Deer hunter satisfaction survey
 

Seeing as how you only get to hear what individual states hunters think when its a guy in a magazine whos just killed a big buck, when a state is having problems or when a states wildlife management agency is making the statements...Interested to see how hunters feel about the deer management going on in their respective states. What one state do you hunt the most and what kind of job do you feel that state is doing with the deer herd management?
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Please give your state then a rating of 1, 2, or 3.

1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better. 2=Ok but needs some changes , hunting fair 3= Good, very satisfied with, only very minor or no changes necessary, hunting very good.

Oklahoma
1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better.
They have some kind of system that only allows the taking of Does on select days in sections of the state. The deer management units are far too large, and dont accurately manage the local herds. Other states have a far better system at management IMO.

3= Good, very satisfied with, only very minor or no changes necessary, hunting very good.

I don't really know much about it; only that the DNR here seems to know the number of deer in each county, township and/or permit area. They do density studies by air and land with visual confirmation and pellet pile counts. They seem to plan the next year's harvest by the previous year's hunter success and their own studies, so they're at least doing that much. The numbers are good here, but that's mainly due to softer winters and not so much hunter success.

iSnipe

I dont know alot about OK, but have heard alot of good about Minnesota. Been on their website, i like the fact they do hunter surveys and use the info in managing.

Good stuff. Keep 'em coming guys!

PA 3= Good, very satisfied with, only very minor or no changes necessary, hunting very good.
Where i hunt anyway

Pa.
1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better.
But we are growing some nice trees. :D

1= illinois
 

It's no secret that Illinois' corrupt politics have spewed over into the last couple IDNR directors and they are trying to get a handle on it now. However, a broke state needs MONEY more than anything so our overall herd managemnet hastaken a backseat.

It's NO secret that the finest state management programs belong to IOWA and KANSAS

PA
1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better.


Here in pa we have the dmap program I never have and never will agree with it. The PGC has the authority to oversee the deer herd. Dmap was introduced to pacify DCNR.and puts deer management on state forests lands into the hands dcnr a state agency that view deer as bothersome pests that need eradicated in the name of timber profit.
Our present deer heard goals have led to more posted private land and land leasing than any slob hunter. Here where I hunt land that had been open for generations now is posted and when you ask for permission the landowner is quite blunt as to why he is posting its to protect his ability to hunt, see and protect deer. those lands that are not posted outright are posted no doe hunting and no I cant blame the land owner if I had a large track so land I would do the same I blame PGC. All we here about is all the opportunity available to youth today what’s never addressed is where are those youth supposed to hunt if posting continues at these alarming rates. Yes they have state land but those that hunt them know first hand the hunting on SF or SGL is poor at best and youth will not stay if game cant be found in reasonable numbers.

I would give IA a 3!

Kansas should get 5 or higher We do have some of the best hunting there is and a very good deer management system. My hunting season for bucks ended 2 hours after it started on the second day( my first trip out) of the early M/L season with a 275 lb 11 point buck. I can still shoot 4 does this year so the hunting is still good.

3 for Kansas. They seem to do a good job here.

im in schuyler county illinois and with all the out fitters and out of staters they are ruining the hunting for us landowners and everything just sucks about the illinois DNR laws, but i hope that to be changing soon.

Pa

Turkey and Bear gets a 3= Good, very satisfied with, only very minor or no changes necessary, hunting very good.

Management of every other game animal gets a 1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better.

Being that my passion is for whitetails and upland game I am very dissatisfied.

mo gets a 3 in my book.
modoc is doing a great job with the deer herd. Also doing lots as far as youth hunts and giving youngsters the resources to start out with.

1 in Tn

We used to have enough deer that you would see 3 or 4 a day if you spent the time in the woods but now you might go days before you see one. The DNR opened a 3 does a day every day of season. Our season all together runs from Sep-Jan with rifle season from Nov-mid Jan and it sucks! The out of staters and people that doesn't live anywhere near here thought it was a shooting gallery when it started. They shot everything with hair on it. They would shoot them and throw the whole deer out on the side of the road. The local paper had a picture of about 20 deer piled up on the side of the road and the only thing missing was the horns on the bucks. We KNOW who did it but couldn't prove it. Some guys from Knoxville leased a big spot of land beside mine and they killed everything that moved. We drive by there camp going in to hunt the evening and saw a big 4 wheeler trailer loaded over with deer. The next morning I went to pick up my buddy and there was a huge pile of deer laying at the rarely used end of the road that wasn't there the night before when we came home. Drove back by the camp and there sat an empty trailer with no full coolers, hides, nothing. They only leased it that year but you still do good to see 1 deer all weekend out there where you used to see 6 or 8 a day. I won't even hunt it this year and hopefully they will come back. The DNR still says we have too many deer. I don't know how my hunting buddies and I hunt alot and last year we all went about 6 whole days as a group without seeing anything. I wish they would go back to Buck only and then give out 3-4 doe tags the last half of season like they used to when we had a few deer. Or atleast stop giving the people that doesn't live in our unit all the doe tags so the slaughter will slow down. If you have to hunt there every year you care alittle more about the deer pop. than the guy who just come in for a 5 day hunt and shoots everything they see. They can pick a different area next year so it doesn't matter to them.

