bonus anterless
 

In my county this season we have bonus anterless. We can take 2 this year during firearms. This makes me very mad. There arent going to be any deer left. I hunt a good area I dont see that many deer for this to happen. Those people in Indianapolis dont no anything.

RE: bonus anterless
 

Welcome to the new world of kill off the does all so the rich ,pride stupin rich hunter can get a chance at a booner.they dont care if the deer are taken down to 5 per sq. mile. they can throw money around and pay for a piece of property with booners.Less does more booners they say

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Just go with the flow.

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Kansas has some the same thing. I will admit in my section of the state the buck doe ratio is better though.

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Well my view is since I live in Indiana is that the Firearms season is way too long, and there are too many deer getting killed. Some counties allow more than 2 antlerless permits. Ok lets say I hunt my county which has 2 permits, then I go to the neighboring county which has 3. Ok then if I kill 2 in bow. Then a buck in firearms, then another doe in muzzleloader. That brings the total count to 9 deer just for 2 counties. Then hunt as many counties as ya can and your wiping out way to many deer. It is just terrible on the first weekend of firearms. In the past over the 1st weekend of firearms to have heard over 300 shots. Thats quite a few. Indiana does have some very nice deer, its just they are not managed properly.

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I just took a hunters education class about 3 weeks ago with my buddy since he is getting into hunting. The DNR officer said he counted and if he would have hunted the state park hunts and used all of his bonus deer tags and everything all in all he could kill 69 deer in one season. That surprised me big time. I'm not sure how the bonus antlerless works though because I usually shoot my buck opening morning of firearms and just go to sit during the rest of firearms and muzzleloader. I just enjoy being out in the woods. Me and my dad own 180 acres in lagrange county and we have a very large population and quite a few nice bucks. What county are you guys from Indiana hunting in?

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I myself hunt in Vermillion and Parke counties...

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we all should get together and do something sothe deerare managed right.

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Those people in Indy have degrees in subjects such as game management and deer biology , how about you ? They survey the deer population statewwide as well as county by county , how about you ? They set the county bag and state bag based on their ongoing research and the population of deer in each county , how about you ? My county , Harrison , allows 8 bonus antlerless because we're averaging 30-45 deer per square mile , far beyond the carrying capacity . Before you cuss the very people you're paying to manage the herd you should try meeting them and talking with them first , they know way more than you think they do , and a hell of a lot more than you ever will .

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kevin I agree with you they probably do more know more then I do on manageing deer. Have you thought maybe they up the bonus anterless in some of the counties so they just can make more money. I have no idea what the deer per square mile is in my county. I hunt along a river that is pretty remote surround by fields and woods. I see deer not great numbers. I feel this will decrease greatly the number of deer that are already there.

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I too live in indiana around the miami/fulton co. area and if we can take as many does as proposed then we should at least get a chance at a second buck to even things out. An old farmer that lived down the road from me told me for every two does taken you should take a buck to even things out. i think pennsyvania is going to try a points system to earn a second buck. in my area i see every day at least four-eight bucks standing out in the bean fields around my house and very little does. what does that tell you.

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The bonus antlerless number assigned to a county is based on the deer population of that county versus it's carrying capacity , environmental damage from deer , and a variety of other factors combined . Down here in the lower tier counties we have deer densities of up to 3 times the state average , while the central counties seldom exceed 15 per square mile because of their lesser habitat . The northern tier counties are similar to the southern counties in deer density , so they have bonus antlerless numbers higher than central counties . I sincerely doubt that revenue is a big factor in the equasion since most Hoosier hunters are primarily buck hunters that take only an occasional doe for the freezer . Non-res hunters don't come here for a doe either , they want a buck .

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That reinforces Kevins point right there. How are you going to get together and manage the deer right when you don't even know how many there are? You have to trust that your state DNR knows what it is doing and not just out for the almighty dollar.

RE: bonus anterless
 

I hunt Vermillion, Vigo and sometimes Parke, and have done so for the past seven or eight years. In my opinion (I don't have the numbers to back this up, just what I have seen each year while sitting on stand) the deer population hasn't decreased any at all.

