Indiana gun season
 

[8D]does anybody know when the gun season starts in indiana???:eek:

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Do a search for the DNR's website...

RE: Indiana gun season
 

11/17

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Firearms Season is November 17th-December 2 and then Muzzleloader season is December 8th through the 23nd

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Thank goodness it's after peak rut this year. I'm going back to my property for one last bowhunt, 3 days 10/11/12. The 12th has always been magic. 17th rut is sliding down already.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

16 DAYS!!!! My god, that's long. In ILLINOIS, we have Nov. 16-18 and then Nov. 29th-Dec.2nd...7 days total. Then a separate muzzleloader season for 2-3 days.

Do you Indiana guys think if your IDNR made your gun season shorter it would improve the "quality" and numbers of bigger bucks in your state?

And are you in favor of a shorter season?

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Solo, Add in the long muzleloader and there are a total of 30 gun days/year in IN. It will never change due to the gun lobby now. Stuck with it for life. I moved over here to IL and killed 3 P&Y in 4 years. IN does have one buck though which helped a little.

Thank goodness I don't have to worry this year for gun, as I drew a Jim Edgar Panther Creek 1st & 2nd gun season permit. So I will have somewhere to hunt.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

yea the long gun season is terrible on us. Im lucky to have access to a lot of private ground that has a limited number of hunters.= my nice bow killls the last couple of years.....but its also funny how many little guys get shot and thats fine but then the shooter complains how there arent any big bucks. it doesnt help that we cankeep shootingantler-less. A person could legally kill 300 deer in a yearby moving from county to county. I think an earn-a-buck would be nice orlet bowhunters shoot an extra buck.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Long gun season blows for we bow hunters. I'm glad it starts the 17th this year, next year it will be the 15th I believe (leap year). If I'm not mistaken, it will revert back to the 21st in 2009.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

It is always the fist Saturday after the 11th. Indiana is not that bad as far as trophy deer go. Here is a table to compare the top ten states.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

We may have a long gun season, but it seems as of the last few years a lot of people hunt opening weekend only. Muzzleloader season gets even less pressure. When the cold snap hits I can hunt for days and only hear a few shots. I would rather see a shorter season like IL or OH to make hunting with a bow better.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

There is an argument I hear sometimesthat makes sense. The longer the gun season is the more selective a hunter will be. So by shortening gun season the guy that passes a 1.5 year old deer the first day may shoot it if he only has 3 days to hunt.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I have lived and hunted in both Indiana & Illinoisfor the past 15 years. Indiana would be WAAAAAAAY better quality if they limited the gun days, period. Also if the season opened later like IL. There's really no comparison. All the reasoningin the world won't change that. That is just the way it is. So I moved to Illinois.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I would be in favor of a shorter gun season!

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Pumpkin head season is way too long. I say shorten it...

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I also want our gun season just like Illinois. I think that we would have a much better deer herd. It seems like where I hunt opening day anything that walks gets shot.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

The only real effect OBR has had was to shift the harvest even more toward the gun seasons and increase poaching, ask IDNR if you don't believe it, I have. All through the bow season I heard more slug guns going off in rapid succession than I did during last years firearms season, and those a-holes weren't hunting squirrels or target practicing. It started the year they instituted OBR and it's gotten worse ever since. The real answer to a quality hunting experience is the same as it always has been, do your part to help IDNR control the herd population and sex ratio instead of only shooting bucks, and more importantly get off your butt and hunt smarter instead of wishing for some "magic" solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Indiana has some huge bucks out there, but you have to go further from your truck than most to get them. Deer carts exist for a reason.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Kevin good point. I have heard several shots starting in Oct also. I would be like man that sounded like a slug gun.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I've been hearing numerous slug guns going off at dusk almost every night. It is kind if disheartening that so called hunters would do that. I think they should make a gun tag have both antlered and antlerless on it. I would go as far as following after wisconsin on the earn a buck program.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I agree

