Versailles State Park Hunt

[old3arrows]

I looked at the park hunts for this year, and they are hunting Versailles State Park again. At one time they were set up to alternate every other year with Brown County. I guess they feel the deer numbers are still too high in that area, and they were either number one or number two in total harvest for the park hunts last year. Makes you wonder how many more years they will continue to put the hammer down on this park. I know a lot of the locals do not want to see it hunted that hard, as they feel it causes the herd to drop way down outside of the park. I don't know one way or the other, but i do feel it is pretty much a waste of time to hunt this park on the second day of the draw, as few deer are seen or harvested.

[MuzzleLoader]

Went several years ago, saw lots of does and one small buck. If you saw a deer it was running mach 1 headed to the next county. Did not feel safe at all hunting there. Too many people hunting in our section. You couldnt wear enough hunter orange, people shooting in all directions. Will never go back.

[firstwd]

I agree Rick. Although I saw, didn't quite have the opportunity, more than my limit. My brother did limit out, 2 on the second day. I personally think they need to put a little pressure on the turkeys.

[INDeerhunter]

I will never forget the first Brown County Park reduction I saw in the newspaper when I was younger ! There was a hunter shown on the front page of the local newspaper in my area (Southern Indiana ~ The Tribune) he was dragging a deer out that he harvested.

Or should I say carrying a deer out, he had it drapped over his shoulder and was holding its back legs with one hand and a bow (if I remember correctly) in the other hand ! The deers head came to rest near the back of the mans knee !!

Now I know back then Brown county had an awful lot of deer and the herd was in some real need. the deer didnt have enough food and I remember when we used to visit the park we could see people HAND FEEDING the deer out of their vehicles, those deer looked small and under nourished.

The biggest problem I had with the story and with the hunter portayal on the front page of that newspaper was the fact that anti's and non-hunters alike would simply see that pic and think that "hunters" would kill anything ! the deer looked like a medium sized dog !

I knew that the deer herd was in trouble at Brown County and therefore the deer would be small and "ill" or "weak" looking but there was nothing in the article that said anything like that and I heard alot of people talking that werent hunters saying things like " I cant believe someone would kill a baby deer like that" "Damn bambi killers" and " I didnt think you could shoot fawns ?"

I guess my point is the newspaper (media) should have used a different pic for their front page coverage of the park hunt or atleast should have told more about the facts of why a state park reduction hunt was necessay for that park and why the deer were small and not healthy looking !!! But instead they used it as a story to stir the pot IMO, it seemed to me that they portrayed hunters as greedy shoot anything that walks unethical unemotional monsters !!!

I just hope that the reduction hunt you all are discussing has a much better deer herd as it is then Brown County did back then, or at the least the media doesnt get involved and show a similar story as back then at Brown County. We as hunters get enough slack from ill educated non-hunters and anti's as it is.

I dont mean the ill educated non-hunters as disrespectful I just mean the people that dont know anything about hunting but are quick to portray hunters as awful hum an beings for doing the thing that we love ~ HUNT !!!

Good Luck to you all this season !
~INDeerhunter~

[windingwinds]

Before they allowed hunting at Brown County the deer were the size of pygmy goats............in my opinion one of the worst cases of animal neglect. But you'll never hear much about that, only how cruel hunting is. Education is very important for non-hunters to understand that deer will starve if allowed to overbreed in a "safe area". SAD.

[throbak]

I know this is a little off but let me tell you Brown county story My wife and I were doing the Brown county thing, when we came across a foreign car( me a 30 yrs gm employee) with a hunter strapped across the hood and Deer Driving WELLLL. that struck me, as them suggesting I (a hunter) should be shot, after ripping the hunters off the car and kicking the deer around the parking lot telling any one who would listen that this was a bunch of sic sh----t and there were plenty, the wife suggested we should leave, and while in the dillinger museum heard the were looking for the NUT that kicked the deer around to be arrested, we left and now the statue of limitations is up,, so for the first time thats my story

[INDeerhunter]

Back then when we went there pretty regularly I had an 8 point buck the size of maybe a yearling doe with what was one of the smallest basket racks I think I have ever seen walked outta the woods while we were sitting at a shelter house eating a picnic lunch, and it walked right up to us like it was a pet dog or something !!! I couldnt believe that a "wild" animal walked right up to us like that, my mom threw a handful of ritz crackers out onto the ground and the buck ate it like the poor thing hadnt eaten in weeks !!!

Its awful that it took as long as it did IMO to have some reduction hunts at Brown County and its sad that the media and the public focus on the hunters being unsportsman or something like that than to realize that without us there would be straving deer and many many more vehicle deer collisions !!!

I also think its an extrememly bad idea for a state park to get to the point the visitors to such park are feeding the deer (or any animals) out of their cars so much that they feel safe enough to walk up to humans looking for food !! The deer that used to inhabit Brown County State Park were damn near to the point it was like a petting zoo !

I havent been there in years and have never hunted the reduction hunts there but I would hope that since this many years have passed and the reduction hunts have taken place that the deer population is in check and the herd is healthy and I truly hope that the deer are no longer like pets coming to every shelter house and vehicle looking to be fed !!

Thats my 2 cents lol ! I think the public should be more informed of how deer arent pets, that hunters help the deer population stay in healthy means and we prevent more vehicle deer collisions !!! Throbak I dont think I followed your story too much but it sounds like a good joke LOL !

Good Luck this season to all of you !!
~INDeerhunter~

[whitetaildave24]

Brown County is suppose to be every other year as well. I hunted there last year and it looks like they are hunting there again this year. We go to the park fairly often as it is pretty close to where we live. The deer population there is much more in check then it was when they first started these hunts. The deer that you see in the park now are now the "normal" size and don't look like little starving runts anymore. I was surprised to see they were hunting it again this year, because I thought the every other year rotation was doing just fine keeping the deer in check.