You know what, I'm not sure people have a f**king clue they are talking about! They bitch that the Jan season kills too many deer.... there's not that many people the hunt it! All you hear about is shed bucks
.. yeah,some drop b4 or during the season, but very few that aren't injured, or sick! Hell, I've had 2 different bucks shed in shotgun and muzzy seasons for my group... both had arrow wounds from previous seasons! Both shed after they were shot! People bitch that the population is too low... news for ya: shed bucks don't have fawns!!!! All bucks do is plant the seed! And another fun fact.... doe harvest is what got us to where we are at!!!! Does drive the population.
If your worried about population, it starts with the quota. End of story. Rifle season follows the same quota as every other season for any other damn county in Iowa. But, the need to harvest a deer with a rifle is gone. Our population has taken a hit statewide and I'll tell you that the hillbilly toothless bastard from appanoose county shooting gpas lever gun didn't have any affect on the deer population in Marshall county...so the statement of "more impactful" is a selfish view point, and very very ignorant response when discussing state wide deer population.
End rant
Hey Pal - No need for a juvenile rant with profanity, name calling and aspersions, an adult reply, combined with some reading comprehension would suffice. Perhaps you have not learned how to politely disagree with someone and/or share a differing point of view. I welcome opposing viewpoints and perspectives, however, I will not tolerate someone replying to me in the manner that you did.
I qualified my answer carefully with acknowledgements that my perspective may well be influenced by the region that I hunt in, where I do have a pretty good idea what is going on and what factors will lead to more/better deer hunting. I did not in any way call into question your perspective/opinion, I in fact understand, and wrote, that there may well be differing, yet valid, points of view based upon one's location. (I even wrote that twice, please see the reading comprehension reference above.) I would appreciate the same respect from you in the event that you see things differently.
As far as having a clue about what I am talking about...I have spent quality time on the ground in at least four separate counties in S or SE Iowa just in the past three months, to say nothing of the past many years, on some of the very best deer properties/neighborhoods anywhere. I have also spent time with and/or talked with many very knowledgeable property managers and serious deer hunters across a fairly wide area of S and SE Iowa. So frankly, I resent your insinuation that I don't have a clue, etc.
If I am way wrong on this, then I guess so are an awful lot of people who are very dedicated to deer hunting and property management and I suspect have a much stronger resume on the subject than either you or I do. FWIW, I have a very good understanding of the state of the deer herd in the region of the state that I frequent.
What you may not be able to digest though is that factors may differ in importance between different areas. Regarding the late season, you indicated that, "there's not that many people that hunt it." That may be true where you are, I don't know, but it is not true where I am. While there may be a lower raw number of hunters present in the late, late season, it is common for one hunter to purchase many tags, perhaps dozens, in some cases over 100 tags per hunter. So the actual # of hunters is less important than how many deer are being shot...and
plenty are being shot in the late season. So I guess I don't care if one guy is shooting 100's, or 100's of guys are shooting one, dead deer are dead deer.
For some, it is a big attraction to shoot deer with a rifle, so they head to S Iowa during this late season and shoot many, many more deer than they otherwise would in a year...no matter how many tags are offered elsewhere in the state.
I know of one farm where the neighbor had an actual bus load of guys come down from central Iowa one year and in just one weekend they took home 72 deer. Not surprisingly, the short story is that there were many fewer deer, does and bucks, in the neighborhood the next year. This was an area that in normal years/seasons would probably have 15-35 deer harvested total...not 70+ in one weekend. This was before the EHD strike in 2012 and 2013 too. Take away the "thrill" of the rifle kill and I doubt that 1/3 of those deer would have otherwise been taken that year. Again, does and bucks.
There are many other similar stories that I could share just about like this one...but the theme is, some hunters will choose to shoot many more deer per year than they otherwise would just because they can get them with a rifle.
AND...it so happens that all of them are being shot in S Iowa because that's where the rifle is legal.
Take away the rifle season(late season) and quite a few people would suddenly shoot many fewer deer per year...at least in S Iowa. This goes for does and bucks, be they buttons or sheds.
Now I don't pretend to know what is going on in Marshall County, but I also have enough sense not to criticize your opinion(s) about your area that I know nothing about. I doubt you know a fraction of information that I do as it relates to the counties and areas that I frequent. So I would suggest that you be more careful about calling someone "selfish" and "very, very ignorant" until you have a better understanding of the situation. Thank you!