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NEW B&C rankings…. By state..

whitetail_obsession said:
My only takeaway from that list is we need to get the word out to all the celebrity hunters in this state. They are really hurting their shows by not hunting the states with the biggest bucks. I'm sure they just don't know what they're missing by staying in Iowa and it's hurting hunter recruitment in those other states.

As for me, I can't afford to leave so I'll just have to stay here and settle for a mediocre big buck state. People used to say this state had a booner behind every tree but since so many trees are getting cut down all the booners left and went to other states. Give it another 20-25 years of growth from new tree plantings in this state and maybe they'll come back.:cool:
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I’ve helped guys get the “celebrity tags”. I’ve helped them write the letters at the end on “this is how many people we reached & how”. It’s insane!!! The guys who got the tags - vast majority would admit (if they are being honest all of them would say this) - it’s CRAZY! It’s CRAZY they get a special tag to PROMOTE IOWA!!!!! Circumventing the normal draw everyone else has to go through- to get a tag to PROMOTE THE STATE OF IOWA’S DEER HUNTING!!!! Their videos are shot on the top 1% of farms in MOST cases & they reach MILLIONS OF VIEWERS in almost every case. Where it’s a 5 YEAR WAIT TO DRAW A TAG TO HUNT THERE!!! This is not needed. This has to stop. Let me break it down into REAL #’s…. EVERY YEAR - these celebrity tags reach a collective audience of views in the 8 FIGURES!!!!!!! 8!!! So, >10m views!!!!! We don’t need this!!!!!! This is bringing more demand to our state. Which in turn brings a host of other problems. Into a state where the residents don’t have places to hunt & it’s <8% timber!!!! This Celebrity Tag program has to stop!!!!!!! Needs to have been gone 20 years ago when guys couldn’t draw every year. At this point it needs gone TODAY- or it’s gonna just add on to the problems we face. A lot of this regulation madness we are facing is driven by out of state interests that see iowa as the premier state to exploit. It’s reinforced daily when they tune in to see a dude shoot a 180’s on an amazing farm in: IOWA!!! STOP!!!!!!
 
Just glancing at the post the Iowa Deer Classic made- 20 of the winners were “all time” (I thinks that’s how it’s worded) sized deer just at this years classic alone. Plus I’m sure some scored over 170 that didn’t make the winners list or stayed all weekend.
 
Sligh1 said:
I’ve helped guys get the “celebrity tags”. I’ve helped them write the letters at the end on “this is how many people we reached & how”. It’s insane!!! The guys who got the tags - vast majority would admit (if they are being honest all of them would say this) - it’s CRAZY! It’s CRAZY they get a special tag to PROMOTE IOWA!!!!! Circumventing the normal draw everyone else has to go through- to get a tag to PROMOTE THE STATE OF IOWA’S DEER HUNTING!!!! Their videos are shot on the top 1% of farms in MOST cases & they reach MILLIONS OF VIEWERS in almost every case. Where it’s a 5 YEAR WAIT TO DRAW A TAG TO HUNT THERE!!! This is not needed. This has to stop. Let me break it down into REAL #’s…. EVERY YEAR - these celebrity tags reach a collective audience of views in the 8 FIGURES!!!!!!! 8!!! So, >10m views!!!!! We don’t need this!!!!!! This is bringing more demand to our state. Which in turn brings a host of other problems. Into a state where the residents don’t have places to hunt & it’s <8% timber!!!! This Celebrity Tag program has to stop!!!!!!! Needs to have been gone 20 years ago when guys couldn’t draw every year. At this point it needs gone TODAY- or it’s gonna just add on to the problems we face. A lot of this regulation madness we are facing is driven by out of state interests that see iowa as the premier state to exploit. It’s reinforced daily when they tune in to see a dude shoot a 180’s on an amazing farm in: IOWA!!! STOP!!!!!!
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Probably just need to let the Farm Bureau know these tags are increasing interest in people with lots of money from out of state for buying land and taking oppurtunities away from new farmers. Maybe then they could attack this program instead of coming after the state's public lands. But enough about politics and more about all the big deer available in some of these other states. Incredible opportunities out there.
 
Buckscrape said:
Some day I would like to hunt Iowa. Warm, big deer, turkeys, warm ... :)
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Wonder how it works for guy from Canada to apply here.
I’d love to hunt Saskatchewan, u love to hunt here…. Hmmmmm. ;)
So going up there- need a “guide” & do NR’s have to hunt further north? The “forested region” or another way to ask- is there certain parts of the province off limits to NR’s?
 
Sligh1 said:
Wonder how it works for guy from Canada to apply here.
I’d love to hunt Saskatchewan, u love to hunt here…. Hmmmmm. ;)
So going up there- need a “guide” & do NR’s have to hunt further north? The “forested region” or another way to ask- is there certain parts of the province off limits to NR’s?
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Yes, guided only. Lots of Native run outfitting in South half of province (only on Native owned lands) and I think you can get export permits for just about any species, just have to deal with their BS, lol. Regular outfitting is in the forested areas, so North half of province minus the Northernmost 25% which doesn't hold deer anyway. I'm basically 10 minutes from the Northern forests. Probably 100-200000 acres per outfitter and most of those areas aren't hunted by Sask Residents so can possibly be the only hunter within ten miles. Can feel pretty alone ...
 
