I know where the confusion came from.....Here's my quote from a previous post.

After reading it again, I agree it's confusing. What I meant to say was that the new regs did what they were designed to do, which was increase the antler less harvest. The bonus was that this happened without increasing the antlered harvest. And not only did the antlered harvest numbers not increase in the first year of new regs they actually dropped.

It obviously came out clear as mud and that's my fault and I'll own it.

But that doesn't change the fact the antlered harvest numbers dropped by 5,000 when many people assumed that with crossbow inclusion those numbers would go up.

So how can that be?

The one thing I see that would have led to the lower antlered buck harvest drop in year one of the new regs was the EHD outbreak that occured in the vast majority of counties in 2012.

Obviously you feel I'm mistaken, and I'd like to hear how you think the antlered herd numbers dropped by 5,000 deer in the first year of the new regs after those numbers had remained steady over the previous 8 seasons.


The antler less herd took the hit in 2012 (as designed) and based on that I would expect the numbers across the board for this season to drop. And I would also expect that if those numbers do drop substantially that the DNR will make changes to the bonus antlerless quota permits available.

Regardless, I look forward to seeing the data.