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Blue Tongue

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up north

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Blue Tongue - Our party just finished out annual hunt in Allamakee county, south of Harpers Ferry. We did not do well, nor did we see many deer. Also, noticed the shooting was significantly down in the area on Saturday and very little on Sunday. Talked to several other hunting parties in the area they also did not do well. For example one party has hunted the same area for 20 years and 18 hunters harvested 2 does, they usually limit out. They were stopped by the DNR and Sheriff and was asked how the hunting was, the DNR said Blue tongue has effected the area and it showed. Is anyone else having the same issues. We did not see any dead deer - However, a noticeable lower number in deer population. Our usual deer everywhere was not there this year. We hunt private land surrounded by thousands of acres of public land with very little shots bieng heard.
 
When 18 hunters limit out every year you without doubt see a drop sooner or later. We saw a lot less this year than last year. Walked a lot of creek bottoms and didn't find any dead deer though so that was good.
 
I felt numbers were down but I've been hammering the does the past few years, so no surprise there.

I did find two dead deer carcasses near stream beds. Both were within a couple hundred yards of a blacktop, so it could be due to disease or a Buick.
 
Areas in Monroe are bad, I believe the local CO confirmed 45 dead deer on a 400 to 500 acre public piece and I have found 11 dead on a 150 acre farm just a quarter mile away.....was a shame, some good deer died.
 
Liv4Rut said:
When 18 hunters limit out every year you without doubt see a drop sooner or later. We saw a lot less this year than last year. Walked a lot of creek bottoms and didn't find any dead deer though so that was good.
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Same thing with us in Marion County on public ground at Lake Red Rock. We usually see much more deer. Didn't shoot our first deer until after 2 on Saturday. And that's with a party of 13. We shot two nice deer though. Got a good set of rattling antlers off a 10 point 130 class deer I shot.
 
in monona county we noticed the numbers were down, not way bad but down, it was the worst we have done in the 18 years of going 1st season, we had 6 guys and got 2 bucks and 2 does. the doe and dink buck numbers werent 2 bad but hardly saw any mature bucks. i am sure the warm weather didnt help us out.
 
i think cwd made a little difference, but i believe the main problem is the DNR issuing to many doe tags for to many years.
 
antleraddiction said:
My point exactly. Yes the disease and doe tag counts have an impact, but let's not forget weather.
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I hear ya. No cold weather to drive them to the timbers. They could be tucked in a fence row, waterway, grass contour strip out in the middle of ag land.
 
Sure the weather was warm, but it isn't like the deer just evaporate when it's nice out and come back when the weather gets nasty. They have to be somewhere, and if many parties in the area are reporting noticeably lower deer numbers, that means it's not that the deer are just somewhere else. If you get enough guys around a section, there really shouldn't be many deer that escape completely unseen.

18 guys limiting out every year for years, and then have a crappy year where they only shoot 2 does. Isn't it just a matter of time?


"No single raindrop believes it's responsible for the flood". Just as no concerned deer hunter that drops the doe to fill the freezer is responsible for the low deer numbers.

Don't get me wrong, I don't shotgun hunt, but I have absolutely nothing against shotgun hunters, nor am I trying to bash them. My family shotgun hunts, I just choose not to participate.


The problem that overwhelmingly covers the state is the lower deer numbers (less the isolated spots). I've spoken with many of the DNR representatives in the North East region about the status of the deer population in that area because that's where I hunt. They tried to drastically reduce the antlerless tags in that region as the population dropped much faster than most, and only because people were doing what they were asked to do, shoot does. Well, when it came time to release the new antlerless quotas, the DNR didn't get the say-so on the deer population, so they didn't get the reduction in tags like they wanted, and people will shoot them even if the population is low because they have a tag in their pocket. It's our own responsibility to manage our natural resources, and if that means writing a letter to your legislators regarding the deer population and the inability of the dnr to do their jobs, so be it. Because right now, we have a legislature that sees deer as a nuisance, and will completely overpower the DNR if we don't completely irradicate the deer from the state. Want proof? Ask about the agreement that was made between farm bureau and the DNR regarding the deer population.

When the agreement was made a few years ago to start lowering the deer population, there was a set population level that was agreed upon between the DNR and insurance companies like farm bureau. Now that many areas of the state are at or below these levels, they (the insurance companies) want to lower the goal even lower. What will happen when we get to that level?
 
I don't think it should have been real hard to see this coming actually. Let's think about it if the DNR issues 100 doe tags, the average doe is already bred, and she is carrying 2.5 fawns, that is 350 deer that are not going to be there the next season in that area. Multiply it for three or four years times all 99 counties it isn't that hard to figure out why we are not seeing the numbers we used too. Every year for the last three or four years we continue to see less and less deer, I don't think that we have become that bad of hunter's that we no longer have the ability to find deer. You can't find whats not there!
 
Lets be realistic here. I completely agree that deer numbers are down. I just moved here this year, but with ehd and everything, it's definitely believable. But just because 18 hunters only got two deer and they usually tag out, doesn't mean that the deer population is 1/10th of what it has been in the past. There were several factors limiting the amount of deer seen/shot. And let's be honest, a two day sample isn't proof. Most bow hunters (who spent a lot more time in the woods than a weekend) have said that numbers are down this year, but they didn't say deer are now an endangered species! Like I said, I agree numbers are down and some places got hit harder than others with disease and such, but say you usually see 10 deer in a sit, you should still see around 7 or so on average. I will also agree though, that things could get bad if we don't make issues known, because deer numbers will only get lower if hunters and conservationists don't speak up.
 
I went out this past weekend with family and friends, 5 of us total. I had 2 doe tags in my pocket so I could hunt both counties legally yes I was party hunting with doe tags. Any ways long story short I found several dead deer in the creek bottoms, a couple still in velvet and saw very few deer. Worst gun season ever for myself and this includes last late muzzy season. Warm temps had a lot to do with it that is for sure lower deer numbers had an effect as well. I had a few shot opps on does but elected to pass them do to the low numbers of deer I was seeing and they would have been hell getting out in the 70 degree temps and it would have taken a heck of a buck for me to pull the trigger. I would rather see my sister, cousin, and uncle kill a decent buck since they only get out and hunt during Gun 1 but I buy the doe tags to go and have fun and help them to success. They will probably be the only doe tags i buy and I had no real intentions of filling them. A donation to the state but really we are the only ones that can help by not shooting every doe we see just because we have a tag.
 
Way to be a good hunter and conserve what we still have. I bought two archery doe tags, I shot a button buck with one of them, and the other tag is still sitting on my dresser. I won't be using it this year. So there's two does that I let live. One was unintentional, the other I'm purposefully deciding not to use.
 
The problem my group saw was no decent bucks. We couldnt find a buck over 110 inches if our lives depended on it so far
 
We hunt northern Iowa have not saw any sign of EHD or Blue toung. Also saw lot of deer sounds like normal year. Heard of alot of big bucks in Allamakee shot during gun season as well. On anorher note id say numbers are down for consecutive years now
 
Have hunted Harrison County for over 20 years....worst year ever...We saw a third of the deer we ususally do. Found (4) dead bucks on one farm....all by water. Just assuming EHD. Same story with alot of other groups we've talked to. I agree with some of the other guys, too many doe tags issued over the last couple of years but we all know BIG MONEY talks and when Insurance companies are raising cain about the number of deer/vehicle collisions guess who the gov't is going to listen to.
 
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