And those harvest reports ONLY supply "numbers"..... they do not give the "story behind the numbers" as they are NOT simply "comparative" numbers from year to year. We have not had season after season after season the last several years with the same regs in place................... we have had HUGE changes (addition of crossbows, rifles and extended antlerless specific seasons that make harvest easier and more attainable to those that would not have had a harvest or multiple harvests with old regs) in the last seasons to help make the "numbers" appear like there is not a drastic reduction in our herd. The graduated "piling on" of these easier to use/longer yardage weapons and length of antlerless season with a gun over the last few years is the TRUTH behind those numbers.

To ignore that fact is just plain "Obamacare Stupid".......


We have proven once again........ hunters will NOT regulate the booger finger on their own given the chance to just shoot. Yes.... herd reduction was the goal........ and it has decisively happened........and the weapon/season of choice to get those numbers down was the gun and lengthy gun season. Story after story coming in from our County goes like this......

1) People getting out of deer hunting

2) People losing their ground due to few numbers of deer and people kicking the "irresponsible shooters" out.....and more responsible hunters in. Those with $$ are leasing out the idiots where and when they can. This trend will continue....and will leave less hunters in the pool to sell tags to.

3) Those still taking care of their deer herd are still doing ok, barely .... and that is not because of the IDNR regs.......it's because of their own responsible regs they practice on their own ground. Their borders are taking beating by those that could care less....and have ran out of deer to shoot on places they used to hunt. The owners of private land that are getting tired of this WILL BE the voice that gets gun season shortened. The hunters that are tired of not seeing deer WIL BE the voice of getting "irresponsible takers" leased off or moved off the properties. It's happening now...... the lower numbers of deer are going to accelerate this even more.

4) More speaking up to reduce gun days than ever. Many are sick of what they have seen. If they can't have "quantity" anymore...... they at least would like to have some "quality" to keep them interested. The "perfect mess" is low quantity AND low quality.......and Indiana leads the Midwest in that recipe right now with over 30+ days to gun hunt for bucks, and middle of the rut gun hunting, AND extended seasons to just hunt antlerless.