RE: Indiana gun season
 

bite your tounge i had a sot at a huge 8 a week and half ago

they need to lenth it if you ask me i think you should get to hunt with any weapon ie whats legal in your state any tiem duringa genaral season like bow season oct 1 to jan 6 just make it a genral hunting season

and if need be lower the bag limit

RE: Indiana gun season
 

For those of you who are complaining about the doe harvesting right now our numbers are way out of whack we are running close to 1:5 on our buck to doe ratio. We need to get the doe population down then bring the total population back up they actually started the increased doe harvest a couple years too late. If they would have started this doe harvest increase around 2002-2003 we'd be seeing a dramatic increase in quality bucks at this point because we'd be having alot more recruitment of younger deer in the state. Yes for a few years you are going to see fewer deer because "too many" does are being killed but you will be happy with the results once the numbers are put back into the range they need to be. I'll give you an example that shows perfectly why you need the doe numbers lowered. Lets say you hunt 300 acres with a 1:5 ratio and typical indiana population of 30 deer per square mile. You are going to have approximately 14 deer on your property of which 2-3 are bucks and 11-12 are does well you go out and have 2 buddies you shoot 3 bucks thats great but now there are no mature bucks left it will take 3 years to have mature deer again but you'll be hunting next year so that means that you are going to go out and probably shoot 3 immature young bucks and before you know it you have a herd of little deer running around and no one is seeing any big deer and the population is getting out of control. With a 1:2 on the same piece of property you have 5 bucks and 9 does give or take 1 on each. Means you and your buddies go out hunting you can each shoot a mature deer and still leave 2 left for the next year that would be good deer. If you are lucky enough to achieve a 1:1 you would have 7 bucks and 7 does meaning next spring you'd have 4 doe fawns and 4 buck fawns you and your friends could go out shoot a nice buck each. Leave 4 bucks for next year that will be nice. Again lets say you are lucky enough to go out and all get a nice buck that leaves 1 nice buck and a bunch of younger deer that are only a year away from being decent deer plus a new crop of young fawns so the next year you can go out and again have a nice hunt. If you establish management practicing limiting size/age of the deer harvested and implement a earn a buck program on your property after the numbers have been corrected you can see a dramatic increase on the quality of deer. You will not see a dramatic increase in the number of deer though because the habitat really can not safely support many more deer per sq mile.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

i agree with acutting the land i hunt it has been mostly buck harvestonly which is why i got on the land to take does i have seen 90%small deer and two big does and two big bucks only

RE: Indiana gun season
 

The HUGE problem with that theory is that you assume that those deer will stay on your property,no other deer from a foreign woodscall your property home,dominatebucksdon't run off inferior deer,everyone around you hunts exactly the same, and no deer die of illness/hit by a car/etc. Not to mention very few areas in Indiana can state they have 30 deer per square mileand have the luxury topull this off. A few years ago in LaGrange County (where I hunt), more buckswere taken open day of firearm than all the deer the entire year in the county I live in (Adams)...and that's only a 60 mile difference.

There aremany ways to manage a deer herd to try toget the ratio's close to even, but it's hard b/c the lesser bucks will be run off or will search out new areas to get to hot does.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I'm not disagreeing with you Pat you can't keep the deer from running off your property. And as far as very few areas in the state that sustain 30 deer per square mile you may want to talk to your local biologists because that is what much of the state is currently at. My major point I was getting at was don't get mad at the state for trying to help the whole state herd out it is impossible to make EVERYONE happy but they are at least trying to make most people happy with their new strategy.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Depending where you are........30 deer per square mile is low......some are closer to 45-50

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Some, but very few when you include the rest of the state.


