ATTN: Deer hunters

[siemers]

I AGREE!!!!!!!

[LightningBG]

I save a ton of money by deer hunting (most years). That doesn't mean I'm poor, but the money I save on meat allows me to do other things I enjoy. And I do count on that meat. I have a rifle that was passed down from my father. I've been using the same bullets that I bought about 7 years ago (3 boxes can go a long ways). I butcher and process my own deer. I don't make any sausage. My main hunting ground is about 30 miles from my house. I can make it through a season for about $15 plus the cost of a tag (gas and a couple bullets).

Granted, this year I'm only hunting WI, so that's $160 for a tag, so this year I wont be "saving" any money, but I'd still rather eat venison than some factory beef.

Sure some can make some more money by working overtime and buying beef, but many people cant just "work extra" to make more money.

[LightningBG]

Also, don't we all hunt for food?

Doesn't sound like it if your passing on a bunch of deer waiting for a monster.

I could care less about getting a big buck. Would it be neat? Sure. But its all going to end up in the freezer one way or another (minus the antlers).

If I shoot a 6pt buck this year, or shoot him next year when he's 8 pts, what does that matter to anyone else?

APRs place someone elses desires on the shoulders of an unwilling party. No APR places no burden on anyone. You take what you want, I'll take what I want. Now keep in mind, I practice my own QDM, but I think it should be up to the individual or the landowner (for private land).

[muskE]

Granted, this year I'm only hunting WI, so that's $160 for a tag, so this year I wont be "saving" any money, but I'd still rather eat venison than some factory beef.

I'm right with you and gun hunt in an intensive harvest area where the farmers are practically putting neon signs on their property to thin the herd. I hunt for the organic meat and think placing restrictions on a liberal harvest area that's close to the WI border with CWD issues is contradictory.

I don't like the idea of shifting seasons for any group of hunters, period. It boils down to tradition. Many of us have either hunted with or intend to pass down some hunting tradition in the family and that's what makes this sport great.

The farm I hunt is picked pretty clean by bow hunters with stands everywhere for their long season but they missed one and I got a 12 pt. If I want a rack I can choose to try a different season and learn to shoot a bow. If someone wants to hunt a rutt they can buy heavier clothes.

If the DNR truly wanted monster bucks then tighter restrictions that reduce antler harvests would be in order to strengthen the gene pool (sort of like the crappie size debate). This could mean a 4-day bow hunting window and 2-3 days for guns. There would be a significant loss of revenue in the short term, but the bucks would get bigger. I wonder if that would pass during an election year?

[96trigger]

Read my posts, I have passed on one legal buck and two small button bucks. That's it. I have seen deer yes, but I'm sorry that my being choosy means that I am only out for antlers. You don't know how I hunt, I would have no problem taking a doe. I generally take 1 or 2 a year, but this year, I have not had the ethical shot, or I have not had the ability to identify clearly if it was indeed a doe, or a small buck. So I passed. As I have said, I have no problem with passing on those deer, it is what it is. I have been willing to take a doe since the 3rd week in October, and there just have not been any chances. Read some of my posts in the rut reports and the archery log, I think I mention more than once that I was not seeing does. I don't cry when the geese don't land, and I don't get mad when the pheasant that flushes is not a rooster. I am also not going to cry foul when I have 2 management tags, and archery tag, and firearm tag that so far have been unused.

[LightningBG]

But if there wasn't an APR, you could have taken one of those small bucks and had meat in your freezer....if that's what your after. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you passing on deer is a bad thing, but it gets a little sketchy when someone is telling someone else to pass on a deer.

[96trigger]

There is a lot of disagreeing on that topic. I know that I would like to fully assess it after the 3 year period is up and see how I feel. I am kind of split right now. I don't hate it but I am not in love it, I am still glad we have it for now.

[Jameson]

...If the DNR truly wanted monster bucks then tighter restrictions that reduce antler harvests would be in order .... 2-3 days for guns....

