But it's okay to put the blanket thought the other way?I don't think southern ohio could take much more reduction in deer limits outside of public lands. EHD is too spotty so one size limit reductions will be horrible on grounds not suffering from EHD.
I disagree. Can't paint all of Southern Ohio with the same brush either. Deer population are so spotty hit or miss to begin with and multiple factors influence that.I don't think southern ohio could take much more reduction in deer limits outside of public lands. EHD is too spotty so one size limit reductions will be horrible on grounds not suffering from EHD.
I've been saying for a while you have to go almost to a township by township level of management because EHD and other issues(habitat and agriculture) can have drastically different populations. Parts of my county you cant not see a deer, others are fairly barren. My farmers that I hunt on would have an aneuryism if guys couldnt take more than one deer off of(it would help if some of those guys could actually shoot a deer instead of hide in their campers all week during gun season but thats another story).I disagree. Can't paint all of Southern Ohio with the same brush either. Deer population are so spotty hit or miss to begin with and multiple factors influence that.
Unfortunately, in the case of EHD, they NEED public participation to determine the scope of the outbreak. They are just really poor at sending that message out.
Your right on with the township level managment. As hunters, we were actually told by Mike Tonkavich around 2011 that managment would come down to a township level and it was in the works. They had multiple grad students working on the logistics of it.. it was a very good and necessary step for fair deer management. Its now 2022 and you can see where that went. Township level managment would have made EHD outbreak managment much easier to accomplish.I've been saying for a while you have to go almost to a township by township level of management because EHD and other issues(habitat and agriculture) can have drastically different populations. Parts of my county you cant not see a deer, others are fairly barren. My farmers that I hunt on would have an aneuryism if guys couldnt take more than one deer off of(it would help if some of those guys could actually shoot a deer instead of hide in their campers all week during gun season but thats another story).
If I remember correctly, the number of deer on the landscape really doesn’t matter. If there are no deer, like any predator, hunters will naturally move to another landscape where deer still exist. And if we kill them to the point of extinction, we will just quit hunting. Naturally, the few remaining will repopulate the landscape. Relax, we can’t screw this up.Assuming they even want to know. They have to acknowledge it because it is obvious, but the extent to which they want data about it is probably pretty low. The more they know the more they will be expected to make adjustments. The higher the confirmed numbers get the harder it will be to dismiss it as being serious. It's easier to stick your head in the sand and say yeah there was a little EHD but such is life. If they drive hard to gather the true extent of the impact then people have numbers to point to when saying they need to adjust bag limits and seasons. Better to just leave that stone unturned and blow it off. The DOW thrives in the area of "we're going to do what we want then not collect any data so people don't have anything to corner us with".
Thats exactly how they do it with roadkill reports on other species. ODNR just published a report on it....Even for every deer reported, you would think there would be some type of metric or equation by now to factor the actual number of deer dead. This could all have been gained from grad students and research studies. I agree that they would rather not know.
I vaguely remember that Mike said that at some meeting I was at. Been a while and all these meetings have blurred together. Unfortunately there really isnt a a practical way to get it, at least not from a government agency perspective.Your right on with the township level managment. As hunters, we were actually told by Mike Tonkavich around 2011 that managment would come down to a township level and it was in the works. They had multiple grad students working on the logistics of it.. it was a very good and necessary step for fair deer management. Its now 2022 and you can see where that went. Township level managment would have made EHD outbreak managment much easier to accomplish.
Was this the garhole where Garrett killed his first deer?I took Dr Saggy Sack out to our piece NE of town. He said the area looked like it should be loaded with deer. I told him it was a few years ago. Mix in Mennonite neighbors that think venison is the only meat they can eat and this years EHD.... pffft. Still a lot of squirrels there.