Deer Gun Harvest Totals Decline

[Mike]

They have the mentality of, since I'm not seeing deer, I better take advantage of the ones I am seeing....

Bingo

 

[reo]

Because this generation of deer hunters (for the most part) can't control their hunting like in years past....

They have the mentality of, since I'm not seeing deer, I better take advantage of the ones I am seeing....

Past generations did not willingly control their hunting. Hunting regulations did. Deer were mostly non-existent across much of the state in the 50's and 60's and even into the 70's in some areas because hunters did NOT control their hunting and it took hunting regulations to control their hunting.

 

["J"]

Past generations did not willingly control their hunting. Hunting regulations did. Deer were mostly non-existent across much of the state in the 50's and 60's and even into the 70's in some areas because hunters did NOT control their hunting and it took hunting regulations to control their hunting.

True.... I probably should of come across more of that in my post...

 

[reo]

deleted

 

["J"]

Ditto....

 

[giles]

4 years ago I thought I was the only seeing numbers decrease and put the blame myself, weather, and all kinds of other things. Until I started reading it on other forums, I thought I was the only one having this issue. Reading things on the ODNR website about the huge deer population, obviously I was doing something wrong or was just in the wrong area.

WRONG, I believe I was misled, maybe even lied to. As I researched and reached out for answers I found that I was not alone. 4 years ago I didn't let doe walk past me...I'd shoot every one that came by. When I tagged out in that county, I'd move to the next. I did this until my freezer was full. That is not the case anymore these days and that's because I edge-a-ma-Kate's myself through info found on forums like this one.

The amount of members here on this forum are hardly enough to make a big impact, but is enough to start a movement. Knowledge is key here.

It's also been brought up about how the members here feel like they are "better" then your average hunter. I don't believe that's the case at all.

Obviously you guys have already captured the attention of the ODNR and they are shitting bricks...I seen we had a visit and he didn't have much to say. If I was them, id support a program like this one to help spread knowledge. But I don't see it working out like that...

 

["J"]

Good point Dave, and as we are enlightened now we need too pass that on the the masses.... Looking back and realizing what was done to get us here is one thing, but looking back just for pinning blame is useless as it changes nothing.... Use it as a wake up call/rallying the troops too help them understand what mistakes were made....

 

[giles]

Good point Dave, and as we are enlightened now we need too pass that on the the masses.... Looking back and realizing what was done to get us here is one thing, but looking back just for pinning blame is useless as it changes nothing.... Use it as a wake up call/rallying the troops too help them understand what mistakes were made....

And move forward.

 

[hickslawns]

I truly hope this works out well for you guys. Not sure if I am on board yet or not. Currently voting "present". I do agree with the education portion. It is necessary. We need to be conservationists if we are hunters. Not in regards to our dollars spent on tags, but in our personal decisions on properties we hunt. I teach this to my son and those around me. I have mentioned it to random people I bump into if low deer number conversations come up.

I think much is perspective. When I hunted Hocking/Vinton counties a few years ago I saw boatloads of deer and listened to the guy tell me how their numbers were down. I saw more deer in a week than I see in a year in NW Ohio.

I will continue doing what I am doing. I will do my best to sit on my fingers and not type if I read this thread. I wish you the best and will help spread the word and any information gathering literature/surveys. I will forward people to the organization. I am still undecided on many things though. I am observing. I just don't know about the ODNR. In my eyes: they either knowingly deceived the public OR they 'drank the kool-aid' of 'need to thin out the does' a little too far. Maybe they simple took it to the point where they had no clue they were taking too many. If there is no solid way to count the population, they were possibly just winging it. I just don't know which at this time.

Good luck on your mission.

 

[Gordo]

This is more the mental aspect, but:


If you tell people there is less of something, or that something is 'limited'; they want it more then they did when they could have had it when it was unlimited

 

[cspot]

I still have a hard time putting the ownership of determining how many doe to shoot on the backs of the average hunter. To me the governing body is the one to control this thru tags and seasons. The average hunter just isn't in the woods enough to do that. I have always found that alot of people that are on these boards have vast more knowledge than the average hunter when it comes to knowing the local deer herd. The people on here aren't your average hunter though.