Plus with the one buck rule, the size of the bucks have increased, again, just my opinion, in both body size and rack size. I like the one buck rule, I would even go for the "Earn A Buck" philosophy.

I believe that the ndiana DNR has done very well managing the population. Sure you could go out and just start taking a doe from every county that allows bonuses, but I really can't se anybody doing that. Check out the Indiana DNR web site and look at the numbers, talk to your local CO, do a little research and you might find out that they really do know what they are doing.

RE: bonus anterless
 

Exactly Stumpj , well said .

I've attended CACCC and NRC meetings for a few years now , and you learn a lot from them . Here's a great thread about why it's not always a good idea to restrict buck hunting:
OBR vs. the Tenn. 3 buck limit

The trend toward more bucks and more mature ones has been taking place in Indiana for some time now , well before the OBR . Raising a quality herd takes time , and managing the does is just as important as managing the bucks .

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StumpJ from Clinton In. Nice to meet ya Im from Clinton as well...

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Here in north AL we can kill 2 does every day for more than 2 months. The problem is not many hunters kill them. Everybody wants that buck. We are lucky there too because we can kill 1 buck every day for the whole season.

RE: bonus anterless
 

i hunt in elkhart, kosciusko, fulton, and marshall counties. All of these counties offer excellent deer hunting. Now, onto the doe topic. I just received my dnr hunting guide, and inside i read thatwe will not have a state wide limit on does. you can kill as many as you want. but there will still be county limits. the county limits have changed from 0-4 to 0-8. so basically you can kill 4 in one county, move on to the next and kill 8 more, depending on whatcounty it is. the counties with the limit of eight are the southern counties of course. also, the first bonus antlerless tag is 24.00 and the rest after that are only 15.00! they must really want those booners.

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I just heard about this today , in effect the only limit to how many antlerless you can take is how many tags you can buy and what the individual county bonus limit is . If you hunted every county thats well over 450 antlerless . I don't think it has much to do with IDNR having a desire for that much revenue so much as it is we just need to get the antlerless deer back under control . Nobody could possibly shoot that many deer in one season . I happen to live in an 8 county surrounded by several others , with plenty of 4 counties nearby as well . Dayum it's good to be a Lifetime License holding meat hunter here ! [8D]

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In certain counties of Maryland you can take an unlimited number of antlerless deer with a bow.

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I am just afraid that there wont be many deer left. Do I see deer each time I am out hunting most of the time yes. Probably see 3 or 4 deer each time I am out. Are these the same deer maybe or maybe not. I can remember as a kid or thought they were deer I counted 20 once. Never since then. I would agree one buck rule has helped out greatly I am seeing many more bucks. I just hope the DNR keeps that going. Maybe the should go with Earn a buck program even further the number of bucks.

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Boy that Kev1 sure replies to everyone's responses. Hard to get a word in edgewise.

He knows of which he speaks.

Even here in IL, for those of you who don't know, haven't been paying attention, are blind, or just don't concern yourselves ........... the average size/body weight of deer has been going down, year after year. As Kevin wisely stated, the permits issued ARE based upon poulation studies.

I don't know how to make it any more simple.If theres 30 deer per square mile and only enough food for 15 deer, if they have to share the food sources, their body weight and general health will be down.

1224 - I would saydon't worry about the number of deer your seeing (alot more might be seeing you than you see of them). Wouldn't you rather have higher quality deer? I'm not taking about better wall hangers but I think the health of a deer herd in any area can really be measured by plenty of big old fat does! (mmmm, mmmmm, good).

1224 I like your suggestion "that we all should get together and do something so the deer are managed right". Myself, I would be apt to get together with someone who has science, study and information on their side. Like the ones who do the studies, pop counts, etc.... Right?

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Yes it is!

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I have no interior life , so I stay here a lot . ;)

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In Pa Special Regulations countys you can take unlimited doe if you have a $6 tag for each. Ya gotta luv it.:D