Early archery was up (there was an extra 5 days this season) by roughly 5,000 deer .
Early archery was up SIX days...all of those being rut days. I have no way of verifying the 5,000 number...but not at all surprised if the early archery harvest was up by adding six prime rut hunting days to the season. Where I hunted, November 7th through the 14th were incredible for buck movement. Last three days of early archery...not so much.
Where applicable, the late antlerless firearms season went from 7 days to 13 days comparatively. Given the frigid temps, it will interesting to see the impact...or lack thereof.
For what it is worth, the property I hunt (800+ private acres) had the same eight gun hunters the first nine days of general firearms season. A year ago, all eight guys filled their buck tags. This year only two guys filled their buck tags. The timing of the opener made a major impact on the number and quality of bucks seen/killed.
IMO, the opening day weather on November 18th could have been perfect...and the harvest would have still been down substantially from last season's November 12th opener. Based on what I saw the 12th-14th...had general firearms opened on the 12th or 13th....that group would have fared significantly better...just like last year.
We had at least three different fawns on the farm this year carrying visible spots into October. I doubt any of the three weighed more than 40lbs by the firearms opener. Definitely late births. No coincidence in my mind this happened following the early firearm opener. Way too many bucks killed before they had a chance to breed.
The math is simple. If you have a 4:1 doe/buck ratio going in (probably very good for most areas in the state), so 40 does/10 bucks....and you kill five of each prior to peak breeding dates (1:1 being the average firearms season harvest ratio), your doe/buck ratio climbs to 7:1 (35/5). You just extended the rut into the winter months. Not good for the bucks. Not good for the does. Not good for the fawns. i.e. Not good for the deer herd as a whole.
But then again, when was the last time Indiana did anything good for the deer herd?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
