Will History Repeat Itself??

[Hardcorehunter]

50 years ago my Grandpa said that if you saw a deer it was rare and if you did you called your neighbor to report the rare sighting. Other wildlife was abundant though, prairie chickens, ducks, pheasants, rabbits, and fox populations were MUCH more abundant than now.
Vehicle insurance companies, irritated homeowners that complain about bush and flower damage, some farmers and other property owners complain of the financial losses to deer. Not to mention our deer lands are being swallowed up by developers. 5 years ago, a hunter in IA was allowed to take one deer with a bow and one with a gun. Now we are allowed to take as many as we want until each county is sold out. Most guys are taking 3-6 deer per year that I know. Pressure from the above groups is causing the IA DNR to take these actions.
Deer hunting is big business for the states and brings in a lot of revenue. Our pheasant population in IA has steadily gone downhill over the years due to lack of cover, modern farming practices, and overhunting. It used to be nothing for me to drive down a gravel road and see 10 roosters in a mile. You would have to drive all day now to see 10 rooster pheasants. The state wouldn't think of closing the pheasant season for a year or limiting the harvest or days afield. Pheasant hunting brings tons of $$ to this state and the state economy depends on it. $$ talks. Could our deer hunting go downhill from the peak it is right now? Some states have chronic wasting disease to contend with too. It is probably only a matter of time until it affects all states with deer. Will our kids or grandkids call up their neighbor to report the rare sighting of a deer?

My Grandpa with a weekend harvest of foxes taken years ago by tracking them in the snow

 

[teeroy]

daaamn. that's more fox than i have taken in my life

 

[Hardcorehunter]

He was a master at it. Get on a fresh track and usually shoot them while they slept. No fancy camo clothing either. The good ole days. He has told me that the prairie chickens and ducks were so plentiful that they would actually block out the sun when a huge flock of either would fly over.

 

[Iowa1]

Back in the '80s I used to do a lot of fox hunting during December and January. All spot and stalk, I tried calling but never had consistent success. This was in the northern Iowa flatland where it is easy to glass most of a section from the road with a good spotting scope and then sneak out and try to get within range of the wily critters. Tough challenge, but we got quite a few and it sure was fun. In the late 1980's we started seeing coyotes for the first time. I think I shot my first one in 1987. Soon after, the fox population bombed and I am told it has never come back because they cannot compete against the coyotes. I think the pheasant population also went way down due to the farming practices. The CRP program was terrific for them but when it started to go out, the population dived. As soon as corn and bean prices would go up a little, fencerows and abandonded farmsteads were torn down, further hurting the pheasant populations. Additionally, abandoned farmsteads were common in the 1980's and I would catch coon by the hundreds at them. I could show you probably 100 places that were farmsteads which raised all kinds of game back then that are nothing but frozen plowing now.

A lot of things changed in the last couple decades, and in general, wildlife has been the losers. Sad.

 

[Renobber]

I have a feeling it isn't going to get much better with the ethanol, and the price of corn sky rocketing. I was gone for 8 mths and came back and couldn't beleive how many ditches,fence rows,old houses,draws,crp fields were gone. Im thinkin the bird population is goin to end up like the quail, few far and between.

The deer on the other hand are probably just going to over populate again, once all the out of staters come in and buy everything. Its already happening to me, I am gonna lose about 2500 acres due to an outfitter.

 

[THA4]

we need to be active and let our Legislators know of this concern....talking will only do so much
action is needed

 

[Shoot2Kill]

Very good points - I'm so sick of the $$ talks crap everywhere you go. It seriously worries me about what it will be like in even 10-15 years when I hopefully have a young son I want to take afield and teach the outdoors to. 20-30 years from now will I even be able to take grandkids hunting if I have them? - I don't even want to think about it.

Farmers on here - I only ask cause I don't know - is it really worth ripping out all the trees on a fence row just to get a few more feet of plantable ground? That was my biggest peeve when I grew up in IA - watching those fencerows disappear.