RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

We have a few places developing into justthat situation in 2B. Unlimited tags and a super long seasonhas caused some isolated spots to be overharvested. The smallaccessable patches surrounded by poor access get stomped, of course, but the deer simply move back in after the pressue is gone. I can show you, however,two areas close to my home that are fairly large and basically open to most anyone and the deer numbers are certainly thinwhile the habitat is great. Most of the locals are execising restraint on the does now so the situation will probably correct itself.

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

bb, it will be interesting to see how many doe were killed in wmu2g vrs number of licenses issued.

those doe hunters worked their butss off this year and i saw very few killed in doe season but i think more were killed in the early in-line,just everyone keeps quiet about the early in-line season when they do get doe.

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

With the snow cover you would think the kill would be up, but only time will tell. Doug's a member of the KILL'EM all crowd so I take his opinions with a grain of salt. He'd much rather grow trees than deer!

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

snow really helped hunters this year here in clinton, you could see tracks and see long ways too.

count could be down not only because of lack of deer but only 1 week of doe but i think hunters got their doe in the early in-line season.

many dads i talked too said their sons will not hunt in cold.

they took 3 days of school off ,if needed in the early in-line season week in oct.

that is also what i saw this year too, i saw more kids in early season than i did in the regular.

most said,SPROUL WE ARE GETTING OUR DOE BEFORE FLATLANDERS SHOW UP.

funny how kids learn that too.:D

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

Snow didn't help me at all this year,except for on the the last day.On the day's I hunted,the snow was extremely crunchy and made it very difficult to still hunt.With no one in the woods moving the deer and windy conditions,still hunting was the best option but the noisy snow made it nearly impossible.

BT,I have no doubt that certain localities have been overharvested.It's always been that way and most likely,always will be like that.Regardless,I see no reason to add more deer to poor habitat so I continue to harvest does in those areas.

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

No ,it has not always been that way and that is why the PGC said we had to reduce the herd. When we had 1.6M deer the only area that was over harvested were the NC counties. Now the vast majority of the state has been over harvested.

So ,following you advice all a hunter has to do is claim he is hunting in poor habitat to justify killing as many deer as possible. With that attitude you could work for the PGC as their PR guy, Feaser needs all the help he can get.

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

Sure it has been.I grew up in Wyoming county,where that big warehouse for P&G is located.That was private,unposted land and it got over harvested every year.I'm sure there's loads of places just like that all over the state.

I don't have to justify anything.I legally kill multiple deer each year in 2G.I understand deer and their habits so I harvest them when and where I see fit.I don't complain about no deer or even low deer numbers.It's kind of funny actually.You claimed to have seen something like 3 deer in 10 days of hunting?I hunted 1 full day and two saturdays until 11:00 am and harvested two deer and passed shots on bucks all three days.I have nothing to complain about and I'm hunting the WMU with the lowest dd's and the lowest success rates in the state.Once you understand deer and their relationship with the habitat,it's very easy to find sufficient numbers.

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

"Snow didn't help me at all this year,except for on the the last day.On the day's I hunted,the snow was extremely crunchy and made it very difficult to still hunt.With no one in the woods moving the deer and windy conditions,still hunting was the best option but the noisy snow made it nearly impossible. "

Ha ha ha. If it were sunny, the sun would be in the hunters eyes, if it were windy your eyes wouldve been watering, if it rained, you'd get wet...

Despite the terrible conditions you braved...Doug...[8D].. The kill percentage should be UP due to this seasons conditions. Nearly as good of conditionsasit gets in December rifle season. There is a good chance overharvest may be an issue for many areas even though compared to historically few deer are taken.

Most of the state is overharvested due to too many tags and blanket reduction. The snow didnt help matters unless you really love trillium.;)

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

Most of the state is not over harvested.Even 2g where we have the lowest dd in the entire state,has more than enough deer to provide excellent hunting.

RE: Rifle season 2008 is history
 

That is pure nonsense. If it got over harvested every year ,after a few years there wouldn't have been any deer to harvest. Besides we are not talking about individual wood lots being over harvested ,we are talking about counties,WMU's and the entire state being over harvested.
Than why do you continue to try to justify it by claiming the habitat can't support more deer,when the history of the herd has proven the habitat can support a lot more deer.
The difference is I was hunting for the benefit of other members of our party and you were hunting for your benefit in an area with very low hunting pressure. I don't care how good a hunter you might be you would not be that successful in the concurrent season if you were hunting in the same area of 5C where I was hunting. It is ridiculous to try to compare the success of one hunter hunting in 5C with another hunter hunting in 2G when the hunters have entirely different priorities..