Ohio Game Fishing banner

The perfect managed and prospering Ohio deer herd

30K views 266 replies 41 participants last post by  Shad Rap 
#1 · (Edited)
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:This thread is for all those tired of the whiners and just want to talk about the great job being done in managing Ohio's deer herd with out sorting through all the negatives in other threads. Have at it guys and enjoy the bountiful deer herd provided to you by the fine efforts of the ODNR. The quality and quantity of the herd is exactly where we want for years and years to come.;););)
 
#2 · (Edited)
#44 ·
#3 ·
#4 · (Edited)
The ODNR is very good at deer management.

They have stated their intentions to reduce the population from what it was in 2008, 2009 and have effectively done so easily with the hunters gleefully participating.

Many of these same hunters (the tools of the ODNR management plan) that enjoyed the higher populations and partook of the higher bag limits are the ones now crying the loudest.


Can the ODNR manage the deer herd effectively, you bet they can, they have proven that beyond any doubt.
 
#6 ·
The ODNR is very good at deer management.

They have stated their intentions to reduce the population from what it was in 2008, 2009 and have effectively done so easily with the hunters gleefully participating.

Many of these same hunters (the tools of the ODNR management plan) that enjoyed the higher populations and partook of the higher bag limits are the ones now crying the loudest.


Can the ODNR manage the deer herd effectively, you bet they can, they have proven that beyond any doubt.
Can you make this HopintoCash(*) signature? haha :)
 
#9 ·
Hoping that I see more deer this year.
Hoping the DNR does not have a second gun season.
Hoping EHD does not run rampant through our state.
Hoping that deer are managed on private and public lands separatetly.
Hoping that more public ground and hunter access to private ground increases.
Hoping I am able to think positively while I watch the neighbor trespass on our property.
Hoping that hunter recrutement increases to save our fine sport.
 
#10 ·
Well I for one am quite pleased, I saved a ton of money on ammunition and the barrel of my rifle is clean as the first day of season. And short of a quick oil swab I didn't have to touch it. Didn't have to wash blood out of the bed of my truck or clean up my deer cart. Or make those trips to distribute processed deer to moms with kids that really needed it. Oh well like the good "Browns Fan" that I am, "There's always next year."

Thanks Mike for a wonderful trouble free deer season.
 
#14 ·
Right now it seams that the our state has pockets full of deer and places where deer are thinned out. The county by county way of managing is probably a good thing but IMO the process is too slow. By the time they cut back on tags the area has already been depleted.

I surly would not want that job, trying to appease, the farmers, the insurance companies and the hunters.

I'm in Jefferson County and we used to be over run with deer. You could go into any patch of woods (in the 90's and 00's) find a trail sit down and expect to see many deer pass on that trail usually within the first hour or so. Now if you can find a good trail you might sit there for a couple of days and only see 1 or 2 come by.

I sit here and read the stories of people that see next to none and others who are still seeing plenty.

My warning to those who see a lot of deer now: It used to be like that here and no one would have or could have ever imagined that it would become the way it is now, few and far between.
 
#15 ·
Right now it seams that the our state has pockets full of deer and places where deer are thinned out. The county by county way of managing is probably a good thing but IMO the process is too slow. By the time they cut back on tags the area has already been depleted.

I surly would not want that job, trying to appease, the farmers, the insurance companies and the hunters.

I'm in Jefferson County and we used to be over run with deer. You could go into any patch of woods (in the 90's and 00's) find a trail sit down and expect to see many deer pass on that trail usually within the first hour or so. Now if you can find a good trail you might sit there for a couple of days and only see 1 or 2 come by.

I sit here and read the stories of people that see next to none and others who are still seeing plenty.

