Harvest statistics
- Thread starter Ohiosam
- Start date
It’s incredible isn’t it. I love that they get so many people involved in deer hunting. But man, imagine how many deer we’d see throughout archery season if crossbows weren’t an option.Those crossbow #s
The numbers I find surprising is bucks with both antlers under 3”. Were most really BBs? Or are people fudging and putting antlered bucks in that category?
This is why I believe the buck numbers are so down in my area which I stated in the thread about hunting mature bucks. This data doesn’t even include vehicle kills, disease deaths and unrecovered dead bucks via predation, wounds or natural causes.
I might have to kill 2-3 does myself to help balance the numbers out more.
at1010
*Supporting Member*
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Your response made me laugh, not because I found it funny but because it was almost exactly the same response I sent in a text group with a few buddies. Seems more hunters are focusing on bucks vs. does - possibly due to the past 10 years being discouraged by population numbers?
All in all, I do think it is nice to see numbers increase. I would love to know how many of these harvests were by new hunters, is that data available anywhere?
I'm an archery hunter thanks to the crossbow. Long live the crossbow.
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Giles....You see those button buck numbers??? Holy shit!!!! I wonder how many of them would have been future Hall of Famers????
Spencie
Senior Member
Or deer not checked in. I know in the 80s and 90s they could have nearly doubled the harvest numbers because of this. I knew of more deer not checked in than registered.
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Yeh... Shame when a future Hall of Famer or a current Hall of Famer gets shot as a shed... It's common knowledge when bucks start to shed, what did I say yesterday??? You got binos??? USE THEM, when hunting late season...It takes seconds before squeezing the trigger... Come on give us elitist trophy hunters a break...What about those shed buck numbers
Big_Holla
Senior Member
I thought the same. I wonder when the bulk of them happened, probably the late January season would be my guess. Can't discount bucks losing antlers after a rough November rut too. That is Michigan's reason for most deer seasons shutting down the first day of January, I can see them shedding earlier up north in snow country.What about those shed buck numbers
at1010
*Supporting Member*
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I think it is definitely property dependent, are a lot of people still not happy with the doe numbers at the macro level? Honestly asking, as I don't think I have heard that compliant as often as in years past.
I am wondering if the public land rules limiting doe harvest, has lent itself to increased buck harvest - specifically during bonus gun and late archery. One could theorize that those bucks might have been passed on or not harvested because the same hunter that shot them, might have shot a doe earlier in the day that they were forced to pass because of the "no doe rule". This is all speculative, but just a thought.
I am sure if you contacted ODNR via email, they would be happy to supply public land harvest information.
I’m not speaking for others here but just from my own observations around the 5-8 mile radius of my home and hunting/shed hunting area. I know of 4-5 fields where large numbers of deer feed after dark or just before dark during the rut through March where numbers are 8-20 in numbers and they consist of deer without a rack. Not a swingin dick to be seen( antlered bucks). Just huge doe groups with their offspring. I chuckle while driving thinking, what’s breeding all these single moms!?!? Lol
I know we have some bucks but why are their numbers so low? It’s no wonder does in my area are getting bred during their 4-5 estrus cycle, there are so many does that the few suitors that are around can’t be in 5 places at once to breed them. I do see a lot of does birthing later into the late spring and summer months these days. Just really weird from what the deer herd construct looked like 8-10 years ago.
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Ric... Sounds like you should put out some corn in the fall with some of those blue little pills mixed in... Maybe give the few bucks you have more stamina to breed... Seriously you live in a largely ag area with many fields... I wonder how many bucks get poached in the fall...