Hate to say it BUT the amount of guys disciplined, educated and motivated enough to purposely NOT buy the doe tags and NOT shoot the extra does because they are trying to take management in their own hands.... Is a very small amount. There's LOTS of folks just out for a good time of blowing stuff away (which is totally fine if we can support those harvests) BUT have no clue about the bigger picture. REGULATIONS, TAG ALLOTMENTS, SEASONS, etc will trump everything and will vastly dictate quality of the herd. Self-management is nice & helpful but nothing VS our state regulations.
Crimson Arrows
Well-Known Member
True
I agree 100%. If only we could accomplish this :way:
I sent letters and I hope Skip is wrong-but fear he may be right :thrwrck:
I agree 100%. If only we could accomplish this :way:
I sent letters and I hope Skip is wrong-but fear he may be right :thrwrck:
dedgeez
death from above
I 100% agree with Skip. I have thought about this often. We are not only battling FB, The Gov, Lobbyists, but we are also fighting an uphill battle with ourselves and our fellow hunters. I am a firm believer that 90% of hunters are 1 - 4 day a year participants that have an out of sight out of mind mentality when it come to hunting. This includes some of the members of the IDNR that went on 1 push last year and saw 15 deer, so hell, the population must be great, I think Ill report that to the higher powers. You guys may laugh at this, but that's the way it works. There are groups of shotgunners up here that wouldn't care if there was one deer left in the whole county, if they had a tag, they would kill it. You can't necessarily fault them for thinking that way and we certainly arent going to change their opinions. This backs Skips point about why changing the regulations and tag allotments is much more important than trying to police other hunters who don't care about the deer herd or lack there of. This is why the few of us that truly care about our hunting heritage and the overall quality of the wildlife have to be the voice for the hunting community as a whole.
It's frustrating, but I think we are making headway, and my personal opinion is that the seasons and tag allotments will be cut for the upcoming season. From the people I have talked to, the DNR is pushing hard for change and I think in the end they will do whats best for the herd. We can only hope.
It's frustrating, but I think we are making headway, and my personal opinion is that the seasons and tag allotments will be cut for the upcoming season. From the people I have talked to, the DNR is pushing hard for change and I think in the end they will do whats best for the herd. We can only hope.
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Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
shootin up shed bucks
It looks to be about $$, the late season doe tags with rifles, simply cannot believe it was ever approved in any state. How many total shed bucks were killed last year? Crazy! How many deer are shot and never recovered?
I know some guys were plugging away from roads near my farm, at least that is what the neighbor said.
It looks to be about $$, the late season doe tags with rifles, simply cannot believe it was ever approved in any state. How many total shed bucks were killed last year? Crazy! How many deer are shot and never recovered?
I know some guys were plugging away from roads near my farm, at least that is what the neighbor said.
DWilk
Active Member
I wrote the office inquiring about why the Governor has rejected the DNR's proposal of reducing the antlerless quotas and cutting back the late antlerless season length, and I received a response on the issue this morning.
Short quote from the response, "Governor Branstad does not support increasing the deer population in Iowa"
That is their argument?! No sh@! he doesn't support that.
How do you argue with people that can't even grasp the biology of the situation.
Short quote from the response, "Governor Branstad does not support increasing the deer population in Iowa"
That is their argument?! No sh@! he doesn't support that.
How do you argue with people that can't even grasp the biology of the situation.
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ElkHunter
Life Member
We are looking to stabilize the deer herd,not increase.Each year we continue at this rate will cause the herd to decrease.
At the Deer Task Force meetings it was agreed that herd be taken down to the mid 90's level, which is where we are in many many counties. FB even agreed to this.
At the Deer Task Force meetings it was agreed that herd be taken down to the mid 90's level, which is where we are in many many counties. FB even agreed to this.
Thinkin Rut
PMA Member
I agree. It's just as or more important when they are filled vs how many are filled. After all, how many tags are left over and or not filled every year. Maybe they need to look at increasing tags in counties that never meet their quotas and decreasing the counties that are hurting the most and that fill their quota every year. Just play a numbers game...not really reducing the amount of tags available but still reducing the numbers bought and filled.
Packnasty
New Member
My response said the exact same thing...word for word. It went on to cite vehicle collisions and personal property damage to justify his stance (and left out something along the lines of "because the farm bureau wants me to take that stance".
The 'stache just doesn't get it.
I would suggest Branstad looks into the major uproar that the hunters created in Wisconsin when their deer herd was depleted. (for those of you that don't know, this resulted in the entire WDNR deer management staff being replaced).
loneranger
Well-Known Member
I got the Same Response, and politely replied to the "Policy Advisor", whose name was at the bottom. Figure she won't read it. Was a form response we got, but I felt better anyway... The Gov, thinks there are plenty of deer and oh those licenses for the IDNR,,,keep em comin!
