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Ohio sucks

Buy a hunting camp, build a cabin and a barn, get a tractor, a 4 wheeler, trailers, tools, implements, and chain saws. Pay the electric bills, property taxes, and run a dozen plus stands/cameras. Implement some food plots and management them well with lime, fertilizer, and herbicides. Only then your venison becomes $ 194.00 per pound. That grass fed cow is probably much cheaper but less fun.

I simply hunt for my love of the outdoors #1, enjoyment of life with family and friends #2, and meat #3. If I get an opportunity at a nice buck during the season than Great! 2 does taste a lot better to me than a buck. This year my boy filled the freezer with his doe and his buck. I'm personally content with tag soup. My outdoor experiences will soon be 100% shared and absorbed with my son's future involvement. He's 8.
 
I hunt because I need to, I literally get all pissy like a woman on her period if I miss a weekend of hunting. I've hunted off and on since I was 12, this is my 5th year with a bow. The first 2 years I had the brown it's down mentality, I figured out that ain't for me. Last year I killed my biggest buck and a doe, all off the same farm. I hunt because like Jesse, it's good to know where my meat comes from. Along with my buck we also have a 1/4 cow in the freezer that was raised at my in-laws. I just don't understand why me being worried about the number of does has you scratching your head as to why I hunt. I'm fortunate to have a really good farm with good genetics for bucks, but I'm not going to kill a doe off of it when 5 have already been taken out. I passed up a couple shots I had at does on that farm before gun season just because I knew they'd shoot whatever and I wanted to get a final count on their numbers before I killed one, that won't happen now.
 
5Cent said:
Spot on Brian and I dont recall ever seeing you complain. Not saying we as sportsman shouldnt discuss things like this but the fence riding/gray zone is comical to me so i ask the queations when i dont understand the logic. Im just a simple flatlander thats not too bright.
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I get what your saying Adam, not that my feelings or opinions mean much, my complaints or stress has been caused by other land owners, hunters within my circle and just property drama. I feel like the best thing I can do for myself is to simplify and go back to public land and over hunted northern flatland. I personally don't care about the deer I see and don't see, its the cut throat nature and lying that kills me. This is supposed to a fun past time which brings people together, Not this guy hunts/leases 5 acres of a 100 acre patch I lease, so I am going to try to eliminate him because he is killing "my deer". I want my hunting to go back to hunting and not have to worry is Amish Abraham going to steal my lease, is my buddy who owns the farm we going to sell it off after basically forcing us to do slave labor? I could care a less if I only see 5 deer all year, just want to be at peace and happy while engaging in such a rewarding past time.
 
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I agree Jon about those aspects and agree on what hunting has evolved into. Your opinions do matter.

Squatch, i asked because i truly do not know why you hunt. Its not something you and I have ever discussed and while I can develop my own thoughts or assume I know, I wont do that, so I asked. You have shown you have ample opportunity to fill tags, so you must be selective for some reason yet you are one of the most vocal on the topic (could just be your post count that makes it seem that way lol). Simply saying I disagree that opportunites dont exist and while they may not meet some hunters expectations, its very easy to complain and blame others when the personal measurement system maybe disconnected to the goal being driven by the group responsible for managing. Ebb and flow is natural with most things so if you dont adjust your expectations or be truthful in why you hit the woods, I just dont think a person like that will ever be happy and will always complain until there is an over abudance and any excess killing is masked. Then the pendulum swings the other way.
 
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I enjoy going out and being in the woods, but the main reason I go is to kill what I'm after. On the other hand I don't consider it a bad hunt if I see deer, even though they weren't in range. I enjoy being outside, I enjoy helping the wildlife, which is why I took up trapping. One of the farms I have have permission on and have hunted off and on since I was 18 just doesn't have the deer it once did, partial blame is crop damage tags. The other I can only contribute to over harvest by hunters. I have only taken one deer off that farm in the 15 years I've had permission and it was a button buck back in 2003 I believe. There are still good pockets of deer hunting throughout the state, but anymore they seem far and few between, at least in my area.
 
Boarhead said:
Adam, i hunt because i really enjoy being out there as much as i am able.
I guess i am at a point i dont have to kill anything to have had a great season.
I have had oportunites this year just chose not to shoot,does that make me greedy cause i chose not to shoot a buck that walks by? I dont think so,i may eat my tag this yr, that's my choice and i am fine with that,dont have to prove anything to anyone.
Also i get guys wanting to fill their freezer with venison,but then again by the time ya add up what that steak cost to harvest i think i can get it cheaper at the store.
Equiptment ,tags,bait if you use it,gas,time spent of course thats the fun part time spent out there,it all adds up to a pricey steak.
Their is no right or wrong reason to the way we each choose to hunt, just as long as we each are still enjoying it thats what really matters.
Once you lose the enjoyment and get all stressed out over killing a deer whats the point in even going. Phil?lol
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Well said Brian!
 
