I’ve had this discussion with folks from the everyday hunter, legislators, casual hunters, non-profit orgs, DNR, SERIOUS Hunters, etc. Along with posts on this site. I wanted to put a fine point on explaining this & have the dialogue.
Our #1 issue above all others is fighting for a rebound in deer #’s in the vast majority of the state. Not the whole state but most. 75% of the state is down - BIG LEAGUE & statewide, clearly the whole state is down HALF in harvest vs 15 years ago. There’s a few pockets in “really good shape” …. It’s the exception though. Very few areas have been immune to massive EHD outbreaks.
Farm Bureau is funded, organized & determined to continue to fight for less deer across the state. This is their official policy or advocacy spelled out in their newsletters & directive to their hired lobbyists. They want the forest reserve program eliminated. In full transparency…. They will not be happy or stop until every last animal is eradicated & every drop of Land is in a corn & soybean rotation. For many years- they have gone un-opposed & their “hay day” for power & influence was when they had Brandstad in their pocket. Since then- the iowa DNR has been neutered and the deer harvest has gone in HALF like mentioned above... KEY!!! to reduce the harvest in half… some parts of the state might have only gone down “10%” while others down “80%”. 50% is an AVERAGE. NOW- THEY ARE FIGHTING TO REDUCE IT EVEN LOWER!
Farm Bureau is waging war on deer & forest while: harvest is in half, EHD wipes areas out & we losing more habitat than gaining. While they are not telling their members about depredation program, list of CO’s with waiting hunters to shoot does, financial incentives of walk in hunting, etc.
HUNTERS, ISC, IBA, etc need to be the counterweight to Farm Bureau. We have been & will continue to be. We need to beat them & claw back SOME of the ground we lost from the Brandstad/FB days. We don’t need to explode populations but we need to let them recover, rebound & have a balanced population in most of the state where it’s not there now. & the MAJORITY- it’s down. Western or even the northern 2/3rd of state, on average, needs big relief. Even folks in the “great areas” … there or talk to them often “we are hurting”
HOW WE FIX THIS ISSUE!!! All of these issues need public awareness & highlighted to the masses….
1) fight with all we have against farm bureau & support ISC, IBA, etc. JOIN & HELP!! They are the front line. Need to grow the orgs, members, etc.
2) public campaigns to remind hunters- especially “casual hunters” (yes, I said it!)… that we need to lay off in many areas. The days of shooting just to shoot & stacking them up- we can’t sustain that & has devastated neighborhoods
3) reducing coyote #’s & even bobcat - in many epidemic-level areas. They exist!! Insane populations of night time killers wiping out more than replenishment rate of fawns & doing more killing of adult deer, including rutted out or minor injury bucks. Too many sanctuaries for coyotes & vast areas shut down to trapping or hunting them.
4) late shed buck season needs to end!!!!!
5) need army at the hunter input meetings!!! Farm bureau is organizing attendance just like we are. They are sending them to these meetings. We need to swamp them. To our credit- we have facts & common sense on our side. They have angry lunatic hacks on their side.
6) research, funding & efforts aimed at ehd issues & when it comes to CWD… only things that address cure/solution (vs killing & testing)
7) DNR being able to “have opinion”. They are neutered & this needs reversed. Farm bureau can lobby & have opinions but DNR cant. This has to change.
8) be ready & act when we need to email in on issues &/or attend/zoom subcommittee meetings on this issue & other issues. This is so effective it’s insane!!
9) fighting with economic FACTS!!! $5.2m in supposed deer crop damage on a $11B corn crop in iowa. Iowas Deer economy is far over $180m & doesn’t account for countless things, including the lease $ many farmers take in from hunters.
We can make this our #1 focus while very easily handling the other issues like DEFENSE on every issue throw at us. We can work on things to better the resource like the discussion on buck tags, tag sharing, seasons, technology, etc etc. I do think if we fix population- many other issues might fall into place or we may view them differently.
If we stay on trajectory of degradation…. There’s zero doubt we will have to implement far more aggressive conservative measures to regs. We’ve had 20 years of liberalized killing & additional seasons, weapons & technologies. We fight to rein this in and reverse the trajectory now or look at far more conservative regs.
Population recovery is #1 & I also think it’s an issue most hunters can unite on vs some others which are a bit more divisive. There will always be disagreements, always be givers & takers in hunting, those unwilling to change, etc. But- we have to do what’s right for the resource in the end. On other side of things - lack of division & fighting has caused countless states to be RUINED “unite behind our resource being ruined every year and our resource flushed down the toilet!”
Anyways - some thoughts & direction I’ve been chewing on & discussing. I know it’s long winded but wanted to fire detail into this as context & “how to” are as critical or more critical than identifying the issue. Love your feedback & need your feedback as well!!! We have the facts on our side. FB has anger, $, GREED & misplaced emotion. We win if we fight & SHOW UP! FIX IOWA’S DEER #’s & KEEP IOWA GREAT!
