That's like saying "why are you pissed your 401k is down this month. Back in 2008 the market was way further down that it is today. You've grown too accustomed to a performing investment. You're spoiled. Just put more money it it and raise it yourself". Actually it's even worse than that. In that example it's a market dragging it down. In our case it's actually our investment advisor mismanaging our investment and lying about its true impact to our balance. If Our head deer biologist was a financial manager the Securities and exchange commission would throw him in prison for the blatant misleading and subversive way this reduction was managed. He basically lied about the balance being 750k while the fund lost money and then told you to put in more money (harvest) to cover that fact that the fund (population) was shrinking.
I had a longer response in mind, but i'm not even going to bother. from the sounds of things, you live in an area where there are still a decent number of deer to hunt. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Things may not be what they were ten yrs ago, but I certainly dont believe we are experiencing "hard times."
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 admire your glass half full look at it but reality is the glass is half empty buddy.
Might be little biasm also.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Is it really that bad? Let's be honest here... Is the deer hunting in Ohio really that bad? Can you not go out and harvest your 1 or 2 deer during the 4 months of season? Can you not lay your eyes on a 120-140 class buck at least once during the season? Of the adjacent surrounding states, would rather go hunt one of them instead of Ohio?
You can't go to lake Erie and catch a walleye every time you go. The hatch has been terrible each year following 2003 yet nobody says lake Erie walleye fishing sucks. Why do we have to see deer every time we go into the woods for it to be enjoyable? I'm not being critical here... I'm truly curious as to why deer hunting is different from anything else. Is there no enjoyment in having to work for something? We spend money on fuel and bait to chase Wiley walleye... Run all over the ridges chasing gobblers that sometimes aren't even there... Spend countless hours in the marsh staring at vacant blue skies completely void of waterfowl... All because when it does finally happen and we're successful we know it was worth it. Why doesn't that same principle carry over into deer hunting? Why is it that if you dont see a deer for a few days something must be wrong?
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.
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.
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.
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.