Ohio deer population

No doubt in my mind the increase in archery hunting has affected the kill more than the harvest numbers show... lots of unrecovered deer.

Ya like the dick bag that tried telling me I took his deer this year when I was dragging my Buck out.... tools me he shot a 6 point. I just laughed..

He later made a Facebook post saying how unethical hunters drive him crazy and he had a deer stolen....

I called the son of a bitch up and gave him the ass chewing of his life. Wouldn't come meet me either......
Either way.... the deer he wounded and didn't find was the 9th buck he's wounded I know of..... he's a raging fuck.....

yotehunter said:

And the reason for more buck kills for archery is because of less does.

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Agreed 100%. Bucks drive to breed makes them travel more, thus making them more susceptible to hunters.

He's a jackass Jackson cop..... dumber than shit.... he was holding the broad head end of his arrow.... I made not of it.... when I called him I told him I wanted him to come look and see the hole in the deer was from a rage.... and not a g5 montec like he was holding.... that threw him off a little too....

hickslawns said:

Agreed 100%. Bucks drive to breed makes them travel more, thus making them more susceptible to hunters.

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And more bow hunters then ever before. Hell anybody can go kill a160 buck just watch the TV . They tell you how to doit every hr. There is a lot of culprits to the decline in deer numbers. The liberal tags is a big part of it. IMO the check system is a big flawl . More hunters. More seasons and time in the field and last but not least coyotes. But coyotes have been here for decades so I don't figure them as so much as a factor in the decline of deer in the last five years. There are more people hunting,snaring, trapping them then since the fur boom in the seventies. Do the y damage the deer herd? Yes but nothing like the man kind does to the herd. Cut does tag s back and deer will become prevalent again. Till then its a down hill road.

I'm sure too many tags allowed is a big culprit too. I couldnt believe my first year in Ohio (2011) and we could shoot 6 deer each if we wanted to. Now I know too many tags has hurt hunting here. You can get 3 tags and all 3 can be used on a buck if you want. Everybody shoots all the 1 1/2 year old bucks and wonders why there aren't many big ones shot any more. At least you guys have the 1 buck system. Of course with the new check-in system it's pretty easy to tag a buck as a doe.

Couldn't agree more jackalope. By the way where is steelheadtracker lol. Phil must have scared him off lol. I hope he understands our frustration and spreads the (good word). Stop killing does and we will have deer.

He has posted. I wasn't trying to bust his chops. I think he realized this. Wasn't an attack on him. Lol

hickslawns said:

He has posted. I wasn't trying to bust his chops. I think he realized this. Wasn't an attack on him. Lol

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Yea I know Phil. Its just a sore subject he didn't realize he was getting into. I was just joking around.

Jason Short said:

As stated earlier another problem is people that kill deer and never find them. I'm not talking about accidentally making a bad shot and not recovering your deer after looking properly. That happens, even if it sucks. I'm talking about the people that consistently take shots that are unethical resulting in a lot of lost deer. I know someone that has hit around 6-8 deer (not sure on the exact number) in the last two season that he never found. He takes bad shots then goes looking for the deer to soon even if he knows it was a bad shot. If he doesn't find the deer on the initial search he usually just forgets about it and shoots another one. That really bothers me. So do hunters that shoot at anything and destroy the local herd in places, aka Amish.

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I feel like you were talking about someone I know..... Just plain sad that some people are like this!

Steelheadtracker said:

I'm here lol. Im just reading and absorbing it all. I not mad at anyone or scared off. I understand what Hickslawn was saying now and feel bad for taking it the wrong way. Like I said just reading what everyone has to say.

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Don't feel bad. It happens. Would never happen if we were sitting around the bonfire drinking beer and swapping deer stories. Lose something in typing at times.

I think it's hard to argue deer numbers are not down just by seeing the harvest numbers. I think even the DNR admitted they were down by patting themselves on the back saying they were "closer to target numbers" recently. Also seems like more and more people are taking it up so that (to me) says the numbers will continue to go down statewide as long as the current regs and trends continue.

This site has opened my eyes to conservation on a local level. I did shoot 3 deer this year though and I do not feel like I'm hurting the local deer by doing that and hope/believe I will see just as many next year otherwise I would have only shot 1.

I think right in this immediate area, within a mile or so, we have a good population and not a ton of people hunting them. If I see less next year I won't shoot as many. If I see just as many or more I will shoot 3 again and probably get my daughter out to shoot one as well. All this week I have not seen one orange vest within a couple miles and have seen no trucks parked on the side of the road. I feel very blessed to be situated where I am currently and hope the deer numbers go back up eventually in everyone else's area.

You guys do realize this is a much larger issue than just Ohio, don't you? I just read a bit on FB posted by Greg Miller, the once prolific outdoor writer turned TV hunter about his home state of WI. The folks up there are blaming their DNR as well as wolves and cold winters. Knowledgeable sportsmen in IA, Il, In, Mi, and Pa are all feeling the same sting of a dwindling deer herd. To say that lobbyist have taken over our ODNR is short-sighted, they have taken over apparently ALL of them... Why in the world would anyone want to re-introduce wolves into Idaho, MI, WI, and Yellowstone, for example? It makes NO sense if you wish to keep the sportsman happy with a target-rich environment. Whomever is pulling the strings wants to be certain there are other means to keep deer at lower levels than just the lowly human hunters. The point being; there is far more to it than just Ohio. Wherever there are deer hunted, there are people upset that there are far less deer to hunt than there once was. Thankfully, it isn't just a few loudmouths pointing out the obvious anymore. Even the less than die-hard hunters are starting to take notice. What will be done? It will be interesting to see, but I suspect if you don't have some measure of control over your hunting lands, you will be hunting where there are very, very few deer.

brock ratcliff said:

You guys do realize this is a much larger issue than just Ohio, don't you?

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You're spot on Brock. And like you said, more people are taking note, especially the casual hunter. The quicker hunters are all on the same page the quicker things can get turned around because the hunters voice will be heard and not dismissed. We're still a long way from that though.

Steelheadtracker said:

Thanks for all your input guys. What will it take for the odnr to do something about this problem? Is it even a possibility to limit or completely stop NR hunting?

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That is not the answer. And its not going to happen. We have seen less deer in our area of Highland county. But I'm positive its because of the Amish. I was getting ready to take a doe Tuesday night in one of our cut corn fields when all the sudden someone else started shooting at them. I looked over and seen an Amish guy, I yelled to him to come over and talk to me but he ran. proly cause his property was over a 1/4 mile away. Pisses me off to no end that they think they can get away with anything. The deer number in that area that is close to the Amish has went down so much your lucky to see a deer anymore. And the shots in there area were down 90% so I know they have killed all the deer in there area.

Curran said:

You're spot on Brock. And like you said, more people are taking note, especially the casual hunter. The quicker hunters are all on the same page the quicker things can get turned around because the hunters voice will be heard and not dismissed. We're still a long way from that though.

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You are both right. I've spent most of life in northern NH and the deer herd seems to get smaller every year. Yet we are still allowed to buy 3 tags and if you choose you can take 3 bucks with those tags. This is in a state with a yearly kill of only 10-12k and hunter success rate that is not even 20%. Things are very similar in neighboring states too. A friend of mine has a camp in Maine and has been deer hunting there since he was a kid. He says now he feels lucky if he actually sees a deer hunting up there for a few days. I think the Midwest states are in better shape but only becuase of the amount of active farms and good deer genetics. However no matter what state your in the hunting today is not as good as it was 10 years ago.