Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5429
01/13/2014 07:54 AM
01/13/2014 07:54 AM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,338
John Scifres
OP
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OP
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I don't know about you but when I see this kind of widespread trend, I see something other than an individual state's season structure at work. This is an article from OutdoorHub.com's Patrick Durkin dated 1-14-2014 Outdoor Hub\'s Hunting Articles The deer hunting gods and/or state wildlife agencies didn’t single out individual states for slower firearms deer seasons in late autumn 2013.
No, deer hunting was tougher during November and early December’s firearms seasons across the Upper Midwest, with statewide kills falling short of 2012’s totals in all preliminary figures released by the agencies.
In Wisconsin, for example, the gun-season totals aren’t yet final, but the state’s nine-day firearms season produced 226,582 deer, a seven percent decline from 243,739 in 2012. The buck kill fell to 97,765 bucks, 15 percent lower than 2012.
Even so, the Badger state’s results were apparently tied for the region’s best with Minnesota. Consider:
In Minnesota, hunters registered 142,927 deer during the 16-day gun season in most of the state and the first two days of the shorter season in its southeastern corner. That’s seven percent below the 153,224 deer registered during the same time in 2012. In Illinois, the combined kill from its two firearms seasons was 74,191, a 25 percent decline from 99,546 in 2012. In Michigan, the Upper Peninsula’s kill fell an estimated 15 to 20 percent, while the Lower Peninsula’s kill fell about 10 percent. The annual Mackinac Bridge Authority’s survey of deer on hunters’ vehicles showed a 34 percent decline, with 4,207 deer counted in November, down from 6,420 in 2012. Further, the bridge survey was 26 percent below 2011’s count, 5,731. In Iowa, the kill during the first of its two gun seasons fell an estimated 18 percent from 2012. In Missouri, another of the Midwest’s big whitetail states, the kill was 157,272, a 23 percent decline from 204,654 in 2012. What’s behind the regional decline? Well, in Wisconsin, the U.P., and northeastern Minnesota, hunters often blame timber wolves for low deer numbers, and black bears for killing fawns. But those large predators aren’t a factor in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, or southern portions of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
So, what plagued the region’s deer hunting if not four-legged predators? Weather during the firearms seasons received much blame. Brutal cold beset Wisconsin’s late-opening gun season (November 23). Kevin Wallenfang, the Wisconsin DNR’s big game ecologist, said hunters responding to the agency’s online wildlife survey during the first half of the season ranked weather as the poorest in the survey’s five-year history.
Iowa reported similar conditions during its early December hunt, as did Illinois during its second season, December 5-8.
In contrast, when Michigan’s gun season opened November 15, hunters in the Lower Peninsula endured unseasonably warm weather the first two days. On day three, winds up to 70 mph blew in, keeping most hunters out of the woods. In the days that followed, many Lower Peninsula hunters stayed home to deal with storm damage and no power to their homes.
Missouri also cited warm, windy weather for its November 16 opener, but a bigger factor was likely widespread deer die-offs caused by epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in August and September. Illinois and Michigan’s Lower Peninsula also reported localized losses to EHD, which is linked to drought-driven increases in biting midge flies that spread the virus.
Farther north, the long 2012-13 winter and late-April snowstorms likely killed many young deer and old bucks in the northern forests of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; and suppressed survival of fawns born to winter-weakened does in May and early June. Wildlife agencies cut or eliminated antlerless quotas across the upper Great Lakes in response, but only time replaces mature bucks.
Sales of hunting licenses, meanwhile, were mostly stable or down only slightly region-wide, so it’s hard to blame the downturn on lower hunting pressure. Wisconsin’s license sales (633,602) were nearly identical to 2012 (633,460), while Michigan reported a two percent increase to about 640,000, and Minnesota a slight decrease to about 460,000. Iowa’s sales were down about seven percent during its first firearms season.
In other words, those who didn’t like the deer hunting in late 2013 shouldn’t feel that they alone suffered. Maybe 2014 will bring better results. I'm leaning towards a climatological explanation. Perhaps the drought and corresponding EHD had more effect than I originally credited. Hard to tell what IN experienced for sure without harvest data yet but I suspect we will see the same.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5432
01/13/2014 08:27 AM
01/13/2014 08:27 AM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,651 Indiana
Jeff Valovich
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Indiana
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Yep... its the "weathers" fault........... BS !!
