bandgod

Last night I took a short drive to see how many deer were feeding out in the picked corn field on our property. From 3/4 mile away I started counting and when I hit 100 I quit. Deer were still coming out of the woods and were literally everywhere in the field. I know they will spread out when the snow melts, but it makes me feel good to know we still have plenty of deer around!

gunther89

Im glad to know that you have hundreds of deer around in your area. I am in the CWD zone where there are suppose to be "hundreds" of deer and we don't have anywhere near that many. Twice as many bucks as we do does because of EAB and all the free doe tags. Don't let the DNR know you have that many deer around otherwise there gonna come and say you need EAB.

salukipv1

wasn't the plan to drastically reduce the # of deer in those chronic wasting areas? so then why are people surprised that there are so few deer running around those areas?

gunther89

We aren't suprised, we are upset because they won't listen to hunters. They say the population is growing in the CWD zone when everyone I have talked to and that's alot of people spread out in the zone say there are less deer around. There are even talks of landowners shutting down land because there fed up with the DNR. They want all the deer dead in the CWD zone so it will slow the spread of it but that will never happen.

bandgod

We have been int he EAB and now this last year a herd control zone, but all of the landonwers int he area are very conservative in what they shoot. Luckily we aren't in the CWD zone as that would make it even more difficult to manage our own land. I know the deer I saw will disperse probably a couple of miles(some of them) but at least I know there are still plenty around. You always wonder after season how many are left and it's a good feeling to know you will be seeing deer next deer season. I empathize with those of you in the CWD zone, but not so much with others when they've been shooting as many as they are allowed tags.

PY Antlers

There are a lot of different ways to manage the deer herd and listening to the DNR is'nt one of them for the most part. I live north of the CWD zone about 30 miles in southern 56. Myself and about 95% of the landowners in a square mile have been practicing Earn a Buck for about 8 years along with antler restriction of 16 inch 8 point or bigger. Our buck to doe ratio is still to high, probably about 5-6 doe's for each buck. But on the plus side our bucks are bigger than they ever have been. As a group we are considering a EAB rule of 2 doe's before a buck kill. This would accomplish 2 things. First it would help bring the buck to doe ratio closer to where it should be, second it would help bring the average age of our bucks to the 3 1/2-4 1/2 year range so there would be more bucks in the 150+ range. I guess my point is, if you don't like what the DNR is doing manage it your own way.

bandgod

PY Antlers, I like what you have to say on the herd control and managing the herd as you see fit. My brothers and I don't shoot many does, but after what I saw last night we probably will have to shoot a few more than we do. Some of our neighbors don't shoot does at all, so we will probably have to shoot even more to balance our herd.

gunther89

I would love to do it my own way but when I am stuck in the CWD zone and am in EAB when our doe population can't take another year of intense harvest and the DNR handing out free doe tags like there's no tomorrow I can't. O and not to mention the fact I have amish as neighbors who will shoot anything that walks. Had one amish shoot 21 deer in one season cause he could.