I started hunting because I absolutely love venison. I had someone shoot me a deer for years before I even thought about getting into hunting. Nobody in my family hunts. Now that I hunt, I want the venison. I love being in the woods and I love the challenge as well. I'm blessed to have access to a property that borders a large park. There is no shortage of deer. The challenge is getting an opportunity on the sliver of huntable land that borders the park. I'll never feel guilty about killing does when the farmers get nuisance tags for coon crop damage. If I see a good buck on cam then hell yes I want to try and kill him. I have noticed a decline in deer numbers on the property I own. It could be from over harvest and it could be from shit for brains crop rotation. I blame the crop rotation.

 
jagermeister said:
No offense man, but it's the same conversation I've been hearing for the last 7 or 8 years. And over that time I've seen A LOT of successful, happy hunters on this website and other forms of social media. The same ones that complain about deer numbers are the same smiling big with a nanny doe laying in front of them. And I've seen countless bucks, some real monsters, getting put down as well. It seems like more and more every year. Just look back at our TOO harvest videos over the years.... Look how many successful hunters we have here! I'm sorry... I just don't agree with the sob story. I've hunted all over the state, years during the "hay day" and now in the "thin" years, both public and private land but mostly public. If you want to put deer in the freezer, they're out there.
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Must not be reading the same pulse I am. If you read the random FB groups, the ODNRs FB page there's 50 people complaining about not seeing deer and the population being in the crapper to 2 people saying they saw a good number of deer. The ODNR posted the gun harvest numbers yesterday of the 54 comments at the time only 2 were positive.

As for the deer population in general archery, youth, and gun hunters combined so far killed 12,000 fewer deer than the 2008 one week gun season.

As for hunters those hunters complaining but still shooting deer that's not proof of anything except they shot a deer. That does not prove that our deer herd has good numbers or justify the low population. Case in point I saw this guy on the DNRs page complaining that he sat 5 days of gun season and saw zero deer on a property he used to see 10 a day. I asked him a simple question. "Would you have shot one if you saw it" his response "heck yes, I need meat". You assume because he shot a deer and posted a smiling picture of his hard earned harvest that took 5 days everything must be fine with the population and DNR management. That's completely flawed logic. The obvious problem here is the "heck yes, I need meat" response after seeing with his own eyes that the population is decimated. But the bigger problem is the DNR allowing that to continue. I've said it forever, hunters as a whole are not conservationionalist. We're killers. As such without proper management we will kill the deer population into extinction. Which is exactly what the DNR used to get the numbers to where they are. So when you blame hunters, or try to say that because someone killed a deer that means everything is ok and good you couldn't be any further off base. It only means that hunters are killers and will kill a deer no matter if it takes 5 minutes or 5 days.
 
I'm not saying just because someone killed deer everything is fine and dandy. I'm simply saying, if you want to kill a deer in Ohio, it's not as hard as what it's being made out to be. You also have to figure that the mass complaining is extremely biased. You know as well as anyone, people with poor experiences are WAY more likely to bitch, especially online, than the ones who had good experiences.
 
jagermeister said:
I'm not saying just because someone killed deer everything is fine and dandy. I'm simply saying, if you want to kill a deer in Ohio, it's not as hard as what it's being made out to be. You also have to figure that the mass complaining is extremely biased. You know as well as anyone, people with poor experiences are WAY more likely to bitch, especially online, than the ones who had good experiences.
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If it's not as hard as they're making it out to be today, then you're saying they suddenly became dumber and less efficient. More and more hunters are increasingly vocal and pissed at the DNR. For that to be happening either it must be getting harder like they say, or they're getting crappier at killing them. That would be the only explanation for their sudden and every growing backlash against the DNR.

It must be as hard as people are making it out to be, people in Ohio are killing half of what they did just 8 years ago, and likely spending far more time afield to do it.
 
Jackalope said:
If it's not as hard as they're making it out to be today, then you're saying they suddenly became dumber and less efficient. More and more hunters are increasingly vocal and pissed at the DNR. For that to be happening either it must be getting harder like they say, or they're getting crappier at killing them. That would be the only explanation for their sudden and every growing backlash against the DNR.

