Compiled deer havest data 2014 and 2015 YTD

It's also a lot easier to trespass with no orange on and tree cover...

I'd like to add a T to Jesse's list of C's. Treestands. Seems like everyone I run into has a Summit in the back of their truck if they do not have one already planted to the side of a tree. Gun hunting from a tree has to be a factor in people staying put longer, resulting in less incidental movement of deer. Pop ups too...

I know we need to make steps to ensure a healthy deer population but I don't have the answers. I know a lot more guys use crossbows but some some of us have to. I would love to be able to use my compound that I had but after a few shots I have terrible pain in my bow arm thus leading me to using a crossbow.

I'm not ever going to apologize for using a crossbow. I like it.

I'm not taking a stand on a soap box or anything I'm just saying some guys have to use them and others like too. I just kind of take it personal when it's looked at as a reason for the decline of the population when all other hunting implements have become more advanced as well. Idk maybe I'm to sensitive lol

mossbergbryson said:

I'm not taking a stand on a soap box or anything I'm just saying some guys have to use them and others like too. I just kind of take it personal when it's looked at as a reason for the decline of the population when all other hunting implements have become more advanced as well. Idk maybe I'm to sensitive lol

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No need to get defensive. No need to apologize. I am reading opi ions here that seem fairly factual. You are simply amongst a group of people who have more efficiently reduced the population. ANY single one of us who has punched a tag should accept some responsibility for it.

I would agree there are more hunting with easier methods to kill.

I am not even going to bring up some of the other thoughts I have floating in my head. Let's just say some of my neighboring "hunters" haven't helped my local herd.

When I was a kid my Dad hunted with a recurve. Due to a crippled elbow (since birth), he would draw his recurve to an anchor point sort of at the middle of his chest. Unorthodox, but it was what he could do. In 1986 or so, I talked him into getting a PSE Foxfire. He enjoyed it until he quit hunting 10 or 15 years ago. I'll never say anything negative about a person using a crossbow. I don't believe the choice of weapon determines the character of the hunter, one way or another. Obviously, Jamie sanding away on a selfbow is way more dedicated to his craft than my dad ever was dusting off his crossbow in September, but that is in NO WAY an indicator of character as a whole. My dad has always loved being close by when anyone was in need for most anything, he has as much "character" as any man that ever walked.

The type of weapon used really has little baring on this discussion, IMO, other than to demonstrate why the "archery" kill has grown while the gun kills have dwindled.

Damn Amish killed all the deer lol.

Joel said:

Damn Amish killed all the deer lol.

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Actually thats a great point, you don't know how many they kill without tagging them. I remember delivering hay with my cousin to amish outside of KIdron, one of the kids slipped up and told me they killed 16 deer out of a woods no bigger than 20 acres behind the house. I thought to myself there are only 3 people old enough to fill tags in this family and women arent allowed to do anything, makes you wonder how many other amish do this on a annual basis.

Let me ask a questions that may seem stupid and I am questioning myself as I type right now. Insurance companies are/were complaining about deer accidents and high deer populations. I would assume majority of these accidents take place on highways such as 75, 77, 30, etc. How many deer are actually being taken around these high accident zones and the deer we are harvesting as a state, are they making an actual difference/impact on the amount of accident we have? I mean the deer I kill are typically miles off a stone road in Tuscarwas or Coshcoton County, I think a lot of the other hunters are not hunting next/close to major high ways. I know deer travel a long distance, but other than NW ohio how big of an impact does our harvest actually have on the car accidents?

Fluteman said:

I believe more bucks are being passed on versus ten years ago, due to more people looking to kill big bucks, but I disagree that the majority are in are ,"brown is down" mode. I believe anyone who has spent the last ten years in the woods realizes the decline in population. The problem comes from new, uneducated hunters, and the guys who only hunt gun season, IMO. There are too many relying on the DNR to tell us how many deer we should kill, and because of this, the people that don't know any better kill what they are told they can kill rather than what's best for their local herd. The DNR is just a puppet, someone else is pulling the strings. It seems pretty clear to me who it is, but apparently enough can't see it.

