Sorry AJ, but I'm not letting you take the last shot. You don't say 'we're not gonna talk about it here' then talk about it for 20 mins and not allow me to reply. I dont care if you are a moderator or not.
My point is YOU have no evidence as to any demise of the deer herd based on increased doe permits,increased seasons or anything else. That must be something unique with a handful of disgruntled hunters in New Castle county??
This is true, I dont have the facts on the herd. Thats not MY job. Its DNRECs. And I've said it at least 5 times that I would trust any estimate they would put on the table. I DONT believe they are out to destroy the herd. As for the NCco crack, thats just a personal attack. I dont even hunt in New Castle County.
In Lewis and around my house in Milford the deer can be seen roaming thru streets,yards, swimming across lakes during daylight hours in some cases.
I heard about it just yesterday about Cape Henlopen state park in Lewis. WAY too many deer vs habitat to support - and - not enough hunters to hunt them! Wanna see some scrawny Deer - go down there at dusk. 30-40 can be seen roaming everywhere,streets,sidewalks,around buildings etc...
Sounds like these are places that need as many seasons and days as possible and they should have them. Sounds like they would need MORE than is offered now. By all means, it should be done. But maybe zone X, Y and Z cant handle that those types of seasons.And you know what, no one knows what zone can handle what season.
The place to take your concerns are meetings,e-mail or do a face to face if the opportunity arises. State park managers or Naturalists are another good source of info.
The Delaware State Fair starts next week. F&W has a large set up with F&W folks on duty. Most of them are more than willing to talk about your concerns if you approach them correctly.
Be glad you live in Delaware where you can access these people with relative ease.
I am glad and those guys are class acts all the way. And I do plan on contacting them and alot of others too.
All it would take to shut me up is 2 pieces of info: 1)Est Deer Density per Square Mile per zone and 2)Est Carrying Capcity ofland per zone. Thats all. I can draw my own conclusions from there and huntappropriately. I'd shuton the topic to, only to arise 4-5 years down the road tosay A) I told you so, or B) Damn, those DNREC boys were right all along.
Until then, I will not go quietly into that good night....
Im done with this post though. Once I start contacting people and having some discussions, I will post on the topic again. If you dont want to read it, dont click on the link!