It's over, at leaset for now
Whitetail Deer
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First gun season just went out a little bit ago, thank goodness...
I hate gun season anymore, I root for the deer...8^) With all the shots heard around the house this past week, its amazing any deer survive around here... Haven't a single backyard trail cam pic of a deer in over two days, even at night... It'll take the few survivors a few days to come out of hiding, but then we have another 2-day gun season Dec 17-18, and then muzzleloaders blast at the in early January...
Haha......I feel ya Zbone. I didnt pay much attention to the season this year but a bit bummed about the second season. Owell.....hope they seek refuge on our property.....good for us!
Second gun season closed today in Illinois:) Archery now until 1/15/17! Shoot em up!
Our 2 week gun season just ended here in Saskatchewan yesterday. On the only Saturday of the season I sat my blind with my bow and heard at least 87 gun shots. Hard to believe that any deer can survive that kind of pressure.
If you think you the deer have no chance in Ohio this is what Michigan offers........A 2 day early doe hunt and youth hunt in September followed by a 3 month archery season. A 15 day gun season from Nov. 15 to the 30th, followed by a 17 day muzzleloader season which then leads into a 13 day late doe season.
You lucky dogs ! What if your gun season lasted from the first Saturday in November to the first Sunday in January ? Then muzzleloader until the middle of January. Maybe that's the reason so many of us hunt with both bow and gun ?
Eastern NC muzzle loader is Oct. 1st - Oct 14th, then gun season is Oct. 15th - Jan 2nd. Either sex season the entire time.
Tman, but most of Sask had no season from Oct 14 - Nov 20 allowing deer to run around and breed in complete peace! That's about the best deal for the deer I've heard of. And only one weekend of rifle total this year! Pretty good odds compared to anywhere else I'd say.
Where I grew up in the Carolina's the gun or "general season" runs up to 4 months, depending on the zone (unit). A 1-2 week gun season would do that place some good.
Late September through Dec. 31 for bowseason. Two weekends on October for rifle doe. Thanksgiving week and the week after for rifle, either sex in a lot of places on private ground. Followed by one week of ML either sex in most places. Followed by one week of rifle doe only, then bow only until Christmas, then a 3 day doe only rifle season. Limit of three bucks per year. Total of 9 deer unless you hunt residential hunts. We still have plenty of deer.
God Bless men
Iowa's shotgun season opened yesterday. At least it's not till the first weekend in December. I'm like zbone in that I root for the deer, especially the up-n-comers that I passed on this year! First shotgun season runs for 4 days, then the second season starts the following Saturday and runs 9 days.
Sorry, but herd management is based on the gun season, not the archery season.
There would be a real problem with deer populations without the 'gun' seasons.
On the other side, when licenses get reduced due to low populations, its the 'gun' season tags that take the hit.
Be appreciative
"There would be a real problem with deer populations without the 'gun' seasons."
No really in our state, I'd have to look it up but last time I checked xgun and vertical bow annual kills rival firearm kills... When I get a chance will post some stats... Crossbows kills surpassed annual vertical bow kills years ago because they are able to hunt our entire archery season and basically our bow season is a pseudo 4-month gun season... Everybody and his brother has one now days, and they kill a lot of deer with them...
Don't get me wrong, have nothing against gunhunters, am one myself sometimes, its just a week is long enough in this densely populated state... The week after Thanksgiving as it was traditionally done for many years...
Bows aren't what they used to be. They are a force to be reckoned with and the harvest on them is high. If you made everyone shoot a stickbow, then the harvests would go down.
Just received a electonic newletter.... Okay, here are some stats... Gunners only killed 66,759 deer during last week's gun season...
Sorry don't have last years final kill stats, but in 2013-2014 season, gunners killed a total of 75,408, and that same season, xgunners killed a total of 49,041, and vertical bows killed 36,520, bringing the so called archery kills to 85,561...
Guns - 75,408
Archery - 85,561
Archery wins and can be and is used as a management tool in the state of OH, just ask the DOW...
Zbone not really your gun season is one week vs. archery 3+ months.
That's how they calculate how long the gun season is. Most states have much shorter gun seasons because they can meet their objectives
If OH had a 2-3 week gun season they wouldn't need a 3+ month archery season.
Some states have to have archery due to human population/vicinity.
I love archery but we will never compete with gunners given the same amount of time.
The point I was trying to make was a week long gun season in this densely populated state is enough to manage the population especially when they allow crossbow use for 4 months...
They used to do it with a 6 day gun season and a 4-month bowseason, (no xbows at the time)
The deer here are managed more by the limit of tags allowed, not the method, but in truth, its more about moneys...
Annual total kill stats been in steady decline since 2010:
2010 - 261,260
2011 - 239-475
2012 - 219,748
2013 - 218,910
2014 - 191,455
2015 - 175-745
Once it get so low, fair weather hunters will give up and not buy tags, then we'll actually see the division actually manage deer once their wallet hurts...
Should add... I guess the reason I started this thread is I do not like these split gun seasons and wish they'd do away with them... Deer can now be managed with so-called archery equipment...
zbone have to watch what you wish for, any reduction will probably be to archery season instead of gun.
Then they will have lied to us again... They said if or when the xgun kill surpassed the vertical bow kill they reduce their season (xbows started with only a 3 week season at the beginning of bow season back in the day)... They then said since their kill ratio was so high they would not do so because they were to use them as a managing tool from then on...
They are blasting at them again today and tomorrow, then the deer receive a 3 week break and then the muzzleloaders blast at them for four more days in January...
It seems to be gun season here 364 days a yr. they take off for Easter .
Our muzzleloader season just ended yesterday, maybe now the deer can calm down and conserve energy....
our rifle season is 90 days..... i can't believe we even have deer in our state....