As hunters, we need to take it upon ourselves to get the word out and try to get more people to understand that just because the state says you can kill six deer doesn't mean you should.

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DITTO.....excellent post Flute!

I've seen an increase in the use of walnut crunchers, those handy little bastards gotta be to blame for alot of the harvests.

Great point Joe. If the DNR legalized the use of sledge hammers, bet your butt there would be an increase in kills by sledge hammers next year. If people found it easier, every year after would see an increase up to a point.

John- I see plenty hunting along I75, neighborhoods, RR tracks. . . But I am NW Ohio. We hunt where we legally can. Still not sure if actual deer vehicle collisions in our area are being reduced or not. They won't admit it if they are.

I blame the decline in deer population to crop damage permits and coyotes. I've hunted the same area for 40 years, far away from any public land hunting. There is only 25 to 33% of the deer now compared to ~8 years ago. These reduced sitings are not just during deer season, but year round. During last weeks gun season I was lucky to hear 5 to 10 far away sets of shots during any morning or evening on stand.

Some blame the decline on the 6 deer kill limit. I've never heard 1st or 2nd hand of anyone killing 6 deer in a season. Who would want to shoot 6 deer in a season. I have heard several instances of 20 to 30 deer killed and left to rot using crop damage permits. I know for a fact an old friend of mine for several years went to Knox Co. and would kill 30 deer a year in the summer for one of his farmer buddies using crop damage permits (he said crop damage permits). The two farms boarding where we hunt are shooting deer in the summer using crop damage permits, but I don't know how many. I do know for a fact they are shooting them in the summer and using high power rifles.

I started helping my cousin bush hog his pastures about 10 year ago. It is not uncommon to find a fawn carcass a year dead from coyotes. If you find one carcass on 40 acres bush hogging how many are killed where you don't mow? We never use to have coyotes. Now we have lots of them.

Predators, coyotes/bobcats
A-mish
Leases

I think the first two explain themselves. How do leases effect this? Easy, the guy that spends the money on a lease is going to be selective with what he kills, at the same time he's gonna get his money's worth. This also locked out other hunters which is going to put more hunters in another area. That could be public land or maybe a farmer that doesn't lease yet... Either way this is going to put more hunters ganged up on said deer. After a couple of years of this, the deer population is going to get pretty slim. Those hunters are going to look elsewhere so they can find more deer to kill. Meanwhile, all the good places are getting leased out and those guys are sitting on the deer. The "average" hunter is getting screwed again.

Not real sure how to explain some things in writing, but I think someone will get my point. Hopefully they share what I'm trying to say.

finelyshedded said:

DITTO.....excellent post Flute!

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I don't think hunters killing multiple deer, legally anyway, is the problem, or even a measurable part of it. I read someplace, and I'm paraphrasing here, that something like less than 5% of hunters take more than two deer, less than 1% take more than three annually. Seems like the problem is centered more around the ODNR's exaggerated estimations of our deer herd numbers and more and more hunters, especially in archery season, squeezed onto the ever shrinking huntable habitat we have in Ohio. Leasing is also part of this problem.

bowhunter1023 said:

We had this discussion over the weekend in a group text and I blame it on the C's.

Cameras: Everyone has at least one. People have more intel to go off of and it makes them more efficient than they may be otherwise.

Compounds: They are more effective and efficient. Ranges are longer. It's easier to kill with a compound today than with a Bear Whitetail.

Crossbows: Let's be honest, they make it pretty easy to get in the woods and kill deer.

Corn: More people bait than don't. Not everyone hunts over it, but almost everyone uses it to get pics and/or manipulate movement.

Competition: Everyone is a bowhunter now. Everyone wants to be the next Boner Collector. It's a status symbol to be a bowhunter now.

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All good points, Jesse, and I couldn't agree more that these things are all part of the problem. Begs the question; how do deer hunters, as a group, remedy these problems/issues?