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Thanksgiving Season

dbltree

dbltree

Super Moderator
Just curious how much action there was by people utilizing the TG season to take antlerless deer this year? Friday morning I hunted all morning then drove about 20 miles back home thru Davis and Van Buren counties and didn't hear a single shot nor see a single hunter.

My son killed one Saturday a.m. and his buddy killed one as well but that's all the action I've seen.

Jessn11-24-07Doe.jpg


I've never been a big fan of this season but from what I've seen this year maybe the idea lost some of it's "luster" anyway.

What did you guys see? Lot's of people out hunting or no??
 
I bow hunted down in southwest Iowa this weekend and saw a few people out and heard some shooting but not a lot. My dad had hunters all around him taking part in the early doe season in the west central part of the state. He said there was shooting pretty much all day.
 
I heard a helluva lotta shooting around a few of my areas. I hate the thanksgiving season. The guys around me were slinging slugs with wreckless abandon, I actually got down and moved because I was so nervous. Dumb idea to have two totally different seasons overlapping like that.

Tonight I wore an orange stocking hat but fortunately nothing went off near me.
 
I heard a few shots, but not as many as last year. I really don't like this season, but of course I am biased being a bowhunter. I promote doe seasons, but having a season when a lot of bowhunters are out there trying to get some good time in before shotgun season doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
It gets the deer jumpy for the last week of bow and before the start of regular gun season and just isn't very safe.
Plus, how many bucks are shot during this season and just tucked away until next weekend....... just a thought. I witnessed a few of those last year.
 
A really dumb season....messes with the guys trying to fill their bow tag real bad.

I was trying to help a buddy by letting him hunt my land....and my favorite stand......but 2 orange blobs screwed things up for him big time.

And we can blame who , for this great idea?
 
i agree. its a bad idea. why would you have a season where some hunters are in head to toe camoflauge with a bow, and gun hunters are out slinging slugs at does. i thought that dnr practices SAFETY. i dont see anything safe in this case. although i DO NOT blame the hunters who take advantage of this season like the person who posted the deer. im not trying to dis on them. just dont agree with the dnr decisions
 
I agree that it is a bad deal! I don't understand why the DNR allows this to happen. Now that IDNR has a reporting system (provided everyone is using it), they sould be able to compile the numbers by the end of the 2nd shot gun season and extend the quota for the counties that need them. Then whoever wishes to hunt and purchase an additional tag can do so!

This is a perfect example of how something looks good on paper however when you really disect the scenario, there are several issues (safety, shooting bucks, trespassing, etc,)

That's my $.02
 
send your thoughts to your state legislators, and the DNR. it would be great if we could get this season to go away
 
I hunted this weekend, and took 2 does, and the landowner took 2 does. I'm the only bowhunter on the ground, so we really didn't mess anyone up. Good idea or not, I sure had alot of fun out shootin does with the smoke pole.

I would like to hear some ideas on a good doe season. Seems alot of people think this one is a bad idea, and then turn around and say that the Jan. antlerless season is a bad idea because shed bucks get killed. When exactly should an anterless season be? I understand the concerns on bowhunters and shotgun hunters mixing, but I also think this is a good time of year to harvest some does. Just my thought on the season, I tagged out bowhunting a few weeks ago, and I get alot of heat from the landowner about killing does, so thats what I did this weekend.
 
I picked up a Nov. anterless tag at 1 pm on Friday afternoon, had it filled that evening. Didn't hear any other shooting going on where I was hunting, not even pheasant hunting. There were a couple bow hunters on the same farm as me, they helped me drag out and load the doe. I don't think my single muzzle-loader shot 22 minutes after sundown bothered any of the deer to much, other than the one I was aiming at that is.

It's pretty obvious the DNR wants the doe herd reduced and the Nov. firearm hunt is just another way to achieve that goal.

Bugs
 
I think I would rather see the doe season in Nov, than late in Jan. Too easy to shoot shed bucks in Jan. I'm glad there isn't very many people in our area that use these seasons. I did see one truck with hunters in orange on Friday though.
 
