Changing the way we think!

[Thinkin Rut]

There are a variety of ways to correct the shrinking deer herd in a hurry. The problem though, is the powers that be see the deer population very differently than what we do. Even if every deer hunter who cares the slightest about the herd would come together, it would not be a large enough block of voters to change their minds. The only way to turn the deer numbers around is, if that same union of hunters start operating under our own set of rules when it comes to harvest numbers. The emphasis needs to be taken off contacting the Governor(this hasn't and won't work) and placed on contacting the individuals in your shotgun group and bow hunting buddies.

 

[bowmaker]

Agreed!!!! I support this 100%, You get your any sex for bow and gun then one doe tag for each season per county!!

I hope that those supporting this kind of approach understand that almost half of our counties this year had 500 or less doe tags avaliable for hunters, 43 to be exact. That would mean that for thse counties with 0 tags now there could be 3 doe tags avaliable for every hunter in those counties, one for bow, shotgun, and muzzle loader. One thing that I have seen over the last several years is that even with the obsene numbers of doe tags avaliable in the lower tiers of counties, most of the northern hunters who take advantage of the late January rifle season tend to hunt the small amounts of public ground here. The public ground deer numbers have suffered from this season, how ever I don't believe that it is the main reason for the decreasing numbers of deer. Acording to the IDNR reporting site as of this morning there have been 43,354 does and 9016 button bucks, and 414 shed bucks reported out of a total of 89,693 deer. This means that 59% of the current total reported have been antlerless deer and with the late season just around the corner that percentage will likley climb to over 65% or maybe even 70%. Even though some of these deer were actually bucks virtually all of them were killed in the belief that they were does by hunters thinking either they were doing a good thing or that the very least it was OK because they had a tag for it. You can't keep killing over 2/3s of the deer harvest as does and not have a far reaching effect on deer hunting!!

This is a complex problem that can't be solved by a simplified solution. License sales are another big issue. If we suddenly reduce license sales from the current 375,000 down to say 250,000 how will the DNR make up for the funding lose? I did a couple of arbitary calculations to figure the current dollars at about 8.4 million dollars and the possibel cuts to equal around 2.5 milion dollars. How do you think that the DNR could survive loosing that much revenue? My guess would be to dramiticaly increase license fees! So if tag fees went up to say $100 each, how many tags do you think they would sell? How many of the once a year hunters would simply drop out of deer hunting, further reducing the revenue and creating even higher fees?

One last thing, I have said for several years that I disagree with the mandatory HUSH "contribution" when we buy a license. I have never used the HUSH program and can say that I never will so even though it is only one dollar I don't think it is right. I see no valid reason to kill a deer just to give it away to HUSH, whether it is a yearling doe or a huge "rutted up" buck. I know that this is a personal thing to me and that I will upset many here, but to me that isn't much different than just cutting off the head and leaving the rest for the coyotes, because they gotta eat too. I am not saying that anyone here would ever do that but that is my view of it. If you are going to put forth the effort and money and time to kill a deer it is your responsibility to see that it is used properly and not use HUSH as an excuse to shoot something. Don't hate me but to me it is what it is.

 

[Drifty4]

Or you could buy the doe tags and throw them in the dresser drawer and leave them there.

Not only are you not shooting does, but if you are in a limited tag area, you are actually saving the lives of some does in your area that may have been harvested by others.

It is an investment in your sport.

 

[Thinkin Rut]

License sales are another big issue. If we suddenly reduce license sales from the current 375,000 down to say 250,000 how will the DNR make up for the funding lose? I did a couple of arbitary calculations to figure the current dollars at about 8.4 million dollars and the possibel cuts to equal around 2.5 milion dollars. How do you think that the DNR could survive loosing that much revenue? My guess would be to dramiticaly increase license fees! So if tag fees went up to say $100 each, how many tags do you think they would sell? How many of the once a year hunters would simply drop out of deer hunting, further reducing the revenue and creating even higher fees?

