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Last time you saw DNR while hunting???

avidhunter

avidhunter

New Member
In the 8 years now that I've been hunting deer and turkeys, I've only seen the DNR - while hunting - once. Seems to me there is no way for them to effectively uphold the law and prosecute poachers when there aren't any DNR officers to speak of?

Now I understand that they are grossly under staffed, under paid, under funded, etc... but they seem to have enough time to head count and report to the State Legislature and insurance criminals (er, I mean companies) re: the "ever-increasing, potentially unmanageable" deer herds in Iowa
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Is it possible to start a poll?
 
I'm 28 and the one and only time I've ever seen a DNR officer was when I was 17 at one of the busiest marshes on opening duck weekend and I hunt 3-4 days a week from Oct-Jan.
 
I've seen them a few times and been checked in the duck boat three times. I guess before I made assumptions I would try to understand their whole job. The C.O.s I have met have all been great people and have a lot of responsibility on their plate. I think they are doing a great job with the limited resources they have.
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In the ten years I have been bowhunting, I have never been checked by a CO. I agree with Limb, at the events I have attended, most CO's I have spoken to seem very approachable and professional. I have no complaints against the people doing the front line work in the field just some severe differences of opinions with the DNR leadership on their stance on certain issues (NR any-sex quotas) and the underfunding of the dept. (not enough field staff).
 
Probably five times hunting, not counting fishing, over about 25 years. Three were duck hunting, 1 pheasant, 1 deer.

IMO you could hire 10 times more CO's and there would still be plenty of gaps for violaters to work with. That is why the TIP program is so important, people also need to police themselves and each other to a degree.
 
I see our local game warden on the road alot and talk with him. He has never checked me, but I believe thats probably because he knows me and that I wouldn't hunt without proper paperwork.

As far as hunting in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa I have never even seen a Wildlife Offical on the road or hunting? And I hunt much more out of state than in state.
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It's been 5 years maybe. Sometimes I think that our DNR officer has an impossible task. He covers two counties with lots of cover and backroads. For the most part I think he has instincts about who and when to watch. A truck cruising slowly right at dark is a whole lot more likely to be up to trouble then a bowhunter walking out to his truck.
I think most CO's do the best they can and are often frustrated by sometimes impossible odds and people higher up the ladder creating situations that are even more difficult to police and enforce.
Personally my hat is off to our IDNR officers
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I go shining all the time and have only been pulled over twice, in 4-5 hours of shining a night, for the last 3 years
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I have ran into the Dnr more frequently though around the new areas I hunt
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In Iowa I have been checked 2 times in six years (1 bowhunting, 1 pheaseant) and have talked to the DNR two other times while bow hunting.

However, IL is another story, I think I have been checked every year for the last 5 or 6 during deer season and twice during turkey season and I absolutely love it. Our farm and those surrounding us have been known to have been trespassed and poached on alot in previous years so we were happy to see the DNR down patrolling frequently. Even when he hasn't checked us I know he is hangin out alot because he can usually tell me many days that we hunted in the previous weeks (based on our vehicles being in the fields). Kinda makes a guy feel good about the patrol around his property.

I also agree with the others, post the TIP signs on your property so those around you have easy access to the number, keep the TIP and DNR numbers readily available and do some self patrolling if you can.

I have to add one more DNR story that I thought was unbelievable this year. We were hunting the shotgun opener in IL and the DNR showed up about 9:30 opening morning, pulls 300 yards into our field, gets out of the car and checks the ATV (no big deal). He then proceeds to walk over to the neighbors fence, jump it, walk to the neighbors Condo (eleveated blind), walk up the ladder and step inside to check him out, thought that was a bit extreme but ok. Then he crossed back over the fence walks down our field edge spotting all of us with his binos and jumps back in his truck and leaves. Now none of this was really a big deal, except we were in the middle of a hunt, but hey at least he is doing his job. The only thing that got me was that he walked several hundred yards to check out the neighbor and down our field edge with no orange on!!! Maybe a mental lapse, but I wouldn't be caught out there with orange on during the gun season, even if I was a DNR officer
 
I have never been checked during bow season, and I've been bow huntin for about 20 years. Shotgun is another thing though. Dad and I used to party hunt with a few guys near Hancock a few years back and we were always gettin checked. Heck one day he was drinkin coffee at the house we meet at opening day and about 2 hours later he stopped to check us out, right in front of the guys house! Dad and I soon figured out why they check this group all the time as well as another group a mile down the road every year.

We no longer hunt with them, and since, I have taken more big deer in "their" area and it pisses them off. One of them tells dad all the time that I can't hunt this one particular farm, every year. But I get permission every year and the owner always tells me to shoot all those damned deer because their eatin my crops! Typical farmer! I know this makes this guy mad because him and his group cannot hunt it anymore! Hmm, I wonder why??
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Our CO has two counties to cover, I hunt in both and see him in both. He is doing a great job in my opinion and has checked myself and other groups. I don't mind at all being checked for correct lic. and tagged animals etc. it just means to me that he is doing his job correctly.
 
Granted, I've only recently moved to Iowa, but I've driven out to my hunting spot in S.E. Iowa about 15 miles, 2 times a day for the entire season. I've seen a DNR truck once.
 
Isn't there only 80 some dnr in the state and 90 some counties in Iowa? I know where I live we usually get checked atleast once a year but granted I am pretty good friends with the dnr around here and I know during shotgun season he is gettin little to no sleep at all. I think they do a pretty good job for what they got.
 
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Is it possible to start a poll?

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Avidhunter…….have some patience grasshopper, the season isn’t over yet.
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I've seen them every year I have gun hunted deer & turkeys. Been checked a couple of times. Happy to say they are friendly & don't project that crappy enforcement attitude some people get when they are given authority.
 
From 1975 to 1990, I hunted all over the state, public and private, and was checked twice. We purchased our farm in 1991 and I have been checked THREE times hunting my own property. The officer saw me from the road (2X pheasant, 1X deer hunting) and called me over to the fence.
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Many of these experiences are prime examples of why the DNR needs more funding. I bet one of the reasons many people poach is because they feel they can get away with it. Not only would it be nice to have more officers patrolling, but it takes time for an officer to conduct an investigation into violations, having more officers would reduce the workload and increase efficiency.
 
I have only seen them twice and that was when i was duck hunting. They are doing a good job around here, and don't give you any problems.
 
I don't mean to sound as if I'm complaining about the job they do, only the shortage of CO's to adequately do the job
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I have personally seen over a dozen poached deer thus far this year alone, along the road, in the ditch, partially concealed in the timber - with racks cut off and high power wounds to boot... Makes me sick just thinking about it
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