Ohio deer population
- Thread starter Steelheadtracker
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Our DoW is a joke, and any additional funding is a waste IMO. When is the last time any of you called a WO about a violation you witnessed and actually had one show up? It doesn't happen, from my experience. They do not seem to care if someone shoots a deer, two times in one week, with a rifle in front of your house. If you chase the people clear into town and scribble down their lic. plate number, they will say you have given them a bad number. This is what I've heard, even though I was 20 feet off the vehicles bumper with a clear view of the plate and the nervous vehicle occupants. I think they devalue deer to the point they just don't care. Just another dead deer, and to them, that's a good thing. Unless of course they happen to be out during gun season and can find a hunter walking around without a pen in his pocket...then all heck breaks loose and the ticket book comes out.
I had great faith in the ODOW. Those people that I respected have long since retired. The ODOW of the last 20 years is a joke!
Did I ever tell you all about my first deer? I'm gonna...
I was 10, hunting with a bow behind my parents' Pickaway Co. home. Three deer came by. The first one offered no shot. The second was a doe, shot her and she ran off. I don't know what I expected the deer to do, but when she ran off I though I might have missed the 10 yard shot. I put another arrow on the string and a little 4 point came following her. I shot him too, he ran off. Keep in mind, I was a kid and in 1982, there were no hunting shows... I had no idea what to expect when I shot a deer. I called my dad from the farmer's house and told him I'd shot at 2. He was immediately ticked off. We had work to do, so we went back the next day to look for my deer. We found the heart-shot doe 50 yards into a crp field, stone dead. We continued the search and found the lung shot buck too. First thing Dad did was call Earl Wallace, our Pickaway Co. WO. He came out, gave me a stern lecture about making sure of the shot, practicing a great deal...the whole bit. And, he hauled my illegally harvested buck off to give to a needy family. He wouldn't allow me to keep the small antlers, nothing. I was lucky he let dad snap a picture. I was extremely lucky he did not write me a ticket, and he told me as much. I feared and respected the game laws that were put in place for a reason! Today, I guarantee a WO would not even show up if called in that situation. Most likely, they would say, "leave it lay", and wouldn't even follow up beyond that. I learned a LOT of lessons with my first deer...and second. I don't think today's WO would bother to teach them. Waste of public funds, that's how I view our DOW.
I had great faith in the ODOW. Those people that I respected have long since retired. The ODOW of the last 20 years is a joke!
Did I ever tell you all about my first deer? I'm gonna...
I was 10, hunting with a bow behind my parents' Pickaway Co. home. Three deer came by. The first one offered no shot. The second was a doe, shot her and she ran off. I don't know what I expected the deer to do, but when she ran off I though I might have missed the 10 yard shot. I put another arrow on the string and a little 4 point came following her. I shot him too, he ran off. Keep in mind, I was a kid and in 1982, there were no hunting shows... I had no idea what to expect when I shot a deer. I called my dad from the farmer's house and told him I'd shot at 2. He was immediately ticked off. We had work to do, so we went back the next day to look for my deer. We found the heart-shot doe 50 yards into a crp field, stone dead. We continued the search and found the lung shot buck too. First thing Dad did was call Earl Wallace, our Pickaway Co. WO. He came out, gave me a stern lecture about making sure of the shot, practicing a great deal...the whole bit. And, he hauled my illegally harvested buck off to give to a needy family. He wouldn't allow me to keep the small antlers, nothing. I was lucky he let dad snap a picture. I was extremely lucky he did not write me a ticket, and he told me as much. I feared and respected the game laws that were put in place for a reason! Today, I guarantee a WO would not even show up if called in that situation. Most likely, they would say, "leave it lay", and wouldn't even follow up beyond that. I learned a LOT of lessons with my first deer...and second. I don't think today's WO would bother to teach them. Waste of public funds, that's how I view our DOW.
Good story and my current view on the present day WO. At least now I know exactly how old you are. Thanks for telling. LOL
Just stopped in the taxi shop. His numbers are down. Saw some nice local bucks in there, 2 of which I had on camera.
CritterGitterToo
Junior Member
So, let me see if I got this straight.
Tags sales are declining consistently due to lack of interest which is a result of poor management practices for several years. Thus, people are becoming more reluctant to participate. The response to that trend by the DOW will be to raise the cost to participate. Seriously?
I guess I don't get it as I don't have a PHD, and I'm not a wildlife biologist. Though, it seems counter intuitive to me.
