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The Future of Hunting in Ohio

If you could make one change to Ohio deer hunting regualtions ,what would it be?

  • Ban baiting.

    Votes: 34 73.9%
  • Modify camera use. (E.g. No cell cams in season, No cams on public, etc.)

    Votes: 10 21.7%
  • Change season dates. (E.g. Reduce opportunity, Alter NR guidelines, etc.)

    Votes: 9 19.6%
  • Modify crossbow use. (E.g. Special season, Medical/Age restrictions, etc.)

    Votes: 11 23.9%
  • Attempt to discourage leasing. (E.g. New fees, New access programs, combined with season changes, et

    Votes: 10 21.7%
  • Ban baiting, cameras, crossbows, guns and make people hunt in loin clothes using sharp sticks.

    Votes: 2 4.3%
  • Other, and I'll share my recommendation in this thread.

    Votes: 4 8.7%

  • Total voters
    46

Clay Showalter

Southern member northern landowner
6,769
145
Guilford County
I completely disagree on the non-resident restrictions. I'm a native Ohioan but been non-resident for more than 25 years. I am also an Ohio landowner. Why should my primary residency in another state limit my hunting opportunities on land I own in Ohio? I pay property taxes like every other landowner, and pay multiple times over for non-resident hunting license.
You don't buy a license to hunt on your land do you?
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
58,765
288
North Carolina
I completely disagree on the non-resident restrictions. I'm a native Ohioan but been non-resident for more than 25 years. I am also an Ohio landowner. Why should my primary residency in another state limit my hunting opportunities on land I own in Ohio? I pay property taxes like every other landowner, and pay multiple times over for non-resident hunting license.
His point was in the leasing and locking up properties for a complete season and only hunting it for a few weeks a year. You as a landowner would be in a different scenario.
 
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Living out of state, but owning in Ohio (let alone paying stupid blue county taxes and buying a license) I think one needs to look to Iowa before thinking "others" are the issue. What happens is the koffers fill with folks who will draw the next year and outfitters lease everything up. When a premium is put on a non-guaranteed tag you get high graded and willing to pay participants and then you'll note the local entrepreneurs selling everyone/everything down the river. While they may only hunt a couple weeks a year, they'll also go bananas on your kid who rides his quad over the line, or your lost dog because the cost is so high.

While I will be the first to admit New Englanders (inc PA) are typically like locusts with good deer ground, my local Ohio hunting neighborhood sucks like a vacuum on an adult film set. The neighbors nuke any buck and I know some of them have the tenacity to finger point at my posted signs and blame OOS folks for the bad smell as they're wearing chitty diapers.

Saying this as someone who plans to be living in Ohio within the next few years, and has been blessed with a family farm to hunt here; Some of you guys have no idea how good you have it with regulations and opportunity.
 

Bigcountry40

Member
4,730
127
Living out of state, but owning in Ohio (let alone paying stupid blue county taxes and buying a license) I think one needs to look to Iowa before thinking "others" are the issue. What happens is the koffers fill with folks who will draw the next year and outfitters lease everything up. When a premium is put on a non-guaranteed tag you get high graded and willing to pay participants and then you'll note the local entrepreneurs selling everyone/everything down the river. While they may only hunt a couple weeks a year, they'll also go bananas on your kid who rides his quad over the line, or your lost dog because the cost is so high.

While I will be the first to admit New Englanders (inc PA) are typically like locusts with good deer ground, my local Ohio hunting neighborhood sucks like a vacuum on an adult film set. The neighbors nuke any buck and I know some of them have the tenacity to finger point at my posted signs and blame OOS folks for the bad smell as they're wearing chitty diapers.

Saying this as someone who plans to be living in Ohio within the next few years, and has been blessed with a family farm to hunt here; Some of you guys have no idea how good you have it with regulations and opportunity.
I feel like I just read a really bad riddle to a really Shitty prize, but I’m 15 ole fashions deep so forgive me if I’m wrong. Just say what you mean in plain and simple mid west English please
 
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hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
40,256
288
Ohio
I feel like I just read a really bad riddle to a really Shitty prize, but I’m 15 ole fashions deep so forgive me if I’m wrong. Just say what mean in plain and simple mid west English please
My interpretation: he lives in NY and it sucks. Iowa has a tag system that benefits the wealthiest but you aren't guaranteed a tag? Maybe? He bought land in Ohio. Posted the place heavily. His neighbors blast everything and complain about the local deer. He blasts them online. He can't wait to get here to have border wars with them. They will hunt 2yr old deer together. He has a family farm here to hunt as well so maybe his homestead will just be a place to make friends.

So essentially: it sucks everywhere but he wants to be in Ohio full time where the suck seems to be the least sucky. 🤣
 
Hicks- you're better than Google Translate.

NY sucks in every way.
OH is way better, and supportive of good hunting than some of you give it credit for.
The moment out of state hunters are regulated, they're willing to pay more and do more when they re picked. The money really comes out then as they're expecting a real premium for dollars spent.
Hate the system (as in the Texas hunting model we are progressing toward), not the hunters.
Old Fashions have a round ball ice cube. Ole Fashions have two.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,063
274
Hicks- you're better than Google Translate.

NY sucks in every way.
OH is way better, and supportive of good hunting than some of you give it credit for.
The moment out of state hunters are regulated, they're willing to pay more and do more when they re picked. The money really comes out then as they're expecting a real premium for dollars spent.
Hate the system (as in the Texas hunting model we are progressing toward), not the hunters.
Old Fashions have a round ball ice cube. Ole Fashions have two.

