Deer harvest trend continues down
- Thread starter Lundy
- Start date
I disagree on the analogy. I think it'd hold true if the goal was to gain deer every year (like a 401k gains monetarily), but that has never been the goal.
I've hunted many different areas Dante. I've even hunted Crawford County. I grew up hunting Sandusky Erie and ottawa counties... Counties that shoot hardly any deer... I can honestly say I've never hunted anywhere where I felt going deer hunting "wasn't worth my time." Private or public, there is quite a bit of opportunity out there. Things may not be what they were ten yrs ago, but I certainly dont believe we are experiencing "hard times."
dante322
*Supporting Member*
I don't know about 10 years ago, this is only my 5th season. I don't think the point is that we are in "hard times". I think it's more a matter of, if we don't make some adjustments now, we will be in hard times very shortly.
I am used to seeing very few deer, and having to hunt my ass off for what I get. I'm fine with that. I just don't want to see it get any worse. So far this season it has been.
Many parts of the State are in hard times now. The rest of the State will follow shortly. Then the apologists will be like other sympathizers on many other government topics...it's fine until it affects me.
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The analogy fits perfect. They misled, lied, whatever you want to call it. And there is a giant difference in what they said and what they did. "We have too many deer and need to reduce them" does not mean the same as. "We have too many deer and need to all but eradicate them in large areas of the state. Saying I need to kill some of these weeds is not the same as roundupping my whole lawn. Why they did and continue to do at a minimum dishonest and bordering on flat out lying.
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Couple things I don't think you understand here jager. I have hunted around my areas for years. If it was just a couple days without seeing a deer that's one thing. Hell, I can even go a week at a time before seeing one from my observation stand that allows me to see 400 yards one direction and 200 yards another direction. It wouldn't be a huge deal to just have one bad week or even one bad season but it has been going downhill for the past 5 and really started showing decline in the last 3 years. I have hunted day after day hour after hour and don't mind putting in the time to close the deal but this year it has either bottomed out or will next year. I don't ever look for something to be given to me but what I expect for my hard earned money is the opportunity to shoot one in my county and not have to worry about if I shoot this one what is going to happen next year or 2 years or more down the road. It shouldn't be this way and you can't honestly sit there and say "well then move to hunting another county " You know as well as I do if that was to happen the flood of people that would be hitting the hills of southern Ohio like years ago. It would have been overrun with hunters a couple years ago and the almighty deer producing counties would be just like ours in short order. As a matter of fact, if things continue to go as they are you will see it happen. Only problem with that is the deer are not staying on the parks during daylight but rather they spend the day on private property and then return at dusk or after dark to feed. Seen that the last 2 years hunting Strouds. Only deer on the park during the day are in as thick a cover as you can find, good luck walking in that crap and trying to get a shot off with a bow or even a gun for that matter. Only way to get those deer are to drive them and have shooters standing there to shoot them as they run out.
At this point if the DNR raises tag rates in the next couple years you will see a drastic dropoff in deer tags sold. The hunters are not going to stand for higher tag costs to watch squirrels and birds all day. If I had not gone to strouds this year I would have only purchased a single tag as I feel there is no way I was going to fill 2 tags here with the deer population the way it is.
I admire your glass half full look at it but reality is the glass is half empty buddy.
At this point if the DNR raises tag rates in the next couple years you will see a drastic dropoff in deer tags sold. The hunters are not going to stand for higher tag costs to watch squirrels and birds all day. If I had not gone to strouds this year I would have only purchased a single tag as I feel there is no way I was going to fill 2 tags here with the deer population the way it is.
I admire your glass half full look at it but reality is the glass is half empty buddy.
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Could be. Seems to be the same line/s we hear from the local WO's and the head of the DNR. " Your crazy, we have more deer then ever " :smiley_blablabla: :BS:
Could also be he hunts lower pressure deer areas or areas with higher deer density and with limited time out the last 2 years he hasn't noticed as much as he might if he spent more time in the woods. Hard to say but he will see it sooner or later.
Biasm, optimism... Call it whatever you wanna call it. This is the FIRST year I've hunted as little as I have... And even so, I'm still in the outdoors more often than the average person. I know what my eyes see.
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And I know what the vast majority of people are seeing. The deer population is drastically shrunk in ever growing areas of the state. Those that held your position two years ago and I told to wait and see, today are complaining right along side us. The fact is the deer population is down significantly in most of the state, much more than the DNR knows, cares to admit, or wants people to know. No surprise to me though, our DOW can't even manage its 400 employees correctly much less a unknown number of deer.
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Mine see mostly squirrels and birds.
Maybe I should sit down and get a map out and you can circle some spots where to hunt. Solves my issue since I will see more deer then I am now. Might even fill out one of those surveys with my rating if I ever get one. Hunted for as long as I have and still have not been selected to fill one out but have been picked at random 2x for my car insurance and 2x for court duty in half the amount of time. Seems a little odd to me. Might not be as random as they make us believe.
You've been telling me for at least that long and my position hasn't changed a whole lot. I totally agree we have less deer. I do not agree that we dont have enough however.
I circle maps for people all the time, Adam. Whether it helps or not, I dont know.
We have less deer... No question about it. But there are still plenty around to make success more than possible. 4 guys I know hunted Morgan county public land in November for 6 days and killed 4 deer. Seems like a decent success to effort ratio to me.
Your missing the point. Or maybe you just have great spots to hunt. Killing two deer in two days i'd say you probably do. I am thrilled for you. There is a lot of ground left out there though, and I know many people who have zero opportunity at a deer all year. Either way, its not about not wanting to work for a kill, at least not for me. The fact of the matter is that there is no reason for the deer population to be as low as it is, other then that is what the ODNR wants. Our land can support more deer, why in the world settle for less?? Unless you enjoy seeing less deer, then it would make since. I don't think anyone here wants our state to be overrun with deer, but there is no reason that our deer population can not be allowed to realize its full potential. It's not the 1960's anymore.
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I completely understand where you're coming from. Its the DOWs job to determine how many deer is enough and obviously not everyone will agree with that amount... Not everyone will agree on the validity of the reprtex amount either. All I'm saying is, even though not everyone agrees with the management practices, we Ohioans still have phenomenal deer hunting opportunities all over. If you can't get a single shot opportunity at a deer in 4 months you're probably doing something wrong. And my lucky success this season has absolutely nothing to do with my opinion on that.
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I don't need a 400 horsepower Cadillac to go get groceries either, just because a bicycle with a basket would complete the same mission does not make everything the same or still ok.
I have deer hunting Ohio for 25 of my 38 years. Where I hunt, the deer numbers are down. I talk deer hunting to anyone I can. Everyone is saying they are seeing less deer, and hardly any does. Glad you are having success and seeing deer jager. Not everyone is though...
That is simply false man. Maybe your experience is phenomenal deer hunting where you hunt, but it is not all over.
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It's almost like when non hunting city people ask me "did you get one". It's hard to explain to them that I don't hunt deer. I hunt specific deer. There is a giant difference in getting "a deer" and getting "THAT deer". To say that we still have phenomenal hunting because we have "a deer capable of being killed" follows along with their line of thinking. If we have deer at all that are killable we must have great hunting. Saying that because you can still kill one means it's still great is bogus and is a narrow minded approach that doesn't take everything else into consideration. If we used that logic to explain the quality of hunting then Rhode Island is a hell of a deer state with 690 archery killed deer last season at a 26% success rate. Only 6% less success rate than ohio. Wow. Maybe we should get tags for that sleeper big buck state.