HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - Archery harvest in Illinois down significantly!
Old 10-24-2013, 05:55 AM
  #28  
Murdy
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North Central Illinois
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Originally Posted by whitetailcrazy
That's the point I have been trying to make! Indiana went to a one buck system what 5 years ago or more? Don't know exact number of years, but you can see it's been paying dividends! When does a buck reach it's peak antler growth 5-6 years of age... You can see the 1 buck system is clearly leading people to hold out... I don't hunt in Indiana, and Zim I couldn't agree with you more, that in the past a great deal of people from NWI(of whom I know) there motto was if it's brown its down.. Times are changing!
I wasn't really taking a position on the benefits of the one-buck rule; I do not doubt that it has beneficial effects. My point was that different management strategies (like the one-buck rule) cause hunters to engage in different behavior and affect the percentage-of-total-harvest statistic, which makes that statistic of limited value in comparing different states. In Indiana, for example, the percentage may be higher because there are more mature bucks, or it may be higher because hunters refrain from shooting smaller bucks, or, most likely, some of both. Similarly, the statistic in both Illinois and Wisconsin has to be heavily affected by their CWD eradication programs.
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