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Time to start talking about low deer numbers and who our contacts are at the state. My time on the NRC helps me understand some of the process but is anyone else capable of updating us on where we are at and where we need to go biologically and then how we can get a say politically?
 
U guys who are more versed in law, regulation & politics tell me how this process would work?.....
A good start to solving our problems would be changing the law or process so the DNR makes tag allocation decisions & not Brandstad (who currently is the ultimate decider: Sr. Wildlife Biologist, Terry Brandstad, PHD) How would this have to happen? Yes- it is possible. What steps would have to take place? I would love having the debate in public why the Dnr should set tag allotment and not Brandstad BTW- we would win that debate.
I would also love to make a law that Brandstad has to hunt Public land and not premium managed high deer #'s land.
 
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So I guess you are saying thing really are bad and time for internet talk is over?
I would sign tomorrow to end the late shed buck season and major curtail of tags for a while. Iowa product is diminished and should not be based on the success of 2 groups of tv celebs. Their farms do not or should not be the place to judge iowa overall. Someone said in another post that almost anywhere can be good to great if you have thousands of acres tied up. I have first hand knowledge of more than one area that produces giants like drurys lakoskis and kiskis. Only thing is landowners there could care less about the tv and never speak of what they grow. We though seem to like to create tv show after tv show bragging almost begging every country singer or ball player to come here and super size our state. There is too much pressure on the deer product and its overall quality has dangerously slipped in quality and quantity.
 
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My reason for trying to do my part has to do with the ailment that has struck Dbletree, I want to help the Iowa deer herd and so...

When I sat on the NRC the biologist along with other staff took the recommendation to the director of the DNR. The director took the recommendation to the Governor. At that time Larry Wilson was the Director and Governor B was the governor. It worked great, some negotiating but mostly they went off of what Willie Suchy and others thought. This was early 2000's.

I do know and will admit you guys have been correct with the Governor pushing for way more than the department has recommended. I also have completely missed the celebrity tag thing.

I do know I have a problem on non resident ownership of Iowa land and being guaranteed a tag. We have resident land problems, I can't imagine the NR thing happening. Land is already too high because of low rates and agricultural boom days. It would break our backs!!!!

I could be wrong but is that the price we have to pay? The celebrity tag thing? I started this thread because I do talk to the current NRC, the director and the Governor, not that any if them have listened because they haven't but it's been just me talking to them, I need more voices!

On other posts I have listened to idiots spout off on government and how it doesn't work, etc. I won't here, I ask for intelligent posts and solutions. I am the only one here that has sat in front if a constitutional committee trying to convince them to protect the citizens if the state if Iowa from a US dollar crisis by having a back up reserve currency. I also reminded the state if Iowa that the Constitution was written for the states and we have the ability to form our own militia and go kick Washington's ass if we get real fed up. The committee is yet to form, they have been warned.

Sorry, I have very little patience for "talkers" and tons of respect for "doers" so if you need a link to Gov B's staff with the recommendation to listen once again to the biologist I can list it. I can give you the directors email, the NRC members, etc. I have always been impressed with the DNR! This is the system we are part of, could it be better, sure, but look up on your wall before you criticize. I want to go forward bit backwards. The talk needs to be about preserving habitat, creating more, and those discussions will be great talks and set the next chapter for the great Iowa Whitetail.

PS, Christmas is a holy time for me, I will check this post occasionally at the most, the next few days. I also know my "of" look like" if" my thumb is fat, sorry.

God Bless and Merry Christmas
 
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If a petition could be made for now or later for 3 things - a petition would be a great start!!!???.....

1) Done with Governor/Celebrity tags. (NR waiting time has gone from every other year to sometimes a 4 year wait - this has shifted in only 6-7 years. The marketing genius of this program has put Iowa in the spotlights year after year to millions of viewers (put in a light to show: mammoth buck after mammoth buck on all farms in Iowa!). It's unfair and un-needed. We need the mass marketing off iowa!!!!! I have detailed the vast damage the program has & will do with, what I feel, very good facts, figures and logic. The program is a disaster!!! It has hurt YOU, our hunting, our access, our NR's waiting for tags (now up to 4 years), NRLO's, etc. We are all being hurt by this. Only ones benefiting are the Elites with their Crony-Political program continuing while average folks are hurt. It's a sham, a shame and disaster for what its done and the huge amount of damage it will continue to do if you don't WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!

2) Late Shed Buck Season finished. Intended to be a temporary season - we've gone far beyond its intention. It's now beyond its purpose and is doing great harm & damage.

3) DNR sets tag allotments and the process is changed where the Governor (Biologist Brandstad) has final say. No more. DNR sets tag allocations. The law MUST change. Get Politics out of hunting, the more it's out- the better we'll be (in many ways!).

Side note.... With EHD & hunters seeing squat in many parts of the state- I wonder if our DNR is fast enough and reactionary enough to cancel this season's Late Shed Buck Season? It should be done, has great support & logic/statistics behind it. I know of other seasons that have been cancelled. If the wheels of Government can turn at any rate, it should be considered petitioning to cancel it.


