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Originally posted by jjas:
After one year of the new regs being in place, the number of antlered deer harvested dropped, and the number of antlerless deer harvested rose.

So it would appear the herd is being reduced......and wasn't that the goal?
Actually, the fact we introduced more antlered opportunity and the antlered harvest actually fell in the very first year....would indicate the herd was already in decline. Yes?

What exactly was "the goal" anyway? I would offer "the goal" was to get lawmakers off the DNR's back. The travesty of the entire ordeal dates back to the reason the lawmakers started making noise in the first place.

This entire mess can be traced back to one individual. One Representative that is no "Friend" to deer hunters or the DNR. This guy tried for years to legalize high fence shooting pens in Indiana. The DNR, with support from the deer hunting groups fought him tooth and nail. I'm one of many that believes his "deer reduction" ultimatum was nothing more than payback for his high fence failures in the Legislature.

I believe 1.0 was a low impact response that would have produced data implying deer reduction...by lowering the antlered harvest via season structure and improving the doe/buck harvest ratio by default.

It didn't fly....so now we are left with killing more deer. The question remains...did we really need to?

There are none so blind as those who will not see.