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.;););)
 
#255 ·
I shoot two a year now, just because that's about what my family will eat. I could shoot 6 a year if I wanted too. I quit deer hunting for fun because it got boring. Deer are easy.

I agree that deer aren't distributed evenly, but that's life. It's just the way it is. You have land that is restricted from pressure surrounding land that is wide open hunting. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the deer are going to go. It isn't a population issue. You raise the population, you'll still have the same issue with more deer. The only difference would be that instead of me having a healthy population while the public land hunters are having trouble killing deer, I'll have an unhealthy overpopulation while the public guys are still having trouble seeing deer.

Until you can convince other hunters to think about everyone else instead of just themselves , and until you can convince the round hat clans not to rape the land of everything they can, public lands will be how they are. It isn't anything the dnr can do. Setting a no doe law, or a one deer limit won't stop people from shooting what they want anymore than the 6 deer limit and one buck limit didn't stop people from killing 10 deer and several bucks a season. It's a people problem.
 
#256 ·
I shoot two a year now, just because that's about what my family will eat. I could shoot 6 a year if I wanted too. I quit deer hunting for fun because it got boring. Deer are easy.

I agree that deer aren't distributed evenly, but that's life. It's just the way it is. You have land that is restricted from pressure surrounding land that is wide open hunting. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the deer are going to go. It isn't a population issue. You raise the population, you'll still have the same issue with more deer. The only difference would be that instead of me having a healthy population while the public land hunters are having trouble killing deer, I'll have an unhealthy overpopulation while the public guys are still having trouble seeing deer.

Until you can convince other hunters to think about everyone else instead of just themselves , and until you can convince the round hat clans not to rape the land of everything they can, public lands will be how they are. It isn't anything the dnr can do. Setting a no doe law, or a one deer limit won't stop people from shooting what they want anymore than the 6 deer limit and one buck limit didn't stop people from killing 10 deer and several bucks a season. It's a people problem.
There is no doubt laws are made for those that choose to obey them. And we would like to think that most are law abiding citizens. But we also know there are those that aren't. We can't quit making laws that are beneficial to the topic simply because of those that choose not to obey the law. If we start doing that then we should just abolish all laws and just let everyone have at it.

But once again, does it really matter what law is made if there are not enough LEO's to adequately enforce the laws...even the laws that currently exist? And with one GW per county, which is laughable,we all know our current laws are not being enforced even a small percentage as it should.
 
#257 ·
I love the broad ridiculous statements the hopin boys make. I'm 75% public land and not because I don't have access to a couple private properties but because the public has better hunting. I've put a lot of blood and sweat into actually learning the areas of public land I hunt and I reap the benefits. Ya it's a lot of work ya you have to be mobile and hunt different areas and ya I see a ton of deer and I'm not alone. No I don't agree with all the odnr does but I do disagree that bag limits have destroyed our deer herd. And I also disagree that we are in a crisis of deer numbers. I do disagree with the way the odnr acts about coyotes and some other things. Quit drunk posting and check your facts.
 
#258 ·
Other than those who own property, every hunter in Ohio has equal access to private property, some are willing to put in the time and hard work to gain access but sadly most just sit around and complain about being forced to hunt on public property.
Maybe tracking down and actually Talking to landowners ( before Sept- Oct) would be helpful. Be polite,respectful and with a little time and effort hunters can find places to hunt but you won't find better places to hunt sitting around complaining about how bad the hunting is on public land.
I personally believe that in my area the public lands hold good numbers of deer and even though I have private property to hunt I often hunt on public areas with good success. If you find the hunting on public land unproductive find some private property to hunt and help reduce the pressure on the public areas.
Good luck and Good hunting !
 
#262 ·
I'm saying the deer will leave heavily pressured land for a safer space every time.

Until recently, private lands weren't so private. Landowners and farmers were more willing to allow others to hunt. Thanks to slob hunters, wannabe TV hosts , "outfitters", and the Era of leasing, that isn't the case anymore.

What was once heavily pressured land, surrounded by slightly less pressured land has become heavier pressured land surrounded by land with almost no pressure , manicured cover, all the corn they can eat , and nobody shooting at them until they're at the end of their lives anyway.
 
#264 ·
I'm saying the deer will leave heavily pressured land for a safer space every time.

Until recently, private lands weren't so private. Landowners and farmers were more willing to allow others to hunt. Thanks to slob hunters, wannabe TV hosts , "outfitters", and the Era of leasing, that isn't the case anymore.

What was once heavily pressured land, surrounded by slightly less pressured land has become heavier pressured land surrounded by land with almost no pressure , manicured cover, all the corn they can eat , and nobody shooting at them until they're at the end of their lives anyway.
Absolutely!
Have watched that scenario unfold many times over the years.
 
#263 · (Edited)
Why do you disagree??..what he said is 100% true IMO...were you the only one hunting that public land and passing on doe?
Which brings us full circle once again to the fact that while we here on OGF (and others on like forums) are interested and concerned in this topic(or we wouldn't be here having this discussion) , we, and people like us, are just a very, very small percentage of the hunting populace that is interested and pay attention enough to even see that there is a problem. Most are just buying their tags and shooting deer.
Bottom line is we can preach, argue and voice our opinions all day long amongst ourselves, but with the exception of creating a few hard feelings amongst ourselves...in reality we aren't changing a thing. And, not that people would listen to us, we don't have the public format to start spreading the word of killing less does like ODNR has. And I assure you, that's not going to come from ODNR anytime in the near future.

On another note, ODNR has an article in Cols. Dispatch pertaining to getting publics help with coyote control. Seems to many yotes being spotted in and around city's and people are starting to complain.
Have food...will travel:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...-asks-for-help-curbing-coyote-population.html

The thing about this yote ordeal is we all know yotes are very adaptable. We also know they WILL be where the foods is at.
The ironic thing is...hunters have proven to be the same as yotes. We WILL travel to where the deer are at regardless of whether hunters in that area want hunters not from that area coming there or not. If the deer get depleted or lower in numbers in my county for whatever reason, I'm gonna look at ODNR's website and the counties that have been producing deer. Guess where Ill be that next hunting season? I'll be sitting next to you in the woods you've hunted all your life. I'm not talking about me specifically. Im talking about hunters in general. It's the nature of the beast.
So for those that are still enjoying good numbers of deer with moderate to low hunting pressure on public hunting areas, that's great. Enjoy it while it last. If history repeats itself, you will soon show up in the woods along with the heavily increased 'orange army' to help out with that fun that was once enjoyed. And most of those counties I'm referring to still have a 3 deer limit.
 
#265 ·
I disagree. There was actually a time when public land hunting was very good. I recall 1995 - 2005 to produce fantastic public land hunting in central Ohio which has some of the heaviest hunting pressure there is. When I started hunting, I was only interested in bucks. In a typical season if going out 15-20 times, I'd see 30-35 deer most of which were doe. I accept that number might be a little high. I passed on doe all the time. However, the last 10 years, it's been a struggle to even see deer.
200,000 hunters have spoken in support of this opinion.......
 
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