Contributors to this thread:
I live and hunt in WMA 1A. The doe permit allotment is over 50,000. I think the PGC does a good job but why so much pressure for so many years. The four places I hunt that are private the land owners all say the same thing, don't kill any does we don't have many left. More land owners are posting to save the deer on their property.
I have no problem shooting does but when you only see a couple during the season it isn't very smart to kill the few that are left. IMO the deer numbers are down so maybe next year cut the number of permits by 10,000, still plenty of tags. I know a lot of hunters have quit the last couple of years because of posted property and not seeing deer on public property.
Because 50,000 x's $6.70 = $335,000 in revenue, versus 40,000 x's $6.70 = $268,000 in revenue, just in your WMU alone. That's a difference of $67,000 that would be lost from decreasing the tag allotment by 10,000. As I learned from another poster, of those 50,000 tags, only about 12,500 will actually be used.
I've learned over the years that I can't judge how many deer are in my WMU, based on the couple acres I can see from my treestand. What I can control, is whether or not I shoot what I see, based on what I'm seeing...or not seeing. For example, I will be hunting two different private properties this year. On one property, I've been seeing a decent amount of doe, so I will choose to use my doe tags on that property. On the other property, I will NOT be shooting any does, as I've only been seeing the same doe with a fawn. Like you, I've been talking with many other hunters who are seeing less doe, and therefore, will give them a pass this year in hopes of seeing more next year.
I will definitely agree with you on your final point, that many hunters have quit because they have lost access to private land, and have experienced a poor quality of hunting on public lands. We've gone from a state that used to have over 1 million hunters, to just half that number over the last decade....and those numbers are only going to keep declining, given more land being posted. Just my 2 cents.
What Josh said. I bought a 1A doe tag, but I won't shoot one unless "I" personally see it justified in the area I'm hunting. The game commission manages in too broad a fashion and I don't believe everything they say anyway. Most years lately, I've refused to kill a doe. Most folks don't think like us though. A lot of folks would shoot the one and only doe they see, so perhaps my actions don't amount to anything in the big scheme, I'm just trying to be aware and responsible.
I was surprised to hear there are still thousands of doe tags left in 1A.
Why?
There's over 7000 tags left. I've been buying three tags for the last couple of years and have only shot one doe in the last five years. I hunted in gun season last year and never saw a doe. I sure wouldn't of shot any doe after not seeing any after the first week. That's pretty sad. There's still a few squirrels to shoot at. I have a two trail cameras out and there are a few does and three small bucks in a area where there used to be a lot if deer. I got a picture of a doe and a fawn last week that the fawn couldn't have been more than a couple of weeks old.
No doubt it is one of the handful of WMU's where PGC should devise some system to better manage the public land because that is what bores the real burden of too many tags allocated in the more populated units with relatively little public. Every incremental allocation in 1A, 2B, even 2D just stresses the public land more and does very little within the vast and growing expanses of no trespassing signs. To manage both the same is a blatant disregard for the facts and science.
Elk, the Yellow posters were always there. Our brethren and trespassing made them more prevalent. Also liability sue happy lawyers made them necessary.
Jeff, I would shoot that doe. Those tags are issued to be used and not burned.
