Numbers for Ohio bow kills for 2012

[Beentown]

My sightings are WAY down. Every year it has gotten worse and every year I contemplate not bow hunting and just gun hunt. Maybe take up waterfowling or more shooting.

I see how much time I put into this and the reward is shrinking. I don't ask to fill a bunch of tags....I just wanna see some animals and enjoy it more. Add to this trespassers, thieves and crappy weather and it is becoming a perfect storm for my outlook.

The lack of sightings lately hasn't helped my attitude either.

 

[huntn2]

Oh, I agree totally that they are mismanaging the herd. Urban populations continue to skyrocket while rural populations are decimated. Tonk wants a herd of 500,000 deer. That may not be unreasonable, unfortunately 300,000 will be living in the cities.:smiley_confused_vra

Exactly!

It is literately stupid to see the number of deer I see in the areas I see them....Every little cluster of trees around any school has a herd. Buck rubs on trees in treelawns through the .25 acre cookie-cutter lot neighborhoods. Rubs on the trees in parking islands of every commercial business park and shopping center.

Non of it "huntable"

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

Yup, what Ryan, Beener, Jesse, Joe, and Schu said...

Too many urban deer. If you want to kill a deer in a rural area, it has to be before gun season. The game is all about property, and it has to be perfect.

 

[bowhunter1023]

My sightings are WAY down. Every year it has gotten worse and every year I contemplate not bow hunting and just gun hunt. Maybe take up waterfowling or more shooting.

I see how much time I put into this and the reward is shrinking. I don't ask to fill a bunch of tags....I just wanna see some animals and enjoy it more. Add to this trespassers, thieves and crappy weather and it is becoming a perfect storm for my outlook.

The lack of sightings lately hasn't helped my attitude either.

I'm with you dude. The reality is I can enjoy the outdoors and spend time with the Lord via other activities. I can do that hunting squirrels, ducks, yotes, etc. I took up deer hunting because of several factors, but I stuck with it because I love seeing them in their natural habitat. I'm not seeing that any more and I could give two shits to get putting forth the effort and money for next to no return on my investment. I'm tired of working my ass off all year for fewer and fewer sightings. There are great waterfowling oppurtunities around my part of the state and I really see me moving towards that in the future. I enjoy waterfowling FAR more than I do deer hunting these days. I may sell all my shit and bow hunt a handful of times, gun hunt a little, and consider myself an all around sportsmen here in the near future instead of being a dedicated bowhunter. Each year it gets worse and this year has been the worse season of my career. Not good for a guy already thinking about changing his priorities as a sportsmen...

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

You need to rabbit hunt Jesse!

 

[bowhunter1023]

You need to rabbit hunt Jesse!

That's the thing, I used to and loved it. I gave up on squirrels and rabbits to protect my bowhunting. I'd enjoy training dogs and beating brush much more than being pissed in a treestand because I'm not seeing deer. I'm not like some of these guys that are happy just to be there. I am appreciative of the fact I get to be there and I do enjoy sunrises/sets like the next guy. But I'm there to see animals and fill my freezer. I can put deer in there during gun season, and I could be adding ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels, and even fish. I could take up trapping. I need to take a long hard look and my decision to be solely a bowhunter this off season. It's just not working out these days for a thousand different reasons.

 

[jagermeister]

I'm with you dude. The reality is I can enjoy the outdoors and spend time with the Lord via other activities. I can do that hunting squirrels, ducks, yotes, etc. I took up deer hunting because of several factors, but I stuck with it because I love seeing them in their natural habitat. I'm not seeing that any more and I could give two shits to get putting forth the effort and money for next to no return on my investment. I'm tired of working my ass off all year for fewer and fewer sightings. There are great waterfowling oppurtunities around my part of the state and I really see me moving towards that in the future. I enjoy waterfowling FAR more than I do deer hunting these days. I may sell all my shit and bow hunt a handful of times, gun hunt a little, and consider myself an all around sportsmen here in the near future instead of being a dedicated bowhunter. Each year it gets worse and this year has been the worse season of my career. Not good for a guy already thinking about changing his priorities as a sportsmen...

Let me know if you really follow through with this. I'll just trade you my waterfowling gear for your deer gear straight up. Waterfowling in Ohio sucks balls compared to other states... whereas the opposite is true in regards to deer hunting, IMO. I've been on a lot of frustrating duck/goose hunts in my day... Many many times I've spoke of selling all my waterfowl shit.

Interesting harvest numbers. I know one thing, they sure as hell can't blame the decrease on weather... The weather's been great for deer hunting thus far.

