RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

Well Duck - Maybe I came off a little strong on that one. It wasn't directed at any one individual.A general knee jerk comment.My keyboard made me do it!

You are correct about the liability aspect of sending a bunch of hunters out to whack xxx deer. Its a law suit waiting to happen. It was discussed at one of the F&W meetings as key reason why the state could not or would not allow hunters to take out these 600 deer we've all heard about.

What I'm suggesting is we as hunters can help solve this dilema by harvesting more Does. Lets face it that is what we hunters do - Harvest Deer! Manage our resource vs always blasting the folks in DNREC.

Believe me I had an ordeal this past year with DNREC not responding(at all) to a 800 game theft complaint I made. I'm still miffed - no I'm still PO'd !

But - I like to give them the benifit of doubt - but they ain't always perfect.

I can only speculate that after this arial survey report,this coming deer season we might see some creative changes to take out more does in key zones.I hunt in one of the zones mentioned in the arial survey report.

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

I hope they take advantage of the reported data to key in on the zones with high population problems and back off on zones that dont. Its no secret that I was against agressive deer harvest across the state with no data by zone. I understood why they did it, I just thought they could have waited a couple years. Now they havethe dataand they know what zones need high liberal bag limits and which ones dont.

My biggest fear is that they will leave things status quo and only increase seasons and limits MORE in high density zones (like yours). They need to rethink all the doe days in areas where the populations closer to their desired DPSM (like mine).

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

This is a link the newspaper provides for public comment on it's articals. In it I found one reference to the same article. The artical was published on Fri March 31. In this posters comment he mentions the 6 deer kill also.I don't know if you looked at that days paper or if you looked at something else. The subject is about halfway down the first page. Hope this helps.

http://www.newszapforums.com/forum60/

Oh and AJ, glad you clarified yourself somewhat cause I was set to pounce on you good.

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

As I recall - Long Long ago before any arial survey, F&W told us there was approx 35k deer. I've been to enough meetings thru the years and heard much the same density per zone as the arial survey indicates.These are the same things they've been tellin us for years.This is the same thing I've seen as a hunter in the woods,fields,marshes and dead on highways for years.

Lets face it, this freekin Arial survey was nice to do but no doubt very expensive.

IMO it was not conducted for hunters it was done to passify the Anal Retentive Tree Huggers,Joe Blows, and Sally Sue Soccer Moms.Now these clowns can look at Arial Photos and Raw Data and not have a leg to stand on when F&W sets up seasons and bag limits for Bambi !

Thats why all this was done - IMO.

I frankly don't know ANY place in Delaware where the deer have been slaughtered by ANY stretch of the imagination.

Lets see whats up for this coming year.

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

That is really sad...but at least it proved a point. Sharpshooters are not the answer.

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

I hope hunting in Del. is not a hassle when i move there this season.[&:]

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

newman1 - I don't think you'll find any hunting "hassle" in Delaware.
Its all what you make it with ample state,fed,private farms and marsh land to hunt.

Most of this is simply due to the Never Ending devolpement in New Castle county and lower Sussex.I call it habitat Rape! Hunters in NC have been screaming for years about Bucks that die of old age because they can't be harvested.The Does keep pumpin out more Bambi's.

You can't continue to squeeze wildlife into smaller habitat areas and not expect conflict with humans.

You can't send hunters into and around residential areas to control the population.It would be nice but not practical in todays society.So you hire sharpshooters and everybody sceams bloody murder. Hunters then get involved and can't harvest a fraction of the Doe sampling the state needed. So - Now What? Should they fire everybody in F&W?

You should not expect F&W to fix everything that humans have created.

We/Hunters should help manage the Doe population.

I'm a firm believer that farmers should do more to manage their own over population of deer vs expecting the state to "Handle It"

In the mean time Joe Smoe and Sally Sue public don't want to spend any money to beef up F&W.

IMO - Overall Delaware has some mighty fine deer and a very healthy herd.

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

AJ, theres not much arguement to what you have said here. Development is the #1 enemy of hunters right now. ALL across the state, not just what you have mentioned. The farm across where I hunt went up for sale right after the season closed. At this time, it cant be built as a development, so from what I've learned the owner is trying to split the land up and sell it on a lot by lot basis. Doesnt qualify as a 'development' that way. I give my 1 small lease 2, maybe 3 years tops and it'll be gone unless I hit the lottery and buy it myself.

I dont think anybody wants to fire the DNREC boys, including me ;). The hunters know that they are going to complete their study no matter what and we want to help. But liability issues make that difficult. A few grand to sharp shooters is better than a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the state. I just wish they would have given a little more notice and if they couldnt extend the season, maybe the whole month of January could have been antlerless gun days. I cant believe I just said that! But, since they will get the deer no matter what, i'd rather it be us hunters that did it.

I also agree with one of your earlier posts that said you didnt think there was a deer slaughter anywhere in the state. But, I think it may have hurt some area's. One of the earlier Oct days in my zone I heard people driving deer. We're talking does here! Why were people doing this? There was nothing else in to hunt and it was a nice day thats why. What the hell! Well, I truly think it hurt the rest of the season around me.

I just hope the ends justifies the means. I hope we get a deer mgmt plan that concentrates on zones and not state wide. For all those that grew up hunting NJ, we all know what zone hunting regs are like,,,, a pain in ass to keep up with. But, at least you dont have liberal seasons in areas where the deer cant handle it.

AJ, it sounds like your area will continue to enjoy liberal seasons ands if I hunted down there, i'd be glad to pull out the 12 gauge in Oct and help the cause. I'd do it MY zone if DNREC says its necessary. I love a quiet day in the woods with my bow, but as you said, we need to do our part to keep the herd healthy and in control. Also, I dont think there is a DE hunter on here that wont shoot a doe if they love venison. I think we'll all do our part!

With that said,,,, another 149 days until opening day archery! :)

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

Issue and USE the crop damage permits all year no matter how hot you get in the summer. The farm me, DavidMil, and Len in Md hunted did this and after 3 years no deer problem. Last yearLen alonetook I think it was 13 does off the place before the season even opened and did it with gun, bow and ML. It can be done, just do it.

RE: The KILL is on in Delaware
 

Update from todays paper