I am well aware that not everyone is going to be able to hunt in the "deer mecca". I can remember driving in Switzerland and Ripley counties and having to drive at 30mph in the dark to keep from hitting deer. Amish moved in and in a couple of years deer in those areas vanished. The folks who hunted around Versailles state park were killing huge bucks and all the does they wanted, then the state opened the park to deer reductions, the good ole days are gone now.

There are a couple of surveys from IDNR that just blow me away.

1. Majority of deer hunters hunt within 30 miles of home

Why? If you don't get what(the experience) you want at home why not travel farther to get it?

2. Twenty five percent of landowners say they have never been asked for permission to hunt ANYTHING.

If one fourth of farmers/landowners have never been approached for hunting permission we as a hunting community are lazy or just afraid to talk to people.

I have to agree with Chevy76 on hunting public land. I have friends who are willing to put in time and legwork to find good deer hunting on public ground. You might not kill a huge buck every year but look at pictures from public land on this site alone. Some people make it happen on a regular basis.

Some folks have family or work commitments that doesn't allow alot of deer hunting time, then you can't expect a deer behind every tree a big buck or a "freezer full of meat". Time and effort equals success. I like morels, my property does not grow them, I have two choices, find a property that has them and gain permission, or go to a store who sells them

As a whole deer hunters starting in the 80's bought into the story Indiana had too many deer and started the reduction. Jon Olson, Jim Mitchell and IDNR managed the deer herd, keeping the legislature andthe legislature at bay. they actually were growing the herd at a slower pace! I was told that by one of the individuals.

We get into the past decade and new equipment is introduced(you pick the tool)and hunters wanted more opportunities, pistols,modern powder muzzleloaders, pistol cartridge rifles, crossbows, all put more people in the woods at the same time. We have gun huters who would never pick up a bow until they had one cocked, a score and a trigger, womenwho wouldn't hunt because of recoilor didn't feel they could draw a bow,kids that were not "big enough to handle recoil and a legal draw weight of a bow. Now let me say, I am ALL FOR recuiting new hunters, we need them, at what costs?

I know of one "deer hunter" under six years of age, hi dad put out a food plot, he set a pop up blind, moved a desk to the blind that had a lead slide mounted to it. Once a deer entered the field he adjusted the desk and lead sled for the child and had him pull the trigger. Is that deer hunting, or just pulling the trigger?

We then add deer season that begins on September 15th for some people and continues non stop until January 31st for those same folks. People want more opprtunity, longer seasons.

People claim deer tags are too expensive, IDNR creates a bundle license, 2 does and a buck the license is good the whole season! Who is going to spend the money and not try to fill every tag?

"Opportunity" comes with a cost........

Who did it? WE DID!

The title of this thread is correct....

You Made Your Bed, Sleep In It.