Gun week total is down 8%
- Thread starter Ohiosam
- Start date
huntn2
Senior Member
I would like to see the either sex turned into an antlered tag. I would then like to see the antlerless changed to be sold by county. That way we have number of permits being sold by county vs the harvest. Provides for more metrics/analysis and ultimately allows for more informed decisions to be made.
There is my recommendation. Anyone else have a suggestion on what if anything they would like to see changed that might help the DNR manage the deer heard?
There is my recommendation. Anyone else have a suggestion on what if anything they would like to see changed that might help the DNR manage the deer heard?
Milo
Tatonka guide.
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Sure there is a yo-yo effect, JB
When the balance shifts some move to another area while others keep going back and wait on the rebound.
Today is a totally new era in terms of hunting pressure and accessability.
huntn2
Senior Member
I believe there are too many other variables to consider when determining what the total harvest for the entire state means. Just because the total harvest for the state rebounds from a down year doesn't necessarily mean that all is good. Weather, food, number of hunters, disease, etc. can impact things on a localized level. If a particular zone, 3 digit zip, county, 5 digit zip...starts to see a trend (whether that be an increase or decrease) it deserves further evaluation.
Hillbillys in VC having been shooting when there guns were loaded since the 70's - Same goes with the guys who don't tag deer, etc. Their numbers are not growing...
Those numbers play no role on the "overall reported numbers" never have and won't.
The same retired VC DNR guy that help mike with his pond is the same guy who didn't prosecute the road hunter we caught at 2:30 in the afternoon on my place. Don't get me started... "He knew the guy and would take care of it".
Stop with the fuggin excuses - rain, snow,wind, crops, etc. Every year it is one of those..
You keep shooting more deer you have less deer... mix that in with a good healthy dose of EHD and you have a problem (which we never officially had btw)
The mystical graph from unknown origin doesn't show the increase number of tags given per year - over the years... 5 years ago, how many tags were issued vs deer killed sort of thing... The graph is bs -
If you issue 3x+ more tags and see a decline in harvest numbers blaming it on the rain just isn't going to cut it after a couple of years.
I have run 8 to 11 wireless cameras 24/7 on the same property smack in the middle of 6000 continuous acres since 2004 - I own over 200 of it.
Same camera locations - Same feeders - Same mineral sites - same food plots
This isn't some city "wood lot" it is smack in the middle of a much bigger woods - surrounded by a much bigger woods. No houses for MILES....
The numbers are going south and have been for several years. Overall numbers have decreased on the same property, every year - We hunt it less because there isn't any deer to speak of one the property.
I will put my camera numbers up against anyone's numbers, including the DNR or MRex.
I just plain and simple know the property and the data doesn't lie. This isn't about hunting or how well the cameras work, etc. It is about true data - which is far more than the DNR can say. Pull up all the graphs you want - anyone who has followed my cameras for the past 7 years can tell you what they have seen.
These are just the result, that's it. No mystical magic - no BS - just results.
The same permanent stand in 2005 we could kill a deer out of AT ANY TIME you would be lucky to even see a deer. Why? Because they just aren't as many around.
You boys can bicker all you want about what is happening - the truth of the matter is the numbers are down and declining.
The next thing that follows is the number of hunters are going to decline - That is when you will see a response from the DNR - No one likes to hunt and not see deer..
VC is down by 23% - Our counts have dropped by more than 50% over the last 3 years. :smiley_depressive:
Next year we go to the phone in system - so when the numbers are all fugged up everyone can blame it on that... :smiley_clap:
Those numbers play no role on the "overall reported numbers" never have and won't.
The same retired VC DNR guy that help mike with his pond is the same guy who didn't prosecute the road hunter we caught at 2:30 in the afternoon on my place. Don't get me started... "He knew the guy and would take care of it".
Stop with the fuggin excuses - rain, snow,wind, crops, etc. Every year it is one of those..
You keep shooting more deer you have less deer... mix that in with a good healthy dose of EHD and you have a problem (which we never officially had btw)
The mystical graph from unknown origin doesn't show the increase number of tags given per year - over the years... 5 years ago, how many tags were issued vs deer killed sort of thing... The graph is bs -
If you issue 3x+ more tags and see a decline in harvest numbers blaming it on the rain just isn't going to cut it after a couple of years.
I have run 8 to 11 wireless cameras 24/7 on the same property smack in the middle of 6000 continuous acres since 2004 - I own over 200 of it.
Same camera locations - Same feeders - Same mineral sites - same food plots
This isn't some city "wood lot" it is smack in the middle of a much bigger woods - surrounded by a much bigger woods. No houses for MILES....
The numbers are going south and have been for several years. Overall numbers have decreased on the same property, every year - We hunt it less because there isn't any deer to speak of one the property.
I will put my camera numbers up against anyone's numbers, including the DNR or MRex.
I just plain and simple know the property and the data doesn't lie. This isn't about hunting or how well the cameras work, etc. It is about true data - which is far more than the DNR can say. Pull up all the graphs you want - anyone who has followed my cameras for the past 7 years can tell you what they have seen.
These are just the result, that's it. No mystical magic - no BS - just results.
The same permanent stand in 2005 we could kill a deer out of AT ANY TIME you would be lucky to even see a deer. Why? Because they just aren't as many around.
You boys can bicker all you want about what is happening - the truth of the matter is the numbers are down and declining.
The next thing that follows is the number of hunters are going to decline - That is when you will see a response from the DNR - No one likes to hunt and not see deer..
