tc1968
New Member
Not that it will do any good - but I am doing my part by trying to bring public up to speed. I am sending this into our local paper tomorrow.
Feel free to comment and correct my facts if you feel they are not correct:
Article
Deer Hunting?
How many of you went deer hunting this year (in any season)? Well if you did or didn’t for the past few years “deer hunting” has changed (in meaning) for all of us. Deer hunting, in all parts of Iowa, used to be hunting for the “right deer” to harvest but now the meaning is “hunt to see a deer, let alone harvest one”. The Iowa legislators and the DNR, for the past few years, have had the mentality of “if it’s brown it’s down”. They have adapted this policy under a public lie of “landowner complaints, pressure from the public and automotive insurance companies”. But the real truth, which is not talked about, the new policies are in place (in part) to generate revenue. Imagine that, government wanting more money. They have been trying to increase the revenue by lobbing to increase the number of out of state tags sold, allowing non-residence to purchase a doe “only” license and party hunt deer (gun) with residence that have buck tags, non-realistic “antlerless” deer seasons after the bucks have shed their antlers and so on. What also is a hidden secret is when they do “deer counts” (surveys) in order to set the amount of deer they feel should be harvested, they don’t take into account areas that are not accessible (private property, leased areas or refuges). How does that matter? Well, when an army of hunters converge on a county to hunt (because the DNR says the deer numbers require some increased management) the deer don’t know they are suppose to leave their safe, non-accessible areas, so they can get shot. It doesn’t matter how many deer “need’ to be harvested they won’t be because hunters can’t go after them. So where do you think a hunter goes then? Public areas, accessible landowners, or (south of 30) they drive around and shoot off the road. All of this causes pressure on a weakened deer herd because the hunters are concentrated – not the deer. Deer populations in Iowa are now confined to urban areas, refuges or private (non-accessible) areas. You couple this with a very, very poor predator control policy of hindering coyote control and we are seeing the Iowa Whitetail heading down the path of the dinosaur, for the majority of Iowa hunters. Access –Access –Access! The legislators and the DNR need to focus on getting access for Iowa residents – not increase the non-resident hunters. I will not argue that in some counties there is a need for intense deer management and landowners / farmers need to manage their property they way they see fit. Since only 2% of the land in Iowa is public the DNR needs to work with famers and landowners who truly have problems with deer. They can do this by working on landowner relations, use the deprivation system for specific tracts – not take a whole county approach. Also take a common sense approach to deer counting, eliminate the late season slaughter and spend money on walk in areas, which goes beyond just deer hunting (like in SD where the landowner is paid to allow hunters), not new vehicles. If you want to start researching this on your own, you can go to websites like, Iowa Whitetails Forever. We as hunters also need to manage ourselves. Just because there are “tags” available – don’t buy them to just kill something; manage and hunt responsibly and if you know and see the deer population is stressed or in some cases non-existing, start looking around at the policies and other opinions. Because if you look around for an accessible deer in Iowa, you will get very disappointed!
Feel free to comment and correct my facts if you feel they are not correct:
Article
Deer Hunting?
How many of you went deer hunting this year (in any season)? Well if you did or didn’t for the past few years “deer hunting” has changed (in meaning) for all of us. Deer hunting, in all parts of Iowa, used to be hunting for the “right deer” to harvest but now the meaning is “hunt to see a deer, let alone harvest one”. The Iowa legislators and the DNR, for the past few years, have had the mentality of “if it’s brown it’s down”. They have adapted this policy under a public lie of “landowner complaints, pressure from the public and automotive insurance companies”. But the real truth, which is not talked about, the new policies are in place (in part) to generate revenue. Imagine that, government wanting more money. They have been trying to increase the revenue by lobbing to increase the number of out of state tags sold, allowing non-residence to purchase a doe “only” license and party hunt deer (gun) with residence that have buck tags, non-realistic “antlerless” deer seasons after the bucks have shed their antlers and so on. What also is a hidden secret is when they do “deer counts” (surveys) in order to set the amount of deer they feel should be harvested, they don’t take into account areas that are not accessible (private property, leased areas or refuges). How does that matter? Well, when an army of hunters converge on a county to hunt (because the DNR says the deer numbers require some increased management) the deer don’t know they are suppose to leave their safe, non-accessible areas, so they can get shot. It doesn’t matter how many deer “need’ to be harvested they won’t be because hunters can’t go after them. So where do you think a hunter goes then? Public areas, accessible landowners, or (south of 30) they drive around and shoot off the road. All of this causes pressure on a weakened deer herd because the hunters are concentrated – not the deer. Deer populations in Iowa are now confined to urban areas, refuges or private (non-accessible) areas. You couple this with a very, very poor predator control policy of hindering coyote control and we are seeing the Iowa Whitetail heading down the path of the dinosaur, for the majority of Iowa hunters. Access –Access –Access! The legislators and the DNR need to focus on getting access for Iowa residents – not increase the non-resident hunters. I will not argue that in some counties there is a need for intense deer management and landowners / farmers need to manage their property they way they see fit. Since only 2% of the land in Iowa is public the DNR needs to work with famers and landowners who truly have problems with deer. They can do this by working on landowner relations, use the deprivation system for specific tracts – not take a whole county approach. Also take a common sense approach to deer counting, eliminate the late season slaughter and spend money on walk in areas, which goes beyond just deer hunting (like in SD where the landowner is paid to allow hunters), not new vehicles. If you want to start researching this on your own, you can go to websites like, Iowa Whitetails Forever. We as hunters also need to manage ourselves. Just because there are “tags” available – don’t buy them to just kill something; manage and hunt responsibly and if you know and see the deer population is stressed or in some cases non-existing, start looking around at the policies and other opinions. Because if you look around for an accessible deer in Iowa, you will get very disappointed!