2013 Indiana deer kill down
Indiana
Numbers are out.....overall down 8% from 2012....down 6700+ bucks from 2010.......Some counties were down almost 20%.....My county Porter was down 129 deer from 2012.... will they back off on the antlerless tags in some counties? Or drop them to at least drop them to a 3 or less so the damn late season gun antlerless will be in effect ??
It seems like everyone I talk to had seen less deer in 2013 than they had seen in previous years. I'm sure this could be due to several factors such as EHD but I'm concerned that we are taking too many animals. I talk to several people who take at least 5 deer per year. They use the meat and I'm glad of that but I think the allowable number should be reduced. I wonder if lifetime licenses should be reviewed? Look at the lost revenue for the state and the number of deer killed from lifetime licenses. Just a thought.
I agree with the statement we are killing too many deer, but what is there to "review" regarding lifetime licenses?
In another thread I predicted that the DNR would again claim a record harvest. I was right. They say it is in the top 10 since we started keeping records. They again have a full basket of kill more deer rules to push for. I think we need the DNR to define the numbers that they want to reduce the deer herds too. My opinion is that it is too low now in most of the state. They say their goal is to reduce the heard, they should say what it is they want to reduce them too.
To many deer being put down on the farmer crop damage programs during the summer and they don't have a one buck rule, check it out. Also on the number of deer killed in 2013, are the stats for this program included in our states stats?
Review lifetime license? Really? Maybe make them available again...
I agree, Siouxme.
I don't see any reason to cheat the people who once trusted the state enough to pay ahead for their licenses.
What is the incentive for a lifetime holder to take more deer than they would otherwise buy the licenses individually to take? The lifetime holder now doesn't have any license to take more deer than anyone else is eligible to buy tags for. And the incentive for the state to issue more tags would only increase if they were being paid more for the extra tags by the former lifetime holders.
I agree also with scout regarding the dep tags. Abused way too much. Since corn and bean prices shot up, the dep tags came into much more demand.
I understand the reluctance to welcome leasing, since we were mostly finding hunting ground for the asking, but the facts of life are that there needs to be some value to the landowner in allowing hunting, or the alternative is to watch his crops being eaten for nothing more than the fun of observing the deer.
I suspect that enjoyment is short-lived when the loss figures get into the thousands of dollars.
If the farmer has lease income to compensate, he will have less incentive to eradicate the deer that are eating the crops (and encouraging a better lease price), and more incentive to see them as another viable income source. That may violate the ideal that some think is still possible, of finding sufficient hunting ground for a handshake and a package of venison steaks, but in reality is better than having the deer gunned down indiscriminately in large numbers in the summer and left to rot.
There should be a more reasonable compromise between expecting the farmer to watch as thousands of his dollars are eaten, and the disgusting waste of hundreds of deer to reduce the waste of corn and beans. Some cash value to allowing the presence of the deer during summer would seem to be the most reasonable solution in terms of its integrity with our market solutions being preferable to imposed governmental solutions. Sometimes a win-win compromise IS better than a continued lose-lose conflict.
My only point about reviewing lifetime licenses was that people may be taking more deer since they wouldn't be required to buy any additional tags. I do agree with all of you who stated that this would not be fair to those who purchased the lifetime licenses so I retract this idea.
