ODNR Ready for hunter's complaints

[hickslawns]

I hate to speak for Chad as well. I have heard him say those words though. I get what Kaiser is saying. I get what Chad was trying to say. My counties were only 700-800 deer counties prior to the increase in tags. Then we jumped to 1100-1200 deer/season counties. NOT seeing deer has been the norm. Where I differentiate is in MY area the small groups of 4-6 does I would see are now 1-2 or maybe 3. Where it was good to see one shooter from the stand per season 3-4yrs ago (putting in 150-250hrs per season), I am seeing more shooters or borderline shooters now. I feel it is the reduced does. It makes for excellent buck hunting. . . for awhile. As I said before, I hope it doesn't get worse in his area. I have 2-3 places to hunt and those are getting tougher to keep or find new ones. Access to couple hundred acres on 2-3 properties combined limits my abilities to "go find the deer" if they are not in my area. Some people are more fortunate and have access to thousands of acres. These people see deer run dry on a 100acre farm, they move to a different property until they find deer. Simply different options for everyone. Not everyone has this much ground to search for deer.

I get what Milo was saying too. His option to drop property A and simply move to property B or C may not exist. If there are minimal deer on any of those properties, more people hunting, more people trespassing, less deer available. . . .It isn't good.

 

[Milo]

It's says something when probably one of the best big buck killers in here hunts 40 hours in the stand and doesn't even see a buck on stand. Go through the hunting logs people post on here.

 

[Beentown]

I could give a shit about the big buck hunting at this point. The come out of a vag. Not very many vag carrying deer left around these parts.

 

[Gern186]

I would like to stand up for Gern. Not sure if I can. I hunting Hocking Co and some of Vinton a few years ago. Compared to Allen/Auglaize counties, it was amazing. I would see dozens of deer every sit. Unbelievable. I could have walked on their heads back to my truck from the stand it seemed. That said, I feel I was in a pocket of good deer. Then again, as I drove around after dark, I saw deer all over. It was amazing. Locally, I used to see at least a few deer in the distance on most sits just a few years ago. Last year and this year, this was not the case. I won't scream Chicken Little "The Sky is Falling" yet, but it is enough to take notice. This year, I saw more bucks than I have ever seen. I feel this is the first indication of the reduction in the herd. With fewer does, there are more bucks searching. I believe I may see a couple more years of amazing buck hunting. The price we will pay for it is reduced number of available bucks in the next few years. More visible, more of them will die. Why are they more visible? Less does. It is a downward spiral. Unless my local area has a reduction in doe kills, I fear seeing what others have complained about.

I will stand up for Gern in saying I fully believe there are pockets of excellent hunting. On the contrary, I am afraid these areas are becoming fewer. In my area, it scares me to see only a group of one or two does here and there. It scares me that I had 25-30 DIFFERENT bucks on camera on a property this year from late October to early December. I am talking about random bucks (big or small) I had never laid eyes on. Was it great? Heck yeah. Is it a sign of reduced does? I am afraid so. Hope I am wrong. I haven't been playing this game as long as most of you. Maybe I shouldn't comment at all. To notice a difference in a 7yr hunting period is scary. I am afraid the depleted deer areas are growing faster than the great pockets of deer areas. I hope it doesn't hit Gern's area. I hope my area rebounds a bit. We never had a ton of deer, but when the groups of 4-6 regulars are now 1-3 deer showing up every third or fourth day. . . Not singing the blues yet, but proceeding cautiously.

Phil, Im not asking you to stand up for me buddy...but thanks. And there are less deer in my hunting area than there were 5 years ago...without a doubt. But you know what...our tags still got filled just the same as they did 15, 10, and 5 years ago.

 

[Gern186]

I love ya Chad, but you're in a bubble brother. I hunt harder and smarter than I ever have and see less deer. Either I really suck or there are less deer. Pretty simple really...

I don't doubt there are less deer....but there are still fucking plenty of them to fill your tag if you want to...

 

[Gern186]

It's says something when probably one of the best big buck killers in here hunts 40 hours in the stand and doesn't even see a buck on stand. Go through the hunting logs people post on here.

