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My Challenge To You

SWBUCKHNTR

SWBUCKHNTR

Member
I am lucky enough to have been born in the greatest state(IOWA) for killing big whitetails. I am also lucky enough to have hunting rights to ground all over the state( sw iowa, south centra,l central, and northeast) In my opinion southern iowa is the number 1 spot in the state for a chance to kill a true monster. What I am afraid of is that there have been too many does killed in the last few years. I drive around in the afternoons like most of you do and it is sad to say that I see far less deer in southern iowa than I do in central iowa. The county I live in(Butler) has less than 10 boone and crockett deer ever killed out of it. They give away very few doe tags but yet I see way more deer than most southern iowa counties. It is nothing to drive around at night and see 50-75 deer over a 5 mile stretch. I drive around some areas down south and see maybe 5-10 deer in an hour of driving. I guess what I am getting at is PLEASE USE COMMON SENSE. When people are walking around in late january trying to shoot does with high powers and they arent seeing any deer and they complain about it. Step back and look at what you are doing. That is the exact reason why you arent seeing very many deer. Deer hunting is a lot of things to this state. There is a lot of money in it no matter how you look at it. Lets not let the state win by giving out huge amounts of doe tags so that we buy them and they make money off of it wether or not we kill a deer. If the deer arent out there then dont try to kill the ones that are. Instead let the herd grow again. Look back at land prices. I know the economy has to do with the recent fall of prices but look at what ground prices were in the mid 90's. The economy was good rec ground in Iowa was cheap and there was an abundance of deer. Then people satrted realizing that Iowa grew some big deer and they wanted to own ground there. All of the sudden rec ground goes up 3-4 times the amount it was selling for and people made some good money selling or they just felt good that they had some valuable ground. Now we are getting into an economy that is bad and also low deer numbers in the nations number one hotspot to kill deer. I am sure that is gonna put a huge damper on land value for sure. Now I know I am gonna repeat what a lot of people have already said but I think if we drill it in enough people will start to understand. We dont have to rely on the state to do something about it we have to do it ourselves. Just because the doe tags are out there doesnt mean we have to buy them. I think if we all take the time and realize what is best for our properties and the wildlife on them then we can get the deer numbers back up where there is good hunting and maybe it will keep the rec ground prices up there just a bit too.
 
I don't see it that way. I think that if there are 50-60 deer in a 5 mile stretch, than there are way too many deer. I live in southeast Iowa and there are plenty of them here. I saw 50 deer my first day of hunting second season. I think that maybe they are just not in the areas that you are looking. The numbers might be down, as I have heard people say, but I just don't see it. 50-60 deer in a 5 mile stretch is just not cool if you ask me. That is not deer HUNTING, it's deer SHOOTING. I like the challenge of hunting so I am ok with the numbers. I DO NOT like the late antlerless season though. Way too many shed antlered bucks being killed. I hate the fact that people can use rifles to do it also. I respect your opinion and agree partially with ya, but I hope we can agree to disagree on the other. Great post though.
 
If we don't buy the doe tags then they'll just resort to offering over the counter tags to non-residents and offer more depredation tags. Its already been proposed. Unfortunately it seems like a lose/lose situation.

Our farm is in southern Iowa and if I had to estimate I would say the deer herd out there is probably 35% of what it was in the mid to late 90s. My in law's farm in NE Iowa still has a ton of deer.
 
I don't know what county you are hunting in southern Iowa? But the 3 counties i hunt are loaded with deer. And i still think all 3 have too many does still! In fact on one of the farms i hunt the land owner wants us to start shooting more does or he said he will start letting more people on it because of the crop damage is getting worse! So the guys i bow hunt with went down on hi-power season and shot quiet a few. And no shed bucks were hurt in the process!:D
 
Blaster said:
I don't know what county you are hunting in southern Iowa? But the 3 counties i hunt are loaded with deer. And i still think all 3 have too many does still! In fact on one of the farms i hunt the land owner wants us to start shooting more does or he said he will start letting more people on it because of the crop damage is getting worse! So the guys i bow hunt with went down on hi-power season and shot quiet a few. And no shed bucks were hurt in the process!:D
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I'm in Des Moines County.
 
i agree with swbuckhntr, i hunt my dads farm in wayne county and i have seen less deer this year then any other.
 
I'm not pro or anti DNR and not being critical of anyone or any group.
I'm pro anything that keeps Iowa's deer hunting at the level we now enjoy. Been reading all posts about late season, mineral blocks and other topics. There are almost as many opinions as posts.

In a group this passionate about deer and deer hunting if we can't come to any kind of a consensus on issues, how do we expect the DNR to make all the right choices all the time. Just not gunna happen. You can have two landowners side by side, one will say too many deer and the other will say not enough. Who's right?

There will always be hotspots for deer and there will always be areas where too many deer have been harvested in the same county. Most of the time this has to do with access. No access too many deer(usually) Too much access too few deer(again usually)In my home county(Jasper) it happens all too frequently.

I think it's important to step back and look at the complete body of work that the DNR and Iowa hunters have accomplished and
ask your self a couple questions.

Is there any state that you would rather deer hunt than Iowa?

Has any legislation or DNR code change ever made you think about moving to some other state?

What can we as individuals do keep the deer hunting as we know it now?