It's simple. They don't see it as mismanagement at all. The deer numbers are close to their goal number and if they can still generate the same income with fewer people then they still win. After a few years of fewer hunters the deer heard will rebound some causing an increase in new hunters and bring in more income and the cycle will repeat. They win.
http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/hunting...y-species/deer/deer-harvest-yearly-comparison
Weekly harvest report.
Weekly harvest report.
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Tonk said he would know when the herd had been reduced because the kills would start dropping off. We'll see if he is a man of his word. I don't think there is any denying that the herd is reduced at this point.
Division of wildlife banned me from commenting on their Facebook posts. Fuggin assholes, that's some communist bullshit.
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Probably not listening though. Everyone is bitching on the harvest report post and I can't even "like" any of the comments.
Simple in a way when they ask for comments then don't permit the responses the don't like.
I found it interesting that approx. in 2014 91K antlerless deer and 59K antlered deer have been harvested. I would have thought the spread would be greater in more antlerless number.
I found it interesting that approx. in 2014 91K antlerless deer and 59K antlered deer have been harvested. I would have thought the spread would be greater in more antlerless number.
Given your only allowed 1 buck a year I don't see the numbers moving much until we have a huge decline in doe populations. Afterall, without does there are no bucks. Given they have decimated the doe population it was only a matter of time before the gap between bucks and does killed started to show.
Guys this fight about the size of the deer herd has been going on for YEARS! Back in the late 70's when I was VP for the OBA we fought with the ODNR about the size of the herd. "They" said the bow hunter wanted a deer behind every tree. We have so many more ways to kill deer now than back then. The only way to control the herd is to kill the does and we have been doing it was a long time now. As long as the state put out the doe permit "hunters" will butcher the does. We are our on worst enemy.
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Ted, there has to be some does killed. It's the nature of the beast. The problem comes along when we can't agree on what "some" is. The fact remains, to keep a herd level, to keep them from expanding in numbers too far, we have to kill some. My issue is that the DOW's plan was and is to throw crap on the wall and see what sticks. It is quite simply a matter of issuing tags and adding seasons until the numbers get so low hunters raise heck. It seems to me with the amount of sportsmen's dollars involved, we should have a better plan! The number of deer we had in the mid-90's seemed ideal to me. There were plenty of deer to entertain sportsmen, and for the farmers who thought there were too many, nuisance permits were issued. It worked, imo. Tonk simply added seasons and tags to keep cutting the herd more and more to get to the point we are now. And where we are now, is mighty low in places!
huntn2
Senior Member
Weekly harvest report from today (didn't see it published today on ODOW Facebook page):
http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/portals/wildlife/pdfs/hunting/121714deerharvest.pdf
Now, I didn't listen to Tonk on the radio, but I believe I read from folks that one contributing factor for the gun week decline that Tonk gave is that more people are archery hunting and thus, allegedly, getting "their" deer during archery rather than during the gun week. If that were a true statement backed by fact, can someone explain to me why the statewide archery doe harvest is down 14% and when combined with buck harvest, archery is still down 7% statewide?
http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/portals/wildlife/pdfs/hunting/121714deerharvest.pdf
Now, I didn't listen to Tonk on the radio, but I believe I read from folks that one contributing factor for the gun week decline that Tonk gave is that more people are archery hunting and thus, allegedly, getting "their" deer during archery rather than during the gun week. If that were a true statement backed by fact, can someone explain to me why the statewide archery doe harvest is down 14% and when combined with buck harvest, archery is still down 7% statewide?
Do you guys think that the craze for "trophy bucks" in the last 10 years has anything to do with lower deer kill numbers? The popularity of killing bigger bucks has increased a ton over the last dozen years or so, for many reasons. Not everybody is going to kill a wallhanger every year, are there a large enough number of guys statewide that are eating tags because of not killing their target bucks? Would that even have an impact on things? Just thinking out loud here...
Another thing I am thinking of, just in the area I hunt, I know one guy that wounded 4 different deer this year, 2 of them being supposed 150 class animals...and there have been numerous other guys wound nice bucks this year that didn't recover them that I know of...from what I have seen the OPPORTUNITY is there, some guys just have a hard time cashing in on it and closing the deal. I would hate to guess how many dead bucks are laying in the woods around Ohio dead right now...come shed hunting season I am betting I will find a few.
Another thing I am thinking of, just in the area I hunt, I know one guy that wounded 4 different deer this year, 2 of them being supposed 150 class animals...and there have been numerous other guys wound nice bucks this year that didn't recover them that I know of...from what I have seen the OPPORTUNITY is there, some guys just have a hard time cashing in on it and closing the deal. I would hate to guess how many dead bucks are laying in the woods around Ohio dead right now...come shed hunting season I am betting I will find a few.
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