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Bucks only. No doe s

letemmature

letemmature

Member
I hear a lot about the population declining in so many different areas in IA, what would happen if we were only allowed to shoot bucks and no doe s for a year or two or three? It sounds far fetched. If you really think about it, before you jump to a quick response, it would make sense if the population of deer is truly declining. I m all about herd management and letting bucks mature, so it would be a tough couple of years but if that would help the population rebound (if the deer population truly needs a boost) it s a thought. It will be cut and dry 2nd shotgun season what the population looks like in my area, because there is no place to hide this year, all the crops are out.
 
letemmature said:
I hear a lot about the population declining in so many different areas in IA, what would happen if we were only allowed to shoot bucks and no doe s for a year or two or three? It sounds far fetched.
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Doesn't sound far fetched to me, as that is the way it was back in the '70's. You sent an app in to the DNR, hoping that you would get a coveted anysex tag, because if you got an antlered tag, you were probably gonna have tag soup.

Those regs were responsible for building the herd.
 
It wasn't even that long ago (probably less than 10 years?) that you were not even allowed to shoot a doe during first shotgun season in Iowa. When I first started hunting when I was young back in Ohio, we hoped and prayed we would draw a doe tag. Now there are so many deer there (and here) that they are providing tags hand-over-fist. If not, the deer population would be through the roof. Heck, my dad said he didn't even see a deer until he was in high school, so the folks who think there will not be deer around for our 'grandkids' either are too young to remeber those times or just have forgotten how it was just 20 or so years ago. There are more deer now than ever, except for maybe the past few years of extra doe tags to get the herd back under control. So what if you see a few less deer than when the poplation was at the max. That just makes the hunt and reward even better.
 
I know that after the lack of deer numbers I witnessed on my farm this fall that there will be no more does shot until I see the numbers rebound. I am going to miss shooting a few with my bow in October
 
Doesn't sound far fetched to me, as that is the way it was back in the '70's. You sent an app in to the DNR, hoping that you would get a coveted anysex tag, because if you got an antlered tag, you were probably gonna have tag soup.

Those regs were responsible for building the herd.

Amen!<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
 
Anyone else think that the winter had a large hand in the declining deer nummbers? We walked our farm several times last winter and came across frozen and starved deer a couple times, it was a sad sight. I'm sure hunting pressure has something to do with it too, but we are in a very low antlerless allotment county, so I cant see overhunting as that big of a contributor...
 
I-state_hunters said:
Anyone else think that the winter had a large hand in the declining deer nummbers? We walked our farm several times last winter and came across frozen and starved deer a couple times, it was a sad sight. I'm sure hunting pressure has something to do with it too, but we are in a very low antlerless allotment county, so I cant see overhunting as that big of a contributor...
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Thats what im going with. I hunt in an area that has way lower #s than the last couple years but the #s are still there. The hunting pressure hasnt changed any, so the only variable I see was the abnormal winter last year. I personaly found 17 does dead from being caught in fences on only two farms. countless others laying dead for no apparent reason, (starvation maby?) for more than a month last year the only thing my deer had to eat were the needles from pines and evergreens, which was all very apperent when shed hunting. It was strange all the does that got there legs caught in fences and not a single buck.:confused:
at any rate this year one of my farms now has from what I can tell a 2-1 if not a 3-1 buck to doe ratio. The only trouble with that was by Nov 1st Half the bucks were now half racks and the other half were busted all to hell from fighting. I dont know about the rest of the state but Im not to worried. Like someone els said #s may be down but there down from the highest #s ever just making it seem worse than it really is, atleast for me, im sure in the next couple years things will climb back to what were used to.
 
In Wi, there are counties in the northern half that are buck only for all seasons this year. amen.. this is after they completely ruined the deer pop by offering unlimited doe tags. A couple years of no doe harvest will let the pop rebound fairly quick imo.
 
IMO, there is so many things that play into why the deer population is declining if in fact that it is. Here in Central Iowa, Boone and Polk county I drove around for less than 1hr and counted over 100 deer right before dark. I bet 90 of them were does, i think the areas that are lacking for deer right now are the area's with STUPID HIGH doe tags, as well as STUPID big groups of shotgun hunters that slam over 30 deer per season. I agree with others that the deer population is down because of the 3 dumb antlerless only season. I heard through the great vine that them does seasons are finished after this season but we will see if they follow through with that!
 
By the way, the 70's sucked as far as deer hunting went......I started hunting in 1973 and didn't even see a deer for the first 2 years.....took me 4 years to shoot my first little buck.
 
By the way, the 70's sucked as far as deer hunting went......I started hunting in 1973 and didn't even see a deer for the first 2 years.....took me 4 years to shoot my first little buck.
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But you were HUNTING rather than shooting.

My first year was something like 1974 and though I didn't shoot a deer, it was an awesome introduction into the world of whitetail hunting! I saw many deer and some stud bucks that year, just didn't shoot until the following year. Wouldn't change a thing!

How much leased land was there then?
How many "pay to play" high fence operations were there?
Could you get permission by simply asking and a handshake?
How much non-resident pressure/non-resident landownership was there? (overall, I have few problems with NR's, so don't go there!)


I'd go back in a heart beat, especially if I knew how things were going to improve in the next two decades. :way:

I have confidence things will come back.
 
Being able to shoot only bucks would just continue this endless complaining of a shortage of deer, the only difference would be that everyone would be complaining that they aren't seeing bucks every time out because they all got shot last year..
 
Bucks only...Welcome to Minnesota.

Most of northern MN is antlerless lottery. For my area each hunter is allowed 1 deer. Archery tag is eithersex, and for rifle or black powder you have to apply for a doe tag. Consquently the first antlers that walk by most hunters get shot.
 
311 knows of what he speaks. Because of the way we manage our deer, we are trying to get the P&Y minimum lowered to 35 s we have a chance.
 
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