Not meaning to rant, but did a quick search to find information I look at on an annual basis on the DNR site. Here is the link to the compiled information from the 2010 survey.
http://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/uploads/Hunting/bow_survey.pdf
Notice that the data compiled is number of deer observed (whether antlered, antlerless, total, etc.) per 1000 hours hunted...and it is broken down by region. This is good information, and if a person were to see 20 deer on a farm the first night they sat, and sit there 20 times during the season and see the same 20 deer each night, they should have recorded 400 deer based on the information the survey is looking for.
On a related note...we as hunters need to be careful what we wish for. There are really 2 competing schools of thought regarding the deer population. First, we want as many deer as possible (don't shoot ANY female deer); and second, we want the biggest bucks on the planet (don't shoot ANY male deer until they are huge). So the combination of these two would mean don't shoot ANYTHING! Then we'd have a bunch of deer everywhere, and huge bucks everywhere. Unfortunately, that is not an acceptable solution, on a number of fronts. Guys like me like deer meat, and like to shoot deer too. So I WANT to shoot a deer or two each year. I also like to have an occasional opportunity to shoot a big buck. So there is a balance to be struck. Maybe some of you on this forum are old enough, like me, to remember when getting an "any sex" tag for shotgun season was a real treat! Most years our tags read "antlered only", because the focus was on building the population. Now, the focus seems to have changed to big bucks, which means lay off the small bucks and shoot does...except many are now saying this is reducing the overall polulation too much on a localized or even statewide basis. As I said...a balance to be struck, and the DNR deserves the best, unbiased, information we can give them to help make these harvest regulations. Thanks for reading.
NWBuck
