Yes I did when I was a kid and loved it.... Wished I could find it on TV and I would watch it again....

No its not. Its getting smaller. Our DNR's model is based off of antlered deer harvest. They stated it was the lowest since 2000, indicating a shrinking herd. This year, you really can't use the overall numbers as an indicator with all the extra seasons, and weapons. How they REACT to the numbers, and adjust the bonus permits in individual counties will be interesting to see.

Does anyone have numbers from the counties of the numbers of deer /car accidents. I usually hear about several each year but none this year.

My county, Porter, was down 80 bucks as compared to 2011, and of course the Doe kill was up as I predicted it would be, but that is 'cause of the new late antlerless and crossguns and now the whole county is "urban"(still cant figure that one out)....with one person being able to kill 16 deer there is no place to go but down in herd numbers....just wait a handful of years and the damage will have been done...the population isnt growing, hunters are just able to kill more with various weapons and seasons and soon will hit rock bottom if they dont back off on their own 'cause I dont see the DNR doing it, not until the numbers drop to record low levels....

Saw 4 does opening day of gun. Never saw them again until all seasons were over. Never saw any bucks in daylight entire season. Never had a shot opportunity. No deer taken by me, two buddies that hunted with me, or guy hunting the adjacent property.

Guys I know who hunt the Deming and Sheridan areas had basically the same type of season.

Yet Hamilton County's bonus number has been pushed from 2 to 3 to 4 during the past several years.

Starting to remind me of the 70's... when you never saw any deer at all....

I primarily hunt in Washington and Orange counties. I saw quite a few deer this year but based on the kill data from 2011 & 2012 there were substantially more antlerless deer killed in both of these counties in 2012.

Washington County....8 bonus
Antlered kills up less than 1% +5
Antlerless kills up 17% +284

Orange County....4 bonus
Antlered kills down 10% -83
Antlerless kills up 20% +250

Does anyone know how the DNR decides what bonus number to assign a county? And what does it take to lower that bonus number?

Complaints from farmers and accident reports and Ive heard say some input from the local CO's and region biologist....Heck, the only time the regions biologist was around here was back during the deer wars of the late '90's and early 2000's when he visited Beverly Shores....and to lower the #'s I have no Idea...do they really backtrack on the bonus numbers ??

I can't think of counties that were lowered...but I can't say with absolute certainty that it's never happened.

I know the DNR wanted to lower herd numbers and as noted by the kill numbers it's obviously working.

You guys do realize that some hunters actually hunt to eat and not care about horns right?

I killed 3 does and a buck this year and 3 more does were taken off the property.....those 7 deer are feeding several families.

Take into consideration this year the DNR offered the bundle license of 1 buck and 2 doe. Guys buying this bundle arent going to eat a tag. In years past many bought a buck tag and one anterless tag and only took two deer. I think the increased anterless numbers are due to the additional anterless tag in the bundle tag. h.h.

Of course I realize that many hunters hunt primarily for the meat and I totally appreciate that.

Having said that, my curiosity over the number of bonus doe tags is based on not knowing how the numbers are set, and @ what point those numbers are lowered.

Congrats on your season.

Pike county went from an 8 to a 3 after the 06 EHD outbreak. Still a 3 as of now thank God.

From the NWI Times(nwi.com)2-22-12 : Mitch Marcus a spokesman from DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife said, Harvest numbers show the new regulations are working with the Harvest numbers up 6 percent over 2011. Much of the increase has been with crossbows and Youth hunters. Despite the record harvest, deer numbers are down across the state. He said the number of antlered deer for the 2012 season is the lowest since 2000. Chad Stewart a deer management biologist for the DNR said that the lower buck kill shows the herd is smaller. ........

Suppose to be 2-22-13...still living in the past ;0) ....

Dumb! All of it. Numbers falling and kill rising, don't need 4 semesters of engineering calculus to figure that one out...

The DNR got a record harvest and a record book number one Deer......

Has the DNR ever bought and filled anyone's tags for them? Just curious seeing a lot of complaints about low numbers but ultimately it's up to us. I know they've never pulled the trigger for me or managed te property I hunt for me. Myself and the few others people I hunt with are in charge of our property mgt plan, not the DNR.

Yep Trad, that is THE point

Yea trad and Hanes may as well just open it yr round. Won't matter if ya manage your own property will it?

Tongue in cheek but ya see my point.

The difference is if you open year round the deer eventfully will will have sustainability issues. With the current seasons it doesn't yet appear that the resource is in jeopardy.

I find it hard to believe the harvest numbers.I am 58 years old and have hunted every year from the time I was 13.The past two years I did not bother to buy a gun tag.This past archery season I saw only 6 deer.

I tell you what, I have a hard time believing the numbers. Almost all the people i talked to seen way less deer and harvested less deer in 2012 then they have in a long time. I still say it is either feast or famine. Many public land areas are really getting hit hard while private land is being managed and there are tons of deer. The deer quotas on public land needs to be addressed.

Im with you Parker they dont add up. I hunt private woods in one of the best counties there is both land owners to the north and south wrk to keep the #'s as close to being right. EHD hit hard again, even if some dont want to admit it.And the antlerless # are out of wack.

Aren't we going to show an "increase" just by adding the new antlerless season? Logic tells me that if you increase the number of days people can hunt, there are going to be more deer killed than the year before... Duh!

We need less gun slaughter!!! I keep very detailed records and my number of deer sightings while hunting just continues to go down and down each year.

Just waiting for someone to say that the new WORLD RECORD was just killed in Indiana, therefore everything is perfect. I don't agree...

to those that think a declining herd wont affect them because they have x acres under lease and can control the harvest on their land...I remind you. Mother Nature hates a vaccuum. Deer will disperse from your property and go to areas of lesser density, no matter how good your ground is

Not true. As proved by, among other things, the overcrowding in state parks to the point of malnutrition and the healthy herds just down the road.

Studies show once an area is shot out, deer do not fill in the void for some time....