ORIGINAL: tmeservey
Some people don't want to be educated because they are blood hungry just to drop whatever comes along. Many have changed through education and watching hunting television programs where they practice AR/QDM on "teenager" bucks. I have to say watching the Outdoor Channel has effected how I hunt and pass on deer.
Laws restricting the harvest of small juviniles and arresting law breakers is sadly the only alternative to make things like mother nature intended.
Here in Greene county, we couldn't harvest does during rifle. Didn't bother me a bit. I just hunted does and meat with the bow and muzzleloader. One guy that doesn't hunt with a bow was upset because he uses just a rifle so I gave him one of my bow kills. he's actually going for his bowhunters safety coarse next year. A new bowhunter. It worked out good!
Ok. Now we are getting down to the "meat" of the issue. This year the harvest numbers are on par with last season's, bucks about the same statewide and does slightly higher, which as expected due to the increase in DMP issuance. Changes in the DMAP and DDP programs which were implemented this year will take another year or two to bear fruit.
The most stunning thing about this year's harvest is the number of mature bucks that were reported. We had a far higher number of 130 - 200+ class bucks harvested, especially from WNY and CNY. I would bet the number of mature bucks taken from ENY was up, too. I am interested to see the harvest figures in the two original pilot AR WMUs in Region 3 to see if harvest numbers increased (bucks) significantly. I have been hearing otherwise. The other two WMUs should NOT have been added this year. A pilot program is just that, and the nothing gets determined after one season. We'll see some seriously diminished returns from those two WMUs this year, but what we cannot readily determine is how many hunters actually hunted these areas, vs prior to pilot program introduction.
But the "meat" of the issue is enforcement. Exactly how will enforcement of the new AR happen, and at what cost? We already know the DEC is struggling with mandatory game reporting. Check stations were poorly visited this year by NYS hunters, with possible exception of CWD containment check stations in Oneida County. ANd, we are having a hard enough time enforcing existing laws against poaching and "group hunting", let alone proper tagging/ recycling tags and the like.
So, do you know how the enforcement will happen and how much it will cost? FUrther, does anyone know how much it will cost in dollars, time value and historical data loss (different metrics invalidate historical numbers) to rebuild the reporting and harvest goal-setting procedures?
I'll bet you cannot answer that one, because no answer rightnow exists. Yet, I think we can agree this potential move is not without some significant costs. With the CF suffering, and despite the push to add a .01% surcharge to ALL OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT/ GEAR to bolster the CF, we haven't gotten that money and we are already looking at spending a very large sum of money on this new approach. That spend hampers our ability to buy and conserve lands, improve habitat, improve data reporting, hiring more personnel, etc. Considering the fact that ZERO biological benefit exists to the herds when higher AR or QDM practices are adopted, it seems to be a very expensive proposition, indeed. Not to mention it will be completely ineffective.
Enforcement of existing laws would go a long ways than writing new ones, adding unnecessary costs to the CF, screwing up the reporting foundation, while not hiring the manpower needed to enforce the laws and handle the reporting needs.
Education is the key, as well as enforcement of existing laws. WHat is happening with the AR crowd is pushing for symbolism over substance, nothing more, to feel "better". Trouble is, the "feel better" desire is way too costly and completely unnecessary. This year's harvest of mature bucks proves this 100%.