I agree great article. With the deer population having been down there is no reason to have a Jan. antlerless season. It doesn't make sense with the amount of doe and shed antler bucks that are being harvest during this season. The article explains that Gov. is more concerned about the crop damage that deer do than the damage we are doing to the population by allowing so many does to be harvested. We as hunters need to stand up in numbers and fight for what's right for our deer population so generations can enjoy the addiction of whitetail hunting. Eye opening article that everyone who cares about the whitetail population needs to read.
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Highmark
PMA Member
Its easy as hunter to limit our harvest. I set my own limits for myself and my group on my property. I know that I can only control so much but it makes a difference. I see it on forums where guys will complain about deer numbers being down in their area then post on how many does they got. Yes they got every legal right to shoot however many they want but every tag the state allows doesn't need to be filled. The farmers generate probably 1,000 x's the income hunters do in this state so I can see why the gov would want to control the population. Hunters are the last line of conservation.
Booner
Well-Known Member
I agree 110%. :way:
There are great examples of this throughout the state where deer numbers are above normal. Take the counties with little to no "bonus" antler-less tags given. These counties have normal to above normal deer numbers in some instances. I would say this has to do with area's where large shotgun parties aren't able to go through and shoot with the "if its brown its down" mentality. I can also see a huge difference in counties that one wouldn't normally think as a "big buck" county. Take far northern Iowa for example. Saw a field this winter up in Winnebago county that had over 100 deer in it. You can almost correlate the success of that heard to the lack of gun pressure and over harvesting of does. If we call ourselves outdoors-men and sportsman for that matter we should be the first ones to take a look at what we are doing rather than what others are. We can only control what we do thus we should all do our part to control and monitor herds in our areas.
Highmark
PMA Member
I talked to a CO last year about the extra doe tags. He said (understandingly) that its incredibly hard to set them county by county. He said take your county (Dubuque) there are pockets where its down significantly and there are pockets where they are like field mice. No way to separate it down more to townships as it even vary's in those and there isn't nearly enough manpower to judge it. He made the same comment I did above, where the numbers are high or low the HUNTERS need to contribute both ways in finding the right balance.
Are any apolitics not dirty really? Brandstad is doing what most politicians fall into- being bought & paid for.
I wish "self governance" and "self regulation" really happened. Unfortunately - vast majority of time it does not work. If u ever speak up about what anyone shoots- u r the bad guy. We r a people that wiped out almost every big game animal out of the Midwest until regulations were tightened. Unfortunately- as a whole- we cannot control ourselves. We need regulation & removal of doe tags for example. Some great examples of self management but as a whole we r a disaster without strict regs.
Wonder why we don't have massive attention to eradicate raccoons and turkeys - responsible for huge damage on farms I walk on. Eradicatin deer is low hanging fruit & better profit margins for insurance companies.
I wish "self governance" and "self regulation" really happened. Unfortunately - vast majority of time it does not work. If u ever speak up about what anyone shoots- u r the bad guy. We r a people that wiped out almost every big game animal out of the Midwest until regulations were tightened. Unfortunately- as a whole- we cannot control ourselves. We need regulation & removal of doe tags for example. Some great examples of self management but as a whole we r a disaster without strict regs.
Wonder why we don't have massive attention to eradicate raccoons and turkeys - responsible for huge damage on farms I walk on. Eradicatin deer is low hanging fruit & better profit margins for insurance companies.
Booner
Well-Known Member
When it comes down to it, it's all about the money. How the state can make an extra buck here and there. Not a bad thing because we all know how much they are hurting but there comes a point when enough is enough. Same way with other "natural resources" we as Iowa's sometimes abuse. Take the flathead catfish for example, is it really necessary to make a daily limit of 15 flatheads? Or why can you only shoot 2 geese while the Canadian goose population is in record numbers ruining just as much of an agricultural crop as deer (possibly even worse farther north you go)? There just so much politics behind everything and you can't make everyone happy. Like you said the KEY is "us" as hunters and outdoorsmen. We start doing our part all together we will see ourselves what difference we can actually make.
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
I gained permission to hunt a property because the tenant was tired of deer damage. I walked the property and noticed beaver trails coming out of the river, cutting down corn stalks and dragging them back.
I sat one afternoon and saw over 10 raccoons in daylight headed to the corn.
I think the deer were only a small part of his problems.