Most density maps I've seen are incredibly wrong and out of whack. The most current I've seen on the internet shows Adams County at 15-30, when in reality it's half of that. Then you look acrossed the boarder to the east of me (Van Wert County) it's usually listed as a 0-7 per square mile, when they have nearly twice as many deer as we have.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

You have to talk to the biologist that covers your area. I deal with the DNR quite frequently and got to know many of the biologists and in most of the state the deer are at 30 per square mile. The areas that are high are in the southern part which in some areas are as high as 60 which why they allow so many bonus antlerless in that area.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I've talked to several acrossed the NE region of our state. A buddy of mine from High School works for the DNR up in and around LaPorte County, and frequently talk to the officers when they're checking deer at The Angler in Stueben County. A few years ago I talked to one after I got done fishing Hamilton, and now I hunt land his brother owns in LaGrange County.

If they're at the Angler this week some time, I'll ask about the deer herd in Indiana. For some reason, I thought I read once Indiana was about to hit the 15 sq/mile mark a couple years ago. That was total deer estimate for the state divided by total square miles. Might have been in an Indiana Game/Fish a while back.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Around 2000 thats where it would have been. Which, I'll get a bunch of flack for saying this, is really where the population needs to be in the state right now the deer levels are too high for their own good which is why deer are dying from EHD (Blue Tongue) it only breaks out in areas of high deer concentration.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I think the state needs to be divided into sections, like how it is for geese. The antlerless tag limits attempt to help the situation of thinning out certain areas and increasing the population in other. Indiana is too diverse of a land scape to set one set of regulations to do the best good. I think the state should be divided up and have different seasons for different zones, ie a longer gun season in areas of higher populations and a shorter one in areas of low populations. I also think antler restrictions would be great too. I am tired of seeing so many 4 point basket racks being shot when I know the person had a shot at a doe and passed on it. This will force people to shot a doe for the meat instead, because most people, at least in my area, are too lazy to put in the time needed to consistently bag a mature buck. If Illinios and Ohio can be known for their huge bucks, then Indiana has no reason not to be up with them. It all goes back to regulations. This is a possible idea I could see being passed, but if it were up to me I would say lets have a 3 day firearm season and a 3 day muzzleloader season and make the rest archery only. I know this would probably never happen because Indiana is too resistent to change.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

It alrady is broken up that is why they have limits on each county. I think an earn a buck program is a much better program. But yes Indiana will not likely change.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

Really lets ask states that have restrictions and see how many bucks get killed and left.

Do you really want to be like Illinois and have outfitters sucking everything up and nonresidents come and hunt your local ground.

I bow hunt most through most of gun season and wouldn't mind for myself. BUT as bad as we hate "Weekend Warriors" we need them for licenses and kills.

We would lose to much in licenses and many bucks would be illegally shot and never checked

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I hunt in the same area as Pat does. I believe we are taking to many does the way it is. What happened to the last 4 days a shotgun can take a doe then. I have talked with some old timers they said there used to be more deer around. Then talk with other they say we have to many deer the way it is now. Where I hunt I see deer would like to see more. The one buck a year I believe is greatly helping out. Its all based on what the insurance companies. They having to many claims people hitting deer. I dont know maybe should be based a townships. I would keep the one buck a year state wide. From township to township thats were you break down how many does you can take.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

All I know is a county m grandpa owns a ton of land in down in georgia recently switched to a 4 point on one side restriction. It was mandated ~5-6 years ago and since then we went from seeing ~15 deer a day with all being does to seeing ~5-8 a day with atlest half being bucks. Also the quality of bucks have improved. This shows that it can work.

RE: Indiana gun season
 

I have been hunting the same area for over 18 years now, and I remember when we would all ticket out on opening day with so many deer out. No we go weeks with out any one getting anything or let alone see anything. I dont think there are that many deer out there as there used to be. I too would like to see the doe tag come back for the last couple days of shotguns season. And I think that we should only get two deer a year. I buck and doe. Either it be for bow, shotgun, ML. You get your deer with what ever in whatever season and your done for the year. There is a guy who hunts behind my dads house up against his property and he cries every time, because he has 10 different places to hunt and get all kinds of deer. I mean what can some one do with that much meat. There needs to be more people in it for the "HUNT" than for the "KILL". just my .02.