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My thoughts

bloodhoundhandler

bloodhoundhandler

New Member
With all the talk of declining deer numbers I thought I would share a few of my thoughts on deer hunting and hunting in general over the last 30 years. I am going on forty one years old this year and was introduced to the outdoors at an early age and it really overwhelmed my life I couldn't get enough of it so I have noticed a few changes over the past few decades.In my opinion the lack of pheasants has hurt rural Iowa worse then some people realize. I grew up in a small town and opening day was a big deal to around here to all the restaurants bars and hotels sadly those days are gone I can't remember the last pickup I saw with dog boxes in it at our convenience store. In my opinion the Hush program is horrible for our deer herd I can remember thinking before I would send a bullet or let an arrow fly do I really want to mess with processing this thing now I can just go drop it off and feel like I did a good deed and go buy another tag. High grain prices aren't helping any either what farmer in his right mind wouldn't want something shot that is eating his eight dollar a bushel corn. I don't have the answers other then stop shooting does unless you really want or need the meat or your piece of property needs managed. I do know one thing that I feel fortunate enough to have enjoyed thirty years of hunting in our great state and hope for thirty more
 
i agree with you, also to add to the farmer thing, the eight dollar corn is leading to alot of clearing of trees and habitat so they can farm more acres! where is the end? and i would also like to say other than not shooting does dont even buy the doe tags! because they are making way to much money on them to just stop selling doe tags.
 
I don't remember the last time I killed a doe. It was probably 5 years ago with my pickup. I still know guys that play "brown is down." Granted I have only 10 years hunting experience but even I have seen a decine in numbers from when I first started out.

As for the pheasants, I remember being able to walk through one of our farms and it would not be uncommon to kick up a dozen or so. Last few years when you see one driving around you treat it like a extinct bird. However, the last year or so I am seeing a lot higher populations. Hens & Roosters. With this being a light winter so far it is helping them out a lot. Also helps that nobody bird hunts here anymore for the past 3-4 years.
 
I have a pic with 36 pheasants feeding in my backyard from 2007. I put corn n birdseed out for them n the squirrels. I don't hunt them anymore and have never shot them in my yard. More fun to look at them. My wife heard a rooster somewhere by our barn a few weeks ago. I haven't heard or seen one in months. I attribute this to the massive snows from recent past years. We've also had up to nine quail as regulars in our yard and they are now gone also. I won't say our area is predator free, but I kill every animal/bird that will eat pheasants and chickens including cats. Some people will not like that. I don't care. The dnr, nor anyone else is going to dictate what I am going to do to protect my property. And right now it seems there's more pheasant killing critters around than there are pheasants............ck
 
I lived through the pheasant boom. There weren't thatmany pheasants around during the 1970's and early 80's you really had to work for them. The 1985 farm bill changed all that. CRP was everywhere and so were the pheasants. It was unbelievable for the first ten years of the CRP program. I had 80 acres in CRP and there were many, many times I walked out my door and shot a limit of three within sight of my house just for supper.

The reason for the bust is due to many factors, some tough winter and spring weather is a small part of it. The biggest reason is loss of habitat and that can be blamed primarily on the demise of CRP and the state of farm profits.
 
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