First let me say this thread is not intended to address or debate baiting.

I believe MI will be instituting an earn a buck program next year.

I haven't verified this yet, but have heard that MI brought in a biologist in from Wisconsin to help with herd management decisions. It was determined that the herd is way out of balance in the buck to doe ratio, does being on the heavy side of the balance, and that gene pools were not spreading out enough therefore producing inferior deer. This biologist determined the best way to address these issues were to ban baiting and institute an earn-a-buck program (harvest a doe first in order to get issued a buck tag).


For the states that have an earn-a-buck policy, has it worked to produce better, bigger bucks and has it helped balance the herd?

I would pee myself if the U.P. was earn-a-buck. That would be so awesome. Tough to do without registration though. There needs to be some sort of check-station involvement in order to get that buck tag. They better check to tire marks on all the deer that come in too...and rifle holes on Oct.1

I think it has made things worse. There are so many hunters that all they see since the earn a buck is Bucks they can't get a doe. If they really want to control a herd they nee to do something differant than earn a buck. IMO

Really??? I would just like to see maybe one buck for every 12 does, as opposed to one buck for every 20-25.

Wow. Hey Mike, how is the herd up there nowadays? I hunted the Lake Gogebic area about 8 years ago and in a week of hunting only saw two does. Saw more bear than deer.

I don't know if it makes bigger bucks but I do know it helps to bring down the doe population. Here is the problem with EAB. You "NEED" to get a antlerless deer to get your buck tag so some people will shoot the first deer that comes along. In some cases it turns out to be a nubbin buck. So, if fact you just killed a buck to be able to kill a buck. lol

I personally like the earn a buck, and think its done a great deal of good here in Jersey, but i would make a minor change to it. If you shoot 2 does say this season, then that second doe should earn you a buck tag for the next year. That way if Mr. Big decided to walk out openning morning, you can legaly take him and you still have done your part to help the herd.

The herd is interesting to say the least. There are pockets of insanse densities, and then areas of low densitiy. Where we hunt, around the Amasa area, we have huge doe numbers. Over thanksgiving weekend, I hunted at our camp, and at two bait sites we had a combined 27 does and 2 bucks, both spikes. My bro and I text back and forth for what we see, and I had 15 and he had 12 does at the same time, so its not like they are even the same deer going back and forth. Right now, with gun done and just muzz season, its not uncommon to have 25-30 in a night come to feed. We've seen more small bucks this year than in year's past, so who knows, maybe that's a good omen. The new tag this year (3 on a side) was just pissing into the wind IMO. You only had to follow that rule with the combo license, so if you only bought one tag, you could still blast away. The average cheese (WI person)or FIB (Illinoisfolk, Northern IL specifically)only buys one tag anyway, so why even have the rule? There is definitely some work to be done to help the ratio. I would love to see a 1 buck limit and more agressive doe harvest, or hell, even just the opportunity to harvest does by making tags available.

Yes it works to lower the herd. Yes it works to improve the buck/doe ratio. Yes it helps some bucks get older, and therefore possibly larger.
It isn't perfect, but no one can dispute the three points I made.

In Wisconsin, I am not going to be the one to judge if it helped or hurt. Helped what or hurt what? I don't think that hunting is much of a thought when it comes to deer management. What I mean is...DNR has their herd projections and research that think the herd numbers and ratios should be. They base the licensure on those statistics. EAB is not created to provide more quality shooting for a hunter, it is provided to create a more quality animal habitat with carrying capacity and gender ratios. This year in Wisconsin, deer harvest was way down. Is that because there aren't deer? Or because we had to shoot does? Weather? I don't know the reason but I trust that next year we will hunt deer and some people will shoot nice ones and some won't. The one thing I do like about the Wisconsin EAB system is...once a doe is harvested you are issueda buck sticker. That sticker is good for this season and the next. Essentially it is EAB everyother year if you shoot a doe. That's my 2 cents worth.