Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Question for wjs

A

Allamakee Grand Slam

Life Member
Willie, what were the determining factors for enacting the Thanksgiving weekend doe hunt? Was it mandated by legislators or did the DNR come up with it on their own?

Loren D. Miller AGS
 
I'd like to know that also....it was sure strange sitting in the tree tonight with shotgun blast all around....and ya know ,,,,,I didn't care for it a bit.

Bruce
 
Another I have been wondering about this doe shotgun season is how many bucks will be shot and hid until next weekend or tagged with bow tag. I would think this would definately be a temptation season!
 
Good questions.Not to go off topic but I personally seen two different bucks this afternoon in the back of trucks shot by locals that I KNOW don't bowhunt.
And yes...The DNR was called and I know him personally and know that he'll follow up....when he can.
Thats the problem.Its a big county and these CO's are put in a real bad spot.
My opinion is that this Thanksgiving weekend doe hunt is a joke.
 
I agree it was a joke several nice bucks are taken everwhere. It just gave the slob hunters a better chance during late rut.
 
IMO. I think the early doe seaon was a good idea. The part I like best is, you would think it should make the bucks a bit wiser when the shotgun season starts next weekend.

It would be nice to learn who came up with the idea though. Along with the centerfire rifle season.
 
I don't mind the early doe season either but like it was stated above...you are going to have some folks that will see the buck they want and take him at that time. It is all our responsibility to turn those jokers in when you see it happen.

I would think the same way as you though Perry, it should get those bucks underground by the time season rolls around. The centerfire season is a perceived "management tool" that I doubt could be thought up by a deer biologist....Just makes no sense this being the case.....pic below was January 18
93367_inch_shed-med.jpg
 
I really am not in favor of either the early or late seasons...with the early one being the lessor of two evils. I have talked to good hunters who killed bucks last late season that had already shed...and we're sick about it. Imagine if you can shoot at deer 200+ yards away.
I wonder what hard evidence the DNR has that any of these "extra" seasons have or will prove to be effective in lowering the deer herd?
Interesting to hear how many of you hunted this early season and filled your tags?
 
As a tool to lower the deer population, this season seems to defeat itself. I live in the north where we dont have these seasons, but around here deer become very hard to hunt after the 1st gun season. It seems to me that this season may just push many of the deer into properties that wont get hunted before the real orange army even hits the woods.I may be wrong, but I could easily see this season having the opposite effect than what was intended.
 
AGS...I completely agree with you about the party hunting...I nearly vomit every time I hear someone call themselves deer hunters when they talk about their party hunting adventures.

I recently hunted shotgun season up here in MN. I hunted alone...in a treestand...just as I would if I were bowhunting. When I came out for lunch one day I was met on the road by a group of 18, yes 18 guys that were heading in to push the piece of public land I was hunting. I knew my hunt was over at that point since I didn't want to be sitting in the middle of all those guys. I couldn't believe their mentality when it came to the sport I love so much. It's not even hunting IMO to surround an entire section of timber and blast away.

I do agree that the early doe gun season MIGHT help the big bucks survive through the regular gun seasons.
 
Party hunting = neccesary evil. As much as some of us hate it, just think how bad wjs, the DRN and others would be screaming about the populations without it.
 
Let me give you some background to the reason for my post.
Yesterday I stood on my farm and watched a pickup drive on the other side of the fence, 3 guys in the cab shotgun barrel(uncased) sticking out the passenger side window "hunting". As I watch them "hunt" I watch several bucks leaving my propery. I can only assume that the fence was "hunted" several times this weekend. Fresh pickup tracks showed they "hunted" again today. I stayed out of that end of farm all fall leaving that for shotgun season. Freezing temps are not going to allow a quiet entry next weekend and with all the "hunting" this weekend I suspect as I enter the deer will exit.

AGS
 
I think 150 is right, shotgun season is a necessary evil. It wouldnt have to be, but because its the easiest method of taking a deer it also brings out the laziest hunters. The ones who cant seem to get out of the truck, etc (like AGS saw). I used to enjoy shotgun season and there is nothing wrong with it if done correctly, but any more I just wish I was out of the state when it happens.

As for the late season, my friends and I have been hunting that season since it started. I think that was in 2000? Since that time we have probably shot 50-75 deer in January and not a single one was a shed buck. In fact I dont recall ever even seeing a shed buck, although we see plenty still carrying racks. I dont doubt a few shed bucks get shot in January but I really think the number is so small as to be insignifigant.
To put it another way, I would bet a lot more bucks were intentionally shot during the Thanksgiving season than are accidentally shot during the January season.

