Party Hunting

[hockeybc69]

Is that you Muskybuck?

[Bear55]

Is that you Muskybuck?

If its not they have to be related.

[B. Amish]

i thought the same thing...

[O.T.C.]

Yes I'm back, but it should be better guys, I gave myself a 6 month timeout to re-group, unfortunately the problems are worsening and not getting better, I went up north to hunt and my wife stayed back and said there was a truck down our road at about 1AM sunday night, she was giving our daughter that nebulizer etc. said just high schoolers doing whatever until I followed the bloody drag trail to our gravel road a few days later, isn't that fun, I had a fun year up north seeing a few nice bucks that hopefully can shed em and find me next season. I truly enjoy seeing quality party hunting, drives, the stories that come from em, the many uncles I have that hunt together, that's the best part about deer hunting the anticipation of what's coming your way, the stories, the meat is always A+, just wish more people would not flex our rules or have to cheat at it to harvest the best animal we all share, that's all. My main trailcam really surprised me this fall, mercy. Where's the hugs guys lol. It sure was better when I didn't know what was happening around my areas. I had a guy trespass where I hunt on October 23rd at 9:00PM. He shut off my trailcamera can you believe that ! Shut it off, didn't steal it or get caught on it so he must have saw it during daylight. My friends at deer camp were all creeped out lol.

[nonteepical]

In Our hunting camp we hunt together, but we all tag our own deer, been that way since i started hunting 30+ years ago but we consider ourselves a hunting party and i'm sure we aren't the only party of hunters that hunt that way.

Pre APR it was first worded eliminate party hunting, and people were against it because they thought it meant no one could hunt together or share a hunting camp, then they came up with the no cross tagging term and that doubled their support when people understood what they really meant. so if their was a questionaire i'd leave out the party hunting and just go with no crosstagging to avoid confusion.

[BuckSutherland]

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/mn-dnr-weekly-report-nov-24-2014

To the guy that said he has to quit hunting if he fills a tag and his son is still out there, buy a camera. Get out and enjoy the woods and observe some wildlife. I have had just as much fun doing that as shooting a deer.

Thanks for posting this stuff. Those reports make me sick. Much more detailed than ODN.

Its time to make the penalties hurt much more than they currently do. I am guessing $1,000-$1,500 for the first offense would go a long ways. There was one deer shot on my property this year. Unfortunately it was shot by some mother F'n POS poacher in late Sept from the road. I called TIP and then the GW called me. Really nothing they could do about it. He didnt even come out and look and I cant say I blame him. All we were left with was a stinky gut pile, some drag marks, and the tire tracks in the ditch where they turned around. The area will be littered with cameras starting next spring.

[hockeybc69]

I spoke with a CO a couple days ago and asked how the experience was this fall with crosstagging violations because people are playing the system and having other people buy licenses for the party to fill.

Quote:

"Lend/Borrow a deer tag was my most cited offense this season and over the past few years it has become a very popular violation."

[Eric Wettschreck]

Help me understand. People are against party hunting/cross tagging because of the fellas out there that do it illegally?

[smnduck]

I think party hunting is great.

People against it just don't have any friends or family that want to be around them.

[PurpleFloyd]

Help me understand. People are against party hunting/cross tagging because of the fellas out there that do it illegally?

Pretty much. Kinda like people wanting to ban guns because they don't personally own one and some people commit crimes with them.

[hockeybc69]

Give people an inch and they take a mile.

Get rid of it. Shoot your deer and be happy with it.

What kind of story is, "It was a great weekend. I didnt see a deer, but my buddy shot a deer for me."

[PurpleFloyd]

I'm sure lots of youth hunters are going to tell "Uncle Bob".."heck no...you're not shooting a deer for me"

I think the reason party hunting/crosstagging is a such a big debate point is that more deer end up getting harvested. When the herd is in great shape, its not such a big issue...when the herd isn't in great shape...taking deer that may have survived another year may be detrimental to hunting in successive years.

We are basically the opposite. Lots of youth hunting with us and I know personally I would rather have my son shoot his deer and mine as well and generally put him in a spot to do so. His grandfather,who doesn't get around as well as he used to also would rather give his grand son the opportunity to harvest his deer as he gets more satisfaction from that than from taking one himself. The rest of our group is the same way in that they would rather see their kids harvest deer than themselves. I imagine there are some solo hunters who have no family or friends to hunt with that have difficulty with understanding that it doesn't always have to be the "Me" or the "I" and there is nothing that can be done to fix that, but there are valid reasons to party hunt and cross tag depending on the terrain and situation and as long as those who are in the group are OK with it, who has the right to tell them they can't? as long as they only take as many deer as there are hunters and as long as they are all there participating in the hunt.

[PurpleFloyd]

Give people an inch and they take a mile.

Get rid of it. Shoot your deer and be happy with it.

What kind of story is, "It was a great weekend. I didnt see a deer, but my buddy shot a deer for me."

As long as he doesn't care what business is it of yours how he feels?

How about "I am at the end of my hunting career and don't get around so well any more but I enjoy getting out with the family and it gives me more satisfaction to see my grandson harvest my deer for me"? Real bad guy there.

