codywright
TENRINGER
Maybe people are starting to do the right thing and realizing that shooting a ton of does + the EHD has dramatically downsized the deer population, and isn't the best thing for our future. I for one have seen a huge drop in population for the last two years. I sure hope the DNR cuts the doe tags by at least half next year or even more. It was very dissapointing, I've been trying ever since youth season to get my boy a deer and weve sat a total of six times and only seen deer twice out of those six times. This used to be my goto farm too where we would see at least 10-15 deer a night. I'm feeling worried for my kids sake.
Maybe we should start stating where we are because where I hunt the herd needs thinned badly. I seen 40-50 deer this weekend even with the cold. If ya want some meat come down to SWI. Also I don't push I just sit in my tree stands. And there was not a lot of pushing around me. The deer were grazing not running.
JRudd
Aim small miss small.
I'm in central ia. Even on the way to DSM on sat afternoon..I only saw one vehicle in a field drive. A Buddy of mine reported that their group didn't pull the trigger until Sunday afternoon. The guy missed a good one, and they had only seen 3 shooters, and a handful of does- and not many hunters
SEIowaDeerslayer
Well-Known Member
I imagine a lot of guys are staying home this year because the numbers are so low. Or, maybe more will hunt 2nd season this year so they have 2 weekends to get their deer.
Either way, numbers are really low, especially in Southern Iowa. EHD and overharvest of does has really taken its toll and I hope people start to wake up or our deer herd is going to go the way of the pheasant.
I was at the bar the other night and there were some farmers in there who were saying that they "shoot every deer we can" with their depredation tags. One of them shot a big 14 pointer during bow season with his rifle while harvesting corn. So you take guys like this + the ultra high doe quotas + natural disasters and pretty soon you have very few deer. Factor in the brown its down crowd and then you have no mature bucks ever.
Either way, numbers are really low, especially in Southern Iowa. EHD and overharvest of does has really taken its toll and I hope people start to wake up or our deer herd is going to go the way of the pheasant.
I was at the bar the other night and there were some farmers in there who were saying that they "shoot every deer we can" with their depredation tags. One of them shot a big 14 pointer during bow season with his rifle while harvesting corn. So you take guys like this + the ultra high doe quotas + natural disasters and pretty soon you have very few deer. Factor in the brown its down crowd and then you have no mature bucks ever.
bigbukfevr
New Member
we drove around most of the day saturday and sunday to watch groups push deer around, not only did we see very few hunters, we saw damn few deer too. its sad taking a drive in our area seeing a very small percentage of the deer we wouldve seen 3-4 years ago.
TheMadCatter
Well-Known Member
I shot a 130's 10pt and a decent 8pt...just give me time to get pictures! I've seen over 100 deer in 2 days.
longspurs
Active Member
Definitely fewer hunters out over the weekend. Does anyone think the weather and the fact that you can buy tags last minute have anything to do with it? I heard several people comment that their groups were going to hunt second season on account of the cold weather/snow.
-Longspurs-
-Longspurs-