Sportsmen's Input Needed

[Fletch]

Definitely the out of state people. 40,000 tags seems like a lot.

Yup.... Tops on the list would be to get rid of all the non-resident hunters.... They are killing YOUR DEER... So just eliminate non-resident license sales... PERIOD... 40,000 deer tags went to non-resident ??? I DOUBT IT !!!! According to this article originating from ODNR.... There were 415,710 deer tags sold in Ohio.... 5 states with the most non resident license sales were listed.... Pennsylvania had the most with 8808 and the state with the least amount sold had 3699.... Therefore since Ohio wasn't even in the top five, there must of been less than 3699 Ohio deer tags sold to non-residents.... WOW THATS A FAR CRY FROM 40,000.....

https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/news/ohios-final-2023-24-deer-harvest-report

So wanna improve deer hunting???
1... Eliminate all baiting...
2... Eliminate cross guns for all... Make them legal for people with handicaps ( doctors note needed ) and seniors 65 and older...
3... Shoot a button buck and you gotta use your buck tag on it....
4... Reciprocal license fees would be a good thing....
5... Increasing the amount of game wardens would be good...
6... Have antler restrictions ( 3 points to a side )

 

[Fletch]

Thinking back on that article I might of interpreted wrong... Maybe those 5 states listed were actual residents from those states that purchased Ohio tags... Not non-resident sales for those states... If so... My bad... Sorry bout that... Maybe someone can find out the actual number of sales in Ohio...

 

[Wiley E Coyote]

I love the early bow hunting ideal only because I'm selfish and want to shoot a velvet buck in Ohio. I'm pretty sure as far as deer hunting goes the state is pretty proud of their efforts on the deer herd. Money drives a lot in the deer hunting world and I don't see that changing. So I'm happy with the way they are doing things because they are going to keep the deer hunting how they see fit! Not that I don't have a wish list but I know it's not inline with what they are going to do. I feel the deer hunting is pretty good in our state over all. EHD has been the only bad issue for my hunting in the last ten years and I can only blame mother nature on that. Open raccoon season and a bobcat season are needed. Not sure if they can help the grouse but wish they could. And we are just screwed on pheasant and quail in most of the state thanks to agriculture practices unfortunately. As for public access here in SW Ohio it's a mess! Invasive plants have taken away our public hunting areas. Can't even hike through the woods let alone try to hunt or shoot. Would be nice if some type of effort was put forward to curb this issue!

 

[Bigcountry40]

Lots of great things mentioned already

Create some kind of regulation around being a outfitter in the state of Ohio.

Have conservation nonprofit groups be more transparent with their money, focus it on public access/habitat restoration and stop focusing on hunter recruitment.

 

[Buckmaster]

Want to grow your business? Create more hunting/fishing public access. If you build it; they will come.