I agree education is good. However, if you only spend a day or 2 before season picking a spot to hunt and a couple of days hunting, even with the education you still aren't likely to know what the local deer herd is.

I am surprised at Ohio's system of allowing 6 deer to be killed per year. With the way the system is setup it seems it would really pressure public land. Just as an example if I own land in Washington County and I get a buck and a doe early in the year in bow season. I still want to hunt so my option is to go hunt another county. It is probably unlikely to have private land connections in another county, so the easiest is to go to public land. While it is easier to restrain yourself on your own land if you know the population is low, you are far more unlikely to do this when hunting public land far away from your home territory.

 

[giles]

I still have a hard time putting the ownership of determining how many doe to shoot on the backs of the average hunter. To me the governing body is the one to control this thru tags and seasons. The average hunter just isn't in the woods enough to do that. I have always found that alot of people that are on these boards have vast more knowledge than the average hunter when it comes to knowing the local deer herd. The people on here aren't your average hunter though.

I agree education is good. However, if you only spend a day or 2 before season picking a spot to hunt and a couple of days hunting, even with the education you still aren't likely to know what the local deer herd is.

I am surprised at Ohio's system of allowing 6 deer to be killed per year. With the way the system is setup it seems it would really pressure public land. Just as an example if I own land in Washington County and I get a buck and a doe early in the year in bow season. I still want to hunt so my option is to go hunt another county. It is probably unlikely to have private land connections in another county, so the easiest is to go to public land. While it is easier to restrain yourself on your own land if you know the population is low, you are far more unlikely to do this when hunting public land far away from your home territory.

Ask Chad how this works...and I believe what happened to him this year during gun season happens all season long in most places.

 

[Bigslam51]

I've been monitoring the local herd at my best spot for 3 years now. In the summer time it's nothing to see 20-25 antlerless feeding in the alfalfa. So I think it's OK to take a doe, 3 years ago I took one, last year I killed one. Then I started asking what the guys that gun hunt it every year kill. This year they came in, killed 5 doe, a buck, and wounded 2 deer, I don't know if they were buck or doe. I gotta figure out a way to communicate with these guys. Two of them live right down the road. They aren't in the woods or scouting like I am all year, so they think it's OK to take out 5 doe and everything will be cool. Who knows if I'll ever kill another doe there if they keep that up.

 

[Gordo]

I'd imagine the sure fire way to get it through people's heads is when the same group goes out a different year and doesn't see a single deer. Maybe 3 years without seeing one. The problem lies in the fact that the one deer they do see, they are going to kill it twice because it is now this rare commodity.

***I'm thinking freely here and just letting it rip***

 

[Bigslam51]

I'd imagine the sure fire way to get it through people's heads is when the same group goes out a different year and doesn't see a single deer. Maybe 3 years without seeing one. The problem lies in the fact that the one deer they do see, they are going to kill it twice because it is now this rare commodity.

***I'm thinking freely here and just letting it rip***

Too late when that happens

 

[Gordo]

Too late when that happens

You are exactly right.

There is no arguing 'that' kind of mentality in people though. That's just the way they think until you 'trump' it

 

[Lundy]

I am somewhat confused by the stated surprise of the current deer population and harvest levels. Those in this thread discussing the population reduction and bad shape we are in today need to not lose sight of the fact that the ODNR stated the population was too high and set out to reduce it to some target levels they arrived at through some method known to them. The population reduction was widely announced, tags were reduced, limits were increased, reduction was achieved in many areas. Once population was achieved the management plan sifted to maintaining the reduced levels, limits changed, the reduced tags all but went away.

What many are experiencing now is what was shared as the plan of the ODNR population goals from the beginning. Many here talk about how bad it has gotten but those setting the goals think it is right where, or close to where, they wanted it to be.

Many of you say it is broken and needs to be fixed. How do you convince someone to fix something that you think is broken but they don't think is broken? It is right where they planned to go all along and told everyone ( you and me) about it ahead of time.

Anyone claiming that the DOW can't manage the deer population should really step back and think about that statement a little. The DOW has demonstrated a tremendous capacity to manage the deer population. The stated their goals, said how they would do it and accomplished it pretty easily.

