ORIGINAL: Germ
Nodog Ohio is a differnt animal than Minn or MI. The reason PA did what they did was for over population. Some parts in Ohio I could have taken 7 deer this year, and six of them being does
You are lucky, you live in a state that is managing the deer. States like MN, MI, and PA have had terrible managemnt IMO(in the past). Like Steve said in MN they go from two many to not enough. We do the same in MI and it's frustrating. All I ask is the DNR manages the deer herd. One thing Ohio does great is manange the "zones" well. MI seems to wanna manage the entire state.
I do not want hunting mature deer to be easy, but right now you havea 1 in 300 chance in Ohio of bagging one. I have 1 in 3000 chance here in MI. If our herd is manage correctly that number will be about 1 in 600, and I will take those odds
BTW I bet you in 2007 you see PA numbers start to go back up
You are correct they did drop, but IMO it's a good thing.
It will be interesting to follow and the governing body of Ohio is no different than the other states listed, it just hasn't caught up yet, it will.Ohio did increase the antlerless permits this year beacuse it wanted to quickly reduce the herd size, a mistake imo. We don't have a large herd as it is.
The other states also have something we don't, a herd of over 750,000. Once it gets to that size mistakes can be made without the long term recovery problem. States that were below that figure like Va discovered that after they met that number.
I am not against shooting doe's, I am against always shooting a doe over a small buck when the herd is small. I also don't see a population problem, just more opportunities for hunters to fill there tags.
The math is played out often here in our small wood lots of N.W. Ohio. If you have 2 mature doe's and one buck in a season you'll have 7 deer, 4 doe's and 3 bucks. Shoot the mature doe's and you'll have the 2 doe/fawns produce only 2 deer and if they are bucks only 2 doe's remain. Always shot the doe's over the small buck people will end the cycle of deer in the area. You'll have some big buck hunting for a few years and that is what you maybe seeing in Pa.
I've read a few post where the huntersin Pa.have complained of not seeing deer. The big buck people say step it up or step a side. The same could be said for those that complain of the odds of shooting a mature buck. They're taken every year by some body, step it up or step a side.
As for myself I beleive deer are given to me by the Good Lord, I try to be thankful.
Hope everyone gets what there after.
