbers of hunters participating in the thread and the thousands of hours they cumulatively spend in the stand.

If we, the most passioante about it, are lost then what will become of the casual deer hunter. I would guess many of them after this weekend were cursing deer hunting and putting their gear on Ebay.

 

[brock ratcliff]

If we, the most passioante about it, are lost then what will become of the casual deer hunter. I would guess many of them after this weekend were cursing deer hunting and putting their gear on Ebay.

I disagree. They will write it off as "a bad year", hang there gear up until next season when they will dig it out again. They will also shoot every doe they see to "help the herd", because the DOW claims we have to manage the herd...which means kill 'em all these days. Then, after they have bumped into a half dozen deer, they will stand around drinking a beer and claim we have too many d$%* deer... heck, they only hunted one day and saw 6! Sorry, that last part came from a conversation I heard on Saturday of gun season from an idiot I know only went to the woods once this year.

 

[Gordo]

I hear what you guys are saying.

The main problem is that most hunters are not educated and don't think about the affect that harvesting a deer has on a property. Unfortunately, that's the majority.

These guys just follow what the ODNR tells them.

I saw a classic case of it this year with one of the land owners buddies shooting 4 does in 10 days off a 20 acre lot. There where 7 does using the property routinely. Think that's going to affect the hunting there next year?

 

[Milo]

I hear what you guys are saying.

The main problem is that most hunters are not educated and don't think about the affect that harvesting a deer has on a property. Unfortunately, that's the majority.

These guys just follow what the ODNR tells them.

I saw a classic case of it this year with one of the land owners buddies shooting 4 does in 10 days off a 20 acre lot. There where 7 does using the property routinely. Think that's going to affect the hunting there next year?

Regardless of the outcome this year, hunters need to find a better information source that truely cares about their rights. There has been irreversible harm done right now and no press release will undo it. This is the instrument of change

 

[Lundy]

I wouldnt say we are 'hurting' that bad just yet.

A quick scroll through the TOO harvest thread shows that.

Now as for the long run, its obvious that right now we are seeing a decline. Where it ends, no one knows.

Whats the reason for the decline?

Is it as simple as reducing the amount of tags and/or changing the length/time of seasons?

I find myself saying this alot, but there are a lot of other variables.

Your home county and my hunting county, Athens.

2002 gun harvest 4157
2102 gun harvest 1984
2002 total harvest all methods - 5922
2011 harvest all methods - 4384

I still have deer to hunt, no doubt about it, but I have a bunch less than in previous years, of that there is no doubt either.

I still contend that it would be pretty easy to control harvest without eliminating opportunity if those in charge wanted to do so. I just no longer think that is a priority for them. My faith has been pretty much eliminated with the recent article by "Tonk"

 

[LonewolfNopack]

I disagree. They will write it off as "a bad year", hang there gear up until next season when they will dig it out again. They will also shoot every doe they see to "help the herd", because the DOW claims we have to manage the herd...which means kill 'em all these days. Then, after they have bumped into a half dozen deer, they will stand around drinking a beer and claim we have too many d$%* deer... heck, they only hunted one day and saw 6! Sorry, that last part came from a conversation I heard on Saturday of gun season from an idiot I know only went to the woods once this year.

Exactly. Cracks me up that about the only people that I know who are still saying we have too many deer are non hunters or once a year hunters. These are the same people who do not know how to think for themselves or do any research on their own, and go along with all of the BS that the ODNR feeds them. They are simply talking heads.

 

[LonewolfNopack]

Oh yeah, and Mrex.rotflmao

 

[motorbreaker]

Everyone has a different opinion. But everyone on this site wants to see the deer population increase.

I think Lundy is right. Reduce the doe tags. Not the season.

I'm just going off how we as a group hunt on our farms. Early season, Its warm and we dont shoot does because its a pain in the ass to take care of them in the heat. So starting the seasone later would make no difference in the number of deer harvested by us.
Later in October we harvest a couple does if the weather is cooler as our freezers are empty by now.

As the rut rolls around, Were hunting bucks only. Nobody shoots a doe till opening gun season. Its just a good time to shoot them, The weather is cool, And the rut has wound down.

By the time the second gun season comes around, There is not much hunting going on at our farms. My freezer is full, My buck is tagged. I still have a doe tag, But very seldem use it. Depends on the freezer. But its nice just to be out there to see whats going on.
I herd a ton off shooting the satarday of extended gun. 90% of witch came from amish country over the hill. Sounded like an army was over there.
We seen a few deer that day. But nobody on our farm took any shots.
We are lucky to have awsome habitat and a fair population of deer in SOME of our areas of southern Highland county. I wouldnt want to see the population drop anymore though.

I see very few people hunting the late season around here. I dont think shortening the season would help to much.
The only exception would be the amish, I dont know what there going to do when all there deer are gone, Witch wont be long at the rate there killing them.

I think the best thing the dow could do is lower the number of tags. Get rid of the antlerless tags all together.

