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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.;););)
 
#132 ·
You just can't grasp the hypocrisy in your posts.

So what time next year will you be back to blame the odnr for deceiving you.
You just can't grasp the hypocrisy in your posts.

So what time next year will you be back to blame the odnr for deceiving you.
You just can't grasp that when officials that are paid by our tax money make laws and regulations you assume they are for the good of all. I would say starting in about 2009 we were already questioning what was going on. We pulled back than becoming a little more selective with our harvest. It took the great biologist 4 more years to make any type of pull back. That is absolutely ludicrous with what we were seeing going on from Gurnsey to Portage county. It was a minimal pull back at best. Again I ask... if the bank was passing out money are you going to stay at home?
 
#129 ·
I believe the ODNR works for us...the hunters...the people who pay their salaries. Our tags and all the taxes on our equipment/gas/hotels/meat processing etc. etc. goes back to the state and pays for their livelihood. Our interests should be not only their number 1 priority, but their only priority.

I could care less about insurance companies and farmers and their special interest lobbyist. I keep hearing them and other public officials and outdoor media saying we need to "balance the deer herd". Or in other words lower the herd number. Why? Who does a high herd number hurt?

Typical Excuses:

Healthy Herd -The excuse that the herd will be more healthy if 'controlled' is for trophy hunters or bleeding hearts to worry about. If a deer can't find a food source then they will leave the area and find it elsewhere. If they can't, then it wasn't meant to be...its called life. Nature has a way of regulating itself. In my entire hunting life I have never seen a skinny, sick or unhealthy deer while in the stand or on camera even when the herd was much higher than it is now.

Farmers - Come on. This is the lamest excuse of em all. Farmers drop on the ground more grain/corn/beans in a typical day than what they lose in an entire yr from crop damage caused by deer. Ask one who you know and they will probably tell you the truth.

Car/Deer Collisions - We live in OH. It is going to happen. Just like its going to get cold and snow in the winter. Its part of life, deal with it or don't drive. I jokingly tell my family and friends to keep their foot in the gas then call me :)

I understand there are hundreds of factors that go into the regulations and I do not envy those making those decisions, but ultimately it comes down to the resident hunters of this state who pays the ODNR to protect and advance our interests. Any opinions or money aside from ours should not influence ODNR's decision making process.

I'm off my soapbox now :)
 
#130 ·
I believe the ODNR works for us...the hunters...the people who pay their salaries. Our tags and all the taxes on our equipment/gas/hotels/meat processing etc. etc. goes back to the state and pays for their livelihood. Our interests should be not only their number 1 priority, but their only priority.
Absolutely not!

The ODNR stands for Ohio Department of Natural Resources and represents ALL residents and resources of the state, not just hunters or fishermen.

The interests of all must be considered equally as vested partners in the process.
 
#142 ·
I am about as far from a equal for all kind of guy as you can get. I'm afraid that I may be lacking in my means to present it in a manner that you may understand.

However, I will try. It is for exactly the same reasons that we use use an electoral college and not the popular vote to elect the President.
 
#152 · (Edited)
All I know is I have seen more road kill in Geauga and Cuyahoga County than ever before. Lots of "sleeping" deer on I271 and I71 too.
 
#156 ·
Yep...one or the other.
Haven't had to buy mine for the last 15yrs as long as I hunt my own property but always have bought them. This year, for the 1st time in that 15 yrs., I'm gonna do my best to use my bought tag to help further reduce the overpopulation of deer in other counties that many are talking about.
Overpopulation in our area seems to have been corrected nicely per the parameters and goals ODNR has set.

Who knows, if I get lucky on Sat. May have to break out the ole' cell phone and purchase me another tag. Man...I love this new tag buying and check in system. As long as you get cell phone reception, Don't even have to leave the field.
 
#161 ·
So the get cash fast crowd believes that spillover kill does not exist. Killing deer in one area does nothing to reduce the herd in others and those of us seeing deer (saw 6 Saturday public land a buddy saw 20 in southern o public land) just have a small piece of deer paradise. I don't understand then how your deer got killed. And I guess since they couldn't spill over to areas where others were hunting because that doesn't happen, and since you didn't shoot them cause your responsible land managers, the jerks at the odnr must have stolen them. Gentleman your logic is circular. You are saying the deer leave your area and don't leave others areas. How??
 
#162 ·
I really just wish you guys could stop trashing the odnr long enough for all of us to find some common ground. The odnr's bag limits are not what is going to ruin hunting for future generations. There are plenty of issues that have far more to do with it. Educating young people, growing popularity of land leasing, habitat loss, anti hunters, coyotes, just to name a few. Even if they lowered it to one deer per person, that would just be a bandaid not a solution. And moreover, if we worked on these other issues, we might actually be able to accomplish something.
 
