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Gentlemen,
This article is not about particular farms or certain areas, counties, regions etc. This is a big picture issue!

Look at the overall demeanor of the Iowa deer hunter today. Read the forums, listen at the archery shops. We are heading down the wrong path. Do I have plenty of deer to hunt, sure, are the numbers where they were, not even close!!

For those of you with high populations, get ready for the fence line hunter to be across your fence, and for things to continue to slow. Why are there so many complaints about the rut!!?!? Numbers!!!!!

If Winke, Drury, and some of those "superstars" that have large acres locked up are seeing the impact do you really believe the farms you are hunting are not going to be impacted?

I have always been willing to move to where the deer are, do you think guys like me won't zero into the high population areas and "crowd them."

Many guys on here are great hunters and are on deer no matter what, but there is a much greater population that are not of the same caliber (take that as you want, not a slam), that still deserve to have a quality/huntable population!!!!!!
 
I do not understand why the ones who feel they have a good population would not support the rest who don't to rebuild the general population.

Lets talk about IOWAS deer herd, not billy bobs on the 160 you hunt!
 
Wow I'm glad Bill came out and put that in writing! He is well respected and if he feels that way well what can the rest of us expect from our land?

I was kinda suprised when I saw him say he was going to hunt some public land this year. With what he has and what he has built there should be no need for him to EVER leave that land.

I have been to his place before and he showed me around and we talked a littke about what he was doing on his place with the timber work. It was a real good talk for me as at that time timber would have been something I would never have touched.

This year during the Rut, I dont know what exact day but it was the afternoon when we got the cold wind and snow. I went into a spot that SHOULD have been killer. Food, cover and zero pressure and hung my stand and hunted till dark. It was the kinda place that gives you goose bumps just walkin in it looks so good. Any second I was gone to see Mr. BIG and I eneded up not seeing anything, not even a doe.

Walking out I had to cross a lot of ground to get back to my truck and I should have bumped deer and I did not. I was too cold to think about it at that time but afterwards I was like WTF? last year in that exact same spot I saw a giant 8 with a doe at 11am on a sunny day. This year better food, less pressure as to me being in there and I see nothing. The next day Not far from that spot I saw Nothing again.

Following moring around 11 I did see a 170+ Buck cruzin and ran into him face to face where he should have been days before? My point is that here is prime land, no pressure and me there alone and you could say its almost not hunted. I saw 2 shooters both while I was walking around scouting.

I did hear packs of coyotes on 2 nights that I did not hear the year before.

I did see killer sign but the deer numbers were so low that to almost see a deer was a big deal. That was No FUN at all. I dont need to kill a deer but I want action for the effort I put out. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would have rated it a 4 at best.

I am willing to shoot nothing for 3 or 4 years to let thing right it's self in my neck of the woods. I cant give a person permission to hunt when I wont even shoot any deer to fix my problem.

Best I can do is work on my land ie-Timber and food plots and just carry on like I always do. I never put a $ figure on the deer when buying the land. deer come and go so I would not over pay based on the deer. This is SAD from such a great place to have fallen so far.

I'm glad there are other thing I like to do in life and the deer life style is only a small part of what drives me.

I know we all have a voice but people like Winke and the Drurys have that BIG presence that can get the ear of the Gov and if they speak out we maybe are on the path to fixing the problem.

THANKS BILL WINKE.
 
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Great Article, Bill is right on, we all should take a little blame. What I find interesting is his numbers (percentages) on this farm in Iowa are very similar to numbers in MN.

Although we do not have many big bucks in MN, 1993-2003 we did have some dandies in our area. This year, very few 150+ inch bucks were shot in my county.

I bet we have 1/3 the number of 2 year old bucks or older than we did back then.
 
Totally agree with the article.
Hunter restraint will NEVER solve anything big picture, ever. It's a sad truth. He's so right on the way he describes everyone killing the dumb & best genetic 3 year olds and all the dynamics involved. To the T correct. Hope it comes back because I sure talk to a lot of landowners around the state, some with some monstrous size tracts of land & all have seen deer hunting quality decline, some by a drastic amount.
 
It's happening everywhere in the trophy states. Some worse than others. The area I hunted in Iowa still has pretty decent numbers. Doe population is lower than desired. They are supposed to quit shooting as many as they had in the past. I warned them that they are going down the wrong management path and to not believe the DNR that doe's need thinned out more.

It's a combination of DNR mis-managing the herd, EHD and to much killing going on.

DNR checks are signed by your politicians, so there hands are tied....
 
I was just looking through the "Ask Winke"
Section of mww and noticed this. It will be interesting to see what he has to show for an interview with the Gov and what happens with the regs.

Zach from IN asks:

The Recipe for Collapse.....great read! Bill that was a great read and something we are trying to avoid in our area. Indiana's doe tags are out of control and 1 hunter can ruin a herd in a season. I have learned the saying "strength in numbers" is very important in the Whitetail woods. Thanks for sharing your ups and downs. Hopefully your area experiences some ups in the near future!

Winke Responds:

Zach, I am sure things will cycle upward for us. Fortunately, our governor now fully understands the issue so we will just see if he permits the DNR to do its job of reducing doe tags and maybe even ending the dumb late, late rifle season we have in this area. Strength in numbers is the key, for sure. Good luck. (1-11-14)
 
I think management is going to have to be done by the hunters. We'll never be able to trust our government to steer us in the right direction. They steer towards money every time....
 
