I meant to say low (quality) deer numbers. You are right on about changing hunters attitudes about shooting does as long as there are plenty of does. If your hunters won't change their way of thinking, even the QDMA philosofy won't help either. I for one was against EAB because they (DNR) made us kill does when there weren't enough does in our areas.

Good tool, bad application. 100% agree with you. However southern Michigan has horrible over-population in most areas that I have frequented in the past decade. A few years of EAB, reassessed on an annual basis for a decision to discontinue, would be ideal. Also the change to max 1 buck per year. Make people choose the minimum buck they are happy with for the year.

Of course, MI-DNR has been an example of terrible game management as long as I can remember. I have no faith that they will make correct decisions.

Where do they get these educated idiots that run the DNR???

WI has the same problem!!!!

No idea, but I am a biologist in a different specialty and they teach the basics of population ecology in first-year undergraduate courses. Apparently these DNR guys didn't stay awake for that.

Just because you have 2 buck tags doesn't mean you have to fill them! And the attitude of hunters not shooting does can be reversed. We never used to shoot does here in Wisconsin, then our numbers got very high, everybody shot does like they were nuts. Now we are on the oposite end of the spectrum in the fact that "we" shot too many does. There is no easy fix to the problem you guys have in Michigan but hopefully your dnr is a little smarter in the way they do things than ours!!!

Years ago, you could only shoot bucks. You were lucky to see one deer the whole season. What I'm getting at here is hunters are'nt stupid. If the DNR would be honest with sportsmen, things could change. As long as sportsmen don't trust the DNR, they will buck the system. I hated EAB because the DNR lied to us on the deer numbers. Many hunters quit because they would not kill does when there were'nt the does the DNR said there were. I don't know one hunter who trusts what the DNR says anymore. So, how can you lead an agency, when you can't be trusted? I for one will not shoot does, when the deer numbers are so low. Not every area is the same, however there are many that are worse than my area. I read an article today about wolf predation and how they are decimating the deer herd in Bayfield county. The hunters, in the article have been hunting there for many years and have documented the decrease of the deer herd. The past two years they have been hard pressed to see A deer in the WI Gun deer season. With the Wolf and the DNR, our deer herd is in trouble.

Hate to say it, but michigan does need the state or QDMA to get a quality deer herd. With as many hunters as we have in this state how many of us share the same mentality on letting the small bucks go? Its goin to have to be a mandatory thing that everyone has to follow, or a quality deer herd in michigan will never happen... period! Let him go so he can grow!

I think someone should be able to shoot whatever size buck is a trophy to them. But with 2 per hunter and nobody shooting does, no wonder the herd is out of whack. Limit it to one buck per hunter so they have to make it count, and put measures in place to force a greater take of does. I don't know about where you hunt but there are a FRACTION of the hunters there were 15 years ago.

I'm a hardcore doe hunter (average 3-4 per year forever) but I've even noticed the difference in my attitude moving to Indiana where you only get one buck. I don't even THINK about shooting anything less than 8 points. In Michigan I dropped the first legal buck I saw, then hoped I also saw something bigger. Usually I did not. Because everyone in Indiana seems to be following the same standards, we have bigger bucks and I have gotten an 8 and a 9 in my two seasons here.

Hunters don't need the state or QDMA to get a Quality deer herd. It's real simple, let the little bucks grow to be big bucks and shoot does to maintain a good balance. In Bufflo county WI Farmers and land owners have been doing this for many years and it has paid off. I feel less government is the best way to go about it.
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GOD COUNTRY AND FAMILY
A TRUE AMERICAN


Your signature is funny too! God is nothing but a figment of your imagination. Hey whatever helps you sleep at night.

Your first statement shows you to be naive and ignorant. A landowner of 40-80 acres will have zero luck keeping a buck alive long enough to mature if even a few of their neighbors routinely shoot them as spikes/forkhorns, which is exactly what happens. It is only when a plot of land gets significantly larger than the home range of a whitetail buck that you can have success doing this. The mentality in Michigan is prevalently to shoot the small bucks and the regulations encourage it, so all people I know that tried to implement QDM by themselves just watched their neighbors hang the bucks up on their poles.

Your second statement just shows you to be a juvenile and insecure little man. What makes you so nervous about another's faith that you feel the need to call out their sig on a HUNTING forum?