#164 ·
Dear Mr. jray, please find that over the last 5 years we have made numerous attempts to educate the fine folks on OGF and ODNR on both deer and habitat management... We have seen significant changes in the amount of tags passed out. We watched as some hunters were filling 3,4 and sometimes 5 tags and asked the same questions you do... why shoot so many deer and the reply was always the state lets me... I know the numbers suggest that people shooting more than 1 or even 2 deer is very low... but somebody is... the herd was to be downsized... great that happened along with coyote population increasing, leased land lock ups, habitat mismanagement (total clear cutting for profit is not management) along with hunter pressure that was not well distributed through out the state... take a look at the deer harvest numbers for Jefferson county over the last 10 years... see something wrong? We did long before any action was taken at all. If you want to sack with bobk that is fine. I only pick on him because he consistently calls me out. I would imagine this forum is read by about .1% of the total hunters in Ohio. So with that being said do we really believe that the hunters are to blame for the decline in total deer harvest and better yet trophy buck decline? If the sate was passing out $100 bills and you were aloud to have 5 would you really say no I'm good with 1 because sooner or later your run out?
 
#169 ·
From 2007 news release

Ohio deer hunters took a record 237,316 deer during the 2006-07 hunting season and for the third year in a row the harvest surpassed 200,000, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. The total number of deer taken was 13 percent above last year's season total of 209,513.

Ahhhh the good ole days!
Yep you guys are right... just look at this post... the state has done an absolutely fabulous job... we are currently at less than 165K for 2017... this thread has had 6988 views over the last 2 years so it will certainly make a difference also... (never mind that 500 are mine, 500 cash2, 500 Lundy and 500 bobk)... decline in hunters you say... closing of small mom and pop check station business you say... decline in youth hunting... decimation of public hunting land numbers... increase in locked up hunting places due to leasing... yep you guys are right... just an absolutely fabulous job!!! Did I mention its raining today and wet?
 
#179 · (Edited)
You're right Mike. The brown and down crowd is still out there. They will never go away I'm afraid. I just left a hunting shop (Morgan County) and a girl was so mad at the odnr that she could only kill 2 deer this year. I talked with her a bit and found out she got 2 and so did her husband. There is much of the problem. 4 deer for 2 people. They have no kids. That's over-harvest in my opinion but perfectly legal.
I don't have the numbers still in front of me but I'm thinking it was a 35% increase on doe during muzzy. ( I may be wrong on that) That's a lot of baby makers gone.
 
#180 ·
A guy my uncle works hunts public land central Ohio. It got hammered and the numbers were decimated. He and his wife kept buying 3 tags each and doing everything they could to fill each and every one of them, even though he knew that land was decimated. He said, "hey man, conservation is the ODRN problem and not mine." Now, I don't share that same view, but he is doing what is legal and it was a detriment to the greater good.

So, who is responsible for that?
 
#182 ·
A guy my uncle works hunts public land central Ohio. It got hammered and the numbers were decimated. He and his wife kept buying 3 tags each and doing everything they could to fill each and every one of them, even though he knew that land was decimated. He said, "hey man, conservation is the ODRN problem and not mine." Now, I don't share that same view, but he is doing what is legal and it was a detriment to the greater good.

So, who is responsible for that?
The hunter because he could see that that the numbers were down and he went for it anyways. That's what you call slicing you own throat. I won't feel bad for him next year when he does not see hardly any deer. He got his now so let's blame the state for killing the deer in the future. People like that are what the state is counting on. When people get fed up and only purchase one deer tag per season is when the DNR will wake up. That's where there money is coming from.
 
#185 ·
Let me try one last time (at least for now) to voice my thoughts regarding the states part vs the hunters part in the recent reduction of the deer herd. Those that want to blame hunters seem to ignore the fact that there is a need for regulation and it is only due to regulation that we enjoy what we have today. It is not due to the great restraint of hunters doing what is best for the future of the game animal they choose to hunt. If it were like that we would have no need for regulation of weapons used, numbers allowed to be taken, start and stop times, seasons and the like. Let us just have at it with lights at night, all summer long, out of car and truck windows ect. No problem as we expect that we will police ourselves. We as hunters would be to blame then if there were no regulations and we wiped out the critters... which we would in very short order. However we do have regulations and have a right to expect that our game animals are managed thru these regulations to ensure what we are taking is sustainable. It is just not reasonable to expect hunters as a whole to do what is in their own best interests. Again if that were the case we would need no regulations at all. Hunters pull the trigger but the states liberal regulations and tags are adding opportunity to do so. Think bonus gun, 4 month archery, hunt till half hour after sunset, straight walled cartridges, telecheat etc. As individuals we need to try and make a difference and do what we feel is right. What I feel is right for me is to pass on does and share my unhappiness regarding the states failure to preserve the resource on public lands with any who will listen.
 
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