Well, EAB is a reality for many of us. It is simply a fact.
Still, no hiding the fact that it pi$$es me and a lot of hunters off.
St. Croix, you state:
Bring it on, should have done this 5 years ago in our unit.
And why is that? Or are you buying into the spin that the DNR and others have created stating that all of the outfitters and private landowners have not done the job of shooting enough does?
If so, here's an important fact to chew on. Outside of the so-called "Eradication Zones" that are set up to supposedly curb the spread of CWD, the doe harvest as a percent of the total kill in UNIT 61 was the
HIGHEST in the state. That's right, the highest outside of the CWD areas. Not to mention that the reason that unit is now considered "overpopulated" is due to the reduction in overwinter targets, as opposed to the overall growth of the deer population. So now.....WOOLAH!!...the unit is "overpopulated" and "needs" to have EAB to "get the population back near its target".
Forget about how the DNR counts deer. Forget about the fact that the SAK method of calculating deer population may have flaws. Forget ALL of that. The DNR needed to REDUCE the overwinter population goal to consider unit 61 "overpopulated". Whew! Talk about your rigging of numbers! The DNR must have taken lessons from Chicago political bosses who get the dead to vote!
And by the way,bowhunters, not only do you get EAB, you have a late-October t-zone hunt in your areas as well. That's right, bowhunters!!! Right around peak of the rut, last part of October, you can't shoot a buck, EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY TAKEN A DOE!!!!....thanks to our DNR!!! Please be sure to send them a nice "thank you", right after you email your state representatives and state senators to tell them to just how smart it is to treat the very people who fund the most of the DNR's wildlife management budget....HUNTERS!!!...so well! Tell them how nice it is to hack off the only segment of deerhunting experiencing growth in numbers...bowhunters...by taking one of the very best times to hunt deer with a bow, and instead filling the woods with gunhunters, so that the rest of the bow season can be screwed up as well
Or, if you are a bowhunter and you're willing to put up with this nonsense into perpetuity, sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Heck, next year, maybe they can have a two-week antlerless only hunt right during the whole of the rut! [:@][:@][:@]