Maybe Chad Stewart Needs Removed !
Indiana
I am wondering if it isn't time to start a petition to the Gov. to have Chad Stewart removed. In my opinion he has betrayed all the hunters in the state. In all this deer reduction over population nonsense he has never been forthcoming enough to honestly state what the reduction goals are. Instead they just manufacture numbers to support any rule they want to pass and above all else KILL MORE DEER, or sell more tags. Deer can be eradicated and they will still claim it should be a 3 county. If the deer needed reduced ,fine but they could have published what they wanted them reduced to.
I understand your frustration, but I don't believe Chad Stewart is the problem.
As long as directors and chiefs of the DNR remain politically appointed positions, professional hired experts will never be allowed to do the job they were trained to do. I hate to use the term "puppets", but it is what it is...
Pav I understand what you say. Politics started the entire reduce the herd drive.That being said, if it was done with integrity it could have been stated from the beginning that our numbers are here and we want to reduce the numbers to here. That has yet to happen. I also believe that the high harvest numbers 3 or 4 years in a row were manufactured. At that time I was active in the Army National Guard. We had soldiers( hunters) coming from all over the state and no one was killing much of anything but yet each year we would have a record harvest. Reducing the herd is one thing but right now ( and I don't think we are done yet)I think we have gone way beyond reduction and maybe into eradication. In most of the counties around me we are back to 1970,s populations of deer. Remember when it would be in the paper if someone saw a deer. That's just about the place we are in right now. And we are still at 3. Bottom line is this. I agree he is a puppet. But if hunters do not speak out no one will notice that the deer herd needs restored. He has lost faith with most hunters, and calling for his resignation might bring the message that hunters are not happy with the reduction. Hunters should not willingly go along with eradication to support the insurance industry.
Hate to sound so pessimistic, but IMO...the ONLY thing that will get the attention of the DNR is spiraling license sales. If/when the herd numbers get so bad that people stop buying licenses....they might listen.
We also need to convince the Joe hunters who are complaining about low deer sightings...that shooting does isn't helping their situation. Just because the state offers long seasons and basically unlimited tags, doesn't mean hunters have to use them.
That said, I have no idea how to get that message across? Most hunters blindly trust the regs. They see longer seasons and more tags...must be the result of too many deer...right?
Personally, I lost faith in the DNR's ability to manage the deer herd a long time ago. Rather than fighting the politicians, my time and effort now goes towards private management practices. The deer numbers on the farm I hunt are not what they were in the mid-90's, but still very good. My biggest concern going forward is trespassing and poaching. The worse the hunting gets around the property, the more likely we will have frustrated hunters sneaking on the property to hunt. It has already started....
Moot thread now I guess.
Rumor is Chad has resigned and is moving to a similar position in Michigan.