I dont like the thanksgiving season but it may save some bucks in December. I also dont think the January season really has much impact on buck numbers and it certainly has the least impact on regular seasons. JMO.....
 
my 2 cents

i think the reason for the rifle season, and thanksgiving season were to make the antlerless hunting more appealing. the bottom line is that more does need to be taken, and the DNR is trying to do so in any way possible.

the poaching question is inevitable. there will be poachers regardless of season. there are poachers in bow season, poachers in shotgun season, poachers in late muzzle season...heck poachers when there isn't even a season going on. the issue with poachers is best resolved as shredder said...turn the SOB's in. see what they think when their vehicle is confiscated.

yes, seeing a big buck would be tempting to many people over thanksgiving weekend...i saw more bucks this weekend (not trophies) than what i saw 2nd weekend of second season last year. but, i was never tempted to shoot one. i guess that's the thing we'll have to have faith in...that there are more ethical hunters than those that are unethical.

and, for those than think party hunting is unethical, i would beg to differ. i've been party hunting for shotgun season for many years, and hunt with some of the most ethical hunters i know. no chasing deer with vehicles, no illegal firearms, no trespassing. to call this kind of hunting 'lazy' is not fair. if you think it is, lets compare miles walked at the end of the season. just because you don't hunt that way, doesn't mean its wrong.

sorry about the rant...

i guess i want my main point to be that poaching is the real problem, and those of us that are ethical hunters need to do our part and turn them in.
 
Re: my 2 cents

One should not "vomit" until one has walked 10 miles in a lazy party hunter's boots while trying to move deer toward a very young or possibly very old hunter so that they may experience the same thrill of success that the much more noble lone stand hunters do. Sorry for the sacasum, but just because you don't participate or enjoy one very legal and accepted method of hunting dosen't give you the right vilify those that do. Some people here have no idea of the planning, experience, and knowledge of deer habits that go into a good successful safe drive. Just for example it is pretty easy to go find a trail or a corn field and hang a stand and wait for something to walk by. On the other hand with a drive you must know the land, the feeding areas, the bedding areas, ALL the escape routes, all the little hiding spots, and where to place blockers in stratigic but safe spots. Those of you who believe that it just a matter of surrounding a piece of woods and start blasting are so far off as to be comical. Party hunting and drive hunting is not the evil side of the Force. As some have pointed out, the DNR thinks the harvest numbers are still to low even with all thes bad lazy hunters filling tags. What would those numbers look like without this type of hunting and how many lone hunters would even see many deer if others weren't forcing them to move from spots the loner doesn't have access to? I'm also sorry about the ranting.

As most here know I have been against the extra November and the rifle season from the first. I have pretty much always supported the DNR and their decissions, but I think these were bad deals. The only and most effective way to increase the doe harvest is to change the way the tags are sold and if that impacts the DNR revenues then so be it because they didn't have those revenues until they added these extra seasons and tags. If they truely want to kill does and not just increase revenue then make doe tags available at a cost of maybe $10.00 and make them good for any and all seasons with the approprate weapons. A 3 day doe tag for $26.00 and a low sucess ratio doesn't harvest more does. Increasing the number of doe tags in areas like southern Iowa when very rarely did they sell out at the old numbers doesn't kill does. If deer numbers and herd maintance is really the goal then let us do it in an effictive manner that can bring enjoyment to a majority of hunters rather than making it about revenue.
 
Re: my 2 cents

Bowmaker...for some odd reason I figured you would be responding to the party hunting post!
evil.gif


Deer drives = more deer running through my timber...push on Brotha!!!
waytogo.gif
 
Re: my 2 cents

agree...more doe tags doesn't mean more does are harvested. the biggest problem is making the harvesting of does more popular with hunters, expecially with the desire to kill 'monster bucks' (that is a generalization, i know).

i think they made the thanksgiving season as a way to make hunters more excited about taking does. don't know if it worked. i know mine went unfilled. but i tried.
 
Re: my 2 cents

Ya know the funny thing is we very rarley hunt that way any more because most of the ground is no longer available. I really miss those family hunts and all the jokes and teaching kids and just being with those we love doing something we love. Oh well onward and upward!
 
Re: my 2 cents

Back to the original question, I believe the stated reason was to increase interest in harvesting does. That makes some logical sense at first glance.

Here is my question: Why enact the Thanksgiving season at all in counties that have always sold out anyway?? What was gained by that?

To me it only makes sense to offer these seasons in areas that don't sell out in an attempt to draw people to those areas. Would that not make a lot more sense?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom