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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 10, 2017 16:10:01 GMT -6
Even if they allowed75- 90% of the gun hunters to have Buck tags every year, if, big if, MN had a draw for buck tags... the shoot every buck you see attitude would change in a hurry.
SD limits buck tags to residents, so when they get one, they don't shoot the first spike they see. The tags are coveted.
Not saying all of MN should do this, but certain counties, mine included (farm country) and maybe even some of zone 1 should limit buck tags. 1/2 of my county has low buck numbers, sparse cover, mostly black dirt.
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Post by smsmith on Mar 10, 2017 16:26:57 GMT -6
With CWD here now (again), I don't see our DNR doing anything that would increase the number of bucks over 1.5.
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Post by jbird on Mar 13, 2017 13:10:31 GMT -6
Here you can chase any deer for 32 days with a firearm of some sort. You can chase an antlerless deer in specific counties (2/3 of the state) for an additional 13 days as well with a firearm.
Our general firearms season fall right during the peak breeding season here as well (the later half of november).
I figured it up one time - if a hunter chose to do so and bought the tags and got the access he could kill roughly 300 deer across the state here over the course of a full season and not break the law in the process, because of our "bonus antlerless" system.
Indiana is also 95% privately owned.
No baiting and no party hunting.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 13, 2017 14:06:05 GMT -6
If anyone had some "nuts" in the MN DNR they would go to these meetings in the spring and say we are going to implement two changes next year, pick which choices you prefer
--change the season structure, APR, cross tagging, implement buck tags. You pick two of the four--
Give everyone a heads up and then vote.
If those changes are successful which I would guess they would be...(most) of the bitching would end for these folks and life would be much nicer. I know the Iowa DNR gets nothing but praise for their system, it is the complete opposite. Why do these guys in MN want the controversy to continue??
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Post by smsmith on Mar 13, 2017 14:10:59 GMT -6
Why do these guys in MN want the controversy to continue?? The only thing I come up with is that they do indeed see deer as liabilities to be dealt with rather than assets to be coveted. |
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Post by jbird on Mar 13, 2017 15:56:12 GMT -6
I will bet one thing that stays the same regardless of state is that hunters and the lobbyist groups are never happy. This is something I saw here way back when things where good and we had more deer than we really should have had. Guys where still bitching about something. Why can't we use rifles, why can't we bait, why can't we this, that or the other. Some guys still bitch about not having enough deer or the bucks where not big enough - yet they had a browse line and wouldn't pass young bucks. Some folks are never happy - you could had them a gold bar and they would bitch about how heavy it was! So although the "noise" level may come down it isn't going to go away. I'm sure they get the same thing from the lobbyist groups and the like as well. Sometimes I think we forget that 99% of the hunters out there are not like us. They don't or won't be active - it's much easier to bitch!
My biggest bitch here is the lack of data and a documented plan. And it isn't going to matter if we have harvests of 10,000 deer 100,000 deer or 200,000 deer it still isn't management without a plan and data!
I'm sure MN could make some changes to improve and hopefully you guys still have traction to do that. Indiana is starting up some pilot CDAC programs as a push from organized hunters here to try to allow hunters to be more involved in the process - similar to those in WI. If these pilot programs work the intent would be to go state wide in a few years. I am on the list to represent my county....if/when it gets to that point. I may even try to get on the regional team once I get more involved.
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