APR's don't work 100%

[Gopher_Guy]

I have hunted zone 3 my whole life. Why we still have 2 shotgun seasons is beyond me. I don't mind the APRs. Last year I had to pass a really nice buck, huge body, but it only had 6 points, the brows were either missing or broken off already. Oh well chalk it up as a hunting story. I've never mistaken a buck for a doe that I shot. Button bucks have been shot but that's a different story.

What I see as a problem is the state really is at least 3 or 4 states and yet they manage it as one. Zone 3 could easily have the shotgun season moved back to late November/early December. Just one 9 day season from the Saturday after Thanksgiving until the following Sunday. Make a rule too that you can't hunt zone 3 if you had bought a tag for another zone in the state. Kind of like Iowa, although Iowa's starts in early Dec. Heck if you want throw in an early muzzleloader season in the first weekend in October.

From the 3rd weekend (MEA weekend) in October until the 3rd weekend in December there is exactly 1 weekend where there isn't a gun season of some type going on.

[muskiemanAD]

I have hunted zone 3 my whole life. Why we still have 2 shotgun seasons is beyond me. I don't mind the APRs. Last year I had to pass a really nice buck, huge body, but it only had 6 points, the brows were either missing or broken off already. Oh well chalk it up as a hunting story. I've never mistaken a buck for a doe that I shot. Button bucks have been shot but that's a different story.

What I see as a problem is the state really is at least 3 or 4 states and yet they manage it as one. Zone 3 could easily have the shotgun season moved back to late November/early December. Just one 9 day season from the Saturday after Thanksgiving until the following Sunday. Make a rule too that you can't hunt zone 3 if you had bought a tag for another zone in the state. Kind of like Iowa, although Iowa's starts in early Dec. Heck if you want throw in an early muzzleloader season in the first weekend in October.

From the 3rd weekend (MEA weekend) in October until the 3rd weekend in December there is exactly 1 weekend where there isn't a gun season of some type going on.

I could not agree more with you. There is a gun season going on for over a month down there and people hunt it hard. It amazes me that bucks can grow big down there with all the pressure...

[Gopher_Guy]

Yep for those following here's the breakdown this season:

Oct 20-23 youth firearms season

Nov 5-13 shotgun season 3A

Nov 19-27 shotgun season 3B

Nov 26-Dec 11 muzzleloader

In that timeframe there are 8 weekends. A whopping 7 of them have a gun season of some sort going on.

[mntatonka]

I could not agree more with you. There is a gun season going on for over a month down there and people hunt it hard. It amazes me that bucks can grow big down there with all the pressure...

Uh, actually, the gun season goes on for 18 days total in Zone 3. Muzzleloader is such a small sample size it literally doesn't count when it comes to hunter numbers (much like archery).

Why change what's already working? Zone 3 was already growing huge bucks, and is finally dropping in population, so why move the season to a point where there will be less hunters in the woods helping to keep the population down?

[muskiemanAD]

"uh, actually, the gun season goes on for 18 days total in Zone 3. Muzzleloader is such a small sample size it literally doesn't count when it comes to hunter numbers (much like archery).

Why change what's already working? Zone 3 was already growing huge bucks, and is finally dropping in population, so why move the season to a point where there will be less hunters in the woods helping to keep the population down?

[rogrod]

I think the main reason there is a 3A and 3B season is to split the hunters in half. If there was one season, quite a few hunters would not be able to hunt. There are plenty of places that have groups in both seasons. If it went to one season, one of the groups would probably not be able to hunt that spot. The area gets hit hard during the 2 seasons, but there are still plenty of deer. There are still good numbers of big bucks.