Fish and wildlife areas EVERYONE

[lonniephillips]

My brother and I and a few friends have hunted a few of the states F&W Areas over the years.
My 1st ever was Winnamac , I have seen hundreds of deer there over the years and taken many from bow, gun and muzzle loader.


We discussed on another thread about a Fish and Wildlife area and how good it was for deer.

We have noticed over the last 10 years or so maybe longer ( when ever the Park reduction hunts started) that Winnamac has went down hill fast

I mean you consider the 1st year they had the Tippy park hunt they took over 500 deer and the Winnamac F&WA is Just across the road from the park.
It really have devastated the numbers of deer we have been seeing in the hunting area and surrounding areas.

I'm not saying it wasn't needed , just saying it greatly reduced the deer number and in my opinion had a negative affect on the quality of deer hunting in Winnamac F&WA


Just consider this idea

take your best spot , say the DNR contacts the landowner in a 5 mile or 8 mile square in your area and get 200 or 300 hunters whatever and allows them to kill 3 deer in a 2 day hunt

Can you imagine the affects this would have on the deer population in that area and then they kept doing it every other year to keep the heard in check

[steiny]

I agree.
The DNR's relentless attack on the doe population is out of hand.
There aren't that many stinkin deer in my area, and never have been. Population is about as low as I have ever seen it, and we haven't had any disease problems.

Two or three deer ought to be enough for any one hunter.

[cambygsp]

Dec 21, 2009 23:19:19 GMT -5 steiny said:

Two or three deer ought to be enough for any one hunter.

Well........according to our DNR, not very many hunters are killing two or three deer a year.......most are killing just one.

I agree with ya though............it sure seems like we are at a low population level!

[kdog8173]

agree, with urban zone in tippicanoe..u could get i think a total of 13 deer..i might be wrong but its above 10..thats A LOT of meat..

[jabba]

How many people kill THAT many though? I mean I hunt, Johnson, Morgan, Barthomew, Orange, Lawrence, Martin, AND Tippecanoe counties. I am not even gonna count how many does I COULD kill. I usually kill 3 or 4 total. I have killed 46 deer in 16 seasons since I got out of the Navy. That's less than 3 per year on average. And that includes bucks too.

I'm not saying that I don't think the numbers are down... they are. But there ARE other considerations. Not only deer vs auto accidents... but deer vs motorcycle accidents too. As an avid rider, THAT scares me almost as much as stOOpid arsed people in cages texting and talking on their cell phones instead of trying not to KILL me.

I have been CLOSE to hitting deer on my MC, and let me tell you... THAT is not pretty. I had to change my shorts when I got home.

We have laid off the does in our home area this year... and went to other areas that have not had the pressure. We saw LOTS of deer. Saturday night when it was snowing... HOLY CRAP!!!! They were everywhere. We simply had not been hunting them in the right spots.


Jabba

[Deleted]

If 10 people kill 3 a piece....that's 30. If 30 people kill one a piece....that's 30....if 60 people kill one a piece that's double 30. Compound the problem with increased hunting pressure making deer nocturnal and it's easy to see how public areas get real tough real quick.

[tickman1961]

Covered up with deer down in my neck of the woods, pressured deer will behave much differently than deer who are unpressured. Not many places see more pressure than state FWA's.

[jabba]

People talk about nocturnal deer. It's not like you can't hunt them. Figure out where they are... and sneak up on them. There are other ways to kill deer besides sitting in a tree stand all the time. I am not saying that's wrong... but it's not the only way. I hear people ALL the time say that there are not any deer... wherever they hunt... and they invite me in, and I do a little research... walk in and kill deer. Because I am willing to go TO them. Put my nose in the wind... and still hunt.

IMO on the ground in where the action is. Do it on the ground with a bow... and NOW you're REALLY talkin'!!

Jabba

[lonniephillips]

guys , I'm not saying the numbers are down anywhere other than in and around the Winnamac Fish and Wildlife area.
Once upon a time (before the park hunt at Tippy) we could find trail after trail beat down to look like a cattle path but now those type of trails are very few a far between , it isn't a nocturnal this guys.

I'm saying that kill 200 deer in any 5 mile area every other year and see how fast the deer population will decrease.

just think of the 1st 500 deer that was killed a the Tippy park hunt.
lets say that 300 were doe, now most healthy doe with give birth to twins each year
you just took 900 deer (even toss 100 out for other mortality) or 800 deer out of that herd just from doe re population the next season
that will reduce a heard fast and in fact it has in the Winnamac Fish and Wildlife area

He11 i remember when you could go into the office and they would have 4 or 5 poster boards filled with harvest Muzzle loader deer info , this year they had only 1 that was only 1/2 full

so you do the figuring , it dam sure ain't nocturnal deer

[jabba]

Oh for SURE man. I am with ya. But, I also realize that the FWA's and parks need a more balanced eco system too. They really WERE overpopulated. The deer weren't healthy, they were stressed, the environment was stressed, and that was only gonna hurt them in the LONG run. It would have made them really susceptable to EHD as well. Having the population down a little from the WAY too high point is good IMO.

If you could kill a good deer every time you walk out in the woods... it wouldn't even be FUN would it?

Jabba