My warning to those who see a lot of deer now: It used to be like that here and no one would have or could have ever imagined that it would become the way it is now, few and far between.
Excellent points. There are still plenty of deer around my buddy's place and it's not for lack of hunting pressure! He's had permission to hunt the farm behind his place for about 50 years. Another local farming family, and their friends, also hunt it but only during gun season. They bring about 3 truck loads of drivers and standers! Last season they pushed the farm twice, Tuesday and Saturday. Tuesday they bounced 2 doe, got none. Saturday they saw nothing. Saturday evening my buddy and I decided to take the portable spotlight down back just to see what was around. There were 10 deer in the picked cornfield behind his house! Where'd they come from?

My BIL has permission to hunt a large farm in SE Ohio. There's a creek valley with pasture, some crops (corn for cattle), and timbered ridges on either side. The last outbreak of EHD down there whacked the deer hard! The creek dried up to few pitiful mud holes, and all the little feeders coming off the ridges were bone dry! We went down for the first 3 1/2 days of gun last season and saw one deer! Yet, there was a lot of sign. Rubs, scrapes and tracks galore, but we didn't see them.

That area's deer population has been knocked down, or "depleted", to use your word. It's been coming back slowly. The thing about deer populations is, once they hit a certain "critical mass" they can grow like topsy! I'm all for the county by county management and reduced limits. I think the ODNR realizes that they've knocked the herd back and need to let it grow a little in some places. We'll see if that's the case when the actual regs come out.

What really interested me was in the title of the post. The "perfectly" managed deer herd! Unfortunately, there ain't no such thing. Not in the real world anyway. No matter what you do, somebody's going to bitch about it, as you alluded to. For an example read about the early "management" of Yellowstone National Park. Nobody knew what to do! They had all kinds of ideas, but no one really "knew"!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JayBird77
#16 ·
I just want an antler restriction that isn't enforced for special youth only seasons to try and even up the buck to doe ratio. I would love to see more bucks during the rut and also see more kids getting the opportunity to harvest bucks.
I am yet to understand the need for youth seasons at all. If you have a kid, everyday should be youth season.
 
#17 ·
Right now it seams that the our state has pockets full of deer and places where deer are thinned out. The county by county way of managing is probably a good thing but IMO the process is too slow. By the time they cut back on tags the area has already been depleted.

I surly would not want that job, trying to appease, the farmers, the insurance companies and the hunters.

I'm in Jefferson County and we used to be over run with deer. You could go into any patch of woods (in the 90's and 00's) find a trail sit down and expect to see many deer pass on that trail usually within the first hour or so. Now if you can find a good trail you might sit there for a couple of days and only see 1 or 2 come by.

I sit here and read the stories of people that see next to none and others who are still seeing plenty.

My warning to those who see a lot of deer now: It used to be like that here and no one would have or could have ever imagined that it would become the way it is now, few and far between.
My question to you is this. Do you have any adjoining properties who do not allow hunting? If the answer is yes, go there, and I bet deer will trample you.
All about the access thingy.
 
#18 ·
I am yet to understand the need for youth seasons at all. If you have a kid, everyday should be youth season.
It gives our youth hunters a chance to gun hunt with uncrowded conditions and before deer are highly pressured. I am a huge proponent of the seasons and see the proposed change as selfishness. Let the kids have some fun now and they are more likely to stick with hunting in the future. Just my opinion.
 
#19 ·
It gives our youth hunters a chance to gun hunt with uncrowded conditions and before deer are highly pressured. I am a huge proponent of the seasons and see the proposed change as selfishness. Let the kids have some fun now and they are more likely to stick with hunting in the future. Just my opinion.
My point is, that as a parent, you shouldn't put your hunt ahead of a kids. If you can't sacrifice your opener for your child, THAT is a sign of selfishness. Every day of the season should be "youth day" if you're a parent.
 