I'm thinking the reason there isn't much action down this was is mostly lack of access. It seems that once in place these seasons are very difficult to get rid of because they produce additional revenue and at least appear to be a positive step in reducing deer numbers.

Around here I don't see it as being very productive... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif
 
Doe hunters screwed up a hunt for me Saturday. I hate that season too. I got down early and went home so that I wouldn't get shot. Like it was said before, half of the hunters out there in orange and the other half out there in cammo. Makes no sense at all to me.
 
Heard quite a few shots in the distance this weekend while bowhunting, until I tried a new spot(same property) sunday evening.....yeah, had somebody unloading a few times right near me on the neighbor land. Still saw 5 bucks and a dozen does, but nothing big came out....although I think it had more to do with the neighbor building a fence all weekend right through the bedding area!!! Man that sucked.
 
I think I got screwed up by the season as well! Been seeing 8 to 12 deer per sit for the last several weeks. Saw 7 deer on Friday morning and then came home for work Friday night and All day Saturday! Spent over 8 hours in the stand on Sunday and never saw a deer! No way of knowing for sure, but it seems that my pece may have gotten pushed. I saw about 8 to 10 different groups and heard shooting all morning, and most of the evening Sunday!

I don't know if I am against the season or not! I think there are a lot of things the DNR could do differently to help encourage does to be harvested!

I imagine I will get blasted for this comment, but It is a personal idea and I would be open to ideas. Here it is:

If The DNR wants does taken out so badly, they need a reward for doing it (sometimes gutting dragging and delivering to the hush locker just isn't reward enough)! So I thought about an extra buck earning system! Since we have to call deer in anyways and they are trackign it, why not award some of us who do things right! Say that number be 10 does. They could track hunters from year to year and offer a buck tag(specific to an area) as a reward for harvesting your 10 does. It may take a hunter 2, 3 or 4 years to harvest 10 does, and some only one, but wouldn't it give them the results they are after?

Granted, I haven't tagged a buck this year, but have tagged 4 does, so I would be okay with being half way there for an extra tag next year!

Just an idea, feel free to blast away at me!!!

P.S. They idea of being shot with a slug while carrying my bow was enough to get me to tuck an orange flag (sticking out above my head) into my back pack! I figured, if someone is already trespassing, they aren't that smart anyways, so I took extra precautions!!
 
i heard lots of shooting this weekend as well, in fact, one shot came from my T/C Encore.... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
and even after i shot my doe, i had bucks of all sizes in bow range (im tagged out so i had to pass)
and still saw over 30 deer.....
not sure i like the season dates, but im not sure there is a better alternative.....

i had fun, that all i know....
 
I was able to take a nice doe off of my property and a HORSE of a doe off of another place. Our small group hunted Friday. Its become a fun tradition for 6 of us to get together on the first day of season. We use to pheasant hunt that weekend but most times walked all day for a couple birds. Now we go out and spank a few does, come in to my buddies wood heated shop for some chili, BB-Q deer sandwiches and a few cold ones. Then the ping-pong tourney begins! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Usually still there for left over chili at supper time. Saw a few others out and heard a few shots fired on other properties. Would it bother me if the season was done away with? No, We'd just go back to pheasant hunting, wearing orange, blasting at everything in sight, messing up everyones bow hunting. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cry.gif
 
The only point I don't see is alot of people said it messed up their bow hunting. Bow season starts October 1-November 30 and then December 17- January 10. There is alot of time to bow hunt, and I know that it is a good time to be bowhunting around Thanksgiving.

I guess my thoughts are, how would you feel if they moved it to October 1-3
or
October 15-18
or
November 1-3
or
November 15-18


I don't know what days those dates fall on, just making an example.
 
I don't know specifically that it messed up my bowhunting. But I did notice a large difference in deer activity as soon as the season began! The downfall of an early season IMO is that many deer would be wasted(meatwise) due to warm weather! I think a lot of the guys who hunt the season would take the same does during gun season! Why not have it as an option to hunt the does during second season of gun! They would get me to buy more doe tags to hunt during second season then they do during the Thanksgiving season!

Their will always be conflicting opinions. But I don't think this is the safest time to hold the season!
 
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