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Deer Study Updated 1/3

Fishbonker

Life Member
The final meeting of the Iowa Deer Study Committee was held today. I wish I could say for sure what the final recommendations will be. There was a lot of discussion on the wording for the recommendations and by the end of the day I was pretty confused. There were several times when I thought the wording was locked up only to have the recommendation revisited after the committee had moved on to another recommendation.

So instead of risking passing on bad information I’ll wait till I get a copy of the final recommendations and share it with all of you then. Suffice it to say you’ll like some of the stuff, dislike some of the stuff and be neutral on some of the stuff. The recommendations are going to be given the legislature on January 10th. Be ready to contact your legislators on the 11th to support or oppose some or all of the recommendations.

When I know you’ll know.

The ‘Bonker
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Be ready to contact your legislators on the 11th to support or oppose some or all of the recommendations.
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Will do! Thanks for the update... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

EDIT:RBB was faster than I was. Nuthin new there.

This is a link that JNRBRONC sent me today. It is a pretty good article about the committee. There are more issues that are up in the air then are mentioned so I'll share the whole document when it comes out.

Committee article

Of note in the story is the proposal banning of all deer feeding. This is from a biological stand point to prevent the spread of diseases when and if we have issues in Iowa with CWD etc. This means no mineral licks, no corn piles, no automatic feeders that get taken down on Sept. 30th. The purpose is to stop deer from being concentrated and enableing the diseases to spread. Food plots will be allowed. This will be another biology vs money issue. How much money will be lost by stores no longer being able to sell minerals and supplements? I understand the biology and support it, but how do you enforce a "spilled bag of feed" or "the salt block fell out of my ATV". Pretty hard to enforce. The aspect I really like though is no feeders that can be moved or taken down just before a season starts. Good with the bad. Trail cameras will also be affected by the feeding ban.

The ‘Bonker

EDIT #2: the feeding issue is proposed only and will need to pass the legislature.
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This means no mineral licks, no corn piles, no automatic feeders that get taken down on Sept. 30th. </div></div>

I'm curious, does that mean that these things would be allowed except during hunting season...or year around?

Most of us aren't going to put those items out during hunting season anyway but I can't tell by the wording if it will be Sept 30th til the end of hunting seasons or what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> You can give out 10,000 deer tags in a county, but if you don’t have access it doesn’t matter,” Taylor said.

Solutions might include special hunting programs tailored to specific counties or tax credits available to property owners who allow access. </div></div>

Of course I agree with Randy's statment and there is nothing wrong with the second statement except the problem lies largely with huge tracts of land that has come under recreational ownership. (AKA...hunter/landowners)

No one who owns land for hunting is going to accept a tax incentive to let people hunt...I still don't think people get it??? /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif

If a farmer has leased his farm to an outfitter...is a tax incentive going to be able to compete with lease rates??

I know that there is already a great deal of resentment by local residents about the Forest Reserve law which allows resident and NR landowners to not have to pay taxes on their timber land and at the same time not allow hunting.

I suspect that it would really cause an uproar if they find out tax rolls would be further reduced to allow hunters.... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif

Sounds good in theory but.....
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

The way I understand it is no deer feeding ever.

Lease vs tax breaks, I didn't hear a lot of support from the FB guys that were there because they thought it would mean they would have to let everybody hunt and they would lose control of their hunting, but if they could get a tax break and only allow those they wanted to hunt they were all for it.

I still think the State has an untapped cash cow, not tax breaks, tax increases for landowners that lease their ground for hunting. The landowner is making money from a publicly owned resource so why shouldn't the people of the state enjoy some of the financial benefits of leasing? (Insert man running from fire with gas can)

The ‘Bonker
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fishbonker</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

I still think the State has an untapped cash cow, not tax breaks, tax increases for landowners that lease their ground for hunting. The landowner is making money from a publicly owned resource so why shouldn't the people of the state enjoy some of the financial benefits of leasing?
throwingasonfire.jpg

The ‘Bonker
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How would the state know if a property was leased? Self reporting? Yeah, right. Do you think lease income is reported to the IRS?

What about the "subsidies" such as tax exempt forest reserve being leased or CRP payments where the only legal way to make money off the property is through leasing hunting rights. I don't have much of a problem with forest reserve or CRP IF they aren't being used for leasing purposes.
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JNRBRONC</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fishbonker</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

I still think the State has an untapped cash cow, not tax breaks, tax increases for landowners that lease their ground for hunting. The landowner is making money from a publicly owned resource so why shouldn't the people of the state enjoy some of the financial benefits of leasing?
throwingasonfire.jpg

The ‘Bonker
</div></div>


How would the state know if a property was leased? Self reporting? Yeah, right. Do you think lease income is reported to the IRS?

