"Don't let PETA find out. Holy crap we would have a mess on our hands. 400 deer in 4 days man that just sounds unhealthy. Do you find many that have died from sicknesses. I wish we had a population a little better than we do in northern missouri. That is a lot of deer."

You know the standingsaying here in Iowa is "Iowa Corn Fed Deer" and they are not kidding. I have processed deer with more fat than some hogs I have slaughtered.We have found no deer dying of any sickness as a matter of fact the deer are thriving. Think about it, all that corn and soybeans to feed on all summer makes for very healthy deer. I will say the buck's and doe's tend to be very large around here. As a matter of fact all of the deer in my locker are fairly large except for one that is a button buck. Deer are a major pain for auot insurance companies because cars hit them allot. One year I picked up (called by DNR or local police) 28 road killed deer in my area over the winter. I processed the deer and gave most of the meat away to needy families. I am not part of the HUSH program because I am not an inspected locker since I do not use any domestic (farm) animal products to produce my sausages or burger.

When we go almost all we shoot are does. If there isa buck yeah well take it. But too many guys around here are all about just getting bucks. But some does have just as much meat as bucks. I dont think its right to just let good meat go to waste. Im sure you could find someone in your area that would take it and butcher it himself. Just my 2 cents.

THat anint write and i wish i could see that many deer in a season

You want to see that many deer go to Hardin County up around Eldora. I am sure other counties have just as much or more deer, but I hunt Hardin and Grundy counties. People around where I live (Roland) think a large herd is 10-15 deer, but I counted 84+ deer in one herd in Hardin county.

No exuse for that behavior. Really dumb too. Connect this with the "are you kidding me"- thread where a guy gets 12 000 $ for a few days of hunting. Surely there are hunters who would pay enough to to make it a better deal than this. The guys good will would improve also.

Just thought I would throw out some info. The landowner in Iowa can apply through the Iowa DNR for depredation tags, which he can then pass around to hunters of his choice, who will pay the DNR $12 per tag. I have two of them. As far as I know, it is up to the landowner to apply for them, and then it is up to the DNR to allow them. I get twoapplications every year from my friendly farmer and at least six others in my group get two as well. This is on a county by county basis. The quota in Hardin County seems to be set unusually low if your own deer count is accurate. The depredation tags are outside of the quotas set for each county for the over-the-counter ELS purchase of tags. With that many deerbeing counted in Hardin Co., I would think that the DNR and a local hunting groupshould work together to encourage landowners to apply for the depredation tags, and save their crops from the overpopulation in a legal fashion. I would also suggest asking that landowner for permission to hunt his land and try to get any available quota tags early in the year. Here is what the quota sales are as of today:

http://hf.centraltechnology.net/ia_quota/app/locFindPage.do?index=2

I'm hunting in two of the counties with 1900 as a quota, and one of those counties has been sold out for weeks now. The other county has less than 200 left. It is a shame that depredation tags are not very popular in your area, as they are outside the over-the-counter quota numbers. Good luck in getting things squared away.

I can't even stand the thought of just shooting deer and throwing them in a pile for burning or whatever. Just think of how many homeless or less fortunate people in shelters we could feed with all that meat.
Makes me sick, and people who dont agree with us hunting hear about it and it makes it that much worse!