Yep. Look no further than Arizonas neighbor state New Mexico for their elk process to see how that works. Landowners get tags based on land area and elk population which are basically sold to the highest bidder, or guides buy them all up.
 
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Have heard it said a few times on some recent posts and/or podcasts, and it is fact, "Many states are just one regulation change away from becoming the best, or worst" with regards to hunting.

Not sure how many of you have been to Mizzu, but there is a state with so much money going into public lands that some appear better than highly manicured and manipulated private habitat this way. They have cheap OOS tags with 2 bucks and 2 turkeys for $275. You don't hear the bitching like you do elsewhere due to habitat quality. Though the serious big bucks locals want more and the greener grass with "we'd be better than Iowa with their OOS draw odds". Their land would also cost as much (10-20k an ac) and be all leased up. Its easy to be short sighted with the wish list but every change has both good and bad effects.

I look into Bigcountry's crystal ice cubes and say Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas will all have deer related changes very soon due to NR pressure. People flock to whats easy. If baiting was outlawed here, Id suspect NR numbers would drop significantly and immediately. Food plots take effort, patterns take scouting and it wouldn't be pour the corn, hang the cam and come back when appropriate. NR are also far more likely to follow rules as the penalties are greater. The world, especially the lazy, love "easy".
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member

Some different answers here in this article. I guess not different, I don't know the word. Some more of the same problems with a different human population problem. We are booming in human population and they are not.
 
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giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member

Internet searches on a wide scale are showing different reasons and thoughts. This seems to be a nationwide problem with hunting all together. It is hard to ignore the fact of trophy hunting ruining it for everyone. Or maybe it is what sticks out to me because my thoughts are on that.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,952
177
Ohio

Internet searches on a wide scale are showing different reasons and thoughts. This seems to be a nationwide problem with hunting all together. It is hard to ignore the fact of trophy hunting ruining it for everyone. Or maybe it is what sticks out to me because my thoughts are on that.
I agree with this. Putting a 6 year old in a full concealment blind sitting behind a crossbow that they cannot hold up to shoot without the tripod it's mounted to and letting them shoot a deer over a pile of corn isn't a good start to a young persons outdoor life, imo. They need to learn a whole bunch of other stuff about the process of hunting before the killing is allowed to begin. I suspect that this scenario retards rather than improves retention among youth hunters. I learned how to sit still and watch deer and understand some things about their habits before I took a weapon with me. I l learned how to identify trees and plants, even some things about the wind. It was hard, but I loved it, and the harder it got the more I wanted it. That is probably why I am still an avid hunter today. I do think the trophy hunting mentality also distorts the learning process for youth hunters. Just my opinion. Nobody needs to get offended.
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
8,036
186
Central Ohio
This graphic can be applied to many subjects, hunting included

IMG_5214.jpeg
 
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LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,625
135
The woods
I agree with this. Putting a 6 year old in a full concealment blind sitting behind a crossbow that they cannot hold up to shoot without the tripod it's mounted to and letting them shoot a deer over a pile of corn isn't a good start to a young persons outdoor life, imo. They need to learn a whole bunch of other stuff about the process of hunting before the killing is allowed to begin. I suspect that this scenario retards rather than improves retention among youth hunters. I learned how to sit still and watch deer and understand some things about their habits before I took a weapon with me. I l learned how to identify trees and plants, even some things about the wind. It was hard, but I loved it, and the harder it got the more I wanted it. That is probably why I am still an avid hunter today. I do think the trophy hunting mentality also distorts the learning process for youth hunters. Just my opinion. Nobody needs to get offended.
This is the exact process I am taking with my own son right now. He's 4 and has many years before he takes a life of an animal, if he decides he wants to do so ever at all. Nothing is forced, and for at least the next several years it will be exclusively nature study. I think this is extremely important when trying to foster a lifelong hunter. I asked him yesterday if he wanted to tag along with me while I went squirrel hunting. He said no he did not, and I was just fine with it. I didn't kill my first animal until i was 11 years old and I think that was a good age personally.
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
8,036
186
Central Ohio
I suspect that this scenario retards rather than improves retention among youth hunters… It was hard, but I loved it, and the harder it got the more I wanted it. That is probably why I am still an avid hunter today.
Agreed. Making things too easy is a fundamental failure, not only with hunting, but with the biggest picture life lessons that hunting provides. Fast-forwarding to the end result (shooting a deer) while skipping the trials and tribulations that can eventually lead to the end result cheapens the entire experience. It makes it seem easy. When something seems easy it doesn’t hold as much appeal. It can actually be boring. If the experience is boring, the participants are less likely to stay with it for the long haul.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Agreed. Making things too easy is a fundamental failure, not only with hunting, but with the biggest picture life lessons that hunting provides. Fast-forwarding to the end result (shooting a deer) while skipping the trials and tribulations that can eventually lead to the end result cheapens the entire experience. It makes it seem easy. When something seems easy it doesn’t hold as much appeal. It can actually be boring. If the experience is boring, the participants are less likely to stay with it for the long haul.
I should've just waited to reply. This is what I was trying to say. Just took me 5 minutes to end up with the thoughts I did. But,🔝
 
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giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member

Let's adjust our search towards those 15 acre lots with corn piles. Or "backyard feeders"
 
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giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I guess my points this morning are that you can find that this isn't a problem ohio is having. Plenty of research and different articles to defend any and all arguments to be had. I just want what is best for the deer. I don't care what is on the deers head. We have to do what is right for the animals and manage them according to that. We have great dirt and genetics, we as humans just need to manage a healthy herd and let it be what it is. I do not belive we have a healthy herd currently. Corn piles and mineral sites are not natural or healthy IMO. They just create a place for animals to gather and transmit sickness.