Originally posted by delaney:
[b] Why does it seem that these discussions almost always end up a weapons issue? It seems that at times the "deer" herd becomes secondary to weapons. The big picture, in my opinion, should be about how many deer are being harvested, what the average harvest per hunter is, how to limit harvest when needed and what the intended number of deer per habitat mile is targeted by the DNR. Forget the weapon issue for a while because at some point, hunting is hunting. I'm not really sure that the vast majority of hunters even acknowledge or take into any considerations this thing of "management". I believe the problem is hunter density, unwillingness to not pull the trigger or release the bow, or the vast lack of the majority of those who hunt deer to really give a crap about the deer herd except when they are wanting to shoot one.

The existing hunting organizations have become vastly ineffective in influencing anything because the game has changed with how politics and management is handled. The will have a good opportunity to see if hunters can have an influence based upon the number of those who hunt deer becoming socially engaged. Now, again, no organization is going to satisfy everyone and if they get caught up in a weapons focus instead of looking at the bigger issue of harvest and herd size, they too will get drawn down into the abyss of being discounted by the agency. There are more then a few in the DNR that often have felt that we are at a point where most who are engaged year round are more focus on the weapon use issue then the status of the deer herd itself.