"Liberalism is a mental disorder"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5434
01/13/2014 09:13 AM
01/13/2014 09:13 AM
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,449 Seymour
pav
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Seymour
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Originally posted by delaney: interesting article. Makes some of "our" complaining about our DNR a little foolish, at least at this point. "We" would have had all those states DNR folks fired by now! Seems everbody is complaining Dave....and that is what bothers me the most. I'm not going to compile this for every state....but I did look next door at Illinois. They seem to have more than their fair share of negativity surfacing. Here's the comparison for last season (excluding urban zones and special hunts): Total firearms/ML days : Indiana=43, Illinois=20 Total archery days: Indiana=97, Illinois=102 Total crossbow days: Indiana=97, Illinois=40 Quite the disparity hunting in pressure...wouldn't you agree? "Foolish" is not recognizing the differences.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5435
01/13/2014 09:28 AM
01/13/2014 09:28 AM
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 52
Surveyor4
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Member
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My opinion, and its just that, 1 hunters opinion is that it is a National trend in how killing does is viewed. I cut my teeth deer hunting when it was bucks only. As the anterless restrictions were gradually lifted, myself and many I knew still shot very few does. Especially those mature reproducing does. If you did take a doe, it was kind of an admittance of failure to need to kill one and you pretty much kept it to yourself. Now it seems all the DNR's have put so much emphasis on the need to kill does and most hunters now find it acceptable to take multiple mature does, they even think of it as something to brag about. It was just a matter of time till the intense killing of the best reproducers finally caught up with us.
Surveyor
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5436
01/13/2014 10:13 AM
01/13/2014 10:13 AM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,376 Indianapois, IN, USA
delaney
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Indianapois, IN, USA
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Paul, I'm not sure hunting pressure means anything. We've got guys on here who hunted forty to fifty days this year and still only killed a couple of deer even though they have the opportunity to harvest more. Then we have guys who only could hunt a few days and they still killed a couple of deer. After all, what is hunting pressure. We seem to have two different topics ongoing, at least from an undertone standpoint. Even with Illinois seasons, guys could probably still harvest as many deer as they are with Indiana seasons. So, the pressure on the deer herd from a harvest standpoint is a moot point in the season disparity. Now, if we are solely trying to not run deer crazy, I get it. But, I've not heard many say that they are really worried about how much we are running deer crazy. I have heard that some think there is too much time for bucks to be killed and that gun hunters have too big of an impact on the bucks. Sure, that's hunting pressure, on the bucks, but not the herd at large. Heck, if we want to reduce pressure, reduce all seasons to 20 days total. My guess is that the same amount of deer will likely be taken, in general, there will be reduced pressure on bucks if we would close the entire rut to all weapons. But, my point is that days doesn't really matter unless it's solely about the bucks. After all, Illinois is apparently facing a huge herd reduction even with their season lengths. I do think its generally foolish for there not to be a lack of acceptance that managing tags is the real issue, in my opinion, and that any reduction is season lengths should be across the board because there is no real good explanation for not asking every season to give up something if something has to be given up. But everyone sees it differently and this I can assure, not every DNR explanation is incorrect in every state.
"Fishing is like a one night stand, unless you're fly fishing, then you've encountered the romance of your life"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5437
01/13/2014 10:17 AM
01/13/2014 10:17 AM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,807 Montgomery County
76chevy
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Montgomery County
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How many deer did Ohio hunters kill in a 7 day shotgun season? Season length is not the only factor. Originally posted by pav: Originally posted by delaney: [b] interesting article. Makes some of "our" complaining about our DNR a little foolish, at least at this point. "We" would have had all those states DNR folks fired by now! Seems everbody is complaining Dave....and that is what bothers me the most.
I'm not going to compile this for every state....but I did look next door at Illinois. They seem to have more than their fair share of negativity surfacing. Here's the comparison for last season (excluding urban zones and special hunts):
Total firearms/ML days : Indiana=43, Illinois=20
Total archery days: Indiana=97, Illinois=102
Total crossbow days: Indiana=97, Illinois=40
Quite the disparity hunting in pressure...wouldn't you agree? "Foolish" is not recognizing the differences. [/b]
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5438
01/13/2014 10:30 AM
01/13/2014 10:30 AM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,651 Indiana
Jeff Valovich
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Indiana
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Come on now... we have 45 days of some type of "gun" season's and your going to tell me you cant kill a deer or two or three with a "gun" in that time frame.... and then blame the "weather" .... once again I call BS .... cant kill what isnt there ....
"Liberalism is a mental disorder"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5440
01/13/2014 11:27 AM
01/13/2014 11:27 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,057 Southern Indiana
jjas
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Southern Indiana
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Originally posted by John Scifres: I understand Jeff. And you are right for a lot of us. But we all know the weekend warrior types that go out only 1 or 2 weekends of firearms...unless it's raining. I would guess that half of the guys I know are like that. That has to have an affect that can't be discounted.
