O
Ollie
Guest
I was out this weekend freezing my rear off trying to shoot a doe during the special late season, so I'll answer a few questions/comments that have come up.
Pike Co., Illinois happened because IL did not have the foresight to place restrictions on the number of non-resident licenses nor restrict which areas they could hunt. Iowa is completely different in this respect. Adding 4000 additional licenses will not place an enormous burden on the southeast because the additional licenses will be distributed throughout the state as they currently are, not concentrated in one area.
Daver, when refering to how difficult it was to get permission to hunt, that was when I was living in the Detroit, MI area in the mid-1980's and while living in North Carolina. Finding a place to hunt was darn near impossible without knowing someone who could help you gain access. I bought land in Iowa rather than gaining permission from various landowners simply because owning property to hunt has been a lifelong dream. Land in Iowa is very inexpensive, compared to other parts of the country. By owning land, I not only can hunt my property, but I also have the satisfaction of playing wildlife manager and can manipulate my property to the benefit of wildlife. Lots of fun and very rewarding. Since moving to Iowa several years ago, I have met and been invited by several Iowa landowners to hunt their properties but instead prefer to focus my time on my place. I had two friends from out west who hunted east of Waterloo this fall. During the week they were hunting, they were introduced to several landowners who invited them to come back and hunt their properties. I have other non-resident friends who hunted in the western part of Iowa in 2001. During the several weeks they hunted here they ran into all sorts of landowners at teh local diners, etc. who invited them to come over and hunt their properties. I have not tried banging on doors myself since I am fortunate to have my own place, but my non-resident friends who have hunted various places all around Iowa have all remarked how friendly the landowners were and people were inviting them to hunt, without them asking for permission.
Pupster, I agree that residents should get preference in getting the antlerless tags. I had a total of seven deer tags in my pocket last fall. I'm sure there are plenty of others out there who also had a pocket full of tags. Perhaps there should be a better way to ensure that everyone can get an extra tag or two. It is obvious the IDNR wants more and more deer killed. I'm willing to oblige as best I can. My point is that when we are killing 136,000+ deer per season, the number of deer being killed by non-residents is pretty insignificant.
I would just like to see non-residents and non-resident landowners be treated a little more fairly in this state. We have enough deer to share a few more with them. Just like Iowans want an opportunity to travel to Colorado to hunt an elk, Coloradoans would like a reasonable opportunity to travel to Iowa to hunt our deer. How would we Iowa elk hunters feel if the residents out west adopted an attitude to exclude non-residents elk hunters by asking that resident elk hunters be permitted to kill more than one elk and that the number of non-resident tags is reduced so this could happen.
I have a friend in the south central part of the state who owns over 700 acres of prime habitat that is managed for quality deer. He would love to have his two grown sons who live out of state be able to hunt with him each year on his private property. In spite of the acreage he has and the number of deer his lands supports, his sons only get to hunt when they are lucky enough to draw a tag. Sure does not seem right or fair to me.
Pike Co., Illinois happened because IL did not have the foresight to place restrictions on the number of non-resident licenses nor restrict which areas they could hunt. Iowa is completely different in this respect. Adding 4000 additional licenses will not place an enormous burden on the southeast because the additional licenses will be distributed throughout the state as they currently are, not concentrated in one area.
Daver, when refering to how difficult it was to get permission to hunt, that was when I was living in the Detroit, MI area in the mid-1980's and while living in North Carolina. Finding a place to hunt was darn near impossible without knowing someone who could help you gain access. I bought land in Iowa rather than gaining permission from various landowners simply because owning property to hunt has been a lifelong dream. Land in Iowa is very inexpensive, compared to other parts of the country. By owning land, I not only can hunt my property, but I also have the satisfaction of playing wildlife manager and can manipulate my property to the benefit of wildlife. Lots of fun and very rewarding. Since moving to Iowa several years ago, I have met and been invited by several Iowa landowners to hunt their properties but instead prefer to focus my time on my place. I had two friends from out west who hunted east of Waterloo this fall. During the week they were hunting, they were introduced to several landowners who invited them to come back and hunt their properties. I have other non-resident friends who hunted in the western part of Iowa in 2001. During the several weeks they hunted here they ran into all sorts of landowners at teh local diners, etc. who invited them to come over and hunt their properties. I have not tried banging on doors myself since I am fortunate to have my own place, but my non-resident friends who have hunted various places all around Iowa have all remarked how friendly the landowners were and people were inviting them to hunt, without them asking for permission.
Pupster, I agree that residents should get preference in getting the antlerless tags. I had a total of seven deer tags in my pocket last fall. I'm sure there are plenty of others out there who also had a pocket full of tags. Perhaps there should be a better way to ensure that everyone can get an extra tag or two. It is obvious the IDNR wants more and more deer killed. I'm willing to oblige as best I can. My point is that when we are killing 136,000+ deer per season, the number of deer being killed by non-residents is pretty insignificant.
I would just like to see non-residents and non-resident landowners be treated a little more fairly in this state. We have enough deer to share a few more with them. Just like Iowans want an opportunity to travel to Colorado to hunt an elk, Coloradoans would like a reasonable opportunity to travel to Iowa to hunt our deer. How would we Iowa elk hunters feel if the residents out west adopted an attitude to exclude non-residents elk hunters by asking that resident elk hunters be permitted to kill more than one elk and that the number of non-resident tags is reduced so this could happen.
I have a friend in the south central part of the state who owns over 700 acres of prime habitat that is managed for quality deer. He would love to have his two grown sons who live out of state be able to hunt with him each year on his private property. In spite of the acreage he has and the number of deer his lands supports, his sons only get to hunt when they are lucky enough to draw a tag. Sure does not seem right or fair to me.
