Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Tragedy of The Commons- Ohio's Deer Herd

LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,503
127
The woods
Wikipedia definition of Tragedy of The Commons: "In economics, the tragedy of the commons is the depletion of a shared resource by individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, despite their understanding that depleting the common resource is contrary to the group's long-term best interests."




I highly suggest reading this article, at least the first half of it. Once I started reading, it hit me like a brick. My goodness, this is happening before our eyes. It described what is going on in my area to a tee.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/TragedyoftheCommons.html
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
Seth, Tom Winegar was in the shop a couple times this week. I asked how they did during shotgun season. There was not a deer seen on his farm. He has friends from both KY and TN that have come up to hunt for yrs. He said they hunted the entire week and saw NOTHING! His farm is on Hudson, just south of the WA. He seemed sad thinking back to all the deer they used to hang in the barn and can now not even find one to shoot at... Funny how folks don't want to believe the loss in this area!
 

LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,503
127
The woods
Brock, stories like are all too common in Highland county. I just talked to a local farmer yesterday as well, he farms a little over 200 acres I think, which is slightly larger then the average farm in Highland county. He said he saw the same group of deer two different times, but other then that he saw nothing. He was sad as well, and spoke of how he completely disagreed with people killing any more then two deer a season. This is from a guy who makes his living planting and harvesting crops. From what I read on here, some people are seeing more deer in one hour in other parts of the state then what we are seeing an entire season in Highland county. Everyone wants their piece of the pie though, and the DOW keeps cutting that slice bigger and bigger, and we keep taking and taking. There are still a couple slices left and a few little crumbs. When will it be gone for good? Tragedy of the commons.
 

Flatlander

Junior Member
506
46
Darby Creek
Exactly! Like I've said before, some of the same guys complaining about deer numbers being down said they took 3 doe this year. Wake up people, we can't depend on the ODNR to take care of it, it's up to us as hunters.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Exactly! Like I've said before, some of the same guys complaining about deer numbers being down said they took 3 doe this year. Wake up people, we can't depend on the ODNR to take care of it, it's up to us as hunters.

That will never happen as its too big a scale for people to understand and see the big picture. If we as a whole were capable of this we wouldn't need a dnr to set limits. Even with limits were killing way too many in ever growing areas. Hunter as a whole are not conservationists. We're killers. We rely on the dnr to set limits and conserve game so we don't screw ourselves. But it doesn't work when they're the ones screwing us.
 

Mike

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,840
223
Up Nort
That will never happen as its too big a scale for people to understand and see the big picture. If we as a whole were capable of this we wouldn't need a dnr to set limits. Even with limits were killing way too many in ever growing areas. Hunter as a whole are not conservationists. We're killers. We rely on the dnr to set limits and conserve game so we don't screw ourselves. But it doesn't work when they're the ones screwing us.

True words.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
Its just funny because Tom thought we had plenty of deer just a couple of years ago - and that is usual for people with short term memory, or that don't spend much time in the field/woods; or those that still have a solid population in their area.

Tragedy of Commons, what a wonderfully descriptive phrase. If it weren't the truth, why would hunters be so excited to get access to "unhunted" property? Why are under-pressured farm ponds always better fishing than public access waters?

Mrex is always so happy to say we don't have a population problem, we have a distribution problem. That was not the case a few years back. We had deer seemingly everywhere. I miss that.
 

LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,503
127
The woods
Its just funny because Tom thought we had plenty of deer just a couple of years ago - and that is usual for people with short term memory, or that don't spend much time in the field/woods; or those that still have a solid population in their area.

Tragedy of Commons, what a wonderfully descriptive phrase. If it weren't the truth, why would hunters be so excited to get access to "unhunted" property? Why are under-pressured farm ponds always better fishing than public access waters?

Mrex is always so happy to say we don't have a population problem, we have a distribution problem. That was not the case a few years back. We had deer seemingly everywhere. I miss that.

I'm not that old Brock, but I too remember the days of plenty, when I still trusted DOW and before the Ohio Farm Bureau began managing our deer herd for us. Even our small tracts of public land were great hunting! I found an old shed at Paint creek today, all narled and chewed up. It kind of reminded me of how the deer herd in our area has taken the same path as that old shed. I use to see several trails crossing the road at this spot, now not even one. We are now living in what I refer to as the Tonkovich era. I hope this is the legacy he wanted to leave. I bet his heart skips a beat every time he sees a dead doe.

We cant blame it all on the DOW though. Other things have changed besides our liberal deer regulations. Bow hunting is more popular now then it has been since pre-settlement times when the natives were still slinging arrows at Buffalo. I remember people use to look at me weird when I said I hunting with a bow, and now it seems like everyone I know has a crossbow, 15 foot ladder stand and a deer feeder in their back yard. I cant hardly drive down the road anymore without seeing a treestand or ground blind set up somewhere. Contrary to popular belief, hunter numbers are NOT decreasing, they are going nowhere but up. While there isn't as many people out chasing rabbits and squirrels as their once was, there are more bowhunters now then ever before. Naturally the more hunters in the woods, the more pressured the deer will be and more deer end up killed. Even if the bag limit was 2 deer state wide, that will no longer be enough to recover what we once had. As hard as it is for some to swallow, we MUST restrict hunter opportunity if we want to see more deer. That means shorter seasons all around.

None of this matters the least bit though because the DOW goal was to reduce the herd and that is exactly what they have done and will continue to do.
 
Last edited:

Flatlander

Junior Member
506
46
Darby Creek
We cant blame it all on the DOW though. Other things have changed besides our liberal deer regulations. Bow hunting is more popular now then it has been since pre-settlement times when the natives were still slinging arrows at Buffalo. I remember people use to look at me weird when I said I hunting with a bow, and now it seems like everyone I know has a crossbow, 15 foot ladder stand and a deer feeder in their back yard. I cant hardly drive down the road anymore without seeing a treestand or ground blind set up somewhere. Contrary to popular belief, hunter numbers are NOT decreasing, they are going nowhere but up. While there isn't as many people out chasing rabbits and squirrels as their once was, there are more bowhunters now then ever before. Naturally the more hunters in the woods, the more pressured the deer will be and more deer end up killed. Even if the bag limit was 2 deer state wide, that will no longer be enough to recover what we once had. As hard as it is for some to swallow, we MUST restrict hunter opportunity if we want to see more deer. That means shorter seasons all around.

Bowhunters are growing in numbers but they account for a small percentage of the harvest. I don't see a shorter archery season having any impact when the majority of the harvest is taken during gun season. Having the extra time for archery season just lets me be more selective of what I want to harvest. I would simply not let as many walk by if my season was shorter. However, I do see reducing bag limits being effective.