TreednNC

I agree Jeff. I think honestly think NC is making a come back as far as big deer go. It seems that more and more people are letting smaller deer walk. I think a longer gun season in our state will erase what good has been done towards limiting the bucks harvested. I would also like to see EAB come into play. A doe for every buck you harvest, or unlimited does.

MN/Kyle

I may be reading it wrong, but can you not bow hunt during the rifle season there?

TreednNC

You can, but from what I understand, theyre wanting to make it to where you can use weapon of choice on private land once any deer season opens in NC....I.E. Bow opens up on 9/13...if youre on private land you can use a rifle on PRIVATE LAND, not PUBLIC. Thats hear-say from what I heard.

mossberghunter93

wow i feel bad for u guys we get 4 months of bow here in ohio and only 10 days shotgun and 3 days ML Not including early ML in select areas

youngfart

Gmmat
Are you allowed to hunt all the seasons with bow? If so and your so worried about being shot like I used to be[:@]. Make the slight change that rifle hunters won't, as most are lazy and won't walk into the deep woods. Find the bedding area's and sit till they make their mistake. I have found this very rewarding. Scent is the biggest difference here as once a bedded buck of any size scents you ,he's outa there for some time. Good luck team mate and bear with the law changesas they are not always for the best ,but we as hunter's, need to adjust.[X(]
Rocky

GMMAT

We can bowhunt here all through the open seasons (the entire "deer" season). We're just hunting skittish deer from the opener of ML on through. We're also in harm's way on a lot of properties......and I will be on the new property I hunt. I was already going to mostly abandon those grounds for the bowhunting only lands I already had, anyways. Maybe I'll get some of those deer pushed to me, here? Who knows? I just know I don't like the sounds of it one bit. I'll lose out on some PRIME terrain. It's hard enough to keep tabs on one other bowhunter on 150acres. Add in him NOW hunting with a rifle.....and 2 other rifle hunters.....and I'd fear for my life on some of these ridges. I don't think I wanna keep up with where three others are all the time.

I do have some little pockets of land that I don't think they know exist (or haven't thought of them for hunting). I may be able to salvage those spots. ALL of these guys will be baiting, too. That won't bode well for me in any circumstance I wouldn't think (since I don't emply the practice as a general rule.....and I've never killed a deer over bait).

Might mmake early season scouting a bigger priority.....and make my early season hunting more aggressive, too. Maybe that isn't so bad......but the spot I hit that deer in Friday.....I'd been saving the entire season. First time I'd been in there was Friday. Next year (if this passes)...I'll be forced to hunt it more aggressively.

txjourneyman

We have it similar in Tx. One month of bow only and then 2 months of general season in which you can use rifle, ML, or bow. Pressure on deer increases 10 fold during the first weekend in November. Despite 2 all day sits this weekend I didn't see a deer.

TEmbry

I could very well react the same way in your shoes....But if I was complaining about deer numbers and ratios while making a conscious effort to correct this by bagging a LOT of does each year, I would find it kind of hypocritical to complain when the DNR tries to aid in getting the numbers in check.

Bowhunters will never be able to effectively put a dent in a population as a group, it takes the orange army to do this. Sounds to me like your DNR is trying to curb the deer numbers by allowing the group of people, who really do the damage when it comes to numbers killed, to hunt longer. Shouldn't you rejoice in that the DNR is joining you in your struggle?

GMMAT

Well, "their" way isn't working, either. In case you overlooked it.....we (as a state) STILL kill more bucks than does. I don't see this getting any better with a prolonged gun season (the ratio). I could be pleasantly surprised, but I highly doubt it.

If it's all bout the does.....why not open up the "early" gun seasons to does, only?

Our NCWRC doesn't care about ratios. They care about one thing......harvest numbers. They're gonna get that.....and I'm betting the ratio of bucks:does killed goes up even further (with the deficit being in the doe kills).

jcpopejr

I totally agree with your last post Jeff. I'm from the eastern part of the state (where the buck limit is 4) and guys I know over there key on bucks almost exclusively. The only time they get excited about shooting a doe is when they have a "doe pot". Everyone puts in 'x' amount of money and the guy who kills the heaviest doe gets all the money. They have asked me to rejoin a club I was a member of back in the late 80's and early 90's but I will never join back because their herd is so out of whack.

I too agree that people will not change their views on doe harvest. Heck, even my own dad doesn't agree with me when we talk (argue) about it. Since moving to central NC (1993) I have become more of a bowhunter, but I still ML and rifle hunt to some extent.

My vote would be to change thebag limit to one buck per season and unlimited does. The only problem with this is all the people whodon't tag their deer.