A lot of guys I know are in this just for a couple weekends of fun and don't take it seriously at all.
Very few of them would venture out in late seasons. I know plenty of guys like that too. It's more of a social thing for them. They hunt opening weekend of gun and maybe the day after Thanksgiving and call it a year. More years than not they don't fill their firearms tag and don't kill a doe because they don't want to spend another $25.00 for a bonus doe tag. I'd love to see how many hunters in this state fill zero tags, fill one tag, fill two tags, etc....I bet that data would be eye opening.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5442
01/13/2014 11:43 AM
01/13/2014 11:43 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,057 Southern Indiana
jjas
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Southern Indiana
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Originally posted by 76chevy: I have seen that data posted here.
~50% of purchasers of deer licenses, don't kill a deer. I've seen it too, but I can't find it or a link to where the data came from.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5443
01/13/2014 11:57 AM
01/13/2014 11:57 AM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,288 PlainField, IN
BREW...
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Posts: 3,288
PlainField, IN
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Here is the link to license sales.... Just do the Math!!! http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/7491.htm
Guardian Of The One Buck Rule & Gunseason "Some people just need a good *** whoopin. It keeps the planets aligned"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5444
01/13/2014 12:00 PM
01/13/2014 12:00 PM
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,449 Seymour
pav
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Seymour
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Originally posted by delaney: Paul, I'm not sure hunting pressure means anything. Dave, just one question: If all else was equal, do you seriously believe we would kill the same number of deer in a nine day general firearm season as we do in a sixteen day general firearm season?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5449
01/13/2014 12:38 PM
01/13/2014 12:38 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,376 Indianapois, IN, USA
delaney
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Hoosier Hunter
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Indianapois, IN, USA
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Paul, materially speaking, I think the kill would be relatively the same. I've talked to guy who live and hunt in Illinois and they say that the gun days are the most insane thing you've ever seen with guys driving deer and shooting at everything that moves. For instance, on opening day of this years gun season, my wife and I could have killed probably 15 to twenty deer if we hunted all day. If I were a "tag filler", I'd have shot that many. But, I'm not, and as such shot a buck, the wife was already done with a buck and a doe in archery, and we were done. Never deer hunted again. There's probably a lot of guys just like that in regard to opportunity vs. kill.
"Fishing is like a one night stand, unless you're fly fishing, then you've encountered the romance of your life"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5450
01/13/2014 12:52 PM
01/13/2014 12:52 PM
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,272 Shelbyville, Indiana
Bryan78
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Posts: 1,272
Shelbyville, Indiana
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Originally posted by Jeff Valovich: Come on now... we have 45 days of some type of "gun" season's and your going to tell me you cant kill a deer or two or three with a "gun" in that time frame.... and then blame the "weather" .... once again I call BS .... cant kill what isnt there .... Do I think weather has an effect on the herd... Absolutely it does, weather affects everything... Do I think it is the biggest factor for the herd being reduced... Absolutely not... Hands down overhunting has the biggest impact on any herd... Think about this, 74,384 does were taking last year... Yeah, eventually the bottom is going to drop out because more are being killed (or die for other reasons) then are able to reproduce the population adequately...
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5451
01/13/2014 01:04 PM
01/13/2014 01:04 PM
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,097 Martinsville, IN, USA
shooter
Hoosier Hunter
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Smoke and mirrors, if it should go to a nine day season, how many would be hunting all the nine days? It would actually be a four day season for the vast majority, as most would have to go back to work for the 5 days. Having gone deer hunting for those wonderful "nine" days many a year, very few gunshots were heard during the week. Use the "kiss" method, same seasons as always, lower the county doe amount, and nix the late season doe period. Does give birth to something that provides the fix for the horn porn addiction.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5454
01/13/2014 05:54 PM
01/13/2014 05:54 PM
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 376 Central Indiana
cedarthicket
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Central Indiana
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Originally posted by pav: Originally posted by delaney: [b] interesting article. Makes some of "our" complaining about our DNR a little foolish, at least at this point. "We" would have had all those states DNR folks fired by now! Seems everbody is complaining Dave....and that is what bothers me the most.
