There are now less than 200,000. Deer hunters in ohio
And it looks like less than 100,000 deer will be tagged this year. I can remember when there were nearly 500,000 deer hunters and close to 250,000 deer killed in a season.
Less hunters= less deer killed...whats ehf got to do with it?..if they would bring gun season in the saturday after thanksgiving you would see a spike in both hunters and deer harvest...guaranteed...also they could do away with the 2 day bonus gun season if they did that...but I'm not sure killing more deer or getting more hunters in the woods is what they want.
Ehf did remove allot of deer in zone c back about 2012 and before that. I am really surprised Odnr has raised the price to hunt and tag deer I'm sure they have lost allot of money over past few years?
Less hunters= less deer killed...whats ehf got to do with it?..if they would bring gun season in the saturday after thanksgiving you would see a spike in both hunters and deer harvest...guaranteed...also they could do away with the 2 day bonus gun season if they did that...but I'm not sure killing more deer or getting more hunters in the woods is what they want.
Ehf did remove allot of deer in zone c back about 2012 and before that. I am really surprised Odnr has raised the price to hunt and tag deer I'm sure they have lost allot of money over past few years?
In case you've missed it, in years past the ODNR put bag limits in place that allowed us hunters to whack the crap out of the deer herd! And we took full advantage of it! But it seems that it went too far, and now the ODNR is scrambling to catch up. Thus no antlerless tags in most of the state, and reduced bag limits overall.
The ODNR made money galore when it was "no holds barred", but now they have to eat it a little bit. Predicting population trends of wild animals is no easy task, and there's no better example than the Whitetail herd in Ohio!
I've been hunting for quite a while and I don't ever remember a deer season starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
In case you've missed it, in years past the ODNR put bag limits in place that allowed us hunters to whack the crap out of the deer herd! And we took full advantage of it! But it seems that it went too far, and now the ODNR is scrambling to catch up. Thus no antlerless tags in most of the state, and reduced bag limits overall.
The ODNR made money galore when it was "no holds barred", but now they have to eat it a little bit. Predicting population trends of wild animals is no easy task, and there's no better example than the Whitetail herd in Ohio!
Time to cut back on limits on taking deer in the country parts of southern ohio. All of the over population problems are in suburbs with limited hunting oportunites. I have owned my property since 1972 and this year has been the fewest hunters around and the least sign of deer in Guernsey county.We did get 3 deer this year so far wich is pleanty for our family but you are not seeing verry manny. I would like to see it go back to 1 buck only per hunter and rebuild the heard. I have an orchard on my property and the deer are not even causing a problem nor are they a problem on any of my neighbors. We all watch the heard around our properties and have seen a steady decline in population for the past 5 years even with less hunting pressure .There are definately moore coyoties around though also.But the bottom line is ODNR wont stop selling tags because thats what pays there salary. Sad that money controls good conservation
We must police ourselves. Three years ago, a fever hit the herd hard in some areas of portage county and the deer population still has not recovered. I won't hunt those areas. Start to treat deer as the big game animal it is, not wanting to hunt them as rabbits. A good trapper will never take all furs in his territory, leaving brood stock for next season. We do not need one size fits all limits, or our hands held. Look with Your own eyes and determine which, if any deer to harvest. The population will come back in everyone's area, if We let it.
We do not need one size fits all limits, or our hands held. Look with Your own eyes and determine which, if any deer to harvest. The population will come back in everyone's area, if We let it.
I don't see a "one size fits all" mentality when it comes to deer management in Ohio. Currently the DOW employs a county-by-county policy regarding bag limits and the use of antlerless tags. They will soon move away from the county system in favor of "deer/wildlife management zones" to better manage individual populations within different habitat types.
And, while deer tags do raise money for the DOW, I am confident that the DOW have our wildlife resources best interests in mind when they set seasons and bag limits. There are many issues that come into play when any type of policy is put into action. When it comes to white-tailed deer; insurance companies, the Ohio Farm Bureau, sportsmen and women, urban municipalities etc. all are providing input as to what they would like to see regarding white-tailed deer densities. The DOW can't make everyone happy, but the sportsmen and women of Ohio usually rank high when it comes to the decision making process. Understand hunter recruitment and retention are extremely important in today's world and most state and federal wildlife agencies are doing everything they can to compete with other interests (athletics, computers, video games) while attempting to make it more convenient for people to get out and hunt. I believe those years of "whack-em & stack-em" were about trying to offer Ohio's hunters additional opportunities to harvest deer while appeasing the Ohio Farm Bureau. I think the DOW underestimated the number of people who would take advantage of those increased opportunities.
