There's no big deer in Ohio...

[bowhunter1023]

Robbing from the Trophy Bucks of Ohio FB page. Ohio is off the charts already...

Lorain County

"Southern" Ohio

Adams County

A blind guy from Columbiana County

Highland County

Coshocton County

 

[ThatBuckeyeGuy]

Shhhh

 

[Big_Holla]

Clearly those are Michigan deerz

 

[triple_duece]

And if you live in Ohio and don’t have a giant like these on the wall, you sir suck as a deer hunter!

 

[jagermeister]

Wait… I thought deer hunting in Ohio was going down the shitter?

 

[giles]

I need better friends.

 

[Jackalope]

Wait… I thought deer hunting in Ohio was going down the shitter?

It was, it did, for a bit. Then 43% of residents who purchased annual hunting licenses quit hunting since 2011, (280k annual resident hunting licenses sold in 2011 vs, 187k in 2023) those remaining woke up and stopped listening to the DNR.

23% drop in all hunting licenses combined (resident, free, NR, youth, NR 3 day, Apprentice, etc)

And the saddest of all, a 36% decrease in youth sales.

But per Tonk, that was just the price of their reduction efforts. In his defense though he did say he didn't think the DOW would ever really achieve their full plan because of exactly what I posted above, people will quit, people will realize, and the deer numbers will grow again, then the DOW will be without their bighest management tool, hunters. So he was spot on right about that.

To answer your tongue in cheek question on if deer hunting in Ohio is going down the shitter. Well brother, I guess that all depends on how near or far one wants to look for the answer.

 

[jagermeister]

It was, it did, for a bit. Then 43% of residents who purchased annual hunting licenses quit hunting since 2011, (280k annual resident hunting licenses sold in 2011 vs, 187k in 2023) those remaining woke up and stopped listening to the DNR.

23% drop in all hunting licenses combined (resident, free, NR, youth, NR 3 day, Apprentice, etc)

And the saddest of all, a 36% decrease in youth sales.

But per Tonk, that was just the price of their reduction efforts. In his defense though he did say he didn't think the DOW would ever really achieve their full plan because of exactly what I posted above, people will quit, people will realize, and the deer numbers will grow again, then the DOW will be withoit their bighest management tool, hunters. So he was spot on right about that.

To answer your tongue in cheek question on if deer hunting in Ohio is going down the shitter. Well brother, I guess that all depends on how near or far one wants to look for the answer.

All of those decreases in license sales can be connected to other influential factors. Blaming it all on the (poor) quality of deer hunting, or suggesting such, is an exaggeration to validate the countless sky-is-falling claims harbored here for years. Hunters were supposedly led like blind sheep 13 years ago, but now all of a sudden they’ve woken up? Come on, man.

My apologies to @bowhunter1023 for hijacking his thread, as this would obviously deserve its own thread had it not already been beating to death countless times.

The fact remains, Ohio is an elite deer hunting state. Always has been, always will be. Proof is in the pudding.

 

[Jackalope]

All of those decreases in license sales can be connected to other influential factors. Blaming it all on the (poor) quality of deer hunting, or suggesting such, is an exaggeration to validate the countless sky-is-falling claims harbored here for years. Hunters were supposedly led like blind sheep 13 years ago, but now all of a sudden they’ve woken up? Come on, man.

My apologies to @bowhunter1023 for hijacking his thread, as this would obviously deserve its own thread had it not already been beating to death countless times.

The fact remains, Ohio is an elite deer hunting state. Always has been, always will be. Proof is in the pudding.

No need to take my word for it. Tonk told the future with his own mouth, and he was quite accurate. All these years standing up for the man and now you want to doubt him, it's played out exactly as he said it would brother. He plainly said they would never achieve their reduction goal because he believed their efforts would cause large numbers of people to quit hunting, many more would wise up, and the deer numbers would rebound. He even foretold how as they reduced the population people would get protective and start leasing everything they could in an attempt to manage it themselves, and how that would hurt their reduction effort because it would close off a bunch of land. What's the going rate per acre these days in Ohio? I wish you were there for that conversation, for as much as I don't like the guy for how they went about trying it, he was spot on with how it would play out.

 

[Hedgelj]

No need to take my word for it. Tonk told the future with his own mouth, and he was quite accurate. All these years standing up for the man and now you want to doubt him, it's played out exactly as he said it would brother. He plainly said they would never achieve their reduction goal because he believed their efforts would cause large numbers of people to quit hunting, many more would wise up, and the deer numbers would rebound. He even foretold how as they reduced the population people would get protective and start leasing everything they could in an attempt to manage it themselves, and how that would hurt their reduction effort because it would close off a bunch of land. What's the going rate per acre these days in Ohio? I wish you were there for that conversation, for as much as I don't like the guy for how they went about trying it, he was spot on with how it would play out.

a few of heard him say it that night

 

[brock ratcliff]

“But hunters are too dumb to realize it”.

 

[Wiley E Coyote]

It's a beautiful morning out here in Highland county and lm thankful to be here too, especially since my old ass knows I'm past my prime! I also know I'm damn lucky because I'm sure a very high percentage of the bow hunters in North America wish they were sitting in a tree in Ohio every fall!