Final number are in....

[Lundy]

Refusing to acknowledge the impact of that shift in statistical comparison is intellectually dishonest. So while you don't have to agree, it is what it is. Fact.

So what you are saying is that by the gun season being one week later and those extra deer being killed that "extra" week during the archery season is a direct contributor to the gun season harvest being lower this year as compared to the previous year because there were less deer to kill?

 

[JD Boyd]

You sure couldn't tell deer numbers are down by the amount of kills that were done just on TOO.

 

[Bigslam51]

You sure couldn't tell deer numbers are down by the amount of kills that were done just on TOO.

We are just that good

 

[Hortontoter]

I was thinking along the same lines. This group made a very good showing for themselves.

 

[hickslawns]

Since we're "closer to target population" or whatever does anyone think they will lower the bag limits next year or are they going to raise them because we didn't kill enough deer to suit them?

Harvest in my county (Knox) was down 759 deer from last year. I think right in my immediate area there is a pretty good population of deer and there is a ton of road kill deer on several miles of SR 3 close to here on a regular basis but obviously the population in this county as a whole is down.

A little off topic but I'm going to try to get into Coyote hunting soon where I deer hunt and I want to talk to the neighbor/farmer about his nuisance permits and try to talk him out of it for this coming year. I'll manage my own damn deers I guess.

Ding ding ding! That is one correct answer. Some things we cannot change. We can help our own local herds a bit at a time with thinking like this.

Our county was only down 53 deer. When you consider we don't kill many to start with, this is a lot. I don't have an answer. We still have deer around. Too bad many of them end up on untouchable ground. They know where they are safe.

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

You sure couldn't tell deer numbers are down by the amount of kills that were done just on TOO.

I hunted 81 hours to see 36 deer.
In the previous 4 years, I killed 5 deer (2 bow, 3 gun).
I hunted more hours, stand locations, and properties this year than the previous 4 years.
For hours, I hunted more hours than years 1, 2, and 3 combined. And then doubled.
All but 2 of my hunts were in a county down 20%.

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

Ask your taxidermists how many bucks they got in during gun week vs. coyotes.

 

[hickslawns]

Ask your taxidermists how many bucks they got in during gun week vs. coyotes.

Good question. Be interesting to hear the results. Seems like there were a lot of bucks killed this year. Seems to me with less does, the bucks were traveling more. Thus the reason I think it would be interesting to hear the results. Maybe the better question would be what the increase in coyotes dropped off is?

 

[Bigslam51]

Good question. Be interesting to hear the results. Seems like there were a lot of bucks killed this year. Seems to me with less does, the bucks were traveling more. Thus the reason I think it would be interesting to hear the results. Maybe the better question would be what the increase in coyotes dropped off is?

The taxidermist in town said he only has 70 compared to his usual 120-130.

 

[Schu72]

Ask your taxidermists how many bucks they got in during gun week vs. coyotes.

One of his best years ever. Told me he was turning away anything but standard shoulder mounts since he was so swamped. He took me into his storage area and there were piles and piles of bone. He did say most were local deer and wasn't seeing as many from "down south".

 

[Jackalope]

The taxidermist in town said he only has 70 compared to his usual 120-130.

When we dropped off Alex's buck the taxi JD and I use said he's likely going to need to find extra work this year, he had about half of what he did two years ago.

 

[Gern186]

Same with my taxidermist...he says he will have our deer back to us by February this year...and usually its in July or later.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Talked to two local taxis last week and both said their intake was way down as well. One guy is considering shutting down his business because it has gotten so slow.

 

[Boarhead]

Two taxidermists I know said their numbers were way down and also two deer processors said the same thing worst year ever.

 

[Bigslam51]

The DNR don't realize how many people these low deer numbers affect. Or they don't give a shit, I'll probably go with the latter.

 

[MandRroofing]

Is odnr to blame?yes but the odnr is not the only to blame,odnr gives out the tags but they aren't pulling the triggers. I'm tired of hearing this one sided blame ,hunters have some responsibility well in my opinion

 

[Big_Holla]

Is odnr to blame?yes but the odnr is not the only to blame,odnr gives out the tags but they aren't pulling the triggers. I'm tired of hearing this one sided blame ,hunters have some responsibility well in my opinion

I do agree with you on that MR! All too often I hear (neighbors and even family down there) I've got a license and I intend to fill it, even if it's their third tag. Some personal responsibility needs to be taken when it comes to making sure you have seed for the future. If not you can try to plant all kinds of food plots, habitat improvement, etc. but if you don't have deer left to use it it's worthless.

 

[oakswamper]

Lowest deer harvest in Ohio since 2001.
26.72% harvest decline since 2009
2013 harvest is 7% lower than 2002 when first year Sunday hunting was allowed.
2013 harvest is 4% lower than 2003 when the first youth season was allowed.
2013 harvest is 19.4% lower than in 2006 when an extra 2 days of gun hunting was added.

Thanks for this, I'm too lazy to look it up

 

[Jackalope]

Is odnr to blame?yes but the odnr is not the only to blame,odnr gives out the tags but they aren't pulling the triggers. I'm tired of hearing this one sided blame ,hunters have some responsibility well in my opinion

That's like saying people are wrong for going the speed limit. There is a reason we have a DNR. If the hunting population as a whole was capable of managing the herd on a state level themselves we wouldn't need a department of wildlife or hunting laws. As it stands they aren't capable of having that self policing or oversight. Never have been. So it shouldn't be expected of them now or in the future. We have a DOW for a reason who once upon a time everyone trusted to keep their interest in mind, the problem is, those people have been sold a hill of beans and backstabbed for special interest by the very people they trusted.

While I agree that we as hunters must try to do our part now that this has happened. We as hunters can in no way be blamed for this mismanagement. It was never our job it was the job of the DNR. Hunters were only doing what they were told and blindly trusted it would work out for them. This trust was built on lies. Some choose to see it as "they told is they wanted to lower the numbers" however they never said how much or what the end goal was". They hid their true agenda. That's the same as a lie. If they would have told the hunters of this state 5 years ago. "We want to lower the number to the lowest they've been in 12 years by 2013 and then some more after that" they would have likely had huge or issues. They knew that and kept the mouth shut only being vague so we went along. That's a lie no matter how anyone slices it.

 

[Hortontoter]

I beg to differ Joe. I think we as the "trigger men" have more control of the herd than the ODNR. And if we choose to slaughter the herd, because the ODNR allows us to, then shame on us! The state sets the seasons and limits, but we decide how often to pull the trigger or loose an arrow.