It must be as hard as people are making it out to be, people in Ohio are killing half of what they did just 8 years ago, and likely spending far more time afield to do it.
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Nah man, that wasn't what I'm trying say. I'm not saying it didn't get more difficult... I'm just saying it's not THAT hard. Does it take more scouting, door knocking, patience... Sure. Is it the end of the world... Nope.
 
jagermeister said:
Nah man, that wasn't what I'm trying say. I'm not saying it didn't get more difficult... I'm just saying it's not THAT hard. Does it take more scouting, door knocking, patience... Sure. Is it the end of the world... Nope.
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It is THAT hard. Less deer equals less opportunity. And with the way property gets locked up these days...you can scout and knock your cute little heart out. You'll be using plenty of that patience.

ODNR has tried to create more opportunities with added gun seasons, weaponry...yet we continue to fall in overall numbers (which I believe is the plan of our outstanding ODNR).

The problem with the guy still killing deer after he hasn't seen anything...Brock and I just talked about this yesterday. For some reason when you don't see deer you get pissed off and the kill drive goes into overdrive. Before you know what happens, blood has been spilled on the leaves. Anger has taken over and that "need/want" for meat has clouded judgement.

We also have the problem of one hunter trying to rebuild a population in and area and then some out of town guys come in and clear it out. This is hard to control as the ODNR says everything is fine. The locals see a different story and it gets very disheartening, this too will lead to anger and that one hunter will give in over time. UNLESS he starts to get some backing from the guy handing out the tags. If the "state" herd was so fucking great, why the fuck do people travel all over to find deer?!
 
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giles said:
It is THAT hard. Less deer equals less opportunity. And with the way property gets locked up these days...you can scout and knock your cute little heart out. You'll be using plenty of that patience.

ODNR has tried to create more opportunities with added gun seasons, weaponry...yet we are continue to fall in overall numbers (which I believe is the plan of our outstanding ODNR).

The problem with the guy still killing deer after he hasn't seen anything...Brock and I just talked about this yesterday. For some reason when you don't see deer you get pissed off and the kill drive goes into overdrive. Before you know what happens, blood has been spilled on the leaves. Anger has taken over and that "need/want" for meat has clouded judgement.

We also have the problem of one hunter trying to rebuild a population in and area and then some out of town guys come in and clear it out. This is hard to control as the ODNR says everything is fine. The locals see a different story and it gets very disheartening, this too will lead to anger and that one hunter will give in over time. UNLESS he starts to get some backing from the guy handing out the tags. If the "state" herd was so fucking great, why the fuck do people travel all over to find deer?!
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If it's that hard, tell me how a camp of out-of-staters can pile up 6 deer in just over a week, all from public land? That's what I saw this November in Morgan county... And I've seen it time and time again over the past ten years. Guys that know nothing of the area can still show up and put deer in the backs of their trucks.

Let's be real here... Deer aren't hiding behind every tree, but it's not like we're hunting sasquatch either. That's the impression I get from a lot of people. They actually have to work a bit to kill a deer, so it just sucks. It has to suck. It's not supposed to be hard. At least, that's the mentality that was created when a lot of the so-called vocal younger generation hunters were cutting their teeth in the deer woods. Just because people got used to seeing a lot of deer during the hay day doesn't mean that's necessarily how things "should be."
 
jagermeister said:
If it's that hard, tell me how a camp of out-of-staters can pile up 6 deer in just over a week, all from public land? That's what I saw this November in Morgan county... And I've seen it time and time again over the past ten years. Guys that know nothing of the area can still show up and put deer in the backs of their trucks.

Let's be real here... Deer aren't hiding behind every tree, but it's not like we're hunting sasquatch either. That's the impression I get from a lot of people. They actually have to work a bit to kill a deer, so it just sucks. It has to suck. It's not supposed to be hard. At least, that's the mentality that was created when a lot of the so-called vocal younger generation hunters were cutting their teeth in the deer woods. Just because people got used to seeing a lot of deer during the hay day doesn't mean that's necessarily how things "should be."
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That is exactly why it's that hard, more people kill the shit out of deer early season, then ever before. The amount of pressure on deer today is crazy! If you can't hunt early season, you have your work cut out for you.

I will agree, hunting should have some work involved. And I'm not talking about bringing the glory days back. There has to be a happy medium in here somewhere. That's what I'm saying.
 
giles said:
That is exactly why it's that hard, more people kill the shit out of deer early season, then ever before. The amount of pressure on deer today is crazy! If you can't hunt early season, you have your work cut out for you.

I will agree, hunting should have some work involved. And I'm not talking about bringing the glory days back. There has to be a happy medium in here somewhere. That's what I'm saying.
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This was after Veteran's day.... Hardly the early season.

It's simply a matter of differing opinion. In my opinion, right NOW we are in the happy medium range.
 
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