Diver Dux, I am with You 100 %. That is why I say use Our own eyes and brain and make an educated decision. After all, We are suppose to be responsible enough to hunt.
Almost every hunter I know that either quit hunting or is about to is from losing the property they hunted on from leases,, the majority of hunters are not going to lease property to hunt ,,Most are from out of stater's . Because the tags are cheap in ohio and no draw like other states,, until that changes its gonna get worse..................getting forced to go fishing year round'''
Another problem around my place, is the small wood lots on the big farms are being timbered down to bare ground. They grind the stumps out and plant bigger crops. After the crop is harvested, there is not bean, or kernel of corn any where. The fence rows look like they are manicured. It's almost to the point I have to feed the birds even in the summer or they'll starve. Four years ago, I harvested a twelve point right behind my house. They are disking the spot where it fell as I write. Forty acres of nice hickory, beach, and oak gone for rest of my life time. The 400 acre farm across the road does not have enough cover to hide a rabbit. No orchards, no gardens, no berry patches, no live stock. Soy, Corn, Wheat, over and over. The previous owner was a multi millionaire judge, Who inherited the property. More money, more money, more money. Old King Tut couldn't buy one more second on this earth. Go figure.
5 or 6 years ago they got way to liberal with how many deer a hunter could take in 1 deer season. We are reaping the after effects of those liberal numbers. JMO
Also I do not like the new way you check your deer in either. It is way to easy for someone to just kill a deer and take it home and process it without even using a tag. another JMO
I don't think there is any question that the deer herd is quite a bit smaller then it used to be. Sure some areas still have good numbers but a lot of others have a lot fewer then a few years ago. Hopefully the ODNR will push the right buttons to help those areas. Back in the early 1990's on our family farm in union county we had good numbers. When the ODNR started encouraging harvesting does things changed quickly. We still strictly hunted bucks only but that didn't stop hunters on neighboring properties from over harvesting does. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with someone harvesting a doe if the population can stand it. I've done it myself. It bothers me though when someone complains about not seeing hardly any deer or deer sign in the area they hunt and then they shoot a doe. Unfortunately habitat loss and loss of access is a real problem that is probably only going to get worse. This year I lost hunting privileges to a farm where I had managed to take several good bucks because it was annexed by Hilliard and there is no hunting allowed in the city limits. leasing of the best areas also something that hurts the little guy.
Ok.... You might want to research rut activity based on cyclical changes, and the Earths solar and lunar illuminations. Read Charles Alsheimer, the leading expert on rut activity. Here is one excerpt
This year the “Rutting Moon” is much later than it was last year and most years in general, falling on November 14th. That’s compared to a Rutting Moon of October 27th in 2015 and November 6th in 2014. The last time we had a late Rutting Moon like this was in 2013, when it fell on November 17th, and according to Laroche/Alsheimer, that late moon resulted in a “trickle rut” with most rutting activity happening later than usual (third or fourth weeks in November), with other peaks and valleys occurring sporadically over late October and
Notice the peak is week three and four! That would put the peak of the rut in your Saturday before Thanksgiving this year? Sorry not the same time every year! Educate yourself before you make assumptions.
Notice the peak is week three and four! That would put the peak of the rut in your Saturday before Thanksgiving this year? Sorry not the same time every year! Educate yourself before you make assumptions.
It is a pretty simple task to read the study results to determine what triggers a doe coming into estrus and yes, it does occur at the same time every year according to those that are actually qualified to reach that conclusion.
Buckeyebowman gets it. Go to the properties You hunt, or in Your front yard and plant a white or red oak tree, or a beach or two. Thin out the turkey, coyote, wild dogs, and feral cat populations and remember, for every young doe You harvest, You take approximately fifteen deer from the area over seven years. While you're at it stack up some brush to give rabbits and game birds protection. Plant a small clover patch. You don't need the Department of Wild Life to improve Your hunting areas. Look at it as this is part of the hunt and enjoy your harvest even more. We must be top predator or the others will. Then just watch all wild game do better.
I Live real close to a public hunting area that's near huge population centers and have watched the same 14 pointer at night for six years. He died of old age. Most deer in public areas are nocturnal and all bucks over 3 years old are 98% of the time. The public areas in a 50 mile radius of me are some of the most UNGODLY thick swamps You ever seen. Very hard to hunt with very short visibility and terrible terrain. Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in awhile but if I were starving I sure wouldn't hunt public land near me. Give me a small private wood lot and I'll be happy.
