survivor

BEFORE YOU LEASE (or BUY) HUNTING PROPERTY IN OHIO: I live in Guernsey County, (southeastern) OH, and my wife and I are avid, dedicated and responsible deerhunters. The deer numbers are quickly dwindling in our area due to the mismangement of land-owner kill permits. Several of our neighbors, and many others in our county, are given unwarranted kill permits from the local DNR. These permits allow landowners and farmers free reign to SLAUGHTER deer with any weapon (and yes, that includes rifles, which are illegal for a licensed hunter to use to harvest deer in Ohio), at any time of the day, any manner, from spring to fall. It has become an "evening past-time" with some of the permit holders....to see how many deer they can kill. The sad fact of it is that some of the permit holders gut-shoot the deer so they don't have to deal with dead and dying deer on their property. Just yesterday, I went down to my pond to fish and smelled a horrible rotting-smell, finding a dandy 8 point, still growing in velvet, which was gut-shot and seems that he had layed there for some time and suffered. I'm going to start a petition and hopefully, things will change, however, this has been going on for MANY years now. Something to consider before you lease.....you might want to call ODNR headquarters (Columbus, OH) and ask who, where, and how many kill permits are issued wherever it is that you're looking to lease/buy....

J Pike

Meanwhile the deer harvest #'s keep going up in Guernsey county each and every year and so does the amount of dead deer laying beside RT. 70.
Farmers and land owners should be permitted to shoot deer with crop damage permits. Also it is ilegal to move a deer killed with a permit without a WCO present. It must stay where it lays. Pike

survivor

The numbers have gone up, however, WHERE I LIVE THE NUMBERS HAVE NOT GONE UP--THEY'VE GONE WAY DOWN....you obviously don't live here, and its quite possible that those "deer numbers" are trumped up, there are just a few deer out my backdoor...and my complaint is about SLAUGHTERING them with gut-shots....as for deer being moved, I never said I moved them....how would you like it, for someone to shoot the deer where you live and hunt, with rifles in the hands of anyone with a permit, or who has been named on said permits, sometimes a tenth mile from your home....its sad, because I'll spot deer, on my property, then hear a rifle crack...usually right before dark, then the deer have disappeared....or you see them laying here and there, but not on the landowner/farmers property....go figure....the least these people can do, is be HUMANE in culling them....

noidurism

i'm from nw ohio and nothing like that goes on. i also have family that live and hunt in central ohio and nothing like that goes on. i don't see why you need to put out a warning to everyone for the whole state. don't get me wrong though, if that is happening i'm glad your letting us know. also here in defiance co. and 1 more co. beside us ( i think paulding co.) the deer limit was raised from 1 buck or doe and 1 early season doe only to 1 buck or doe and 3 doe only. ( 2 deer in bow and 2 deer in gun season) the deer population continues to keep going up despite record # of harvests. my family in central ohio says the same thing where they are. i hope you check into this more and keep us informed.

survivor

Yes, this does happen here, has been going on for years...many in our area would attest to that...and we are also concerned due to the proximity of the shooting to our home...the danger involved to us and those who live around us....and why aren't hunters allowed to use rifles in Ohio....probably because the DNR feels its a danger...it is a shame, as we depend on venison...and those gut-shots could of been, possibly, a deer we would of humanely and legally shot during bow or gun season....Our limit here is 7 deer each....my wife hunts once or twice almost every day of bowseason...in our backyard...where she didn't harvest any deer....she is an extremely humane, responsible huntress, will shoot a doe before she'd shoot a buck (she says they taste better!) She did harvest a plump doe, but had to get written permission because it was on a friend's land about 10 miles from my home...it saddens us because of the wastefulness....if the deer were humanely shot and given, perhaps, to the food shelter, it wouldn't hurt us so bad...and the simple fact that a lot of these people with permits, have just a few acres of actual crops, some of whom got handed dozens of permits last year....and there's no reason for this....just the other day, we saw a doe and two fawns in our backyard...hopefully they will stay away from the kill permit areas....