Sorry about that. Got alittle pi$$ed off just thinking about it.:biggrin:

I've thought for several years that Alabama needed to have a two week doe only season the first two weeks of Dec to try and get the population down. Nobody (or not many hunters) wants to shoot a doe, hoping that a nice buck is going to walk out later.

I would give Texas a 2.5. Not a lot I would do to change things, but they end up looking better than they really are simply because 99% of the hunting is done on private land the individual private land owners end up managing their wildlife more than the state does. Of course the state has set things up well to allow that.

Yeah I'm with npaden. Texas isn't bad enough that it deserves a 2 or quite good enough for a 3. Where I'm at it's mostly private land so you pick and choose your own management system. Texas does do a good job though of figuring the amount of deer that can be shot per county. And doesn't hold it to the same standard all over the state. But I know that the public land around here could use some work for the hunting aspect as it is more of an ATV park. (although I can't complain to much cause that is where I go to ride.) I have seen deer out there when riding, but not enough deer for the amount of hunters that go in their every deer season. Although for those willing to get to the places fourwheelers cant I'm sure there is some good deer hunting.

michigan gets a 1, terrible management of one of the best herds int the country, could be so much better, they should switch to a 1 buck rule, put cross bows in there own season and stop cutting funding in the DNR so they can enforce some laws. I would be in favor of altogether stopping the harvest of bucks for a couple of years in order to get the doe harvest in check, that way we wouldnt need a early doe season ( in this state that means does and any buck just to big to pass up in september)

I agree 100% with 4evrhtn!!! Actually I give PA. a -1. Pike

1 - PA for deer.. too much to post to back it up so I wont even get started..

3 for Missouri and it should be more. Deer management, and size of deer tops IA and KS easily in my book, but best of all are the low resident tag prices, over the counter tags for everyone, multiple seasons and you can use most any weapon known to man. I dislike hunting IA because of the tags are too high even for residents, I don't care to hunt with shotguns, although you can hunt with muzzleloaders, and modern rifles in some of the Southern counties, but only for doe's the last I checked. IA,and KS definitely rate a 3 also for big deer and great hunting. There are just enough differences to make them less desireable to me. I have land to hunt in IA too, with huge bucks, but it just isn't worth my time. But it's the out of state tag and the, shotgun hunting that keeps me from it. I live right on the line and would love to hunt with friends in IA, but they preffer to hunt down here with me so they can use their rifles.

Have to agree with the others that PA bear and turkey would get a 3 ranking, tough to beat PA birds and bears. Deer gets a 1 overall...although there are a FEW areas where hunting is better recently, until the powers that be make significant changes, they'll have to keep that low ranking. Just think. If our deer program had hunter satisfaction anywhere near the turkey and bear programs, PA would be hard to beat.

I'd give Iowa a 3
Overall the DNR is doing a pretty good job of managing the statewide herd, there are a few minor tweaks that need to be done but that's the way with just about everything. Wish they would quit releasing mountain lions, oh wait that's just a rumor going around every time there's a report of a sighting here. ha ha ha ha

Don

I cant believe no one has posted for WI yet but here it goes. For deer WI gets a -1. The last five years or so the goal of the dnr has been to eradicate the deer herd. Five years ago you would see a minimum two deer a sit. This year I have sat 11 times and only seen deer five of those. That is in agricultural country, up north in the big woods I was the only guy in my camp to even see a deer. Yet my area is still in a "herd control unit." If the dnr had its way there would be permanent EAB regulations and no one would see any deer. For some reason the dnr views deer as a nuisance that needs to be eradicated. There are five times as many wolves as the dnr is willing to admit there is and three times as many bears. Now that there has been enough public outcry to end EAB, they want to put the gun season and the peak of the rut and make it twice as long so not only will there be no deer but the quality of bucks will plummet. They also want to fill the whole month of October up with special does only hunts just to make sure people can shoot the last doe or two on their land. If the dnr does not allow the population to make a comeback I will be saving my money and going to hunt in Iowa next year.

Pa - POOOR, see 100 huters a week and if lucky 3 deer a week
WV-3-GOOOOOOOOD, ! hunter a week and 40 deer a day

1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better.

IL sucks and alot of stuff here really needs to change.

Pennsyvania, = 1= poor system needs overhauled hunting should be better.

2- IL

I agree IA and KS have a great thing going because of their systems.

A bigger disappointment for me is the property we currently hunt, I think if I were hunting a better area/property where guys managed the area better, ie neighbors etc...I wouldn't have much of a problem with the state's management, but then again, maybe if the state would do what they should, individuals would have to work less hard to get the same affect.

