ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

article in this mornings paper: State wildlife officals suggested hunters could kill three additional does to thin the population. The ohio division of wildlife proposed tuesday night to issue a permit that would allow archers to kill as many as three additional does during the early part of the 07-08 bow season. The ohio wildlife council will vote on the proposed regulations in april after seeking public comment. what do you guys think?

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Been wanting more for some time. However, Ohio's herd needs no thinning. I wonder why no bucks.

Taking doe's will thin an area very quickly. I'd settle for one more either sex tag. Did they say doe's or antlerless?

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I'm not for it. You can already shoot multiple doe.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I hope it works better than Indiana's program, the county I live in allows up to 8 bonus antlerless and there's just not enough people trying to do that. Too much focus on getting a buck to think about helping out the department that makes that possible by assisting them with their management program. It works well on paper though...

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

What it'll do is wipe out the populations on public land. Until landowners actually allow people to hunt on their property, they will still have a deer problem. My take: bad idea.[:'(]

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Copy and pasted from the DNR web site...

Ohio archery deer hunters may have the opportunity to take additional doe deer this fall if a proposed regulation is accepted by the Ohio Wildlife Council.
Link to printable PDF summary of all proposed deer seasons and regulations.
Under the proposal, hunters could buy additional anterless deer permits, currently known as urban deer permits, at reduced prices for hunting in an urban zone, participating in a controlled hunt, or hunting during the September 29 to November 25 portion of the archery season. The anterless deer permit would cost $15 and be good for doe deer only.
Archery hunters would be required to purchase a regular deer permit before purchasing the anterless deer permits. Using the proposed permit system, hunters could take up to one additional antlerless deer in Zone A, up to two additional antlerless deer in Zone B and up to three additional antlerless deer in Zone C. Use of the anterless deer permit during the first part of the archery season would not count against the hunter’s zone bag limit (link to Zone Map).
Archery season would run from Saturday, September 29 through Sunday, February 3, 2008. The popular youth deer-gun season is proposed for Saturday and Sunday, November 17-18. Regular deer-gun season will run Monday, November 26 through Sunday, December 2. An additional deer-gun hunting weekend is proposed for Saturday and Sunday, December 15-16. Statewide muzzleloader season will run Thursday, December 27 through Sunday, December 30. Special area muzzleloader hunts would be open Monday, October 22 through Saturday, October 27 at Salt Fork, Shawnee and Wildcat Hollow. Muzzleloader hunts at these areas are by special permit only, with a random drawing held prior to the season for a limited number of antlered bucks and unlimited number of antlerless or doe permits.
The proposed regulations maintain the same deer zones as the last two years. A three-deer limit (Zone C) would cover 38 central, south, southeastern and southwestern counties. The 30 counties of Zone B would have a two-deer limit, and the 20 northwestern counties of Zone A would have a one-deer limit. A hunter may take only one buck in Ohio, regardless of zone, hunting method or season.
During the youth deer-gun season, young hunters would be permitted to bag only one deer of either sex in any county of Ohio. Any deer taken would be part of the young hunter’s total season limit.
During the 2006-2007 season, which concluded February 4, hunters bagged a record of more than 235,000 deer. Approximately 475,000 people hunted white-tailed deer in Ohio this year.
Open houses are scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 4 in each of the state’s five wildlife district offices. These forums will provide the public with an opportunity to view and discuss proposed hunting and trapping regulations with state wildlife officials. Directions to the meetings can be obtained online or by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE.
A statewide hearing on the proposed deer-hunting rules is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 8, at the District One Wildlife Office, located at 1500 Dublin Road in Columbus. After considering public input, the Ohio Wildlife Council will vote on the proposed rules and season dates during its April 4 meeting.