*****ATTENTION NON-RESIDENT'S WHO WANT TO HUNT IOWA... If you don't speak up on the CELEBRITY TAGS/GOVERNOR TAGS, do something, get off your butts, voice, petition, etc.... You'll go from previously an every other year tag wait 6-7 years ago to now - it's every 4 years.... SOON ENOUGH - you will have a 6-7+ (who knows, sky is the limit) year wait for your tag to be drawn (while the celebs keep getting them and bringing more and more attention to more NR's to come here). you better get off your butts or don't say a thing when someday we say "Hey, start putting in those preference points, 9 years of preference points and you can hunt Iowa!". It's a shame & you better take action.... Posting, PETITION, calling representatives, making others aware, pushing IBA on this, etc, etc.
 
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Sligh,
Are you an IBA member? I ask because I recently got an email from them asking for 3 suggestions for the next legislative session.
 
i may know very little on this subject in fact i probably know nothing but heres what i do know:

I am a john deere mechanic and i have alot of communication with farmers. and I can tell you that most farmers HATE deer and I mean hate them with an incredible passion.

another thing i know is that hunters bring in a lot of money into this state just like any other state out there BUT nothing compared to what farming brings in. We live in one of, if not the biggest corn producer in the entire world and I have a hard time believing that the government will listen to hunters over farmers...

I am not saying that we should just sit on our cans and not try to do anything about it but it will be harder than what a person might think...this world is comprised of the all mighty dollar and money talks!

so what i think a way to get a step ahead would be getting the farmers on our side and have them help in the fight
 
I'm an IBA member and I think you know my 3 suggestions! :)
I'm also a farmer and I don't think it's as cut & dry. FB raises heck over about 50-150 (depends on who you talk to there) farmers that raise heck to them. It's a vast minority that creates the trouble. Deer are not a huge problem for crops in the VAST VAST majority of Iowa. The most productive areas have few or no deer. The crop damage near timbered areas (5% of iowa is timbered so small amount of ag is really impacted) really needs some EDUCATION & does PISS ME OFF.... If some of these farmers really wanted to understand crop damage - they'd do the slightest bit of investigation and learning and come to find out RACOONS & TURKEYS are a huge part of their damage. They'd also realize the forest line where crops meet- the 1st ten rows often get destroyed from tree roots competing for moisture. Point being, most the damage is not done by deer, I'd say the vast majority is not done by deer.
I go back to my earlier post on a PETITION.
 
i dont disagree with you at all but its the preception...deer are alot easier and more frequent then say a turkey or a coon...maybe the best way to tackle this would be the power of knowledge

I have only lived here in Iowa for a little over three months but i have literally had farmers get mad at me when i have asked or talked about deer
 
Real quick, the biologist would agree to most these points, how do we get the process changed so they are the determining factor not the politicians? Isn't that the bottom line?

I much rather debate with fish and wildlife, college educated biologist but is that a reality?

Since I am a worse case scenario guy, if we have to play ball with politicians and one in particular how do we play hard ball? I know an election will be coming up. No one can beat Terry should he decide to run again, bet he does by the way so how do we get him to see things our way? Isn't it all about the revenue? I would pay more for a deer tag if it helped conserve the resource, just talking here.
 
Looking over the DNR latest publication on Deer Management and I find this paragraph interesting...

A consensus was not reached on this recommendation.

- The DNR should be given the authority to set all deer quotas.
Comments: The committee was evenly split on this issue. Some of the committee members
stated that it would be an advantage to have the DNR control all deer quotas since the DNR
would be able to work with stakeholders to find the best solutions. Other committee members
feared that quotas might be increased to increase funding for the DNR which could reduce the
availability for resident hunters to have access to hunt deer. They would prefer to see elected
representatives continue to set the quota.

So, who is on this committee? I know this could be older information but we need to find this out!
 
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I also see in a NRC publication dated from last January and I think the 4th this was submitted to the Gov's office with recomendations, etc.

Anyway, it says this...

▪ Reconvene the Deer Study Advisory Committee to provide the necessary guidelines for the DNR to effectively manage the statewide deer herds for all the people of Iowa.

I will have to make some calls and I have a feeling no one is around today plus I need to head out myself, but time is crucial here. I know we want the decisions to go back to the DNR but if it can't be changed for the new year then we know we have to go to the state capital.

Its been 10 years since I was involved on the NRC so I am no expert, any input from anyone who understands the process would help, I will keep digging!
 
Here's my idea.... I'd even write up a rough draft of a petition to be put out there. I could post it on here, etc. I am not an expert on that stuff on how that's done even though I think many on here might be or it being pretty easy. Happy write up something on those, like I gave examples....
1) No more Gov/Celeb tags
2) end to Shed buck season
3) DNR to set tag allocations & quotas
"explanation & deeper discussion on above"
Signed/dated:______________ from this petition. Send out to folks, post, signed be everyone who wanted to sign the petition & submit to DNR & politicians.
 
