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Mike Rex has again posted this chart on the other forum. The thread is titled "Our DoW". He starts the thread stating what a difficult job our DOW has to do, and what a fine job they have done. He also points to this chart to demonstrate how the herd has "boomed". He goes on to say that he will delete any anti-DOW post, the point of his thread was not to be argumentative...yada, yada. I of course commented and was deleted immediately. I was not argumentative regarding the greatness of the DOW, I simply read the chart for what it actually says, and made note of it. Since my rare post over there was deleted so that Mike Rex could keep the thread all "pro-DoW'', vs actually seeing the facts as they are demonstrated by this chart, I thought I'd put it here!
The peaks are easily explained. The contention is our herd was exploding from the late 80's until 2009. I contend that is incorrect. What is shown by this chart is our kill increased due to expanded opportunity and tags. Here is an example; notice the slight boost around 1988. We were allowed to harvest a 2nd deer for the first time in Ohio's hunting history. This was implemented in 11 of Ohio's 88 counties. The rise was not huge, but noticeable. 1994, a second tag was available for the first time statewide, created quite a bump in the short term. Please take note that after just a year or two with additional tags, our kill dropped again indicating that the herd was reduced, since seasons and bag limits stayed stagnant for a couple of years. Notice as we approach 2000 the slight increase - Sunday hunting was implemented on a limited basis along with youth shotgun season. 2002, Sunday hunting is implemented across the state with no restrictions on land use, therefore doubling available hunting days for many sportsmen and women. As the regulations remain the same, essentially, for two years at a time, the graph appears like a stairway. Each time a new, more liberal regulation is put in place, the graph bumps up incrementally. Example, add a "bonus weekend" with shotguns, kill goes up... Make it legal for a hunter to shoot 6 does, kill goes up. Add cheap "antlerless only" tags, kill goes up...
I have spoken with Tonkovich personally several times. I explained the 10 deer in a woodlot line of thinking clearly, and he only stated, "Well, if we are killing too many, the harvest trends will show that"... Guess what, the harvest trends show it! Our harvest stats have gone down each of the last four or five years, yet he seems to think it is mostly the fault of lazy sportsmen...maybe a little to do with weather.
That is my interpretation of what this chart actually shows us.
And MIKE REX, welcome to my sandbox. I don't think you'll be deleting anything here simply because it may show that your BFF, Mike Tonkovich, has not done such a fantastic job for sportsmen!
The peaks are easily explained. The contention is our herd was exploding from the late 80's until 2009. I contend that is incorrect. What is shown by this chart is our kill increased due to expanded opportunity and tags. Here is an example; notice the slight boost around 1988. We were allowed to harvest a 2nd deer for the first time in Ohio's hunting history. This was implemented in 11 of Ohio's 88 counties. The rise was not huge, but noticeable. 1994, a second tag was available for the first time statewide, created quite a bump in the short term. Please take note that after just a year or two with additional tags, our kill dropped again indicating that the herd was reduced, since seasons and bag limits stayed stagnant for a couple of years. Notice as we approach 2000 the slight increase - Sunday hunting was implemented on a limited basis along with youth shotgun season. 2002, Sunday hunting is implemented across the state with no restrictions on land use, therefore doubling available hunting days for many sportsmen and women. As the regulations remain the same, essentially, for two years at a time, the graph appears like a stairway. Each time a new, more liberal regulation is put in place, the graph bumps up incrementally. Example, add a "bonus weekend" with shotguns, kill goes up... Make it legal for a hunter to shoot 6 does, kill goes up. Add cheap "antlerless only" tags, kill goes up...
I have spoken with Tonkovich personally several times. I explained the 10 deer in a woodlot line of thinking clearly, and he only stated, "Well, if we are killing too many, the harvest trends will show that"... Guess what, the harvest trends show it! Our harvest stats have gone down each of the last four or five years, yet he seems to think it is mostly the fault of lazy sportsmen...maybe a little to do with weather.
That is my interpretation of what this chart actually shows us.
And MIKE REX, welcome to my sandbox. I don't think you'll be deleting anything here simply because it may show that your BFF, Mike Tonkovich, has not done such a fantastic job for sportsmen!
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