What about the "subsidies" such as tax exempt forest reserve being leased or CRP payments where the only legal way to make money off the property is through leasing hunting rights. I don't have much of a problem with forest reserve or CRP IF they aren't being used for leasing purposes. </div></div>

Maybe there ought to be stiff fines for failure to report lease income, of course who's going to investigate? Under cover IRS agents posing as interested hunters? lol. I agree with the comment concerning CRP and subsidies in general. If you take a gov't hand out, you should not be able to lease your land for hunting. Once again, who's going to enforce? No one.

Quick question for anyone on this site who has actually leased land to hunt - since I have not, and have no clue as to any legal documentation - do you sign an agreement with the landowner? Or do you simply shake hands, handover some dough and hope to god they don't let anyone else on it? Just curious...
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

Well if they ban feeding/licks I'm going to have to stock up on fast trigger cams cause they'll only be good on trails and field edges for the most part. No telling if it'll happen but I've been looking for a reason to pick up a Scoutgaurd. Thanks for the info Bonker.
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

If the deer are a publicly owned resource by the citizens and state of Iowa, why doesnt the govt. pay me for damages when "their deer" hits my vehicle. I would like to ask the powers that be why I have to pay $12 to shoot a deer in a county where the numbers are high on my ground to turn around and donate it back to the state so they can feed "their prisoners and wellfare families" I am all for shooting lots of does (the areas we hunt are larger tracts and do have extremely high numbers) but its not going to be at my expense. I'll go on shooting enough for my family to eat and give some to friends, but thats it.
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: River Bttm Boy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Article from Waterloo paper.


It's always good to see your name in the paper Randy. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif
</div></div>

Unless my figures are wrong from what I see:
The herd is approx. 475,000.
The want it to be 200,000.
This years harvest is at 126,000 so far.

So they want another 150000 shot? I hunted hard for the last
three days and except for the doe I shot and the two buttons I passed on, where are these 150,000 deer coming from ?

I really, really think they want them all killed. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif

Please keep us posted.
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

Borrowing off those numbers, and using this link as a guide to the square mileage of land in the state of Iowa --&gt; Iowa Fun Facts

then...the total land square mileage in Iowa = 55,875.
If the desired herd is 200,000 animals that makes 3.6 deer per square mile. Happy hunting folks. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Iowabowtech</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Borrowing off those numbers, and using this link as a guide to the square mileage of land in the state of Iowa --&gt; Iowa Fun Facts

then...the total land square mileage in Iowa = 55,875.
If the desired herd is 200,000 animals that makes 3.6 deer per square mile. Happy hunting folks. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif </div></div>

Very good point. I thought we were getting close to what they wanted per what I was seeing.
I guess we will see less. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> the total land square mileage in Iowa = 55,875.
If the desired herd is 200,000 animals that makes 3.6 deer per square mile. Happy hunting folks. </div></div>

Broken down even further is even more ridiculous. That's about one-half of one percent of a deer per acre. So on my dad's 30 I should only see .17% (rounded up) of a deer. I guess his farm is one they're targeting as there are, at times, 20 (+) does and fawns out there.
Surely the carrying capacity for Iowa is larger than one-half of one percent...Perhaps farming as a wildlife food source isn't being considered? /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif

What's next, charging the deer an "all you can eat buffet" entry fee for wildlife using farm fields to recoupe the loss the new license and tag fees will have??
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Iowabowtech</div><div class="ubbcode-body">the <u>total</u> land square mileage in Iowa = 55,875.
If the desired herd is 200,000 animals that makes 3.6 deer per square mile. Happy hunting folks. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif </div></div>

Emphasis on "total" in the above quote added. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

How many of those acres are water? How many are city acres? How many of them are flat road to road ag fields where deer probably wouldn't live anyway? Start pushing the deer into the much smaller percentage of Iowa acres that are "deer habitat" and the number per sq mile comes up a bit.

Numbers and statistics, you can make them say about anything you want. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">55,875 square miles of Iowa are land areas.</div></div>
If you subtract all the acres of highways and parking lots and structures, how many square miles are we left with?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The herd is approx. 475,000. They want it to be 200,000.</div></div>
So they want to reduce the herd by a little more than half, 58% to be precise. Thats still alot of deer to shoot in my area.
 
Re: Deer Study Update 12/30

Deer numbers and the powers that want them reduced drastically spook the daylights outta me BUT as an FYI, about 5-8% of Iowa is timbered (don't know bout CRP) to add to what you were discussing.
 
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