I have went through the hunting logs...do you need reminded of the bucks that a few of the "best big buck killers in here" are hunting this year! Holy shit...seriously.
Have you not seen the trailcam pictures around here?

Not everybody is going to kill a target trophy buck every year.....why don't you give some credit to the dozens of guys on here that killed their target bucks this year...and otherwise damn good bucks. I can guarantee if I hadn't filled my buck tag by now I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting on the computer complaining about the fact that I didn't kill a buck...with time left in the season.

 

[Milo]

I have went through the hunting logs...do you need reminded of the bucks that a few of the "best big buck killers in here" are hunting this year! Holy shit...seriously.
Have you not seen the trailcam pictures around here?

Not everybody is going to kill a target trophy buck every year.....why don't you give some credit to the dozens of guys on here that killed their target bucks this year...and otherwise damn good bucks. I can guarantee if I hadn't filled my buck tag by now I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting on the computer complaining about the fact that I didn't kill a buck...with time left in the season.

Well well I guess this is where is turns personal. Sorry I just can't drop my kids off at their grandparents for the weekend so I can just go hunting all weekend. I have a job, that requires my attendance and participation. You obviously havent read what I posted except for what fits your argument. So please tell us dumbasses how to kill deer that aren't there or coming into the feeder at 11:30 at night ?

 

[Gern186]

I got nothing more for you Milo....nothing personal. Im just saying...there are DOZENS of guys on here that killed very nice bucks this year, and there are several more that are still hunting GIANT deer that we know of.

Do what you have to do...take your kids with you...get a sitter, go search for more hunting property, keep working at it...there are opportunities everywhere. Just because one of your feeders aren't having deer show up to them doesn't mean there aren't deer elsewhere to hunt.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I don't doubt there are less deer....but there are still fucking plenty of them to fill your tag if you want to...

"Plenty" is not a word I would use to describe our deer herd. However you are correct that there are deer around to fill tags. That said, I keep close tabs on the herds in my area and I make conscious decisions not to kill deer in areas of low numbers. Maybe if I was just someone who only cared about filling tags, I would fill them all. I'm more worried about doing my part to ensure the quality of the hunting in the areas where I can have an impact than I am saying "By God, I filled all my tags..."

To your comment about plenty of nice bucks being killed, of course that is the case. If there are less does, bucks have to work harder to find them. This means traveling longer distances and exposing themselves to more danger. Not to mention I know a few guys who shot bucks they normally wouldn't shoot just for the meat because there were no does to kill. It is pretty basic really. No one should be surprised that more bucks die when there are less does.

 

[Milo]

I got nothing more for you Milo....nothing personal. Im just saying...there are DOZENS of guys on here that killed very nice bucks this year, and there are several more that are still hunting GIANT deer that we know of.

Do what you have to do...take your kids with you...get a sitter, go search for more hunting property, keep working at it...there are opportunities everywhere. Just because one of your feeders aren't having deer show up to them doesn't mean there aren't deer elsewhere to hunt.

There also some dam good hunters here with access to some awesome properties that "settled" on a few deer because they there weren't Anything bigger to shoot.. I don't feel shooting a 2.5 year old does my local herd that good. I suppose there are deer "other" places but it's not an option. I have copious amounts of time off with my job, but how about others who work factory jobs or only get 2 weeks off a year? Do you really expect them to scout deer and hour or two away Every weekend?

 

[Gern186]

I agree Jesse....my kids and I did not shoot a single doe this year. We are doing our part as well. Believe me...my daughter wanted to shoot several does in bow season...I wouldn't let her..and she's only killed 2 deer so far. We could have filled several tags, but really...who needs that much deer meat anyhow...Personally, I like seeing buck movement during the rut...I don't target does...and neither does 75 percent of the guys I know that hunt deer.

 

[Gern186]

There also some dam good hunters here with access to some awesome properties that "settled" on a few deer because they there weren't Anything bigger to shoot.. I don't feel shooting a 2.5 year old does my local herd that good. I suppose there are deer "other" places but it's not an option. I have copious amounts of time off with my job, but how about others who work factory jobs or only get 2 weeks off a year? Do you really expect them to scout deer and hour or two away Every weekend?

