Down

Beentown said:

Apparently as many as it takes until it affects you...

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Whatever man.......I got skunked more freaking times this year than I ever have in 22 years of hunting......but still persevered and got a buck and a doe with archery equipment....and also helpled my 9 year old son get his first buck.........ALL of this while taking care of a sick wife!

You guys evidently didn't hunt back in the mid 90's when the population was WAY less than it is now.....

Jackalope said:

Harvest numbers for individuals aren't really telling as to total population of deer.

Consider this... Say you have 8,000 deer and you kill 2,000 a year.... It doesn't matter if you have 8,000 deer or 4,000 deer next year.. You can still kill 2,000 every year.. Well that is untill the population is 1,999.....

The only thing required for that to happen is people have to hunt twice as hard. Bait more, push more, go deeper in the woods.. But truth is, you only have half the deer you once did... IMO this is what's happening... This is also why I think that just a couple years ago bait was a tiny section on a wal mart shelf, and it's is now a giant row. Acorn rage, swamp donky, etc etc.. The stores are carrying more and more of it... It's exploded.. I think it's because it's not as easy to kill a deer as it was 4 years ago, and people are turning to more stuff to tip their odds.... The 75% that always kill one will likely always kill one.. It's just the difference of hunting 1 day and done, or 3 days and done.

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That's why it's called "hunting" and not "shooting".............if it were as easy as some of you guys want it to be then pursuing deer would be no fun at all.:smiley_depressive:

Beentown said:

Coyotes are a factor but from observation in my area a smaller one. I don't find many deer carcasses on our land. Turkey, rabbit, coon, even a few cats... yes. But not deer. I did find one fawn carcass a couple years ago.

And my properties are FULL of yotes.

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Maybe you should start hunting yotes a little harder.......

Buckslayer said:

Several factors may/are contributing to the decrease in harvest in Ohio. The two I believe are the key factors and the only ones that make a difference are
1. Less deer due to the introduction of higher limits.
2.The new check system-Say you print your tags off your home computer. It pops up to prints, you hit that you want 7 copies. You buy an anterless tag. You kill a doe, you temp tag it and bring it home to check it in. Instead, you throw your temp tag in the trash and grab your next copy of the same tag. This especially works for guys who cut up their own deer. Endless circle of using the same tag, and your always safe because you have the temp tag on the deer if you get checked. Just gotta hope Mr. Game Warden doesnt come to your house while your processing your untagged doe. JMO.

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The flip side of this horror is that one can print an Either Sex tag, make copies and tag X amount of bucks TOO. Some guys may think it is just Ohio's deer herd, so what. For many of us, myself included, it is a very big part of our life. When I sit and reflect on my younger days three things always come to mind. Friends, Family and Firearms, its who we are.

Jackalope said:

GUN WEEK ONLY...


2007 = 103,195 <------ This is BEFORE extra tags and 2 extra gun days....
2008 = 116,798
2009 = 114,633
2010 = 105,034
2011 = 90,282 <----- Where we are today...



Down 14.3% from 2007.. 2007 was BEFORE bonus gun and double the tags...
DOWN 29.37% From 2008 First year for bonus gun and double the tags...

Been declining ever since. Now to levels below tags and bonus gun we're ever started...


Man... Looks like the "weather" during gun season is getting worse and worse every year.... In 4 years when we're shooting 50% less deer maybe it's be nothing but a hurricane in ohio for gun week.. :smiley_depressive:

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Total gun harvests, Gun, youth MZ have remained fairly consistant since 2005-2010. What have gone up and put the biggest hurt on the deer herd are the archery kills.
2005 - 60,090
2006- 67,912
2007 - 78,639
2008 - 85,856
2009 - 91,546
2010- 85,012

Factor in the half of the guys bowhunting shouldn't be shooting a live animal with a bow and the herd reductions largest impact is without a doubt the bowhunters, not the 2 day bonus gun, youth or MZ seasons, again they have remained fairly flat during this time period. If bowhunters report between 85,000 and 90,000 deer harvested what do you think the actual deer kill is just based upon the stories on this site and others about non recovered deer?

Also, deer damage permits kills have had some ups and downs over this same period but statistcally are a small part of the overall deer kill, typically less than half the number killed on the highways every year.

