Iowa DNR Listening Meeting Feb 21st

[jjohnson]

In the case of lowering #'s in Allamakee and Clayton counties you simply cannot talk your way out of this. CWD is their defense and I can assure you they are not looking for the publics input here. They are telling you what is going to happen period. I've been to the CWD meetings where they stated they wanted input yet after the meetings they were giving away tags. And within 3 days it was open season. They are trying their best to get us out there and do this but most are not buying it. And they definitively are still trying to make money doing it. A lot of guys up here told them to give them free tags during season and they said no way we cant do that.

The way I see it some will participate and some wont. Our antlerless quota this year was 3600 and we had over 1000 tags left I believe. What will another antlerless season accomplish? We've been there done that and most people are not going to kill deer like we did 10 years ago.

 

[Ishi]

Only 11 showed up at Knoxville. Video and audio was...... pi** poor. Not sure what changed from two years ago but this didn’t preform well at all.
This year the meeting for me had a different feel IDK. I left when all the sites reported ( except Altoona). I’ll hear the CWD reports and extra season bull crap at the banquet when the DNR folks are present.

 

[Fishbonker]

You are correct for cwd. We used to have a late antlerless county wide before cwd and could not use a rifle. Now they are planning on incentivizing it with the rifle and they also will be able to make money off of their tags. So they are trying to reduce the number significantly and in doing that saying it is the hunter doing it and not the DNR. As far as the extra 300 nonresidents that is also a money grab so they can bring more people in to fill those tags more often. The DNR are politically playing this one pretty well. It is up to everyone in Allamakee County to talk to someone in order for this to not get out of committee.

I was not aware that there were late seasons "up nort, eh?" back in the day. I guess I concentrated more on the southern two tiers.

I'll go to the "Proposal" thread to comment on the shift of the tags from northwest to northeast.

As far as the meetings tonight, I didn't really hear anything new. Well I did but I have forgotten what they were.

The Solon meeting was very well attended with lots of attendees sharing their views. So many in fact I couldn't hardly get a word in edgewise. It was OK though because my opinions were brought up by others.

EDIT: I agree that the sound quality was bad and some of the video was blurry, but how much did it suck for the folks that went to Altoona? Sure they got to fill out forms but I go as much for listening to what other sections of Iowa have to say as I do to express my opinions. Maybe their sound still worked so they could listen but I think they were DOA.

As far as I can tell it's not the DNR's fault but I don't know where to point the finger.

 

[risto2351]

In the case of lowering #'s in Allamakee and Clayton counties you simply cannot talk your way out of this. CWD is their defense and I can assure you they are not looking for the publics input here. They are telling you what is going to happen period. I've been to the CWD meetings where they stated they wanted input yet after the meetings they were giving away tags. And within 3 days it was open season. They are trying their best to get us out there and do this but most are not buying it. And they definitively are still trying to make money doing it. A lot of guys up here told them to give them free tags during season and they said no way we cant do that.

The way I see it some will participate and some wont. Our antlerless quota this year was 3600 and we had over 1000 tags left I believe. What will another antlerless season accomplish? We've been there done that and most people are not going to kill deer like we did 10 years ago.

Justin, we are on the same side here I assure you. But with the rifle incentive it will bring big numbers up there I guarantee you that. The DNR official at our site made mention that they were able to get more does shot in the Southern tiers a few years ago by doing this also. I asked him if their was a numbers issue in Allamakee? He said that the numbers were up, I said "Why did you lower the antlerless tags last year then", no comment. People will come up and use their high powers. It may be a done deal but it sucks. Unfortunately people do not have the same passion as we do about the herd.

 

[hotshott2289]

what also makes no sense is that when discussing the need for some serious overhaul to our waterfowl season dates we were pretty much told the proposals for the season dates were already sent in... So why even bother having a listening session if you don't care what our opinions as hunters are? I guess its incredibly frustrating because nothing ever changes, even though we desperately need an overhaul for waterfowl dates and want to have a voice as far as cwd is concerned. Just pretty disappointing that the people who actually have skin in the game basically don't have a say

 

[risto2351]

One other thing that I didn't know was that the 117 day season for geese included the urban hunt as well. I really didn't think that was fair to those that don't have access to the smaller area to hunt for geese. I watched thousands of geese from the closing date on come on in for that late season. There is no reason to close it earlier than January 10th in my opinion. There are not enough hunters out there to make a difference in those cold temperatures, but that is my opinion.

 

[hotshott2289]

One other thing that I didn't know was that the 117 day season for geese included the urban hunt as well. I really didn't think that was fair to those that don't have access to the smaller area to hunt for geese. I watched thousands of geese from the closing date on come on in for that late season. There is no reason to close it earlier than January 10th in my opinion. There are not enough hunters out there to make a difference in those cold temperatures, but that is my opinion.

having any goose season open in october is a waste.. birds used to show up around thanksgiving now its not until december, this year it didn't get really good until the 20th.. No reason it can't be open all of January.

 

[Hardwood11]

You are correct for cwd. We used to have a late antlerless county wide before cwd and could not use a rifle. Now they are planning on incentivizing it with the rifle and they also will be able to make money off of their tags. So they are trying to reduce the number significantly and in doing that saying it is the hunter doing it and not the DNR. As far as the extra 300 nonresidents that is also a money grab so they can bring more people in to fill those tags more often. The DNR are politically playing this one pretty well. It is up to everyone in Allamakee County to talk to someone in order for this to not get out of committee.

Risto--where do you find this information. I sure hope they do expand the January rifle season in Iowa, big mistake!

 

[risto2351]

I read it on here. Bonker posted it somewhere and at the meeting I made mention of it and the DNR did not refute the allegation but agreed with it going to happen.