The state's is going to recommend that the number of doe tags sold be cut quite significantly in comparison to what was sold in 2011 (I forgot what the # was but it was quite high). They also want to cut the January antlerless season down 1-2 weeks and get rid of the November antlerless season. They are aware, and their research has shown that our states deer population is on the decline (has been since 2006), and if we continue to do the things that we are doing it will obvioiusly continue to decline. The DNR is very happy with how we as hunters stepped up to the plate and harvested does when asked to do so, and reached a goal that they wanted us to reach.....now they are concerned that if the gov continues to ignore them that we as hunters aren't going to trust the DNR again, and if the population ever does get high again none of us will be willing to step up to the plate and shoot does for fear that the population will dip too low again.
I was actually at a conference today and Tom Litchfield gave a presentation. He stressed that they attempted to lower the tags last year, but their proposals were sent to the governors office where they were 'stopped' and not folllowed through with. He stated that the problem with this happening last year is that now (this year) he is going proposing even larger cuts in the amount of does harvested to compensate for what were killed this year. These larger cuts in the amount of doe tags sold are going to be even harder for the 'deer haters' to swallow. The guys who 'don't like deer' are not going to like these new proposed doe quotas, even though they agreed a few years back that once the population reached what it is currently that the amount of doe tags sold could be lowered.
No matter what Tom and the rest of the DNR staff propose for changes, nothing can be done if the Governor (their boss) 'puts a stop to it.' We, as hunters, are the ones who must voice our opinions. The Iowa Farm Bureau will be ready to fight come February and March, so we must be too.
Another interesting tidbit, and although a bit off topic, was the topic of the amount of NR tags sold. Tom stated that Iowa sells approximately 5% of tags to NR's, which is about what Missouri and Minnesota sell (they have a much larger herd though and much more cover for whitetails). He stated that even though there is talk of increasing the amount of NR tags sold each year, they aren't planning on doing it. If it ever does happen, he said that instead of zones, they will delegate each tag on a county by county basis. So, if you want to hunt, lets say, Decatur county, IA, you would put into the draw for Decatur county only. This in turn will lead to NR's waiting for even longer to draw a tag in counties like Decatur (hot NR counties), even though more NR tags are sold.