In order for there to be significantly fewer bucks shot during firearms season the season would have to be shortened to hours, maybe minutes. 60-70% of firearms season happens opening weekend, and more deer would be harvested during that time if hunters did not have more days to be selective about what they shoot.

Buck lottery folks, it's where it's at if you want a balanced (age and sex) herd. Almost all private property owners limit the number of bucks shot off their land, so it must be a good thing.

[heat checker]

I don't get whats the big deal being told what you can or cannot shoot. Lottery and buck only areas are that way with less overall opportunity. Fishing, pheasants,ducks, most everything is that way, why should deer hunting for folks in deer rich areas be any different? Just don't get what the problem is???

[FISHINGURU]

I'm totally for APR, in my opinion there's not much negative with it except for people can't shoot little bucks. Bigger buck means more food for the people with the hunt for food argument, also if you want meat you can shoot any doe you want.

The only thing that will happen is there will be more and bigger bucks around with bigger bodies and bigger racks.

Go ahead and keep gun season where it's at with APR because people can't shoot the little bucks anyway so they will get to live through the season.

Personally I don't like the fact that little immature deer get slaughtered every season before they get a chance to grow (buck or doe).

I hunt in an APR zone right now and I can't wait to see the results just knowing how many of them forkers and 6 pointers got to live through the year. All them little guys will have way bigger bodies and bigger racks next year.

[Getanet]

I don't get whats the big deal being told what you can or cannot shoot. Lottery and buck only areas are that way with less overall opportunity. Fishing, pheasants,ducks, most everything is that way, why should deer hunting for folks in deer rich areas be any different? Just don't get what the problem is???

Forgive the Herman Cain reference, but comparing big game hunting to other forms of hunting and fishing is apples to oranges. In most cases deer hunting has a much shorter season, a smaller bag limit, and a lower success ratio.

Setting restrictions based on the sex of a deer makes perfect sense to control populations. Setting restrictions based on antler size only seems to benefits those chasing "big bucks" rather than the deer or hunters as a whole. Drawing a magical line in the sand based on the number of points seems as arbitrary as imposing regulations saying you can only shoot bucks UNDER 8-pts.

And I have a real hard time swallowing the whole "balanced age structure" argument for APRs. Its seems to mainly be a talking point to make the true goal of large racks more acceptable. If that's truly what is needed and the herds are that out-of-whack, perhaps we should be restricting the shooting of large bucks? After all, by the very nature of survival of the fittest there will always be fewer of them. Let's leave those big breeders in the population instead of making them the only shootable bucks.

Obviously making it illegal to shoot big bucks is ridiculous, because setting restrictions on antlers in deer rich areas is silly.

[Seamus]

I would be 100% for this!!!! And for those of you who say you cannot eat the antlers, pass on that young buck and shoot the doe it is chasing...

[TylerS]

I would be 100% for this!!!! And for those of you who say you cannot eat the antlers, pass on that young buck and shoot the doe it is chasing...

...and then get nailed for poaching when you only have a buck tag on hand...

[heat checker]

Setting restrictions based on the sex of a deer makes perfect sense to control populations.

[kern]

If APR and no more party hunting would ever go into affect statewide, the tradition of hunting as we know it would be gone. Especially in the lottery areas. I think alot of people have forgotten what hunting is supposed to be about. Family, friends, and having fun together. When did the main reason for going hunting become all about bones on top of a deer's head? I really didn't care if I get a deer, but I do care if hunting stopped being fun!

[reinhard1]

i realy like your post and agree with it. i think the "party hunting" aspect of this conversation is looked at by some as greed instead of sharing. maby i'm wrong by saying that but that's what i see in some of the posts. i have "party" hunted all my life. we follow the regs and hope to get venison like everyone else. if i ever get one of those "big racks" that will be a great moment but it's not why i go deer hunting.

sure i talk about that big buck every season, and this will be the year. we have them where we hunt. we dont shoot fawns and dont shoot until we get a shot where we know it has the chance for the vitals.

deer hunting is about everyone enjoying the outdoors in their own way. there were years we did not get anything but great memories. that's what it's all about for me. good luck.