Buckscrape said:
Yes, guided only. Lots of Native run outfitting in South half of province (only on Native owned lands) and I think you can get export permits for just about any species, just have to deal with their BS, lol. Regular outfitting is in the forested areas, so North half of province minus the Northernmost 25% which doesn't hold deer anyway. I'm basically 10 minutes from the Northern forests. Probably 100-200000 acres per outfitter and most of those areas aren't hunted by Sask Residents so can possibly be the only hunter within ten miles. Can feel pretty alone ...
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I did a hunt up in Sask and it was an incredible experience. It was so quiet you could hear the silence.. We sat all day from daylight to dark, but the time flew by. I am not a hunt over bait type of hunter and my outfitter used bait. If I ever go back, I'd try to find a no bait outfitter. It is an expensive hunt but well worth it.
 
Buckscrape said:
Kinda getting that impression, everything is bigger in Iowa, ha.
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Then u have THIS QUOTE…
“Sask Residents so can possibly be the only hunter within ten miles. Can feel pretty alone ...”
That’s BIG & VAST!!!!! In iowa- on a 640 acre block- square mile…. Bet there’s 2 to 10 hunters - more during gun. On average.
No other hunter for 10 miles. Wow!!!!
U guys & huge expanses of vast wilderness. That’s BIGGER!!!!!!! Wow!!!
 
Buckscrape said:
Yes, guided only. Lots of Native run outfitting in South half of province (only on Native owned lands) and I think you can get export permits for just about any species, just have to deal with their BS, lol. Regular outfitting is in the forested areas, so North half of province minus the Northernmost 25% which doesn't hold deer anyway. I'm basically 10 minutes from the Northern forests. Probably 100-200000 acres per outfitter and most of those areas aren't hunted by Sask Residents so can possibly be the only hunter within ten miles. Can feel pretty alone ...
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How does NR mule deer work in sask??
 
Interesting stats. I am a numbers nut, so I've been studying this kind of stuff for probably 30 years. As you acknowledge, though, hard to say what the true numbers are because of not knowing how many booners are killed and never entered. I'd agree strongly with your conclusion that in states like Iowa and Kansas and provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, booners are much more common than other places and so not as big of a deal to enter them in "the book". And then you've got a guy like me who did not grow up in a big buck area, and while I have never killed a "net" booner yet, I have killed a number of nice P&Y bucks and I haven't entered them in the book because I just don't care to have them in there. I like to know what they score for myself, but I've never entered them, nor the antelope and mule deer I've taken that would make minimum.

I think where the numbers/stats get *really* interesting is when you take the numbers that you already posted, and then do an additional set of numbers that shows *how many licensed deer hunters* it took to get that number of boone & crockett bucks killed in each state/province. I don't know the numbers off-hand, but I guarantee that it took a lot more hunters in Wisconsin and Ohio, for instance, to kill that number of booners that were *entered* in the book, than it took hunters in Iowa. For example, just a quick Google search shows that in 2018 Ohio had 390,000 licensed hunters. In 2018, Iowa had 223,000 licensed hunters. And Wisconsin....you sitting down? In 2018, I saw an estimate where it said Wisconsin had close to 570,000 licensed hunters that year. I'd bet you just about anything that Iowa kills more booners *per hunter* than any state on the list, and maybe more than Alberta or Saskatchewan too.

I know you harp on this a lot, but if Wisconsin or Ohio or pretty much most any other midwest state (except the Dakotas) had the same regs as Iowa, *all* of those states would kick Iowa's butt in terms of the number of big bucks killed just because they have a much higher percentage of deer habitat.
 
jflournoy said:
Interesting stats. I am a numbers nut, so I've been studying this kind of stuff for probably 30 years. As you acknowledge, though, hard to say what the true numbers are because of not knowing how many booners are killed and never entered. I'd agree strongly with your conclusion that in states like Iowa and Kansas and provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, booners are much more common than other places and so not as big of a deal to enter them in "the book". And then you've got a guy like me who did not grow up in a big buck area, and while I have never killed a "net" booner yet, I have killed a number of nice P&Y bucks and I haven't entered them in the book because I just don't care to have them in there. I like to know what they score for myself, but I've never entered them, nor the antelope and mule deer I've taken that would make minimum.

I think where the numbers/stats get *really* interesting is when you take the numbers that you already posted, and then do an additional set of numbers that shows *how many licensed deer hunters* it took to get that number of boone & crockett bucks killed in each state/province. I don't know the numbers off-hand, but I guarantee that it took a lot more hunters in Wisconsin and Ohio, for instance, to kill that number of booners that were *entered* in the book, than it took hunters in Iowa. For example, just a quick Google search shows that in 2018 Ohio had 390,000 licensed hunters. In 2018, Iowa had 223,000 licensed hunters. And Wisconsin....you sitting down? In 2018, I saw an estimate where it said Wisconsin had close to 570,000 licensed hunters that year. I'd bet you just about anything that Iowa kills more booners *per hunter* than any state on the list, and maybe more than Alberta or Saskatchewan too.

I know you harp on this a lot, but if Wisconsin or Ohio or pretty much most any other midwest state (except the Dakotas) had the same regs as Iowa, *all* of those states would kick Iowa's butt in terms of the number of big bucks killed just because they have a much higher percentage of deer habitat.
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Only around 30,000 whitetail tags issued in Sask.
 
Entries in record books or YouTube videos with the county and state names plastered all over not much difference IMO in drawing attention to Iowa deer hunting. I’d almost suggest that majority of people are not trying to draw based on looking at harvest records in P&Y or B&C but instead social media, YouTube vids of big deer getting killed and hunting videos draw more attention these days. Yes the hard core type likely are still doing their research.
Also, I am on same page as you Skip but your numbers on the OP almost support not changing Iowa for the better as in the eyes of legislators because Iowa is already the best based on what we have (forested area).
 
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Some "B&C" bucks aren't entered because they aren't big enough. Gross B&C is a figment of a hunters imagination. A home scored 170" is not a booner at all.
 
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