And sometimes at the end of the day we just have to agree that we disagree and move on. It's very easy to look at what will affect me personally and not the big picture. We all do, guess it's just human nature.

My two cents
 
not buying tags will result in more issued in your county....which means SOMEONE will buy them, OR it will help usher in more NR tags. if we don't shoot the deer, they will find someone who will.

the only solution to your problem, in the counties that are having this problem, is for as many people as possible to contact the DNR and your state representatives, and tell them
 
if people in your county bought tags, and didn't use them, that would get the results you are looking for......for awhile
 
SEIowaDeerslayer said:
If we don't buy the doe tags then they'll just resort to offering over the counter tags to non-residents and offer more depredation tags. Its already been proposed.
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That is a concern of mine also. Once that starts to happen, the incentive for outside sources to buy ground goes through the roof. The commercialization circle will be complete and most of us will be left standing outside of it.
 
I wouldn't worry so much about the population. If the numbers go down more over a sustained period of time the hunting pressure will be less as you weed out the lazy, unskilled, or out of state hunters. At that point you'll find a balance of what can be sustained. As for my area, that's a whole different story. We have way to many deer and every county around has unsold doe tags. It's the same thing that has happened with pheasants here. Used to be everybody and their 2 dogs(literally) would come pheasant hunt from all over the US, as the birds thinned out, so did the hunters. Now the numbers have recovered just enough to go out and shoot some birds fairly easy, without attracting all the crazies. When I got out to enjoy a day of hunting, I prefer to do it peacefully without all the trespassers or people driving in and out of fields. I would rather have a quiet day of seeing a couple deer than feel like I'm in a war zone and worry about what everyone else is doing around my land.
 
I am in the opinion that 50-60 deer in a 5 miles strech IS NOT too many deer.Think about it.You drive down a gravel road for 5 miles and past 10 "MILE SECTIONS".5 on your right and 5 on your left.That amounts to 5 or 6 per section.I live in Davis county,I can take an hour drive in any evening and not see 50 deer total.I can also drive a road in Van Buren county and see 50-60 deer in a single picked corn field but those properties are owned by big outfitters or the Lakoskis.I do believe there are area with a ton of deer but they are not accessable.You can take tons of does off the areas that don't have many just because some other land does.
The DNR does the plane surveys and sees a section with 200 deer in it and don't take into consideration that its Lee and Tiffany's ground and no matter how many tags they give out they will never decrease the herd on that land.
Everyone has an opinion on this subject but my opinion is the deer hunting in my county is worse than it has ever been and better now that it will ever be again.
10 years ago I used to let 130"-140" bucks walk every stand almost.This past year I didn't see what I thought was a 140'' buck from a tree stand.
10 years ago you could knock on a farmers door and get permission to hunt fairly easily.Now you could knock on door till your arm falls off and couldn't find a piece of land to hunt without digging $2000 out of your pocket.Either the land is owned or leased by someone from out of state.
I think that if the DNR really wants to get the deer herd back to what it was in the early 90's like they say they do they would stop the November doe season and the late rifle season.
 
Since
se iowa is being talked about again, I have to put in my rwo cents,,once again. I have hunted it only five yrs,,SE of Ottumwa, and I can say the numbers are way down from just 3 yrs ago. When I first bought the place the area was not packed in my opinion. Never drove around seeing fields of deer. Maybe 3 or 4 in a field.
 
Just to add to my previous post.I had some errands to run today.I left my house in Bloomfield at 3:15,drove to Keosauqua then to Ottumwa and back to Bloomfield.Its around 85 miles give or take.I got back home at 5:30 and in the 85 miles I saw 6 deer total.Those were in one field in Ottumwa city limits.
Its really hard for me to think there is to many deer or even a decent herd left in this area.
I wish they would at least move the area for the late rifle season around some.Hunt one of the shotgun zones one year then move it to a different one the next.Its a shame to keep hammering the deer year after year in the same areas.
 
Thats the first time i have ever heard that the deer heard around Bloomfield is hurting! My uncle has a farm just east of Bloomfield and the deer heard around his place is crazy big!
 
I am with Chasefan on this one...The population is definitely down in my area (Monroe) in many places and places of access however in others it is abundant.

I do not want to see the heard completely decimated however maybe if the heard does drop in size some of the lazy hunters may drop out of the sport...land access becomes more available and land prices drop. This may sound like a personal agenda and it may be to an extent but it I also believe it will give the people who are truly passionate about hunting the best situation. It would be nice to see land drop in price so that the common hunter could buy land again (probably not going to happen) and I believe this would make our herd much more balanced than a bunch of outfitters and high dollar operations that are only looking to make a buck....literally and figuratively. Just my opinion.

Great post and discussion!
 
Didn't the antlerless season just end a week or so ago? I don't know about southern Iowa, but up here in the northern part of the state the deer won't show during daylight for several weeks after being hunted. You can't even stop a vehicle on the road without the few deer in the fields running for cover!
 
X2. Exactly what I meant by not looking in the right place. They have been pushed now since Oct 1. (4 months). They are nocternal for the most part. Find the right field and there are a slug of deer in it here in SE Iowa. My buddy told me he saw 50 plus deer in one field about a week or so ago while doe hunting. Like I said, the numbers might be down in some areas, but in extreme SE Iowa, I am not so sure.
 
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