LYON said:
Good to hear winke's prediction. Hope he's right. That has been my thought process as well. Hunting isn't going to be as easy and fun (for the guys who's only version of fun is killing deer) and there will be many true weekend warriors who will quit because they have to work too hard at it and they can't easily kill deer. Sure hope that's the way we see it go.
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I agree we can only hope. This is a tough and demanding sport, or at least it is supposed to be. I know that there are going to be a lot of people that won't be able to hang (pun intended) when the going gets tough. I know the hunting "industry" isn't going to like it, but oh well.
 
I would think that the Residents would also be concerned about the buck harvest numbers as well. It's hard for me to see that a resident that kills 2-3 mature trophies off of 600 acres a year, won't run out eventually. The only time I hunted Iowa, I saw tons of mature bucks, with lots of them being less desirable. If the hunters would take one top end deer, then focus on the junk, I think Iowa would rebound quick. You can't keep killing all the top end.
 
Bassbuster said:
I would think that the Residents would also be concerned about the buck harvest numbers as well. It's hard for me to see that a resident that kills 2-3 mature trophies off of 600 acres a year, won't run out eventually. The only time I hunted Iowa, I saw tons of mature bucks, with lots of them being less desirable. If the hunters would take one top end deer, then focus on the junk, I think Iowa would rebound quick. You can't keep killing all the top end.
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Amen! I really think the focus should be on mature older bucks, regardless of P&Y/B&C score. Doubt that many will agree in the current climate of horn porn.
 
Baby-G said:
It's a combination of DNR mis-managing the herd, EHD and to much killing going on.
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EHD and too much killing, yes. It is not mis-management on the DNR's part. We really need to dispell that rumor... The DNR has been recommending necessary changes for years and they have almost all been turned down by our Governor.

In all reality, they could issue 10k antlerless tags per county but that doesnt mean the hunters need to buy and use them! We are the boots on the ground and EVERY hunter needs to show restraint when necessary.
 
Bass buster your right! Personally I don't think any state should allow more than two bucks. States like KY only allow one due to hunter numbers. Killing 3 mature bucks per hunter would eliminate them quickly. I know it's tuff to not kill what your legally allowed but it's best for the future. You definitely want your top end bucks to bred doe's .
 
I hope Bills predictions for the future are correct. Ill always be in a treestand but I will admit that the lack of mature buck sightings and deer numbers in general make it much tougher. One 80 acre piece that I have to hunt in used to be in a prime big buck area...and prime deer population in general. Had two all day sits on that piece this year on nov.8 and 9 and saw a spike buck and 2 doe fawns. In 2006 on nov. 8 i saw 8 does and 12 bucks on the same property...same stand same wind. This is going off of my hunting journal. If that doesnt show the difference I dont know what does.
 
LYON said:
Sure hope that's the way we see it go.
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Sligh1 said:
Hope it comes back
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Chasing Tail said:
I agree we can only hope.
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SEIowaDeerslayer said:
I hope Bills predictions for the future are correct.
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Oh yes, hope and change. If I were going to hope for something, it would be that if after the regs are set for next year and nothing has changed, we totally change the direction of our efforts. I would start practicing at the Classic, handing out flyers explaining, much like Bill did, where we were, where we are and where we are going.
 
Without regulations,hunters would over hunt deer to the brink of extinction...again!With the way things are now,the number of doe tags available,the only regulation is the number of bucks you can kill.We all need to rise as one against other political agendas,or it will NEVER be the same.Most areas of Iowa need antlerless tag elimination, reduction is a joke and simply a way for insurance companies and the farm bureau to say they are trying.
 
2- the opposite has happened, every 5-80 acres has a hard core bowhunter, or two. The seasons start in September and run through January now....used to be, those 3-4 year old 130-160's only had to survive me and 2 weeks of shotgun season. Half or better would make it through, giving 2-3 older bucks the next season. NOW, all these new hardcore guys have the 3-4 year olds on trail cam, and they hunt and hunt, get frustrated by December, and whack all the 3-4 years olds during the 2 month gun season. Throw in the usual poaching, and old mature bucks are rare around me now.
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I posted the above quote early last year in response to Sligh1 asking about "Quality of Deer in Iowa compared to 5-10 years ago".

I think we gave Bill W. his article with that thread. Bring on another year of EHD and late rifle season.....and I must be hunting on Bill's farm- deer numbers down 70-80%, and no mature bucks.
 
Not sure why we blame low numbers on EHD???I know it has had dramatic effects on the population but the DNR recommended tag reduction before this round of EHD its our politicians that are most to blame so let's let them hear it or else shut up!
 
I really enjoyed the article. Now I dont have any idea what it was like years ago when the population was great but one issue i have is that landowners get an extra buck tag..ridiculous....couple that with the excessive amounts of doe tags and it has disaster written all over it...us hunters here on this website are a very small portion of people that are actually out there...in fact i dont personally know anyone that is on this site and i have met several hunters...so not only is it on our shoulders here to help make the difference but we must find a good way to educate the people who are not here to read these articles
 
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