Again, I'm no expert... But I've been hunting deer in Indiana since the mid 80's. Back then you had to be drawn for an "antlerless permit." What this did was keep things in check per county. The "key" here is you had to be "DRAWN." Now, you can kill a deer and just drive home with a homemade tag. Check it in if you WANT TO. I believe people are killing a ton of does and not checking them in. What you're reading is the results of those who checked them in. Before the use of homemade tags you "burned" your tag the minute you tore it off.
The state obviously doesn't care. I guess that's fine?
Here's my point:
I always see guys posting on here saying they aren't seeing deer. Well, lets start managing the herd ourselves.
A few years ago I had to go to Iowa to restore power during an ice storm and it happened to be in deer season. I was really torn up over being there instead of being here hunting, so I interacted with as many people/deer hunters as I could to kinda get my fix. What I found was they(ALL OF THEM) had a total different perspective on what they were shooting compared to us. Kids, teenagers, would pass a 130" deer all day long. It's not like they were killing 150" deer every year either. It's just that they knew that the only way to get to 150 was to not shoot them when they were 130. Does? they weren't killing them like rabbits. They have "antlerless only" seasons and STILL have deer everywhere.
I just think we need to change our mindset as hunters towards managing what we see in our neck of the woods instead of killing what were ALLOWED to kill. We're getting better on bucks. I was staunchly against the OBR but admit now it was a good thing. I just think we're slaughtering our does.