This is just what i think from what i'm seeing around here. We have harvested 7 bucks and 5 does this year. It has been our best year since the start of our lease for bucks.
Hunting preasure on ajoining propertys is minimal witch helps alot.

overall, Talking to friends and neighbors, It seems the deer numbers in our area are down quite a bit.

 

[Jackalope]

Everyone has a different opinion. But everyone on this site wants to see the deer population increase.

I think Lundy is right. Reduce the doe tags. Not the season.

I'm just going off how we as a group hunt on our farms. Early season, Its warm and we dont shoot does because its a pain in the ass to take care of them in the heat. So starting the seasone later would make no difference in the number of deer harvested by us.
Later in October we harvest a couple does if the weather is cooler as our freezers are empty by now.

As the rut rolls around, Were hunting bucks only. Nobody shoots a doe till opening gun season. Its just a good time to shoot them, The weather is cool, And the rut has wound down.

By the time the second gun season comes around, There is not much hunting going on at our farms. My freezer is full, My buck is tagged. I still have a doe tag, But very seldem use it. Depends on the freezer. But its nice just to be out there to see whats going on.
I herd a ton off shooting the satarday of extended gun. 90% of witch came from amish country over the hill. Sounded like an army was over there.
We seen a few deer that day. But nobody on our farm took any shots.
We are lucky to have awsome habitat and a fair population of deer in SOME of our areas of southern Highland county. I wouldnt want to see the population drop anymore though.

I see very few people hunting the late season around here. I dont think shortening the season would help to much.
The only exception would be the amish, I dont know what there going to do when all there deer are gone, Witch wont be long at the rate there killing them.

I think the best thing the dow could do is lower the number of tags. Get rid of the antlerless tags all together.

This is just what i think from what i'm seeing around here. We have harvested 7 bucks and 5 does this year. It has been our best year since the start of our lease for bucks.
Hunting preasure on ajoining propertys is minimal witch helps alot.

overall, Talking to friends and neighbors, It seems the deer numbers in our area are down quite a bit.

If you set the tags back at 3 you'll only save 6,028 deer.. That's not enough. While it needs to be done, it is only a small part of the answer.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'm just going off how we as a group hunt on our farms...

Doing so leaves you with a small sample size and a skewed perspective. You guys seem to be doing things right, although I don't have any idea how many acres you have under your control. Its great that you all hunt with restraint and a real world sense of management. The problem lies in that fact that you, and most of us here, are in the minority in those regards. We have only killed one doe on our farm (80 acres) in 3 years. I set up a moratorium on does this year and tried to talk my neighbors in to doing the same thing. However the neighbor to the north of me essentially has 24 tags at his disposal and they kill everything they can kill simply because they can. He will give you some BS sob story about needing the meat because they are low income, yet he shelled out $3K to lease the farm on which his rental home sits. I cannot control him and the only way to force him to stop the slaughter is to change the regulations in order to prevent it.

As we have said before, this forum is largely composed of a like minded group of dedicated hunters and game managers. We are the minority and regardless of how conservative we are in our harvests, it will not matter if the rest of our community continues a "brown and down" mentality...

 

[motorbreaker]

Doing so leaves you with a small sample size and a skewed perspective. You guys seem to be doing things right, although I don't have any idea how many acres you have under your control. Its great that you all hunt with restraint and a real world sense of management. The problem lies in that fact that you, and most of us here, are in the minority in those regards. We have only killed one doe on our farm (80 acres) in 3 years. I set up a moratorium on does this year and tried to talk my neighbors in to doing the same thing. However the neighbor to the north of me essentially has 24 tags at his disposal and they kill everything they can kill simply because they can. He will give you some BS sob story about needing the meat because they are low income, yet he shelled out $3K to lease the farm on which his rental home sits. I cannot control him and the only way to force him to stop the slaughter is to change the regulations in order to prevent it.

As we have said before, this forum is largely composed of a like minded group of dedicated hunters and game managers. We are the minority and regardless of how conservative we are in our harvests, it will not matter if the rest of our community continues a "brown and down" mentality...

I agree. we have 300 acres on the farms we hunt. Most of the people who hunt around us are after bucks only. This keeps the population up to reasonable levels.
I have 17 prime acres behind my house that used to be excellent hunting.2 miles from our lease. After the amish bought several farms near me. The hunting and deer population has totally went to shit. I dont even hunt here anymore.
The dow has to take away tags atleast till the population rebounds to exceptable levels before its to late.
we should never be able to tag 6 deer. that is just crazy.

 

[hickslawns]

I agree. we have 300 acres on the farms we hunt. Most of the people who hunt around us are after bucks only. This keeps the population up to reasonable levels.
I have 17 prime acres behind my house that used to be excellent hunting.2 miles from our lease. After the amish bought several farms near me. The hunting and deer population has totally went to shit. I dont even hunt here anymore.
The dow has to take away tags atleast till the population rebounds to exceptable levels before its to late.
we should never be able to tag 6 deer. that is just crazy.

From what I hear, reducing tags or seasons will not help you if you have a pack of amish hunting close to you. Most don't recognize seasons or tag limits anyway.

 

[motorbreaker]

thankfully there are no amish within a mile of our lease.