I won't dispute that this year's firearms season harvest of older bucks would likely have been down due to the late start date. How much? Who knows...But when you throw the lousy weather we had statewide on the opener on top of that, you get what we did...a opening day harvest cut by 75% (as compared to last year).

If you have 800 private acres to hunt and you're not happy with the buck/doe ratio, then why doesn't your group take more does or limit the number of bucks taken? We have a rough idea of how many deer are on the properties we hunt and we set goals on how many does and bucks we feel should be taken. When (if) those goals are met, those properties aren't hunted again that season.

I get your overall point. And yes, in a perfect world, no one would be in the woods during November and the deer could breed 100% naturally. But you and I both know that isn't going to happen as both bow and gun hunters want to hunt during that month.

And that is, was, and will likely continue to be, the major bone of contention here...