keyshunter

We retired to a farm in southwest Virginia from Pa. 2 years ago, mostly to give our arthritis a break. Virginia has relatively liberal deer limits compared to what I am used to--6 tags with license, and unlimited doe tags at $15 per pair.

I have been fortunate to have hunted in a number of states in the northeast, midwest, and west during the past 50 years, but have never encountered the attitude I find locally--numbers hunters.

When I meet some of the local hunters and ask how the season went, I am answered with a number. For example: "I shot 14", "I shot 23", "I had a tough year and only shot 9" etc. I of course, ask what they do with all these deer, and am often told that they don't eat deer meat, but they give them away. They never seem to elaborate on this last part. A neighbor told me that last year a local woman called the game warden when she discovered a pile of deer on her property with just the backstraps cut out.

My wife and I shot 4 deer between us last year, and 4 this year. It would have been no problem for each of us to have shot several more. Even though we have a week of season left, I doubt that we will hunt. All of the meat (except some that went to friends who asked for some meat) went into our freezer.

My question is: Is that the way it is in the south, or did we just bump into an an unusual situation? Has deer hunting here been reduced to scorekeeping?

Firehawk7309

Having been in the military, I have lived in several states (North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia). Although I can't speak for your state, I would guess it is the same as in the states I've lived in. There are always a few stupid people out there with their heads in the wrong place. These folks ( I hope ) are the exception and not the rule. I would suppose that these folks can operate basicly freely since there are so few DNR officers versus hunters. I don't think that these people acting this way know or care about what they are doing. I would love to hear about more of these people being turned in, but as of lately haven't. It's frustrating![:@]

SKIDMARK

I happen to live a little farther south ( Louisiana ) than you're talking about but there are plenty of these people down here. I know plenty hunters that have yet to let a legal deer walk for any reason. I feel that you don't get the real enjoyment out of hunting until you start being selective. My family and the few other people I give deer to can use 4 to 5 deer per year. Usually during the bow season I will get 1 or 2 usually big does. That leaves it between my 11 year old son and I to kill 2 or 3 more during the early season which we have 11 doe days. After that quota is reached the next one goes on the wall, which by the way hasn't happened in a long,long time.

timbercruiser

In our club all deer are brought to the skinning shed and are either processed there, carried home or carried to a proscessor. Failure to utilize your deer meat will lead to your being dismissed from the club.

Tree climber

we had some guys that go into our and did the same thing.after a long debate , they are no longer in our club and other clubs in the area were notified and they will not get into any others.
sorta black balled if you will[][:@][&:]

rem7400 2

SC regs allow an unlimited number of deer in most counties and I have ran across my share of people that kill 15+ deer per season. While I usually stop after 3 deer, I will not judge these other guys on legally killing deer as long as the meat is being used by somebody. Most of these shooters are on clubs, I would think that if it's a problem the club membership can address it.

DUCKSTAMPEDE

What separates the number hunter fromt he commercial hunter? I do know in Virginia and a few other places-you can actually donate the meat and I wished folks would do that-but you also have to consider the impact of a lesser harvest-CWD and the like. It is a risky balance but we never let the meat go to waste and like many of you I prefer to harvest what I can use-donate when there is a cause and try to put one on the wall as a final testament to the season.

Jimmy S

Just thinking out loud...Are those folks who shoot many, many deer per year real hunters or just good shooters? I mean, how much woodsmanship, time scouting, etc does one need when there are so many deer for the taking. It doesn't seem like it takes a lot of perserverance and patience. Isn't it like shooting fish in a barrell?

MOTOWNHONKEY

Thank God for Kansas regulations. You get 1 buck and a couple of does. That,s why we have the big monsters running around here. Our problem now is all of these jerk off hunting shows comming here and getting on my land. lol