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2023 Deer Harvest Report numbers

vrod said:
Milo locker has taken in more deer than last year already. Which is crazy based off the deer numbers I’ve seen this year.
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Doesn't surprise me, they do some advertising and seem to be growing by word of mouth a quite a bit. Ive never heard another locker running ads on the radio. With the proximity to the metro and how much the much continues to expand year after year they definitly have a growing market. I love dropping a deer off in the walk in cooler after hours, just to take a look at bucks that are in there.
 
I would say numbers will be down. I had a very tough archery season and my brothers and I did not see as many deer as normal in gun season. Others I have talked to also seemed to have seen less deer but many had differences in the reasons.
 
My fear/prediction: overall harvest will be slightly down from last year. However, the number of does, "yearlings", and 1.5 - 3.5 year old bucks taken will be MUCH higher than last year. Mature bucks over 3.5 years old will be WAY down.

I will personally admit this is the first year I have shot a mature doe with my early muzzy tag AND a 2.5 year old buck (typical Iowa medium sized 5x5) with my bow tag, which is a first for me regarding both tags. I lost all 4 of my target bucks this year to EHD (all found by me at the same creek...Mills County for those wondering where). I only have two 3.5 year old bucks "left", as of last week camera pics, that I passed on this year. My family LOVES venison so this year weighed heavy on me taking 2 deer I normally would not have harvested in years past.

My fear is I am personally part of a problem that might result from this year. It seems deer sightings/numbers are down across the entire state. Now with gun season/s in full swing, I am hearing the same thing regarding low deer numbers, especially when it comes to mature bucks. A LOT of hunters seem to be currently shooting similar deer to what I did. My concern is what will the age structure/deer numbers look like in 2-3 years?

My fingers are crossed that i am 100% wrong on the overall harvest this year and I can look back on this thread in a couple of years and call myself a dumb drama queen!!!
 
I’m 10000% sure my population is down vs 5 years ago, by a good bit. Several areas and farms. I drive a lot of the state & countless miles in deer country. My anecdotal observation….. I’m convinced #’s across state, ON AVERAGE, are down. Is there pockets full of deer? SURE!! Pockets with hardly any deer? SURE! But on average- my opinion: down.
& remember folks- population around the 2003-2008- I think our population state wide is down something like 20%-ish, maybe more, in last 10-15 years. I’m ballpark in the range without looking back at the data. We are absolutely down double digits state wide vs a decade or so ago.
Hunters are a big part of this (the most) but…. EHD & COYOTES have a HUUUUUGGGGEEEE impact in population. Ehd speaks for itself. But I’ve seen countless areas where they quit shooting does, kept food up with good cover & the amount of fawnless does is bananas. Add on the deer the packs take down during season- 99.999% of folks have no clue the killing going on in the dark of night.
 
vrod said:
Milo locker has taken in more deer than last year already. Which is crazy based off the deer numbers I’ve seen this year.
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Sligh1 said:
I’m 10000% sure my population is down vs 5 years ago, by a good bit. Several areas and farms. I drive a lot of the state & countless miles in deer country. My anecdotal observation….. I’m convinced #’s across state, ON AVERAGE, are down. Is there pockets full of deer? SURE!! Pockets with hardly any deer? SURE! But on average- my opinion: down.
& remember folks- population around the 2003-2008- I think our population state wide is down something like 20%-ish, maybe more, in last 10-15 years. I’m ballpark in the range without looking back at the data. We are absolutely down double digits state wide vs a decade or so ago.
Hunters are a big part of this (the most) but…. EHD & COYOTES have a HUUUUUGGGGEEEE impact in population. Ehd speaks for itself. But I’ve seen countless areas where they quit shooting does, kept food up with good cover & the amount of fawnless does is bananas. Add on the deer the packs take down during season- 99.999% of folks have no clue the killing going on in the dark of night.
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It’s spotty EHD hit hard in my area my buddy who only lives ten miles away lots of deer . Lots of ponds in my area in his area not so much
 
I feel like anything here we need to be proactive in addressing this with our DNR biologists and voicing these concerns. The EHD death reports that come out are a pretty small percentage of what is actually reported. I visit with multiple groups from all over the state and it's been very concerning the lack of deer people are seeing and the number of dead deer being found. Obviously they are aware but hearing it from us wouldn't hurt.
 
vrod said:
Milo locker has taken in more deer than last year already. Which is crazy based off the deer numbers I’ve seen this year.
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Aslo a lot of smaller lockers stopped processing deer due to the process they have to go through in their locker. Local locker here will only take deboned deer meat. They are booked with beef and pork and will make a lot more money from that so really can't blame them since you shutdown all other meat process when doing deer.
 
iowavf said:
Aslo a lot of smaller lockers stopped processing deer due to the process they have to go through in their locker. Local locker here will only take deboned deer meat. They are booked with beef and pork and will make a lot more money from that so really can't blame them since you shutdown all other meat process when doing deer.
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Completely agree as I had a locker (Afton) that stopped taking whole deer. I took mine to Milo last year. I suspect they will see their numbers rise, despite the overall deer numbers declining. Fewer spots will take on more business. For a while.
 
cybball said:
Completely agree as I had a locker (Afton) that stopped taking whole deer. I took mine to Milo last year. I suspect they will see their numbers rise, despite the overall deer numbers declining. Fewer spots will take on more business. For a while.
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new locker in Lomami I heard. Don't know anything about it?
 
The locker I work part time at stopped processing boned out deer after the 2021 season! That was a happy day…
 
The problem I see- is every time numbers start coming in low there is a new CWD area they want deer shot. “Oh let me grab a high power and go help” “better yet- I can donate it”. Those 2 statements drive me absolutely nuts. Numbers are not out there- and as actual hunters- we should want good numbers but not 99-01 type numbers. Now don’t get me wrong that there are pockets that need reduced, but as a general whole, numbers are down. We primarily eat deer but I’m not going to keep shooting just because I can. I know the past several years (I’ve gotten better each year) that I was just as big part of the problem as anyone. Heck one year I killed 8 does with my bow because “I could buy the tags”… boy I was an idiot. And the people that are pounding their chests saying I shot xx does- you can’t tell them otherwise unfortunately
 
Haven’t shot a doe on our farm in 4 years. We are getting to the point where there are too many but I would much rather have 2008 numbers than 2018 numbers.

You guys live in the Best hunting state for whitetails no doubt, but the state and hunters have adjust in years like this, no reason for 3 buck tags etc. when your herd cannot support it
 
I bow hunt far northeast Iowa along with bow in east central Iowa and shotgun hunt southern Iowa. I’ve certainly seen far fewer deer in all areas. Not the chip shot doe hunts and multiple sightings of bucks anymore. Limited access with more and more ground purchased/leased for hunting. You’ll find out who really likes to hunt the next several years. You have to work for it now. How bad do you really want it? I’ve filled one doe shotgun tag so far for the fall btw. At 44 I wonder if I’ll really have the drive for it once all the kid chasing is done and the herd numbers possibly increase in 5-7 years. So far the drive is still strong.
 
Wildturkey 2 said:
It’s spotty EHD hit hard in my area my buddy who only lives ten miles away lots of deer . Lots of ponds in my area in his area not so much
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So are you saying EHD hit the area with multiple ponds worse than the area with few ponds? That seems like it should be the opposite but I'm not well versed on EHD. I will say we saw a lot of deer this shotgun season. Found a couple of dead ones is all.
 
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