Controversial decision. no more archery season
 

Interested in your reaction to this situation. Apparently, our landowner (very large), has reached an agreement with the state whereby they have been given the flexibility to allow ML hunting on opening day of archery season. You certainly have the option of archery hunting if you wish, but the vast majority of lease members on your lease and surround leases will be ML hunting. Specifically, if archery opens on 9/15 and ML on 10/25, you will now be allowed to ML hunt beginning on 9/15, all the way up until opening day of gun season on 11/3.

By the way, this is not hypothetical, it is already done. However, each lease has the option to adopt or reject on their respective lease, though if you don't and the neighbor lease does, your chances of success are more limited, plus, total harvest rates will be high.

Just curious as to how you view this situation. There are a lot of reasons as to why i don't like it but it now exists.

Where is this? This would be a disaster for me! One of my biggest fears is DNR taps bow season to expand other seasons. Over the yrs (35) of bow hunting that seems to be the norm. Whenever they need to provide extended hunting days it comes from bow season. Not dog/gun season, not ML but bow. Hate it!

That sucks, but what do you do! Where is this happening?

1. Contact your DNR and get all your friends to contact the DNR. If they get enough complaints, then may reverse this.

2. If number 1 does not work, get yourself a muzzleloader I guess.

Too bad. I have nothing against ML, but also, I would hate if they did that by me. One of the great things about archery is the peace and quiet of the sport.

Florida is where this happened, not broad based but specific to this large land holder and game mgt operation. I also very much enjoyed the peace and quiet as one of you said. As luck would have it, I just upgraded to new bows for me and my kid last year too. Last, I did just get another ML out of self defense.

Besides the personal distaste for what is happening, i do think over harvesting is a risk and longer term negative effects on the overall herd

Those muzzleloaders !!!
 

They the kind that use primers and scopes? Kidding actually. I knew one state that only allowed flintlocks with no scopes in their ml season.

The problem with large leased lands is it is up to the lessees, in the end, to control the number of deer on their land. If they have too many deer, a limited number of hunters has to reduce the population, in the best way possible. And in some cases archery isn't enough.
Leasing isn't perfect, but to even say that is controversial.

Yikes... I wouldn't want that to happen here at all.

Honestly: If DNR is ok with it and if you assume there is biological support for them to be ok with it, not much you can do. Crying "my hunting season is ruined" to them will only get you backlash.

Target your lease to NOT do it. Your lease could then become a quiet area for the deer to run to!

Where in Florida?I just looked at next years seasons and I don't see anything about it?

I would guess this to be short term. If they are truly in the business of game management then they must have a surplus of deer that need to be taken care of. Allowing muzzle loader could be one way of keeping deer populations lower. But of course when such populations become to a safer level the use of muzzle loader will have to be once again restricted so the population doesn't grow too small.

Unless they really don't care about game management and they are just trying to sell more leases. But considering the DNR has signed off on it I don't think this is the case.

If I understand you and the FWC site, seasons do not pertain to WMAs and other property managed by the state. Correct?

That's what I was wondering about,no the seasons have nothing to do with the WMA's.If it's the WMA's then you just have to hunt per there restrictions.

if i were an avid archery hunter i would be appalled! I used to bow hunt but they have an early ml season and i just wait a few weeks for that season to open, it lasts only one week.

From what I read in the regs it looks like small portions of the four zones of the state the Fish and Game is testing.This may be what he's talking about.Most of the state will stay as usual. I guess if you are in one of these test areas it would suck.

According to the state biologist the lease has to have a survey done by a certified biologist. They set the number of deer to be killed of either sex. They can be killed by any legal means during the season. Guns during bow. Spears during muzzleload, it don't matter how. However when the said quota is reach the deer killing stops. So wiping out the population is not possible. If your property has a low deer density you might have a short season. But if you are over run with deer you can gun hunt from October to the end of February...tony

Thanks that's what I was looking for.