Has to go down as one of the worst ever!

[JNRBRONC]

I'm seeing fewer deer in the counties I hunt as well. It also seems like most of the antlerless are fawns, EHD must hit the older age classes harder?

On the upside, if what I think I'm seeing is correct, there should be some good breeding activity yet as the doe fawns come of age.

Back on the down side of things, many times such a young deer has a single fawn next year, so that could slow the rebound of deer numbers.

 

[BJohnson]

I hunt in the DSM and Boone river corridors and it's been a very challenging season to say the least. Best encounter was a 135 class ten on Halloween AM about 10 hrs into the season. I knew the buck when I saw him and didn't aggressively try to get a shot at him since I think he can get better if even the chance. Didn't know that would be basically the only sighting of a mature buck from the stand in the 95 hours of my season to date. Mentally very tough season for sure and my expectations heading into the remainding days and on to late ML - shed season are very low.

I run cams in front of a couple of my best stand locations during the rut swapping cards when I depart from the stand. Mature bucks are not only avoiding me while on stand - they just don't seem to be around period. Lots of 100 - 120 inch 8 and 9 pts with an occasional "maybe" 130 in 10 pt.

Maybe I just suck as a bow hunter.

 

[impactarcher]

I hunt Monroe county and have seen deer numbers decline rapidly for the last two years. This year was the worst with zero mature buck pictures! Just a couple years ago it was common to have 4-5 shooters on a very small farm.

Like someone said, WE ALL NEED TO QUIT SHOOTING DOES!

 

[StickersNKickers]

Deer numbers seem to be down on the places I hunt, but not sure if it's due to EHD, over harvest, or just a change in where the food is from the last couple of years. There is still corn standing on other properties, so they could just be hanging out there.

 

[SEIowaDeerslayer]

Definitely tough. I just wish the DNR would adjust the quotas to account for the EHD kills. I agree, some areas its bad. I hunt NE, East Central, and SE Iowa and SE Iowa the population situation is really bad.

As for your poachers, you need to escalate that situation and talk to the bosses because your officer sounds like he has his head so far up his behind that he can't even comprehend what you're telling him. I'd get on that ASAP. If that were me and I got that response, I would be infuriated.

 

[MN Hunter]

You guys need to get rid of that late shed buck season, I mean doe season.

 

[JNRBRONC]

You guys need to get rid of that late shed buck season, I mean doe season.

Sorry, strikes me as ironic, someone from MN who has rifle season during the rut giving IA advice.

I do agree with you and don't mean this as a jab at you, just pointing out the obvious.

 

[JUNIOR]

This year i thought was a pretty good year! Have had a lot of encounters with some great deer!!! A lot of mature bucks on camera and plenty of does, i know that ehd didn't hit the farm and from what it sounds,not lot of deer are taken out each year! Hope the deer herd comes back for you guys!!!

 

[MN Hunter]

Sorry, strikes me as ironic, someone from MN who has rifle season during the rut giving IA advice.

I do agree with you and don't mean this as a jab at you, just pointing out the obvious.

You're telling me, it's pretty sad when 'tradition' takes precedent over management. At least we have APRs now, so most of the gun hunters at least make an attempt to see what they are shooting at. They say we don't need a big buck behind every tree, but then complain that they had to pass up a little fork a half hour into the season. I haven't carried a shotgun during the gun season since 2006. I wish we would move our gun season back a few weeks but that will never happen.

 

[Truth&Honest]

how long does it take before you can start seeing the numbers come back? Are you looking at 2 or 3 yrs or is it more like 5-10yrs

Hard to say for sure, those forkies and 2 year olds I saw this year are 3-5 years from being mature animals. The population can rebound if hunters lay off the antlerless, but the guys that need to do that aren't talking with CO's or checking this site, they're oiling the Remington for a lot of shooting in less than 2 weeks. When word of lower deer numbers finally hit the masses of gun hunters, it will be back to "shoot only bucks". This will help deer numbers, but not quality or age in the herd. Wish we could go to one any sex tag per year, per hunter, but the lost tag sales would put the DNR under.

 

[BIGBUCKDOWN]

I was watching legends of fall I think yesterday and couldn't help but drive me nuts. They were in Iowa and could not stop talking about shooting does and taking care of the herd for the better and all their meat was going to the the great program hush even the bucks they shot. I know some people need meat but come on.

 

[Rooster]

What is the best way for us to make our voice heard? What groups are fighting the herd reduction movement? I suppose the IBA and calling your local CO's and representatives.... Would like to hear others thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[JNRBRONC]

What is the best way for us to make our voice heard? What groups are fighting the herd reduction movement? I suppose the IBA and calling your local CO's and representatives.... Would like to hear others thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving!

