ODNR Survey.
- Thread starter Jackalope
- Start date
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One of the things Tonk and I discussed last year at our annual TOO gathering at Strouds was the deer hunter survey. If you've never received one it's basically a survey that random people received through the mail or email. It asked about your deer hunting experience in Ohio. How many days did you hunt, deer seen, county etc. In 2012 I did a freedom of information act request for this data. After reviewing it I realized the collection methodology was completely unscientific and flawed. Basically they took the state and randomly picked thousands of people. There was no regard for counties, hunter harvest, gun, bow etc. Just a mass random sampling. That would be fine if you planned to manage the deer population in Ohio as a state. But the issue arose when trying to look at it on a county by county basis. The survey may have gone to 50 people from Champaign county, but only 15 in neighboring Clark county. Add to that only about 10% of the hunters actually filled out the survey and it led to a large participation discrepancy across the counties. This makes it ridiculously unscientific when trying to look at deer numbers, hunter effort etc across counties.
In my opinion Tonk used this as a crutch may times during our discussion. Not so much that the collection and data was flawed but rather that "we hunters weren't participating". Finally he got rather agitated with my questioning and statements and quipped "I only have what I have, what do you expect" I replied "I expect you to quit doing the same thing year after year when you know it's broke! Fix it and quit using it as an excuse"
We the went on to discuss how deer should be managed in zones, broken down by habitat, human population, hunter density, and a host of other factors. We explored the idea of using a forced survey method similar to how migratory game birds are surveyed with the HIP survey. (Harvest information survey). He responded "All of those things cost money. I laughed and responded "You mean to tell me the DNR has money to hire people to walk around a bog poking sticks in the mud looking for turtles, You pay people to drive around and listen to peeper frogs to count them, You have employees that drive around and listen to turkeys to get a count. But you don't have the money to accurately survey hunters for the most hunted game animal in this state that's responsible for over a billion dollar industry in Ohio?"
It was then he told me about this new biologist from the University of Alabama who was joining the program and was going to hash everything out. And he mentioned a few people from OSU who were going to help also..
The wheels move slow a the DNR apparently but it looks like they're moving in the right direction.
One of the things Tonk and I discussed last year at our annual TOO gathering at Strouds was the deer hunter survey. If you've never received one it's basically a survey that random people received through the mail or email. It asked about your deer hunting experience in Ohio. How many days did you hunt, deer seen, county etc. In 2012 I did a freedom of information act request for this data. After reviewing it I realized the collection methodology was completely unscientific and flawed. Basically they took the state and randomly picked thousands of people. There was no regard for counties, hunter harvest, gun, bow etc. Just a mass random sampling. That would be fine if you planned to manage the deer population in Ohio as a state. But the issue arose when trying to look at it on a county by county basis. The survey may have gone to 50 people from Champaign county, but only 15 in neighboring Clark county. Add to that only about 10% of the hunters actually filled out the survey and it led to a large participation discrepancy across the counties. This makes it ridiculously unscientific when trying to look at deer numbers, hunter effort etc across counties.
In my opinion Tonk used this as a crutch may times during our discussion. Not so much that the collection and data was flawed but rather that "we hunters weren't participating". Finally he got rather agitated with my questioning and statements and quipped "I only have what I have, what do you expect" I replied "I expect you to quit doing the same thing year after year when you know it's broke! Fix it and quit using it as an excuse"
We the went on to discuss how deer should be managed in zones, broken down by habitat, human population, hunter density, and a host of other factors. We explored the idea of using a forced survey method similar to how migratory game birds are surveyed with the HIP survey. (Harvest information survey). He responded "All of those things cost money. I laughed and responded "You mean to tell me the DNR has money to hire people to walk around a bog poking sticks in the mud looking for turtles, You pay people to drive around and listen to peeper frogs to count them, You have employees that drive around and listen to turkeys to get a count. But you don't have the money to accurately survey hunters for the most hunted game animal in this state that's responsible for over a billion dollar industry in Ohio?"
It was then he told me about this new biologist from the University of Alabama who was joining the program and was going to hash everything out. And he mentioned a few people from OSU who were going to help also..
The wheels move slow a the DNR apparently but it looks like they're moving in the right direction.
At least this year they sent the email to every hunter with a email address on file. Only hang up is to fill out the survey you have to have your customer ID #.
That's just it, how many will know their #. Not as many will fill one out ( and maybe that's what the ODNR is banking on ) & then Mike will be able to use that as an excuse for things remaining the same ... I dunno.
I got this same email this morning. I will fill it out this afternoon. Glad to actually get my first survey even though it took 25 years to finally get it lol.
Pretty funny that I put in for a fur tag the last 2 years and got survey both years but took this long for a deer survey lol.
Pretty funny that I put in for a fur tag the last 2 years and got survey both years but took this long for a deer survey lol.
I also believe it is your drivers license number if you don't have any of your old tags or gotten a new one yet. If you have a fishing license or old hunting license check it but I am pretty sure it is the same as your drivers license number.
You can also go here: https://www1.oh.wildlifelicense.com/mag_custlkup.php
Choose one of the alternate methods to look yourself up, then click OK and it will display your customer ID at the top.
Choose one of the alternate methods to look yourself up, then click OK and it will display your customer ID at the top.
motorbreaker
*Supporting Member I*
you don't need your customer id# to take the survey. Just leave it blank.
http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/deerhuntersurvey
http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/deerhuntersurvey
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No it's not the same as your DL number. I think it might have been that way years and years ago but not since they switched to the new system.
Huckleberry Finn
Senior Member
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Rutin
Senior Member
Not a big fan of telling the DNR exactly where I hunt (even though its does) but I did write a pretty hefty response in the comment section. Doubt I will hear anything but its become a ritual to rip their ass with every survey I get so why not do the same with this one. We shall see.....
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They're trying to gather info on hunter density. If 80% of the hunters in a county hunt only a 1/4 of the county then management for that county as a whole should be altered. Some of the problem we've ran into with these very liberal doe limits is just that. Hunters may all but wipe out does in a 1/4 of the county, but across the county where it's more urban deer are thriving.