[align=center]2007/08 Deer Hunting Zones (Click to Enlarge) [/align]
Zone A -- Hunters could take only one deer during the 2007-2008 seasons, which could be a deer of either sex. The zone includes 20 counties: Allen, Auglaize, Darke, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Ottawa, Paulding, Preble, Putnam, Sandusky, Shelby, Van Wert, Williams, Wood.
Zone B -- Hunters could take no more than two deer during the 2007-2008 seasons, of which only one could be an antlered deer. The zone includes 30 counties: Ashland, Ashtabula, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Fayette, Geauga, Greene, Hancock, Hardin, Huron, Lake, Logan, Lorain, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Portage, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Union, Warren, Wayne, Wyandot.
Zone C -- Hunters could take no more than three deer during the 2007-2008 seasons, of which only one could be an antlered deer. The zone includes 38 counties: Adams, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Carroll, Clermont, Columbiana, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Gallia, Guernsey, Hamilton, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lawrence, Licking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Richland, Ross, Scioto, Tuscarawas, Vinton, Washington.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Asked a guy yesterday if he'd heard anything about an increase in the bag limit. Usually do around this time and it often is adopted. Was hopping my county would make it to zone b, it didn't, but with the addition of another tag it has. 6 deer in Ohio anywhere is better than 3/with 3 urban tags. The urban zones I've been in are not much good.

Antlerless includes bucks with less than 3" of horn. I'd take some of those before doe's.You do the math on how many deer 3 doe's/w off spring can produce in 3 years.

Typical State of Ohio verbage. Is it doe's or antlerless?:D

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I know here in col county the herd doesnt need thinned anymore. two anterless and one buck i feel is plenty!!!

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

NC will likely adopt a new game law that will allow hunters on private land to get additional antlerless tags (no charge) to aid in thinning the herd. It's needed, here. If this passes....I (and other private land hunters)can shoot an unlimited number of does.

While this sounds peculiar/scary to some.....keep in ind that the number of people filling their tags, NOW, is low. This will likely only affect a VERY small number of hunters.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I do not think an additional 3 tags is needed. But if they do pass it I don't think it will make that big of a difference anyhow as it does not go into the firearms seasons.

You guys need to remember, if the state says the herd needs thinned, you need to do your part before drastic measures are taken. They have sharp shooters every year up around Cleveland. I for one think that's BS!
[/align]

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

i think that by shooting 3 additional does, it will thin the herd too much...many guys such as me like to go out and see them, its nice to have some does come in and watch them, where if you do shoot all of them, you will see less deer but more bucks...what would u rather see...more bucks and less deer or more deer with fair amount of bucks

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I hunt in a unit here in Wisconsin where I can kill as many antlerless deer as I want, as long as I buy a $12.00 tag, which are pretty much unlimited with over 25,000 tags available for this one unit!!! I still don't notice that the herd is being thinned, every Doe I see has at least twins in tow!

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Be careful you guys............that's all I'm gonna say. We had additional doe tags given out as a measure that was needed to control the deer population as it continued to grow. It was a deer slaughter in reality. The years since have been so lean in some areas that doe permits are now not even given out. We have been suffering the consequences of killing too many deer for awhile now.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Would be nice if Ohio was like Wis as far as deer numbers go. Some parts of the state have plenty and some have little. I hunt both out of necessity. I know first hand how quickly you can go from seeing some to seeing none in low density area's just from taking some doe's. Ohio’s coming along. Someday maybe. Until then, have bow, will travel. If we ever get to 750,000 we'll be over the hump. Until then it can go either way.

I'm with you Buckeye. I don't believe there is any need for people other than hunters to thin deer numbers. Heard from a guy in NY that were he lives S.S. not only slaughter a herd but then compound it by dumping them in the landfill.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

If the herd needs to be thinned, then let the hunters do it, not hired guns. And remember, in a state like OH, just becauseyou can legally shoot more does, doesn't mean that everybody will. In IL you can shoot as many does as you want, but I know of a lot of guys that will pass on does all year long,so not to possibly ruin a chance at a buck. I have a friend that passes on many does every single day, but has only killed 1 in the past few years.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

If I don't take a good buck in the first 2 weeks of the season....I likely won't take one....because I'll be shooting every doe I see. I know I'll likely bugger up my spot for a while.....but it needs doing.