 

[DJK Frank 16]

My sightings are WAY down. Every year it has gotten worse and every year I contemplate not bow hunting and just gun hunt. Maybe take up waterfowling or more shooting.

I see how much time I put into this and the reward is shrinking. I don't ask to fill a bunch of tags....I just wanna see some animals and enjoy it more. Add to this trespassers, thieves and crappy weather and it is becoming a perfect storm for my outlook.

The lack of sightings lately hasn't helped my attitude either.

Agreed. Doe herd is way down in my area and I think the fact that work is forcing me out of the tree during the week, along with splitting up time fishing with my old man and bowhunting has actually been a lot less stressful. When I do make it to the tree i'm not overly pissed off if I don't see a deer. If I go out in the morning and the deer ain't moving, i'm hitting the lake in the afternoon and going after the saugeyes.

This year I knew I wasn't going to have the land access, work schedule, and free time to be just a "bowhunter", so my goal was to tried to be as much of an "outdoorsman" as possible. Be it shooting guns, fishing, small game, whatever it is... and if the herd continues on it downward stride, I think years to come will turn out the same for me.

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

If you do that Jesse, you'll either find yourself happier, or itching to be in the tree.

I couldn't focus as much as you and others do just on bow hunting. I like to gun hunt. I love running rabbits. Turkey season is just as exciting for me as deer season, and I feel like I'm halfway decent at it and there's good birds to hunt. I'd love to pick up something like dove hunting, and we all could shoot more coyotes. I went bow fishing for the first time this summer and it was a heck of a good time, without even shooting a fish...it was about having fun with another TOOzer and trying something new.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'm not as much bitching and complaining as I am being realistic about what is going on right now both in the woods, and in my heart. I'm questioning whether being only a bowhunter given the current day dynamics, is really a good decision in regards to my overall enjoyment of Gods greatest creation. Right now, I am pouring my heart, soul, blood, sweat, free time and money in to being a bowhunter; all the while missing out on so many other great outdoor pursuits. I can tell you right now if the deer numbers were up and I was routinely seeing deer and seeing a decent to good rut every year, I would never have the thoughts. But as the years pass with shitty ruts and the numbers drop, they take my overall sightings and enjoyment with them. If it is just about being outdoors and enjoying the pursuit of game, while "finding" myself and being with God, I can do that so many other ways...

I love to bowhunt and there is nothing like arrowing a big buck IMO. But you know what really makes the hair stand up on the back of my next and puts a smile on my face? The sound of a flock of geese going overhead or ducks whistling in the wind. When I started that shit, people warned me to be careful or I would give up bowhunting. I could not even fathom that thought at the time. Three years have passed since then and my desire to seriously waterfowl is building steam. My wife has been BEGGING to go for a while now, so it would be something we could do together and I'd love that. I miss shooting guns as I have all but given that up over the past few years. I don't even shoot at the farm so as to not disturb the deer, but it is a great place to shoot trap and rifles. We have squirrels, rabbits, and yotes out the wahzoo. We even have chances to field hunt geese at certain times. That farm can give me so much more than it has as a bowhunting only location.

I have one more year in me and it will most likely determine what direction I head. Next year, I will provide 2-3 acres of high quality forage for the local deer herd. If that does not change things after two years of only killing one doe from 140 some acres, then I'm throttling back the bowhunting and gearing up to be a more well rounded sportsmen...

 

[hickslawns]

Wow! You have surprised me Jesse. We have all been there. 2009 was like that the whole year for me. I think I saw 36 deer the whole season. 2010 was better and i tagged a good buck. THe thing is, it only takes a moment to change your perspective on an entire season. Hang in there bro!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Wow! You have surprised me Jesse. We have all been there. 2009 was like that the whole year for me. I think I saw 36 deer the whole season. 2010 was better and i tagged a good buck. THe thing is, it only takes a moment to change your perspective on an entire season. Hang in there bro!

Make no mistake about it, these thoughts didn't just come to fruition in the past few weeks. I knew heading in to this season that I was on the verge of creating a new identity for myself as a sportsmen if I had another rough season. I have enough challenges in my life, I don't need to add to the list. I'm very close to being burnt out and it has been heading that direction for a couple of seasons. I can be just as unsuccessful as I have been in the past by just being a casual bowhunter. That eliminates the frustration of laying it all on the line for next no return. I'm not even enjoying having people in camp like I used to because I'm so damn frustrated about not being able to give them a quality hunting experience. The camaraderie and fellowship is as awesome as ever, but I feel like I'm wasting peoples time when I have them down to hunt a "quality area" and it turns out to be a weekend of watching leaves and squirrels.