Kill damage permit kills
2005- 9,737
2006 - 10,404
2007 - 8,723
2008 - 7,685
2009 - 10,524
2010 - 5,878

Total gun harvests
2005- 148,477
2006- 168,428
2007 - 153,299
2008 - 164,896
2009 - 168,405
2010 - 153,671
2011 - ?

So what your saying is that Joe Farmer with his damage permits and the Orange Army never wound a deer. Only bowhunters hit deer that aren't recovered.

Hortontoter said:

So what your saying is that Joe Farmer with his damage permits and the Orange Army never wound a deer. Only bowhunters hit deer that aren't recovered.

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X2. Lundy that's a horrible argument. No way more deer are wounded by bowhunters than gun hunters. No chance.

Gern186 said:

Maybe you should start hunting yotes a little harder.......

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Ya but chad...that requires work. Much like hunting deer when the numbers get a little low. Don't be silly. :smiley_crocodile:

Hunting deer isn't supposes to be easy. The problem is that everyome has become used to seeing large deer numbers. Now if they go out and get skunked they feel they have been slighted. More deer numbers make lazy hunters. Less deer numbers make smarter and more strategic hunters. You wanna hunt something and see a lot of it...go hunt blackbirds.

Been- you say your deer herd is down. When was the last year u harvested a deer? And did u harvest two in the same year?

Last year I harvested a doe in a different county than my norm. It has been two years, going on three for a buck. Before that I generally took two deer a year because that is all that I needed.

I have killed 22 yotes in the last three years. As I said before if you were to read I don't think yotes are the real issue. I don't run into any deer carcasses but every few years.

Chad and Kaiser on the soap box acting like it is whining when it is actually concern is getting old. Fugg it. If it keeps going the way it is and you start striking out I don't wanna here shit from you. Keep the blinders on.

Sounding a little pretentious fellas.

Beentown said:

Last year I harvested a doe in a different county than my norm. It has been two years, going on three for a buck. Before that I generally took two deer a year because that is all that I needed.

I have killed 22 yotes in the last three years. As I said before if you were to read I don't think yotes are the real issue. I don't run into any deer carcasses but every few years.

Chad and Kaiser on the soap box acting like it is whining when it is actually concern is getting old. Fugg it. If it keeps going the way it is and you start striking out I don't wanna here shit from you. Keep the blinders on.

Sounding a little pretentious fellas.

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I don't think you are whining........I understand your concern. I have concern also, but I realize no matter what the DNR does I will still have to go out and scout, shoot my bow, set up a tree stand and HUNT for a deer......old Mikey T. isn't going to pull the trigger for me.

22 yotes in 3 years is quite a few. Do you have any pics? I would like to see some of them dead yotes.

Schu72 said:

X2. Lundy that's a horrible argument. No way more deer are wounded by bowhunters than gun hunters. No chance.

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I respectfully disagree. There is no doubt in my mind now that the reported bow harvest numbers are 85,000 to 90,000 deer annually, only 20-25% less than the deer taken during the 7 day gun seasons, that the number of killed and not recovered deer is substantially higher with bow than gun. No doubt what so ever in my mind. Just read the accounts of all of the lost deer on this site and every other other site and most of you guys supposedly know how to bowhunt. Do you guys represent the average bowhunter? I think not and your (Ohio hunting website members) harvest to wound ratio sucks.
I am still not convinced that the deer population is down significantly, but if it is there is only one segment of the deer kill that has significantly increased over the last 5 years, it is not the gun, youth, MZ, road kill or damage permits, what does that leave? Coyotes? Bowhunters?

Just look around here. I know the last three have been posted recently I believe. I have NOTHING to prove to you Gern.

Beentown said:

Last year I harvested a doe in a different county than my norm. It has been two years, going on three for a buck. Before that I generally took two deer a year because that is all that I needed.

I have killed 22 yotes in the last three years. As I said before if you were to read I don't think yotes are the real issue. I don't run into any deer carcasses but every few years.

Chad and Kaiser on the soap box acting like it is whining when it is actually concern is getting old. Fugg it. If it keeps going the way it is and you start striking out I don't wanna here shit from you. Keep the blinders on.

Sounding a little pretentious fellas.