Hunters are the ones that look stupid in this not the DOW. The DOW looks like fricking Einstein in comparison.

 

[Blan37]

I am somewhat confused by the stated surprise of the current deer population and harvest levels. Those in this thread discussing the population reduction and bad shape we are in today need to not lose sight of the fact that the ODNR stated the population was too high and set out to reduce it to some target levels they arrived at through some method known to them. The population reduction was widely announced, tags were reduced, limits were increased, reduction was achieved in many areas. Once population was achieved the management plan sifted to maintaining the reduced levels, limits changed, the reduced tags all but went away.

What many are experiencing now is what was shared as the plan of the ODNR population goals from the beginning. Many here talk about how bad it has gotten but those setting the goals think it is right where, or close to where, they wanted it to be.

Many of you say it is broken and needs to be fixed. How do you convince someone to fix something that you think is broken but they don't think is broken? It is right where they planned to go all along and told everyone ( you and me) about it ahead of time.

Anyone claiming that the DOW can't manage the deer population should really step back and think about that statement a little. The DOW has demonstrated a tremendous capacity to manage the deer population. The stated their goals, said how they would do it and accomplished it pretty easily.

Hunters are the ones that look stupid in this not the DOW. The DOW looks like fricking Einstein in comparison.

I could be wrong, but I don't think most people read the plans that are put out. I'm guilty of it. I just trusted that the ODNR was just doing what was right for the herd, like making sure they don't starve to death in the winter because there's not enough food to go around.

I don't care about the insurance companies. They make more than enough money screwing people over as is. But I do care about the farmers. But even there it would seem to me that local problems with too many deer can be managed by nuisance tags. No need to reduce the herd for the whole state. I drive up and down I71 several days a week and rarely see deer out in those large ag fields. I doubt deer are doing much damage to those guys. Where fields are adjacent to large woodlots, that's a different story.

But to your question, "How do you convince someone to fix something that you think is broken but they don't think is broken"? Well, you do what Joe & Jesse are trying to do. I admire them for the fact that they aren't just throwing up their hands and saying it's too hard or it'll never work. If it weren't for people like them, one thing's for sure - nothing would ever change.

 

[hickslawns]

I am somewhat confused by the stated surprise of the current deer population and harvest levels. Those in this thread discussing the population reduction and bad shape we are in today need to not lose sight of the fact that the ODNR stated the population was too high and set out to reduce it to some target levels they arrived at through some method known to them. The population reduction was widely announced, tags were reduced, limits were increased, reduction was achieved in many areas. Once population was achieved the management plan sifted to maintaining the reduced levels, limits changed, the reduced tags all but went away.

What many are experiencing now is what was shared as the plan of the ODNR population goals from the beginning. Many here talk about how bad it has gotten but those setting the goals think it is right where, or close to where, they wanted it to be.

Many of you say it is broken and needs to be fixed. How do you convince someone to fix something that you think is broken but they don't think is broken? It is right where they planned to go all along and told everyone ( you and me) about it ahead of time.

Anyone claiming that the DOW can't manage the deer population should really step back and think about that statement a little. The DOW has demonstrated a tremendous capacity to manage the deer population. The stated their goals, said how they would do it and accomplished it pretty easily.

Hunters are the ones that look stupid in this not the DOW. The DOW looks like fricking Einstein in comparison.

Interesting way to look at it. I hadn't considered it that way. As stated I'm observing. Undecided on my position about this. After reading your post I ponder their thoughts. Is it: perfect! Worked exactly as we intended. Or is it: Oh shit. We killed way more than we thought and didn't know how many we had to start with.

Could be either one in my eyes. Thanks Kim. Never thought about it that way. I'll continue only shooting does where I see a lot. In my area seeing 6-8 in a group is a lot. Always has been that way. A group of 6-8 mixed with yearlings and 2-4yr old does is a "nice sized group" on a property. Some hunts you see them. Some hunts they are on a neighboring property.

 

[Bigslam51]

Danno, pass Phil the crown so he'll tell us how he really feels[emoji23]