I'm changing as a man and as a sportsmen. A dismal season is only a small part of that equation. I'm taking stock of whats important to me and how I can grow as a sportsmen in a way that fills me with happiness like bowhunting used to...

 

[Beentown]

Hear, hear!

 

[Beentown]

I think part of the problem for me is that it isn't "active" enough. There are limits to what I can do to be successful. I can't grow the deer in the county, lower harvest numbers, etc....

Then I spend so much time/money for what? Squirrel sightings?

I am going to push through this season and try and enjoy it like I did four years ago and before. Hunting can change quickly. I may just find a couple honey holes???

I guarantee that if I were able to hunt three times a week until end of season I couldn't tag out where I hunt. I have a lot of property available to me also. Frustrating.

 

[dante322]

I have actually seen more deer this season than in the previous 2, but I think I can attribute that to the fact that I have only been at it for 3 years and I am getting better at patterning them. I do do notice that i'm not seeing as many individual deer though, just the same ones over and over.

i think the numbers this year are also a little scewed by the telecheck system. Just like we thought they would.

As far as waterfowling goes, i hear the DNR is considering cutting back on the crp program. That oughta screw up the duck poulations as well.

The notion that Urban deer will gravitate towards rural areas when the population outside the city is reduced, is kinda rediculous. We all know that deer will gravitate to a "sanctuary" where they feel no hunting pressure and predators are not so much of an issue. sounds like the city is a good place for them as long as they can eat Mrs. browns garden. Just wait, when the herd outside the city is decimated and the coyotes start moving into the subdivisions, everyone will start screaming about how dangerous it is for little suzy to go outside and ride her tricycle. But i still dont see it being ok to set up in little suzys back yard and shoot the wildlife in front of her.

I bet bag limits will be reduced next year, the antlerless tags will be reduced to one per person, and the telecheck system will get an overhaul. The state can afford to lose the revenue from hunters, and if the hunting sucks, The hunters will go somewhere else.

 

[hickslawns]

I bet bag limits will be reduced next year, the antlerless tags will be reduced to one per person, and the telecheck system will get an overhaul. The state can afford to lose the revenue from hunters, and if the hunting sucks, The hunters will go somewhere else.

What have you been drinking tonight Dante? I wish I could agree with you, but I guess i am just cynical. I don't see the telecheck getting an overhaul. I don't see tags reduced in too many areas although it is possible a county here or there could see a reduction. I don't foresee the hunters going somewhere else in the near future. Probably take several years to get a reduction of out of state hunters. In fact, my cousin is bringing more and more friends up from Kentucky every year. They are seeing more and bigger deer this year than they have ever seen. Certainly bigger deer than they can see in their part of Kentucky. That said, I don't foresee out of staters reducing their numbers soon.

 

[Jackalope]

What have you been drinking tonight Dante? I wish I could agree with you, but I guess i am just cynical. I don't see the telecheck getting an overhaul. I don't see tags reduced in too many areas although it is possible a county here or there could see a reduction. I don't foresee the hunters going somewhere else in the near future. Probably take several years to get a reduction of out of state hunters. In fact, my cousin is bringing more and more friends up from Kentucky every year. They are seeing more and bigger deer this year than they have ever seen. Certainly bigger deer than they can see in their part of Kentucky. That said, I don't foresee out of staters reducing their numbers soon.

Resident deer hunters have been on a steady decline for years. NR hunters continue to increase at a rate of about +7,000 a year...... They don't hunt here regularly so they have no idea. Here is probably better than where they are in PA, Ky, Wv etc.... They see a 120 inch deer and think it's deerzilla.. But the lure was seeing deer someone like the esker boys shoot inside the city limits of Columbus, or his buddy that just shot one... They see these deer pimped on Trophy watch, tv shows and they say "Hey I'm gonna hunt ohio" and they get here and where do they end up... Not inside the city limits of Columbus, not even close... There is a steady stream of out of state trucks and RV's rolling down SR 50 and 35 this week i guarantee.... And the Sunday before gun every other truck will be from out of state... No exaggeration.. You should see the steady stream of trucks towing trailers, truck with quads, and rvs heading to southern ohio the Sunday before gun.. They swamp the rural areas where it's easier to get permission or write a check, and public land, and add to the declining population issue. I am in no way saying NR hunters are the problem... Not at all.. I'm just telling what I have seen.. The problem is at the dnr. Also.. Bucks area moot point... If we we're a 1 doe state i'm sure you would see tons of them too... The mismanagement is in the doe population.. I have said from day 1 when i started noticing a problem in VC that our bucks were still there, but the does have seemingly disappeared.

 

[hickslawns]

True. True.