[Jameson]

Compared to what?

...What kind of story is, "It was a great weekend. I didnt see a deer, but my buddy shot a deer for me."

and the other guy saying, "It's too bad my buddy didn't see a deer, but at least I was able to fill his tag for him so he got some venison."

Compared to?

"It was a crappy weekend. I didn't see a deer and will have to hope that my buddy will share some of the venison he got from the deer he shot."

and

"I am just going to go hunt alone next year if I have to share my venison with anyone again. Not hardly worth the trip for half a deer."

....

We control does shot through a lottery so that we don't shoot too many. Bucks don't matter in this state, try to shoot them all every fall, go for it. No 'scientific' reason to ban cross-tagging. Banning cross-tagging would be purely a social move, and I thought that is what we don't want.

[Jameson]

Help me understand. People are against party hunting/cross tagging because of the fellas out there that do it illegally?

Some folks, yep. Other folks are just flat out against legal party hunting and are using the illegal cross tagging as a way to rally more folks against party hunting. Sort of like people who are against guns and use murderers as a way to influence others to be against guns.

[smsmith]

We control does shot through a lottery so that we don't shoot too many. Bucks don't matter in this state, try to shoot them all every fall, go for it. No 'scientific' reason to ban cross-tagging. Banning cross-tagging would be purely a social move, and I thought that is what we don't want.

We do?

[TattooedHunter]

Get rid of telephone and internet registration of deer, make the tag holder show up to a registration station with the deer.

[nonteepical]

They got to much money invested into electronic tag/registration they'll never get rid of it, but I agree with you a lot of cheating/unregistered deer with current system.

[CaptainMusky]

I'm not a huge fan of party hunting but how in the world would they realistically enforce this?

[Jameson]

We do?

Yes. I worded it horribly, but we have an antlerless lottery to prevent shooting too many does. See regulation changes after the last closed deer season in MN if you only have lived here for a couple years and don't know the history very well.

[laker1]

I think like a lot of things,it is O'kay but too much of a good thing is bad.

I have no time for parties like the size of 18 people and they maybe drive or even otherwise,nobody has to shoot 6 deer or more.

It is fine if you party hunt just to stay in the woods with your group or help a buddy get a deer for the winter. Also maybe if you party hunt some groups say if you get your deer you can only shoot that very big buck you probably will never see. It still lets you be in the woods and partake with family and friends.

I remember some parties the young kids would never get a chance to shoot a deer,they would make them drive and they would put the same hunter on post because he was the best shot or leader of the party.

Actually deer hunting most years 50-60% of hunters will have to get skunked or we are over harvesting.

In some areas I know back in 1972 just coming off a closed season certain groups of large size would drive these areas and no deer had a chance. Thus the deer recovery was delayed in some areas.

[candiru]

Get rid of telephone and internet registration of deer, make the tag holder show up to a registration station with the deer.

The only thing that would accomplish is to create an inconvenience for honest people. The people that are cheating now were cheating then. All the people were doing at the registration station was punching data into terminals. Nobody cared whether you had your deer there, or if you looked like someone that would go deer hunting.

The only way to maybe put a damper on it would be to have fewer registration stations staffed by people with at least a little training on what to look for. They would also have to care enough to look at the deer. You would also have to pay them in some way. I don't just don't see where people would want to spend the money and put up with the extra hassle to maybe stop a few from abusing party hunting.

[shortfatguy]

I can see where there are issues with the cross tagging. One thing I would like to see is proxy hunting like they allow in alaska. Where you can legally hunt under someone elses tag if they are unable to do so them selves for legitimate reasons. Many older folks grew up on venison and really enjoy eating it but can not hunt anymore. Would be nice if a family member or friend could take a deer for them.

[hockeybc69]

Then Uncle Bob who has never hunted before miraculously buys his first tag at 74 years old.....

Too many holes. You shoot it, you tag it. Then share in your bounty with Uncle Bob.

Makes enforcement much easier. CO approaches a group, inspects licenses or tagged deer. Pretty easy for them to hone in on the ones playing games.

I know people that drive would argue party hunting is just fine. Well, if you shot your deer on drive number 1, then get in the line with the pushers for the next 4 drives until all your tags are filled if necessary. Put the guys on the shooting lines that have available tags.

[mntatonka]

Then Uncle Bob who has never hunted before miraculously buys his first tag at 74 years old.....

Too many holes. You shoot it, you tag it. Then share in your bounty with Uncle Bob.

Makes enforcement much easier. CO approaches a group, inspects licenses or tagged deer. Pretty easy for them to hone in on the ones playing games.

I know people that drive would argue party hunting is just fine. Well, if you shot your deer on drive number 1, then get in the line with the pushers for the next 4 drives until all your tags are filled if necessary. Put the guys on the shooting lines that have available tags.

Clearly you haven't done many drives. Put a guy without a gun on the drive, and he'll be he one the deer run by every time. The guys next to him have to move closer to him to shoot the deer in his line, which leaves bigger gaps in the lines.

Seriously, what difference does time if I shoot 3 deer and 2 others in my group don't shoot any?