Same could be said for golf Milo.... because I have a job and a family...and a household...I can't spend every night working on my golf game. I manage to play 1 night per week in the local golf league and do what I can. Would i like to shoot 4 under par every round? Sure I would...

It all comes down to what your priorities are...some guys are more serious about it than others...some are just lucky..

Hey....you are welcome to come up here and hunt what I hunt...you will be shocked on the lack of available cover...but here is an invite to you...officially...come on up and hunt.

 

[Milo]

Same could be said for golf Milo.... because I have a job and a family...and a household...I can't spend every night working on my golf game. I manage to play 1 night per week in the local golf league and do what I can. Would i like to shoot 4 under par every round? Sure I would...

It all comes down to what your priorities are...some guys are more serious about it than others...some are just lucky..

Hey....you are welcome to come up here and hunt what I hunt...you will be shocked on the lack of available cover...but here is an invite to you...officially...come on up and hunt.

Got anything scouted out 3.5 to 5.5? I don't care about cover as a I hunt small wood lots cause that's all that's available to me here. Saturday is out due to kids sports. But really is like a answer to my question. Do you really expect people to drive 2 hours to hunt somewhere else because that's were the deer are? I mean the deer were here 4 years ago but now they aren't. Could you do that, every weekend?

 

[Gern186]

No I couldn't do that...but I would schedule 5 days during the rut....drive wherever I had to...and hunt like hell for those 5 days to improve my odds. If I didn't tag out, then I would hunt anytime I got a chance around home.

I don't have anything scouted out...Ive been tagged out since late October. I can tell you there are a couple good bucks left around here from what I have heard and even seen.

 

[Schu72]

Do you really expect people to drive 2 hours to hunt somewhere else because that's were the deer are? I mean the deer were here 4 years ago but now they aren't. Could you do that, every weekend?

Welcome to my reality. Every hunt this year was a 2+ hour drive.

 

[Fullbore]

I've pretty much just listened on this thread, but I will say this. We all know that the deer herd is way down as mention for the past 5 years or so. With that said, I feel that the States trophy population is higher than it has ever been. Reason being, with less does comes less in breeding, further more less breeding competition for trophy caliber bucks. Just my opinion.
In my hunting areas, we've had to manage our own herd. 3 years ago we noticed a decimated doe population, so we just stopped shooting does. The herd has bounced back some to some degree. It's gonna take us as hunters to build our deer herd back up. Plain and simple.

 

[Milo]

Welcome to my reality. Every hunt this year was a 2+ hour drive.

It sucks doesn't it!?!? Imagine if 50% of all hunters had to do that same thing.. Athens county would get hammered..

 

[lung buster]

I've got guys around me that have filled 2 of their 3 tags and are still trying to fill their 3rd. They just don't get it! The time to be super hunter that can fill all tags is over in my opinion!

 

[Milo]

I've got guys around me that have filled 2 of their 3 tags and are still trying to fill their 3rd. They just don't get it! The time to be super hunter that can fill all tags is over in my opinion!

Maybe there isn't a problem where they hunt?

 

[Milo]

I've pretty much just listened on this thread, but I will say this. We all know that the deer herd is way down as mention for the past 5 years or so. With that said, I feel that the States trophy population is higher than it has ever been. Reason being, with less does comes less in breeding, further more less breeding competition for trophy caliber bucks. Just my opinion.
In my hunting areas, we've had to manage our own herd. 3 years ago we noticed a decimated doe population, so we just stopped shooting does. The herd has bounced back some to some degree. It's gonna take us as hunters to build our deer herd back up. Plain and simple.

Ron, I have a question. This is contrary to what the DNR is doing with the herd. Their thought is a smaller herd wod increase trophy quality but you guys are doing to opposite thing. Are you seeing the herd (buck) quality going up doing this? The best big deer year for my area is when the deer herd was "out of control". Now that it's down the big buck sighting are now way off. Are you seeing this also?