NC has a deer population equal to or greater than the state of PA.....with about 1/6 the number of hunters. We have likely 1.2M deer (or more) here. I'm gonna get tired of butchering deer, this year, if all goes well.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Just ask the Hunters in PA about thining out the Herd. NUFF SAID!

Hatchet Jack

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

My wifes family is from putnam county and from what i can see every time i visit that part of the state it dosent need any thining. I see more deer here in a day than i do out there in a week.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

This is more than likely the DNR's response to the pressure of the farming associations of the state. It was recently in the papers that they wanted the herd thinned to 250,000 which is pretty unrealistic. The extra tags really won't change the way I hunt. The month of Oct here lately has been to darn hot (50's to 60's) the past couple years and quite honestly I hate to rush the butchering of my deer, so I wait until gun season and muzzleloader season to fill the freezer with does. Oct and Nov. are the buck months for me.If the herd is cut to 250K I can see it going back to the way it was when I began deer hunting. You were on cloud nine if you saw a handful of deer during the season. I think the DNR has done a great job building a very healthy herd in the state and I hope they don't go to far in either the direction, that past 6 seasons have been great here in OH.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

It sounds like Ohio is going to follow suit w/ PA. You may want to investigate the reasoning behind the additional tags. Ohio has very rich soil compared to PA. Our problem is habitat degredation by overbrowsing.
Some areas like Allegheny co. have way too many deer and they hire sharpshooters to cull the herd because access is limited and bowhunters can't kill enough does. You can get 10 doe tags there.
Other Northern big woods counties have had the habitat destroyed by deer and PA. issued additional tags to bring the herd and habitat in balance,(much to the dismay of some hunters). The problem is that it will take many years for the habitat to rebound and deer numbers are less than some hunters want. Once the habitat repairs itself it will then have the ability to hold more deer.Carrying capacity is very low in some northern areas.
The other thing Oh. does not have is 2 weeks of concurrent buck/doe rifle season. It seems to be mostly gun hunters that compain the most here in PA. My point bieng that bowhunters in PA don't complain about lack of deer so much even w/ the herd here bieng less than it was. It's because of the time spent and the methods we use.I really don't think you'll notice much difference, if statewide, Oh takes 10 or 20,000 additional does out of the herd.Because of the fertile farm land,fawn recruitment will remain good.

The Oh. div. of wildlife knows something we don't. I would check it out.
There may be habitat problems or something of that nature to prompt such a move.

Whatever you do ...don't let it become a bickering match like here in PA.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

i think in some areas this would be good. but 6 deer per hunter come on be realilistic here there are not going to be hunters taking 6 deer no one can eat that much deer( well maybe there arebut not normal people) i can't and i won't shoot 3 extra does maybe 1 extra. i checked into donating the meat but they want you to have it processed well i can't sh$t out all that money to have 3 deer processed. its maybe a good idea but over all its not going to thin the herd down an extra 300,000 , most archery hunters love widlife and don't go hunting to kill everything that walks by.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

They don't expect you to kill 6 more deer. Hunter success rates may only be 1 deer per 4 tags , or 2 deer per 5 tags, etc. They may issue 200,000 more tags and see a 30% harvest rate.
And you sure don't have to kill 6 if you don't want to. I carry 4 tags (3 doe/1buck)here in PA. between DMAP tagsand regular buck and doe and only take 2.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

All you folks that have to many deer I have a good idea! Crate them up and send some up here as we have an opposite problem. We need more deer but, last winter was mild and started to get them rebounding again. If this winter doesn't get to much more snow or ice storms it should help us some more. At least we all hope so up here.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I don't like the idea at all. Where I hunt there is certainly not an overpopulation of deer to the point that it is hurting the environment or making a significant impact on the farming output. I just see this as detrimental to the herd, not positive. Like someone mentioned... can you imagine the public land areas? There will be no deer left.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

I honestly don't think this is a deer population issue for the state. I think the only reasoning behind it is the $15 per each tag. That would be at least 3 million more for them to spend unwisely.

RE: ohio proposes rules to thin herd
 

Uh Oh! Looks like your gonna follow in Pa's footsteps