VC is down by 23% - Our counts have dropped by more than 50% over the last 3 years. :smiley_depressive:
Next year we go to the phone in system - so when the numbers are all fugged up everyone can blame it on that... :smiley_clap:
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Sean, I gotta ask. Have you forgotten how to run cameras? Are there environmental factors that have changed over that course of time? Are the cameras perhaps not as diligent as they once were? Have they changed dramatically in appearance and now suddenly the deer may notice them more? Have the cams developed an illness that may cause them to fidget while in the tree? Have you eliminated all the factors that could influence negatively why they no longer get as many pictures of does, bucks and fawns? There must be a reason the picture counts have dropped by 40 %... Mrex and the DOW say there is no issue with a lack of deer... figure out what the fug is wrong with your cams.
What about acorns? Did your oak trees suddenly stop dropping them and your neighbor's suddenly start? ... There must be a logical reason aside from WAY LOWER deer population!
What about acorns? Did your oak trees suddenly stop dropping them and your neighbor's suddenly start? ... There must be a logical reason aside from WAY LOWER deer population!
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Sean, another thought; have you considered doing anything with your property that would make it more appealing to deer? Some ideas: run feeders and mineral sites. Food plots, perhaps plant some CRP for thermal cover. Maybe it would be a good idea to do some select cutting on the ridgetops to create more edge cover and browse. What about building a pond on a ridge top to supply water on the middle of the property- you know, make it so the deer don't have to drink the iron-rich, orange stuff in the deep hollers. How about making 40 or 50 acres of the nastiest thick stuff a sanctuary where you, me, your family, or anyone else is never allowed to step foot. Do you think any of this would help in seeing more deer on your property? .... Oh, never mind, that's all been done over the years... I forgot. I dunno, maybe there are just less deer.
Can I get an "Amen"?:smiley_clap::smiley_angelmusic::smiley_cheerleader:
Testify brother! TESTIFY!
Testify brother! TESTIFY!
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Well I just checked my cams, had 225 photos on a 2 min delay behind my house in 24 hours! I also stopped by the neighbors house and he asked me how many deer I shot behind my house this year, I said two. HE said thats ridiculous, there are hardly no deer up there why would you shoot two? haha I just said that I was hard up for money and needed the meat.lmaolmao I then asked him what he shot? And he shows me a 1.5 y/o 9pt. I looked at him and shook my head! He said, what? Its all I see up here! To avoid a confrontation I told him congratulations and left.
Now, What he doesnt know, for whatever reasons, is there are more deer on that hill then there has ever been. For christ sake I saw 25 deer in one sit last week. I hunted behind my house 3 times this year, more than I have the past 3 years. Is it a coincidence he is not seeing deer? ha I think not! THey jsut dont go in the area he hunts. Hmmmmm.... Perhaps its because he rattles from opening day all the way until the middle of gun season. Perhaps it is because he rides his 4 wheeler within 50 yards of his stand that is perched 10 feet off the ground in a bare poplar tree.
All I got to say is, im glad I live where I do since there are apparently no deer every where else in ohio!
Now, What he doesnt know, for whatever reasons, is there are more deer on that hill then there has ever been. For christ sake I saw 25 deer in one sit last week. I hunted behind my house 3 times this year, more than I have the past 3 years. Is it a coincidence he is not seeing deer? ha I think not! THey jsut dont go in the area he hunts. Hmmmmm.... Perhaps its because he rattles from opening day all the way until the middle of gun season. Perhaps it is because he rides his 4 wheeler within 50 yards of his stand that is perched 10 feet off the ground in a bare poplar tree.
All I got to say is, im glad I live where I do since there are apparently no deer every where else in ohio!
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Yep.. Brock, Sean, and I, have simply forgotten how to hunt... Shit guys.. We suck.. Sean.. Shoot all those cams.. They have forgotten how to take the pics they once did..
Hey, I didnt say that! If no one has killed any of the deer on brock or seans place, then the deer have obviously made a shift! Its doesnt make sense to me. If there were once deer, no one has shot them, then where did they go? there hasnt been an EHD break out down there in how many years? the only logical thing to think is that they moved. For whatever reason!
formerbowhunter1023
Now Posts as Jesse..
God damned migration I tell you! Sum bitches winter up in 'Ol Mexico nowadays. Hard to kill 'em when they start migrating...
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Are you suggesting Deer migrate in herds? Are you suggesting the migrate away from foodplots, ridgetop ponds, feeders stocked with corn and protien feed. 30 acres of switch grass, Hinge cut thickets that are off limits, and select cut finger ridges... They abandon all that prefering instead the open hardwoods where not an acorn could be found last year and browse was limited to green brier in late winter.
We'll I'll be.. What a revelation.. lmao Somebody better call every seed, foodplot, feeder, whitetail property management groups, and deer magazine in the world and tell them their fuggin idiots..
Migrate? no, make a shift in location, Yes! Do these ridgetop ponds have heaters in them that keep them from freezing? I dont know about your area, but food plots are next to worthless around here! I know lots of people who put out food plots, me and my buddy included! They are just not that effective around here, atleast in my area! We have to many other food sources around here! They will eat out of them, but not religously! IF there are only a half a dozen deer on 200+ acres, then there is obviously a bigger problem than shooting to many deer!
See the problem is you guys don't think like deer. If I was a deer and you 3 were hunting in my area I'd move.:smiley_coolpeace:
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For your sake, I hope a county-wide migration does not happen in your county. Glad you have it figured out. Perhaps you can pass along your knowledge to Tonk. Maybe the two of you working together can figure out a way to stop the great shift.
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Are you suggesting deer migrate away from food plots and corn/protein feeders and into the 10+ miles of surrounding hardwoods that had zero mast crop and only green brier for browse? I wish i could have found that one uncut field 10 miles away they migrated to and now live in.. I bet they are stacked in there like ants.. Maybe that's the field Tonk saw when estimating the population.. 20 square miles of deer packed into a mile wide valley of cut AG fields surrounded on both sides by hills..