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I dissagree with chad. I do think ur whining. If you were concerned you would contact the dnr and be heardsitting on here and bitching on a public forum because you can't see or shoot a deer is a perfect.example of whining. If your having trouble try something different. If what your doing isn't working then change it and stop whining and bitching.

I get so tired of hearing about how I live in a prime area and hunt prime ground and that's the only reason why I shoot big bucks. I share ground with other people and I am getting line hunted like crazy. Yet these other people are not killing these bucks. Why is that? Me and my.buddy are the only ones who consistently kill big bucks in our town
And I bragging? No.but I won't sit here and listen to people blow off about why I kill big bucks or why chad kills big bucks and they don't. then try to use the excuse that we are only successful because we are hunting in places that are prime and overrun with huge bucks. You couldn't be more wrong ..but what I am saying is this. There are deer there. Are your numbers down? Maybe I don't know. I personally don't give a shit. Adapt to your surroundings and hunt and stop bitching. But you won't listen to what I say...because people like u think they know it all and Guys like me are arrogant dicks. I have a feeling if you were not bitching about deer numbers it would be something else.

Jackalope said:

DOWN 29.37% From 2008 First year for bonus gun and double the tags...

Been declining ever since. Now to levels below tags and bonus gun we're ever started...

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Just an FYI - the first year for the bonus gun season was 2006. The first year for statewide $15 tags was 2008

Jackalope said:

Wow. Look at the strangers who came out of the woodwork together. Interesting.

I would like to see those same numbers with bonus gun removed.

If you have less deer you can always maintain numbers if you increase opertunity.

Also.. Tonk you're free to register and join the discussion yourself... I welcome it.

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I agree with you 100% Joe. Id love to see bonus gun go away.

Jackalope said:

I would like to see those same numbers with bonus gun removed.

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Gun week-
2005 - 116,517
2006- 112,260
2007 - 103,134
2008 - 117,487
2009 - 114,075
2010- 105,781

2 day bonus gun
2005 - 0
2006 - 24,982
2007 - 18,049
2008 - 16,744
2009 - 20,055
2010 - 21.376

MZ
2005 - 23,289
2006 - 22,871
2007 - 22,055
2008 - 20,966
2009 - 25,066
2010 - 17,887

Youth
2005 - 8,641
2006 - 8,315
2007 - 10,061
2008 - 9,699
2009 - 9,269
2010 - 8,627

Combined gun harvest all seasons
2005 - 148,477
2006- 168,428
2007 - 153,299
2008 - 164,896
2009 - 168,405
2010 - 153,671

Kaiser878 said:

Ya but chad...that requires work. Much like hunting deer when the numbers get a little low. Don't be silly. :smiley_crocodile:

Hunting deer isn't supposes to be easy. The problem is that everyome has become used to seeing large deer numbers. Now if they go out and get skunked they feel they have been slighted. More deer numbers make lazy hunters. Less deer numbers make smarter and more strategic hunters. You wanna hunt something and see a lot of it...go hunt blackbirds.

Been- you say your deer herd is down. When was the last year u harvested a deer? And did u harvest two in the same year?

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It would be hard to see a measureable decline in a high deer county. Hunting in the LOWEST deer county as I often do, it is very easy to see the decline. With a strong population, observations get diluted, and it is entirely possible your areas are not in a serious decline. Let me explain my observations; ten years ago I would only kill one deer in Fayette county, this year I only killed one deer in Fayette County. Seems about the same, right? Wrong. Ten years ago I would see ten deer in a morning's hunt due to the fact I can see a mile in most directions across wide open agricultural fields. Today, I usually don't see a thing looking across those same wide open areas. Its been that way for several seasons. I didn't forget how to hunt, scout, hang stands...the deer are simply not there. It is work to see a deer, and seemingly impossible to kill one. Obviously it isn't impossible, but the time afield is not nearly as much fun as it once was. Thankfully, Fayette was moved into Zone A this year, and I hope that helps in coming years.

Everyone wants to see more deer when they hunt, heck I would love to see a bunch of deer everytime I go hunting. Do I think the deer herd is less than what he says it is YES, Do I think they need to restrategize? YES!....

I think what they need to do is rethink the tag system in particular zones.