#20 ·
I am yet to understand the need for youth seasons at all. If you have a kid, everyday should be youth season.
It gives our youth hunters a chance to gun hunt with uncrowded conditions and before deer are highly pressured. I am a huge proponent of the seasons and see the proposed change as selfishness. Let the kids have some fun now and they are more likely to stick with hunting in the future. Just my opinion.
It's kind of like having a basketball hoop 8' high for the young'uns.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saugeyefisher
#22 · (Edited)
It's a little difficult to take a child deer hunting EVERDAY when there's no open gun season.
I guess I just fail to see the problem with letting children hunt a few days before 650000 adults hit the woods.
Just because a child kills a deer in youth season sure doesn't mean they couldn't Hunt Opening Day of the regular season but My children normally had school on Monday.
Good luck and Good Hunting
 
#23 ·
LOL Every single complaining deer population thread starts with hopin2cash
Find it humorous that every sarcastic statement on OGF comes with a yak on the avatar... js;)

Yes I am concerned about the deer population...
:mad:
Yes a youth hunt is good thing... we have lost so many hunting traditions over the years to so called technology etc... maybe it is time to try and start some new traditions...:good:
 
#24 ·
I am not a huge proponent of a dedicated youth season and doubt that it has any lasting impact on keeping a youth interested in hunting as he grows older. There was no youth season when I was growing up or when my son started hunting with me. I created a youth season for my son by taking him out of school to participate in the first day of the deer season.

I would really like to see the deer gun season open on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and run for 9 days giving everybody 4 weekend days to hunt. If the kids can hunt with everybody else on an Saturday opening day it would be better than a dedicated youth season in my opinion.

The dynamics involved with instilling the tradition of hunting in our youth is a much more complex problem than just giving them 2 days of season.
 
#150 ·
I am not a huge proponent of a dedicated youth season and doubt that it has any lasting impact on keeping a youth interested in hunting as he grows older. There was no youth season when I was growing up or when my son started hunting with me. I created a youth season for my son by taking him out of school to participate in the first day of the deer season.

"I would really like to see the deer gun season open on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and run for 9 days giving everybody 4 weekend days to hunt"! If the kids can hunt with everybody else on an Saturday opening day it would be better than a dedicated youth season in my opinion.

The dynamics involved with instilling the tradition of hunting in our youth is a much more complex problem than just giving them 2 days of season.
Yeah, and besides that, "maybe" one of those weekends wouldn't be miserable, freezing rain with high winds which keeps the deer bedded all day with only nocturnal feeding and movement!i Our last few deer seasons, the weather has "sucked"!
 
#25 ·
My question to you is this. Do you have any adjoining properties who do not allow hunting? If the answer is yes, go there, and I bet deer will trample you.
All about the access thingy.
There are such places (close to some of my areas) but I am speaking more broadly about my entire county. The decline is not at one farm or one area that I hunt. And I'm not saying that we are free of deer.

I have seen the full cycle from almost none to over run back to only a few. When I started hunting it was buck only and there were very few hunters (even fewer bow hunters). Many of which only caught a glimpse of a buck.

Then in the late 70's and early 80's it was coming on. They started giving out doe permits lottery style (they might not have been the county that you lived in). Then came the either or tags. Then multiple either or tags and so on.

In the late 80's and through the 90's Jefferson County was always in top 5 for deer harvest. I saw more out of state and out of county plates than you could believe. Most didn't have permission they found a place to park and went into the woods to hunt. And for the most part people didn't care (we knew they would get they're deer and go home).

Mid 00's is when I noticed that there just wasn't as many around any more. Folks on here belittled me big time when I mentioned it, IE: "I didn't know how to hunt", "I was caught up in old habits" and so on and so on. "There were plenty of deer" and "There's nothing to worry about", "I needed to change my methods".

Well it took several years but now the sky is falling for others around the state. And yes there are pockets of deer in places, some seeing plenty and they couldn't be happier but let the "Orange Army" find out where that is and they will come and help with the over population problem in your area.

I'm not sure if it's some kind of cycle, over harvest, coyotes, disease or a combination of everything. But right now (around here anyways) it seams like we are back in the late 70's early 80's.

The deer are still here but not in the numbers they were. I stopped harvesting doe a couple of years ago (to try and do my part). But I'll say it again "Don't think it can't happen where you are" , that's what we all thought.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top