If the truth were known, this probably is the real reason that they are stuck selling the high number of tags and refuse to deal with the free fall in deer numbers.

 

[Sligh1]

Let's make the solution concise here.... It is SIMPLY & ONLY: getting folks to get off their butts, write it to gov & reps for areas and ATTEND upcoming meetings they r hosting for wildlife/deer hunting. That's it. Advocate the lower tags, end of shed buck season, etc. That's all we really need to discuss here and shout at the rooftops to others about- write in and ATTEND these meetings. Of course it's critical we are making as many aware as possible.


I do wonder about the tag sales... At this rate- tag sales r gonna go in the toilet whether they reduce allocations or not. I know my buddies and myself all bought a lot less tags this yr. eventually- there will be enough pockets of so few deer that guys have no reason to go spend $12 to refill on more tags. If the only way to balance this was to increase tag prices by a few bucks- I think that would be a no brainer. If that was the negotiation hot button.

 

[turkeyriver]

I've been asking politicians for a increase in resident any-sex fees for years. They react like you want to shoot their dog. Falls in the same category as raising taxes I suppose. Noone wants their name on that bill.

 

[Thinkin Rut]

Let's make the solution concise here.... It is SIMPLY & ONLY: getting folks to get off their butts, write it to gov & reps for areas and ATTEND upcoming meetings they r hosting for wildlife/deer hunting. That's it. Advocate the lower tags, end of shed buck season, etc. That's all we really need to discuss here and shout at the rooftops to others about- write in and ATTEND these meetings. Of course it's critical we are making as many aware as possible.

If the main reason they will not back away from the late antlerless season is because of revenue we are S.O.L. and are wasting our time. How many letters were wrote and meetings held to show our opposition to Obamacare? Obamacare affects every voter and a low deer population affects only a few. Obama is mandating you have Obamacare but the State is not mandating you pull the trigger on a doe. We should be able to fix this ourselves. I think it's already catching on.

I do wonder about the tag sales... At this rate- tag sales r gonna go in the toilet whether they reduce allocations or not. I know my buddies and myself all bought a lot less tags this yr. eventually- there will be enough pockets of so few deer that guys have no reason to go spend $12 to refill on more tags. If the only way to balance this was to increase tag prices by a few bucks- I think that would be a no brainer. If that was the negotiation hot button.

What ultimately may happen would be an increase in NR tag numbers...that's when you know we have hit rock bottom.

 

[MN2IAGuy]

If the main reason they will not back away from the late antlerless season is because of revenue we are S.O.L. and are wasting our time. How many letters were wrote and meetings held to show our opposition to Obamacare? Obamacare affects every voter and a low deer population affects only a few. Obama is mandating you have Obamacare but the State is not mandating you pull the trigger on a doe. We should be able to fix this ourselves. I think it's already catching on.


What ultimately may happen would be an increase in NR tag numbers...that's when you know we have hit rock bottom.

If they double the price of the tags I would think they would only loose about 10 to 20% of their sales and reduce the pressure on the deer herd while actually increasing revenue! If the herd gets to the point where they think more NR licenses will fix the problem it will be too late!

 

[sep0667]

If the truth were known, this probably is the real reason that they are stuck selling the high number of tags and refuse to deal with the free fall in deer numbers.

Do they really rely on the revenue for the extra tags that much? Was the DNR strapped for cash a decade ago before all the extra antlerless tags?

 

[Thinkin Rut]

If the herd gets to the point where they think more NR licenses will fix the problem it will be too late!

I will give you that.

Do they really rely on the revenue for the extra tags that much? Was the DNR strapped for cash a decade ago before all the extra antlerless tags?

I'm only speculating that this is the main reason for not taking care of the problem. I can only guess that they have spent that money and any funds for the next five years are already spent or at least earmarked. It is no different than you getting a sizable raise and have your employer take it away ten years later.

 

[Hardwood11]

The late season rifle doe season has to go