Our #1 issue above all others is fighting for a rebound in deer #’s in the vast majority of the state. Not the whole state but most. 75% of the state is down - BIG LEAGUE & statewide, clearly the whole state is down HALF in harvest vs 15 years ago. There’s a few pockets in “really good shape” …. It’s the exception though. Very few areas have been immune to massive EHD outbreaks.
Farm Bureau is funded, organized & determined to continue to fight for less deer across the state. This is their official policy or advocacy spelled out in their newsletters & directive to their hired lobbyists. They want the forest reserve program eliminated. In full transparency…. They will not be happy or stop until every last animal is eradicated & every drop of Land is in a corn & soybean rotation. For many years- they have gone un-opposed & their “hay day” for power & influence was when they had Brandstad in their pocket. Since then- the iowa DNR has been neutered and the deer harvest has gone in HALF like mentioned above... KEY!!! to reduce the harvest in half… some parts of the state might have only gone down “10%” while others down “80%”. 50% is an AVERAGE. NOW- THEY ARE FIGHTING TO REDUCE IT EVEN LOWER!
Farm Bureau is waging war on deer & forest while: harvest is in half, EHD wipes areas out & we losing more habitat than gaining. While they are not telling their members about depredation program, list of CO’s with waiting hunters to shoot does, financial incentives of walk in hunting, etc.
HUNTERS, ISC, IBA, etc need to be the counterweight to Farm Bureau. We have been & will continue to be. We need to beat them & claw back SOME of the ground we lost from the Brandstad/FB days. We don’t need to explode populations but we need to let them recover, rebound & have a balanced population in most of the state where it’s not there now. & the MAJORITY- it’s down. Western or even the northern 2/3rd of state, on average, needs big relief. Even folks in the “great areas” … there or talk to them often “we are hurting”
HOW WE FIX THIS ISSUE!!! All of these issues need public awareness & highlighted to the masses….
1) fight with all we have against farm bureau & support ISC, IBA, etc. JOIN & HELP!! They are the front line. Need to grow the orgs, members, etc.
2) public campaigns to remind hunters- especially “casual hunters” (yes, I said it!)… that we need to lay off in many areas. The days of shooting just to shoot & stacking them up- we can’t sustain that & has devastated neighborhoods
3) reducing coyote #’s & even bobcat - in many epidemic-level areas. They exist!! Insane populations of night time killers wiping out more than replenishment rate of fawns & doing more killing of adult deer, including rutted out or minor injury bucks. Too many sanctuaries for coyotes & vast areas shut down to trapping or hunting them.
4) late shed buck season needs to end!!!!!
5) need army at the hunter input meetings!!! Farm bureau is organizing attendance just like we are. They are sending them to these meetings. We need to swamp them. To our credit- we have facts & common sense on our side. They have angry lunatic hacks on their side.
6) research, funding & efforts aimed at ehd issues & when it comes to CWD… only things that address cure/solution (vs killing & testing)
7) DNR being able to “have opinion”. They are neutered & this needs reversed. Farm bureau can lobby & have opinions but DNR cant. This has to change.
8) be ready & act when we need to email in on issues &/or attend/zoom subcommittee meetings on this issue & other issues. This is so effective it’s insane!!
9) fighting with economic FACTS!!! $5.2m in supposed deer crop damage on a $11B corn crop in iowa. Iowas Deer economy is far over $180m & doesn’t account for countless things, including the lease $ many farmers take in from hunters.
We can make this our #1 focus while very easily handling the other issues like DEFENSE on every issue throw at us. We can work on things to better the resource like the discussion on buck tags, tag sharing, seasons, technology, etc etc. I do think if we fix population- many other issues might fall into place or we may view them differently.
If we stay on trajectory of degradation…. There’s zero doubt we will have to implement far more aggressive conservative measures to regs. We’ve had 20 years of liberalized killing & additional seasons, weapons & technologies. We fight to rein this in and reverse the trajectory now or look at far more conservative regs.
Population recovery is #1 & I also think it’s an issue most hunters can unite on vs some others which are a bit more divisive. There will always be disagreements, always be givers & takers in hunting, those unwilling to change, etc. But- we have to do what’s right for the resource in the end. On other side of things - lack of division & fighting has caused countless states to be RUINED “unite behind our resource being ruined every year and our resource flushed down the toilet!”
Anyways - some thoughts & direction I’ve been chewing on & discussing. I know it’s long winded but wanted to fire detail into this as context & “how to” are as critical or more critical than identifying the issue. Love your feedback & need your feedback as well!!! We have the facts on our side. FB has anger, $, GREED & misplaced emotion. We win if we fight & SHOW UP! FIX IOWA’S DEER #’s & KEEP IOWA GREAT!