I'm not going to compile this for every state....but I did look next door at Illinois. They seem to have more than their fair share of negativity surfacing. Here's the comparison for last season (excluding urban zones and special hunts):
Total firearms/ML days : Indiana=43, Illinois=20
Total archery days: Indiana=97, Illinois=102
Total crossbow days: Indiana=97, Illinois=40
Quite the disparity hunting in pressure...wouldn't you agree? "Foolish" is not recognizing the differences. [/b]It seems that Kentucky, immediately south of Indiana, has set a new record deer harvest. app.fw.ky.gov/harvest/harvestcomparison.asp Kentucky Deer Harvest by Year Doesn’t Kentucky allow about as many days of deer hunting with all weapon types as Indiana? Maybe Kentucky (being just south of the Ohio River) had “better” hunting weather in 2013 than did Indiana and the other Midwest states? Perhaps less of an EHD problem? Some other explanations? I don’t know. Just asking. Doesn't Kentucky also have its share of B&C and P&Y bucks?
May all our hunts be safe, enjoyable, and deeply appreciated.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5457
01/14/2014 03:40 AM
01/14/2014 03:40 AM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,376 Indianapois, IN, USA
delaney
Hoosier Hunter
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Indianapois, IN, USA
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KY used to let landowners shoot without limit outside of the deer season as well in certain zones without the need for a permit, if my memory serves me correctly.
"Fishing is like a one night stand, unless you're fly fishing, then you've encountered the romance of your life"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5458
01/14/2014 05:16 AM
01/14/2014 05:16 AM
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,449 Seymour
pav
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Hoosier Hunter
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Seymour
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Originally posted by 76chevy: Ohio gun hunters killed 101,328 deer in 7 days of shotgun season in 2012-13, outside of the rut. The number I saw for Ohio's seven day general firearms hunt was pushing 87,000. (They also have a short December firearms hunt.) That said, numbers by themselves, don't tell the story. If that 87,000 number is accurate....it represents less than 40% of the overall harvest of 220,000 animals. Compared to Indiana's sixteen day general firearms season, which produced 74,500, or nearly 55% of the total harvest of 136,250 animals. In this case, significant difference in general firearms season timing and length produced significant differences in harvest percentages.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5460
01/14/2014 07:07 AM
01/14/2014 07:07 AM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,525 owen county
gundude
Watching Over You All
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Watching Over You All
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,525
owen county
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I was never a huge supporter of tele check.. but I have accepted it..
Life is hard. Its even harder If your stupid! John Wayne.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5462
01/14/2014 08:03 AM
01/14/2014 08:03 AM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,525 owen county
gundude
Watching Over You All
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Watching Over You All
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,525
owen county
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Harvest for this hunter was zero...but not for a lack of effort
Life is hard. Its even harder If your stupid! John Wayne.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5463
01/14/2014 08:08 AM
01/14/2014 08:08 AM
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 7,830 Hancock Co.
trapperDave
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Hancock Co.
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it was never hard to poach. it is no easier now than before.
IF....Big IF.....what you say is true, then our harvest numbers would have gone down the first season it was implemented. Instead we're reporting record harvests. Simple math disproves your claim
Join us on my Facebook group....OUTDOORS in INDIANA
formerly known as Indiana hunting, fishing and trapping
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5464
01/14/2014 08:18 AM
01/14/2014 08:18 AM
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,449 Seymour
pav
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Seymour
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Originally posted by trapperDave: it was never hard to poach. it is no easier now than before.
IF....Big IF.....what you say is true, then our harvest numbers would have gone down the first season it was implemented. Instead we're reporting record harvests. Simple math disproves your claim Actually, using that logic, a good arguement could be made against. Given all the generous antlerless quotas across the state...compared to the one buck rule, there is alot more incentive to "hide" the antlered buck harvest....and the antlered buck harvest did drop significantly last year. I don't know how much tele-check has increased such activity...but to say/think that it has no negative effect is naive.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5465
01/14/2014 08:45 AM
01/14/2014 08:45 AM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,288 PlainField, IN
BREW...
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Originally posted by Hanes: Still need to see average harvest per hunter. That true # will be hard to get with LT & Land owners involed ....they only report when success full
Guardian Of The One Buck Rule & Gunseason "Some people just need a good *** whoopin. It keeps the planets aligned"
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Re: Midwest Deer Harvest Decline
#5468
01/14/2014 01:10 PM
01/14/2014 01:10 PM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,651 Indiana
Jeff Valovich
Hoosier Hunter
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Hoosier Hunter
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Posts: 1,651
Indiana
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Once again, "easier" comes into play... I still like the check stations....easier isnt always better.... struck out on coyotes today....way to windy, 35mph gusts....try again tomorrow Am..... Carry on ....
"Liberalism is a mental disorder"
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