[6arrows]

Its a family tradition for us we party hunt I spend alot of money on gas as we dont have the hunting cabin any more but we still hunt the same area as my dad and brothers have since the 60s. its me my son and daughter i make my own sausagewe cut our own meat grind are own meat. my 12 year old daughter can cut meat as good as a butcher as far as i am concerend. and my 16 year old son can shoot as many deer as he wants i realy dont care if he has to use my tag.heck i even give a couple deer away a season as i bow hunt also. when you can buy 2 dollar doe tags why quiet when there haven fun. we use 4 deer a year in my family. chilie in the pot tonight and i bet you can guess what kind of hamburger is in it. Happy Hunting

[6arrows]

For some reason that posted wrong sorry Reinhard1 i use alot of your suggestions on cooking thank you for what you do on the cooking forums

[reinhard1]

your post was just fine the way it was. hope you and your family have many more great hunts together. good luck.

[FISHINGURU]

The buck to doe ratio is out of whack because most people's goal is to shoot a buck. It don't matter if there was a bigger doe out there they could of shot they want to tell people they got a buck. Even though their arguement is they hunt for food not antlers.

[reinhard1]

i think you are right that most would want that buck. however that is not the way we in our party look at it. it is more "whatever comes by first that presents the best shot". if i seen a doe and a buck at the same time i would go with whichever gives me the safest shot.

i look at it this way. my day will come with the big rack. who knows when, i've been waiting since the 60's. my brother got a big nontypical years ago. i think as you get older your anticapation of the hunt changes. i just hope i can continue for years to come. good luck.

[skee0025]

I hunt in an APR zone right now and I can't wait to see the results just knowing how many of them forkers and 6 pointers got to live through the year. All them little guys will have way bigger bodies and bigger racks next year.

To bad that is not always the case.. I have a deer on my cams that i have been seeing over a couple of years. Very nice mass and a very large inside spread with an outside spread well past the ears. A great deer that even you would be happy shooting, but no one would be able to take because he has never progressed over 6 points. I never have been nor ever will be a proponent of APR's. I will back buck lotteries but never APR's. I dont see why anyones hunt should be infringed upon because some "bone" hunters set themselves a goal based on a set of randomly made up magic numbers.

[killerelement]

I don't feel cheated as a bowhunter... you get to hunt for a heck of a lot longer time than firearm hunters

not if you take into the account that sept sucks to hot, as much of oct, then orange army gets to hunt all of nov,, leaving me freezing my sac off in dec only!! (cheated) maybe, but seems to be the way! just say'n

[96trigger]

Quote:

I never have been nor ever will be a proponent of APR's. I will back buck lotteries but never APR's. I dont see why anyones hunt should be infringed upon because some "bone" hunters set themselves a goal based on a set of randomly made up magic numbers.

I'm not sure how one is better than the other. With APR's you still have the "opportunity" to shoot a buck within the guidelines, which you don't like. Yet you would back a buck lottery, which, unless successful, means you have NO opportunity to shoot a buck. Your post is a little contradicting. Not sure if that's how you meant it or not.

[FISHINGURU]

To bad that is not always the case.. I have a deer on my cams that i have been seeing over a couple of years. Very nice mass and a very large inside spread with an outside spread well past the ears. A great deer that even you would be happy shooting, but no one would be able to take because he has never progressed over 6 points. I never have been nor ever will be a proponent of APR's. I will back buck lotteries but never APR's. I dont see why anyones hunt should be infringed upon because some "bone" hunters set themselves a goal based on a set of randomly made up magic numbers.

You never know, that giant 6 pointer might become the new world record 8 pointer in the next couple years.

Rules are rules, if APR is going to be in your area that's how it is. I'm sure there were people out there that didn't agree with all the new laws relating to hunting and fishing at one time or another.