Just curious...
How many tags per year do you think it is reasonable to expect to be permitted to fill? Not short-term because of the herd reduction effort, but as a long-term Normal...
How many hours of effort do you figure it ought to take to fill that tag? And by that I don't mean pre-season scouting or maintaining a bait/feeding station, but hours actually in the field with your bow during the season. The DEEP survey always asks how much time we did put in, but they seem less interested in how much time we think we ought to HAVE TO invest before we fill a tag...
How many deer do you expect to see in a day, in range or not?
And at what point would you say it's just no longer worth the effort? Time to take up golf or knitting or buy a fishing boat instead?
I'll weigh in later; just curious as to what you guys think qualifies as a good hunting season.....
#1 I believe two tags per hunter per hunting season is enough, no matter what weapon you choose to use. I would prefer the tags to be one antlered and one antler less.
#2/#3 This is one of those questions that I think the answers will vary a lot be very subjective, based on where you are in your hunting career/maturity. Personally I have gone complete seasons with out filling a tag. Not because I didn't have the opportunity to do so, but because I have become very selective and target only older age deer. However, (moving right along to question #3)I like to see deer every time I go out. That doesn't mean its a bad day if I don't see deer, but I am in it for the long haul and I enjoy being out there and seeing deer. Every time I observe deer I learn something new.
#4 I'm not sure I would ever say it's no longer worth the effort, but I can see where that would start to frustrate many. I would say too many hunters on too little land would be more discouraging than low deer numbers with no one harassing them.
A good hunting season to me is when I get to spend much time in my tree, see enough deer to keep me entertained, no hassles with other hunters, share some exciting moments with my family and friends and maybe even taking a mature deer for a ride in my truck!!
Time - I would expect to see 1 deer for every 12-14 hours in the field, in range or not, just a sighting.
No longer worth it when I spend 3x-4x the 12-14 hours without a single sighting, or about 36 - 56 hours afield.
Kill - not required for me to be satisfied, as long as I'm seeing deer.
I've said this before, right now I can find pockets of deer in the NW corner so I'm seeing them almost every time out, or every 6-8 hours afield.
It should take 7-10 hours in a stand to get an opportunity. Realistically that has gone by the side of the road these days....increasing to 20-25 hours for a shot opportunity.
I expect to see deer every time I'm in a tree. My main goal is to kill a nice deer. I don't spend time shooting, scouting, buying equipment, and sitting in a tree to watch the leaves. I'm there to place one perfect arrow through the chest of a good deer.
I've been doing this for 31 seasons. I'm still here. But every season is a little worse than the last lately with deer sightings/opportunities. Plus, there are a whole bunch more hunters I run into during archery season. It's definitely not as enjoyable as it used to be.
I'd like to think it would take 4-8 hours to see deer. Ill avoid where I most hunt in MA which takes about 12-24 hours to see a deer if you are doing well... And stick to the NE corner. That seemed to be solidly in the 4-8 hour range for me.
I love watching deer. So I'd love to see more - it's fun and educational. I do want to shoot 1-2 as healthy food for my family.
Not worth the effort? Not possible. As much as I enjoy watching deer and eating them... being quiet, reflective and spending time in nature is one of the most cherished things in my life, behind my family but ahead of about everything else. So, even if the odds were I wouldnt see anything, I'd still go.
Correctional scalding of an immature hunter is the responsability of the community at large.
If this mechanism no longer works then we are on our way out as a species, not only out of deer.
I shoot all my "eating" venison in Kentucky or Illinois, no comparison to the quality of corn, soy bean, alfalfa or white Oak fed Deer.
@notme - I think the hot prison babes in need of tongue lashing will be too harsh.
However, in some cultures adultery is punishable by smearing the woman with honey, then tie her up, and either let the flies eat her alive or have a group of gypsies clean her up with their tongues until she dies from orgasm overdose.
Alternately, a pipe is introduced in the vagina, a hungry rat is released inside the pipe and sealed in. The rat will go forward and eat her alive from inside out.
These are extreme examples of collective intervention. Your pick.
where in the hell do you find out about things like that? Wait, I don't want to know, to scaredy fraid! Yikes!!
Interesting, though, how much more inventive MANkind has been in punishing women for adultery than men....
Aaaanyway....
Maybe that's just what you get for poking the campfire and then wandering off for a bit?
But I'll have to come back to this later on.... Crazy day.