That's a wise comment, chatterbox! Public land holds some huge deer! My buddy and I were hunting Berlin wildlife area for pheasant one day and took a detour through a section of woods on the way back to the car. We found buck sign to make us drool! When we checked out where the trails led, we had no interest in going back in there! Just awful, nasty stuff!
Now on the other hand I have hunted B&N coal property in Noble County just South of Caldwell successfully (public land) and had written permission to hunt 1000 acres of private land just outside of Cadiz for years. There are places to have very enjoyable hunts if a little effort is put out. Tell You what, let me hunt the medium strip of Route 77 after the first day of season or a small clump of weeds under an oak tree in the middle of a huge plowed field. No matter where I hunt, if Numbers are down all does walk, and If real low I won't even hunt it.
Ehf did remove allot of deer in zone c back about 2012 and before that. I am really surprised Odnr has raised the price to hunt and tag deer I'm sure they have lost allot of money over past few years?
For better or worse probably better for the deer I believe EHD IS used by odnr to manage the deer numbers especially where access by hunters is an issue. I had hope to see more days to hunt with a shotgun or muzzleloader but that wouldn't help manage deer numbers where one cannot hunt them.......
For better or worse probably better for the deer I believe EHD IS used by odnr to manage the deer numbers especially where access by hunters is an issue. I had hope to see more days to hunt with a shotgun or muzzleloader but that wouldn't help manage deer numbers where one cannot hunt them.......
I am in some agreement as a possibility. No one can convince me that the coyotes and browse eating turkeys were not reintroduced by the ODNR. They did not just suddenly appear. Kill fawns and starve the herd. The only problem, it never stops. If I owned a hunting property, I'd trap them all out. There would be relentless killing of both, and wild dogs a bonus and feral cats open season. First thing I'd do is put up no trespass, private property signs so it would take a search warrant to enter. Wouldn't take long to have a small and big game oasis.
Diver Dux, I have seen flocks of turkeys with literally hundreds of birds in it. I used to have three different groups of yotes containing a minimum of five in each group almost in my back yard every night. Haiti's would freeze over before ODNR would control either species. What chance do I have to harvest deer on a forty acre wood lot with such an outlandish number of Your filthy darlins? From now on don't be so narrow minded as to believe everyone in Ohio hunt large sprawling tracks of land or that there not literally being ran over by other species. The ODNR CAN'T or WON'T help me so I have no recourse than to help myself. YOU CAN TAKE IT TO THE BANK, IF THATS MY ONLY OPTION, I AM WILLING AND CAPABLE. Now, if You don't like my reasoning call the ODNR and get more than one warden per county, and cut the populations to the supposed carrying capacity that You are so full of Yourself with.
The Ravenna Arsenal is about 4miles north of my house ( 25000 acres of posted gov't fenced wooded breeding land. There are miles and miles of 400 acre or less farms with 5 to 50 acre wood lots. Most with a house in the middle and the rest land the owner and family hunt so won't give permission.. The yotes alone live inside the towns around the area. The farmer 1/2 a mile down the road from me quit raising sheep because they were so brazen they attack his sheep in broad day light. Peoples small dogs are carried off if let in the yard unattended. Don't judge me when You have no clue what I am referencing to.
Also the trapping is not about the pelt money. It's about live stock killing, keeping small children and small pets safe. Some areas are literally over ran because there is no balance of large unhunt able habitat. The fact is very few people trap or hunt anything but deer. Free ride for the yotes and to prolific breeders for the turkeys.
I call BS completely, I am a portage county nuisance trapper and if, and that is a HUGE if there were even a single confirmed live stock kill, the odnr would be all over it and have professional trappers involved, #2 Ohio has never had any kind of child attacked by a coyote you are just plain making crap up. Domestic dogs and cats do more damage to livestock than coyotes could dream of. You must be mad that you lost your hunting spot and since you killed 1 deer there in 1990 it must have been the greatest place ever. Geeze I can't wait til next month when the coyotes are breeding and more vocal. You'll probably be telling people that's the sound they make after they kill a 90 year old woman.
Drive north on Rt. 534 from Rt 5 in the early spring and You will see the flocks of 3 to 4 hundred turkeys per flock near mosquito creek public hunting area. Drive past the city limit sign in little Newtonfalls on Holcomb road and see the flock of 100 birds. Drive east on Rt5 from Newtonfalls to Niles and look at all the breeding, no hunting areas. Go to the south side of West Branch Public hunting area and look at the no hunting area across the road, then go on the north side and look at the arsenal. While Your at it, look at the flocks of turkeys and You Yote lovers can see all You want even in broad day light! I don't know what I am talking about but I can take You to Stark, Portage, Mahoning, Summit, and Geauga counties and show You The scenario I experience.
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