This is finally a decent compromise for hunters. Though EAB still exists in some units, the October t-zone is done away with.
Had the DNR simply listened to bowhunters for the past several years and urged the move of t-zones back to mid-October and not insisted on doing it during the rut, there would not have been as much controversy.
Still, this isn't a bad move. Now we will see if the DNR is serious about being objective here, or if they are just sputtering out more nonsense like they did in Deer 2000 when they "agreed" to an outside audit of population numbers. And one test will be:
Under the trail, October Zone T hunts would resume if hunters failed to register 1.4 antlerless deer for each buck killed in herd control units in 2006, and the ratio must climb to 2-to-1 by the end of the two-year trial.
Let's see: I hunt in unit 61. Last year, the ratio of antlerless to antlered deer harvested was about 1.61 to 1. Yet before this compromise started to take hold, we were told that we would have t-zone. Hmmmmmm?! So should that ratio hold this year, and get to 2:1 by 2007, the DNR should keep their bargain, right? If not, we'll know....