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ODNR Survey.

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
.

Please read this email I received today from the DNR. PLEASE take the time to fill this out and take an active role in managing Ohios deer population.









Dear Ohio Deer Hunter:

Please help us enhance Ohio’s deer management program! As you know, counties have always been the basic unit for deer management in this state. While this system has served us well, there is room for improvement. In addition to harvest data, effective management of Ohio’s deer herd requires us to collect measures of herd health and surveys of hunter effort; however, collecting enough data from each of our 88 counties is simply not practical. By grouping counties or portions of counties into Deer Management Units (DMUs) that have similar deer population, hunter access, and habitat characteristics, county-specific data would no longer be necessary. Please note that DMUs are not to be confused with harvest regulation zones, and aside from specifying the DMU (previously required to report county) where you harvested a deer, this change will not impact your future Ohio deer hunting experience.

Because our goal is to involve as many hunters as possible, you are being asked to participate in this research study conducted by the Ohio State University in partnership with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife (DOW). All resident Ohio deer hunters with email addresses on file with DOW are being asked to assist with this project which is important in shaping Ohio’s future deer management. In order for us to create new DMUs, we need you to participate by providing locations (as specifically as you are willing and/or able) of where you harvested antlerless deer or where you hunted but did not harvest antlerless deer. Regardless of whether or not you harvested an antlerless deer in any of the past 3 Ohio hunting seasons (2011−12, 2012−13, or 2013−14), your participation is very important.

This survey should take less than 15 minutes to complete.

Follow this link to the Survey:
Take the Survey

Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://senrosu.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?Q_SS=09bzUg3PXZKtoSF_0AjRRAXuAeVzvZX&_=1

By completing your survey, you will be taking an active role in Ohio’s deer research. Participation is completely voluntary. You may withdraw at any time or skip questions that make you uncomfortable without penalty or loss of benefits. Please remember there are no right or wrong answers. Rest assured that the information you provide will remain confidential, data will only be released as summaries of the total dataset, and all participants’ personal information will be removed to ensure anonymity and not shared with any third parties.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance! If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about this research survey, I would be happy to talk with you via email karns.36@osu.edu or by phone 614-292-3865.

Sincerely,

Gabriel Karns
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Laboratory
The Ohio State University
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
.

One of the things Tonk and I discussed last year at our annual TOO gathering at Strouds was the deer hunter survey. If you've never received one it's basically a survey that random people received through the mail or email. It asked about your deer hunting experience in Ohio. How many days did you hunt, deer seen, county etc. In 2012 I did a freedom of information act request for this data. After reviewing it I realized the collection methodology was completely unscientific and flawed. Basically they took the state and randomly picked thousands of people. There was no regard for counties, hunter harvest, gun, bow etc. Just a mass random sampling. That would be fine if you planned to manage the deer population in Ohio as a state. But the issue arose when trying to look at it on a county by county basis. The survey may have gone to 50 people from Champaign county, but only 15 in neighboring Clark county. Add to that only about 10% of the hunters actually filled out the survey and it led to a large participation discrepancy across the counties. This makes it ridiculously unscientific when trying to look at deer numbers, hunter effort etc across counties.

In my opinion Tonk used this as a crutch may times during our discussion. Not so much that the collection and data was flawed but rather that "we hunters weren't participating". Finally he got rather agitated with my questioning and statements and quipped "I only have what I have, what do you expect" I replied "I expect you to quit doing the same thing year after year when you know it's broke! Fix it and quit using it as an excuse"

We the went on to discuss how deer should be managed in zones, broken down by habitat, human population, hunter density, and a host of other factors. We explored the idea of using a forced survey method similar to how migratory game birds are surveyed with the HIP survey. (Harvest information survey). He responded "All of those things cost money. I laughed and responded "You mean to tell me the DNR has money to hire people to walk around a bog poking sticks in the mud looking for turtles, You pay people to drive around and listen to peeper frogs to count them, You have employees that drive around and listen to turkeys to get a count. But you don't have the money to accurately survey hunters for the most hunted game animal in this state that's responsible for over a billion dollar industry in Ohio?"

It was then he told me about this new biologist from the University of Alabama who was joining the program and was going to hash everything out. And he mentioned a few people from OSU who were going to help also..

The wheels move slow a the DNR apparently but it looks like they're moving in the right direction.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
At least this year they sent the email to every hunter with a email address on file. Only hang up is to fill out the survey you have to have your customer ID #.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
I got this same email this morning. I will fill it out this afternoon. Glad to actually get my first survey even though it took 25 years to finally get it lol.

Pretty funny that I put in for a fur tag the last 2 years and got survey both years but took this long for a deer survey lol.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Your number should be on your license and any tags you have.

I also believe it is your drivers license number if you don't have any of your old tags or gotten a new one yet. If you have a fishing license or old hunting license check it but I am pretty sure it is the same as your drivers license number.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
I also believe it is your drivers license number if you don't have any of your old tags or gotten a new one yet. If you have a fishing license or old hunting license check it but I am pretty sure it is the same as your drivers license number.
No it's not the same as your DL number. I think it might have been that way years and years ago but not since they switched to the new system.
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
Not a big fan of telling the DNR exactly where I hunt (even though its does) but I did write a pretty hefty response in the comment section. Doubt I will hear anything but its become a ritual to rip their ass with every survey I get so why not do the same with this one. We shall see.....
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Not a big fan of telling the DNR exactly where I hunt (even though its does) but I did write a pretty hefty response in the comment section. Doubt I will hear anything but its become a ritual to rip their ass with every survey I get so why not do the same with this one. We shall see.....

They're trying to gather info on hunter density. If 80% of the hunters in a county hunt only a 1/4 of the county then management for that county as a whole should be altered. Some of the problem we've ran into with these very liberal doe limits is just that. Hunters may all but wipe out does in a 1/4 of the county, but across the county where it's more urban deer are thriving.