Some good points made above and please publish a number and a link where I can contact the DNR and the powers that be in the Gov office. I already called them on the Pen deer thing and I was shocked they actually listened as I was pissed.

Lets say your an iowan with only access to a farm is a hand shake to hunt. Ok above paragraph said this:

- The DNR should be given the authority to set all deer quotas.
Comments: The committee was evenly split on this issue. Some of the committee members
stated that it would be an advantage to have the DNR control all deer quotas since the DNR
would be able to work with stakeholders to find the best solutions. Other committee members
feared that quotas might be increased to increase funding for the DNR which could reduce the
availability for resident hunters to have access to hunt deer. They would prefer to see elected
representatives continue to set the quota.

Read the part where they state about residents having less access. What do they mean by that? I be I have an idea and you wont like it guys.

I feel if we dont get a handle on this population thing or the lack of it, what other choice say in 3 years will the DNR have to drive dollars???? There will be only 30% of the deer left that were here in 2006 time frame. Trust me out siders read this stuff and I have spoken to more than one who have decided to buy a point instead of coming to Iowa Now. If we have another hot dry summer this year like the last few and more outbreaks of EHD you can imagine the damage that can be done. This situation is not a resident NR issue its all of us that like Iowa outdoors issue which we all can fix if we stick together.

As for the celebrity tag issue well I am so against that under our current situation on the ground. I would much rather see a military TAG but of course I am biased.

There was a time when I understand the need to drive people to the state but I think they reached their objective. All I have to say to a deer hunter anywhere is that I own in Iowa and you can guess how the rest of the conversation goes. Most have never been here but they spout off to me the names of half a dozen TV people and they even know the names of the HOT areas. I have to laugh and shake my head at the same time.

It christmas and we all need to be glad just to be healthy and be able to debate this topic over a passion that we all have. We are very very lucky to be in Iowa.
 
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Whitetail-Images said:
Looking over the DNR latest publication on Deer Management and I find this paragraph interesting...

A consensus was not reached on this recommendation.

- The DNR should be given the authority to set all deer quotas.
Comments: The committee was evenly split on this issue. Some of the committee members
stated that it would be an advantage to have the DNR control all deer quotas since the DNR
would be able to work with stakeholders to find the best solutions. Other committee members
feared that quotas might be increased to increase funding for the DNR which could reduce the
availability for resident hunters to have access to hunt deer. They would prefer to see elected
representatives continue to set the quota.

So, who is on this committee? I know this could be older information but we need to find this out!
Click to expand...

At that particular time the DNR wanted to increase NR tags to an almost unlimited number, NRLOs could get as many tags as RLO. They also wanted transferable tags. Bottom line it was all about the buck$ not the biology, not the resident hunters, not the Iowa traditions just the greed of the governor who appoints the Director of the DNR who gave his subordinates their marching orders. The only reason they (Director of the DNR and the governor) didn't get their way was our elected officials said no way, we will remain in control of the quotas. I really don't think we want the DNR to be the final say because we have no recourse. In this instance the government worked as it should with checks and balances.

I was not a bone fide member of that committee but attended all the meetings. It was quite contentious at times. You had the "good guys" from the DNR bumping heads with the "bad guys" from the DNR, at the peril of losing their jobs. You had the IBA bumping heads with FB and a couple of other groups. Randy Taylor was the IBA rep. I've known Randy a number of years. I have never seen him get angry, but I did see his face get a little red at times.

IIRC, fall of 2008 into spring of 2009.
 
Quickest way, start a new thread in this Forum saying to give the DNR the last say on deer numbers and everything related. Get everyone to post under it that agrees, print it off and give to the powers that be...once that is settled then talk to staff about the specifics. Start a Petition if you will. Put a post on other forums telling people to post, get as many as you can!

Got to go, Merry Chrustmas!
 
As long as the Drurys (I'm not singling them out, just using them as examples) and others like them are in bed with the DNR, I won't get behind giving sole authority regarding our deer herd to any one branch of a govn't agency.
 
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iabwhntr said:
As long as the Drurys (I'm not singling them out, just using them as examples) and others like them are in bed with the DNR, I won't get behind giving sole authority regarding our deer herd to any one branch of a govn't agency.
Click to expand...

A lot of the same biologist are still at the DNR that were there way back when and things were good. I say that because when you watch the 9 part video from 2010 it is actually pretty good. It hits on the biological reasons as the #1 way to manage the herd.

If we keep using the celebrity thing as a bone of contention we won't get anywhere. I don't like politics either, believe me, but I have grown up around it and we have to play the game to get what we think is best bigger picture, longer term.

The trend line is doing what the state wanted it to do, we are lowering our numbers. Farm Bureau got what they wanted. Now we need to protect what we have in a responsible way. Educate ALL hunters about the goal.

We need consensus on letting the college educated biologists and veterans of the wildlife division to come up with a number and a plan.
 
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