Hello everyone,
I was having a chat with a few friends today and the subject of controling our deer population came up, which means harvesting more Doe's and allowing bucks to continue on living.
Let me ask you all a question,...

When you go hunting, do you want to see deer or not?
If you answered YES then that means you agree with me,

Now do you think you would see more deer if more Doe's were harvested?
If you answered NO then again you agree with me.

Harvesting ONLY Doe's is to me NOT the answer to controling our deer populations.Having enough hunters is the key, and making it easier for people to get into hunting is the next key.
Allowing numerous deer to be harvested every year to me is just, stupid.Spending millions of dollars to have a call in report of harvest thing just isn't going to work.It will increase poaching of deer and turkey, and seeing deer or turkey will be more likely if you own your own deer or turkey farm.

My fix is make hunting a known event, get schools involved in teaching firearm safety, and getting schools involve MORE into outdoor education.And help school districts get more archery competitions, by taking money from the sales of hunting and fishing license and tax dollars from the sales of firearms , ammo etc that money could be used to purchase bows, arows and targets.I am sure that the sportsmen and organizations would contribute their time ( I know I would), to get donations of either money or equipment for such a cause.
Also I don't see much action in the Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts for teaching of hunting like I did when I was a kid.
I see alot of conservation teaching but not much on deer habitat and turkey habitat etc.And or safety training in the handling of firearms and hunting safety and tracking of wounded game.

Anyways there are other ways to make our tax dollars work for our sport to get more people into hunting.REDUCING harvest numbers would increase more deer seen by hard working people that don't have time to spend hunting a whole weekend.I feel 2 to 3 deer per person would be MORE then enough for anyone.And with families having more then 2 people hunting in the same household 2 deer per person is MORE then plenty.

If ODNR wants to reduce the harvesting of bucks then have drawings for buck tags.I think I remember back when I started hunting that's what they used to do.

Well that's my thought for this day,..let me know what you think.

Later All
Wolvie

sure open a can of worms here

honestly, harvesting doe's is the best way to controll the population. a doe eats just as good, if not better then a buck, anyways you can't eat antlers. the main problem is there are too many trophy hunters in this state, I know a lot of guys that refuse to take a deer be it a doe or a buck if the buck is smaller then a 10 pt. I think that is what the state needs to put a stop to, when the beatty buck was taken it was in all the mags, and then when the money started being offered for it, the state should have stepped in, its illegal to sell any part of a deer without a permit. when deer hunters learned they can get millions for their trophy buck, then you have a problem, heck its illegal to harvest a deer and then give it to someone else. and I know people do that.

as for this new check in system. I personally think its a joke and there will be a lot of deer and turkey killed and not reported. the state will learn that in the comeing year. also buying your license online is a bad thing, the money goes to a company in Georgia that process the license, not to the ODNR. also your local conservation clubs are losing money when you by off line, they don't get the writing fee and that means less $$s for them to do their thing with. I know our club will be losing around $4000 each year thats going to hurt us, with our educational functions we do, like our display at the county fair that cost the club around $2000 to put on. there you ask and I answered