I email a member of the DNR rather frequently. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the low deer numbers and said I don't plan to shoot does. He replied back that not shooting does is EXACTLY what needs to happen.

As we know all too well, politics trumps management practices too often. The extra tags probably aren't going away, so it is up to hunters to NOT shoot does. The DNR is not the bad guy here, it is the legislature, the Gov and the lobbyists.

 

[Baby-G]

I've got to be honest with everyone. It ultimately is in the hands of the hunters and landowners to manage the deer herd. Illinois has went down the drain the last 5 years because they preach killing doe's and sell as many tags as they can. You got to have doe's to have bucks.... the less total deer you have the less bucks....

I told my buddy up in Iowa that I hunt on that they need to stop killing the doe's for a little while. If they don't there buck numbers will decrease each year. There is an epidemic problem going on across the country in the "Trophy Area's" in my humble opinion. It makes for having good hunting if the buck to doe ratio's are close to even. But it's most important to have doe's around to replenish buck numbers with fawn bucks.....

The DNR preached that deer numbers were two high and unless deer in your area is destroying over 20% of crops and are running out of food in the winter. I really don't think they are over populated? You can have a healthy herd with high deer numbers where food is abundant. Hunters control the population not DNR or Insurance Companies. Its up to the hunters to manage the population and sometimes you got to let the population grow......

 

[BIGBUCKDOWN]

This whole ethanol thing could make things interesting also. Lots of cover around me has been disappearing. My deer sightings have gone down considerable in past 5 years.

 

[mplane72]

Heard a report this morning on the radio about the up coming shotgun season and the great HUSH program. About made me sick to my stomach. Hunters have been duped into cutting our own throats.

 

[Sligh1]

I was watching legends of fall I think yesterday and couldn't help but drive me nuts. They were in Iowa and could not stop talking about shooting does and taking care of the herd for the better and all their meat was going to the the great program hush even the bucks they shot. I know some people need meat but come on.

That's the Governor Tag Program for you. Celeb tags where they "promote iowa" to the masses. It's a giant marketing campaign to continue to attract folks to the state & grow awareness/attractiveness. Until folks realize that this marketing is super effective and causes us great harm (and a whole lot more coming!!!) in a million different ways - we got more problems coming our way.

Hard to say for sure, those forkies and 2 year olds I saw this year are 3-5 years from being mature animals. The population can rebound if hunters lay off the antlerless, but the guys that need to do that aren't talking with CO's or checking this site, they're oiling the Remington for a lot of shooting in less than 2 weeks. When word of lower deer numbers finally hit the masses of gun hunters, it will be back to "shoot only bucks". This will help deer numbers, but not quality or age in the herd. Wish we could go to one any sex tag per year, per hunter, but the lost tag sales would put the DNR under.

Dead nuts. If the tags are available, even if the info hits the masses- vast majority just don't care.

 

[camo658]

That's the Governor Tag Program for you. Celeb tags where they "promote iowa" to the masses. It's a giant marketing campaign to continue to attract folks to the state & grow awareness/attractiveness. Until folks realize that this marketing is super effective and causes us great harm (and a whole lot more coming!!!) in a million different ways - we got more problems coming our way.

Yep, they probably only see dollar signs.. I don't think they really give a care about the average hunter/landowner..

Once someone or some entity gets there immediate gradification you can say good buy to ethics..

 

[madplotter]

I hunt Monroe county and have seen deer numbers decline rapidly for the last two years. This year was the worst with zero mature buck pictures! Just a couple years ago it was common to have 4-5 shooters on a very small farm.

Like someone said, WE ALL NEED TO QUIT SHOOTING DOES!

I hear you impact. I hunt Monroe as well and I am surprised at how rapidly the numbers have decreased. I think Ted Nugent did a show a year or so ago documenting the decline in many "destination" whitetail states with a warning to hunters. He used a couple of other states as a warning of what could happen.

 

[mattbrown1022]

I hunt Ringgold, Union, Shelby, and Audubon counties. Overall I've noticed a decline in population in all counties. Shelby has to be the worst from my perspective. A lot of sites this year where I didn't see a thing. This seems to be to be a thing where things aren't going to turn around til we hit bottom. I hope it's not the case. It honestly wouldn't hurt my feelings if some people quit hunting and trapping for that matter. Seems like everyone you run into these days is a big buck hunter or trapper master. I miss the days when you actually felt like you had the woods to yourself.