I'd like to see earn a 2nd buck tag in our state..., perhaps limiting out of state tags as opposed to no limit currently? if needed that is, not too sure.

Less multiple gun seasons, I think make december gun season, use which you prefer, no pistol, muzzzleloader, shotgun, youth, etc... season.

Check stations were nice too.

Am somewhat disappointed in general, think I may start just booking an outfitted hunt in IA every 2-3yrs, let them worry about keeping trespassers etc..off their property, cause a few guys on a lease with a bad landowner certainly can't, also neighbors who shoot anything that moves.

I'll give Louisiana a 2.

Texas

texas does have some overpopulated areas.. some areas dont have any at all...sum are moderate....they change our book alot and sumtimes our county is a 1 buk 2 does(soetimes jus fer 3 days or so for does)and then 1 year we will have a 13" spread or bigger rule along with 3 points and smaller..(antler restrictions) i see some 5 deer counties....i dont own a farm so this dont ride with everyone (speciallly farmers) but i would make every county a 1 deer county fer 3 years and i think it would help alot where i hunt...
but sum people say there are too many deer, i know people in my area that have alot of land lie about how many deer they see so they can get xtra tags!!!!they dont care bout anything but pullin the trigger...jus takin straps n legs leavin carcus jus sittin with 20 lbs or more meat on it..and they give most the meat away.i call these people "killers"...cant even type ne more nough said

PA 3: Good
Been out only 2 Saturdays seen 7 different doe, and one fluke of a buck. Admiring the flora and fauna of a swamp during an October snowstorm was priceless!!!

Florida - 3. Liberal bag limit (2 deer per day) and no tagging system. We are left to manage our own land/lease, just the way it should be. I don't want to be told from the state what I can shoot/not shoot.

PA-3.No management paln is perfect but we badly needed to balance the herd with the habitat.I saw things bottom out around 2005 but things have been slowly getting better since.I don't see a ton of deer but I see plenty most times I go out on public land.We have thousands of acres of public land available with decent access and just a short drive from my house.It's easy to get away from the crowds and not have to worry about competing with other hunters.I have no complaints.

NY- 2. Where i hunt winter habitat is getting poor. One or two bad winters will bring our numbers down. To many deer (does & fawns) very very few nice bucks.

indiana gets a 1 management not really that good even though you can only get 1 buck you can kill like over 200 does its crazy ,if you or your family dont own land your s#it outta luck for a spot

push to the top

Good stuff fellas.

Im from Pa and give it a 1. Ive never seen any state with as much dissatisfaction with a management agency. When you have the deer management leader needing to wear a bullet proof vest, the head of the pgc telling concerned deer hunters to go hunt squirrels, when you have nationally known "deer wars", have the management agency being sued by states sportsmen group, have a forced audit because of extreme lack of trust, and management agency being denied a fee increase by legislators because of such a high level of dissatisfaction, when your agency goes to lobby to state legislators with H.S.U.S and has audubon society as their primary "stakeholder"...then youve got undeniable problems.

Far too political and environmentalist extremists are far too involved in the management currently and very hunter nonfriendly management. Having hunted several other states and studying different states management throughout the last several years tells me this is not how its supposed to be.

You need some more voters Cornie. PA's 1.5 ranking is currently beating Illinois (1.3) and 5 other states ranging from Wisconsin to Indiana (all 1.0) that are considered to be good deer hunting states. This poll kind of demonstrates the gap that MAY exist between hunter satisfaction and actual quality of given states.

I agree lanse. More votes are needed. Hard to make any comparisons when so many states are unaccounted for, and some are only represented by 1 vote or 2. Hard to say that is directly representative. But as for Pa that you mentioned, it is interesting that Pa has more unsatisfied votes than any other.

As for assessing votes/commentary, You also need to READ the posts. Some of the votes were not happy with management policy, but said they had great deer herds despite the things they didnt agree with. Those chose to address the politics of management moreso than the current actual quality of hunting, and thats fine. I asked their opinions of both/either and they stated what they felt wasnt up to par. I had already asked for "worst hunting state' opinions and Pa got the knod on that one, though a couple of others were in the running and a good argument could probably be made for any of the bottom few.

There most definately is a difference between satisfaction with a states hunting and its policy making. I was interested in both actually, but am quite content to accept either, providing explanations are given. And for the most part they have been. Most have stated exactly what they are or arent happy with, and alot of "guesswork" isnt necessary.

What can be determined by this "voting" now or if even more votes are taken? For me, not a whole lot, just interesting is all, but I guess thats up to each individual reading.

BTW, Lanse, I dont know why you bothered to reply if you werent even gonna vote! Which do you hunt more Ohio or Illinois, and what do YOU think of the hunting & management there (combine the two and average out a number for us?)