ORIGINAL: Kid
ORIGINAL: Cougar Mag
ORIGINAL: Cougar Mag
huntingson, as much as I enjoy reading your posts on other threads you are not making any sense at all regarding outfitters and private landowners are the only ones managing the land and producing the B&C bucks. How many B&C bucks do you think are taken in any state on public land vs private land? You also say Illinois allows too many bucks to be taken......IL. allows only 2 bucks per season total, regardless of weapon(s) used. Thats 2! IL. also has no limit on does taken by residents or non-residents and non-residents can buy antlerless tags cheap. So tell me how is IL. allowing too many bucks to be taken?
I believe when it comes to sound deer herd management shoudn't that include does as well as bucks? Be honest here, an outfitter manages for big bucks and I know they encourage does to be taken but not many hunters booking with an outfitter are taking does for fear the next deer that might apear is the buck of their dreams.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! I find it quite telling that not a single ILLINOIS resident has much good to say about outfitters. I've said it before and i'll say it again,
over 90% of the deer harvested by non-residents are Bucks. So, in my opinion, Illinois is allowing too many Bucks to be taken by non-residents. There are some outfitters in Illinois who do a good job managing their herd, but you guys that believe that outfitters are "saving" deer hunting in Illinois are sadly misguided. I agree with the post that made the point that we had big bucks long before the outfitters came. The real problem is the hunters (almost exclusively non-residents)who are willing to pay absolutely ridiculous amounts of money to harvest bucks herebecause either their own home state is sadly lacking in it's management program and/or their own lack of hunting skills means they have to pay someone to put them on big bucks. Illinois's reputation for big bucks is the single worst thing to ever happen to deer hunting in this state, IMHO.
This is very close to what I am trying to say, apparently I am just saying it horribly and I apologize for that. I think you all were assuming that I am all for the non-residents coming in and shooting bucks and no does, which is what I am trying to say a huge part of the problem is. Did the outfitters make the deer big? Come on, I wish someone would give me a little more credit than that. Why does every discussion turn into an argument on here?
I ask you residents, do you see more, less, or the same amount of trophy bucks on public land as you did 10 years ago? As splitear so eliquently put it I have no first hand knowledge and am going off of what I have read.
Cougar: As far as Ohio goes, a pretty good number/% of the trophies taken are on public land. All other states I don't know. There are quite a few states that have really made a charge over the last few years by making big changes in their management practices, whether that be antler restrictions or changes that have increased the amount of does taken. Again though, no first hand knowledge and we all now know that research and #'s are biased[:-]