Guys Tagging Deer For Their Wives

[chucker34]

Saw the Star Tribune article on the effort to keep increasing the number of women hunters. Good stuff. It was also interesting that the paper said the number of women purchasing deer hunting licenses has actually been declining but that the DNR says they believe that's because those women never existed. That those licenses were likely cases of men tagging for their wife who never actually hunted.

lcornice, thoughts or input on why that stopped happening. More available tags? More opportunities. Tougher enforcement by the DNR?

I wonder if you are going to see more of this again now that the all-season has been changed to one deer in lottery areas. I hope not, sucks big time for those who abide by the law and hope that by doing so, they'll be able to take 2 or 3 in a few years after the herd recovers.

It's along the lines of the guy who let's the little guy walk in hopes to see him as a big'un in few years only to hear him mowed down a few minutes later. Only in this instance, taking more deer that the law calls for, is illegal and will likely adversely impact the herd, which is what the new bag limits are trying to avoid in the first place.

Here's an idea to solve your woes if you really need another deer, though. Teach your wife or daughter to shoot and have her join you in the field this November. Problem solved.

[slimngrizzly]

I agree! That behavior is a joke and there is so many people that do it and get away with it!

Stack em up like cordwood on the wifes or daughters tags, then they complain the next year about there not being any deer around! It really irritates me!

[BobT]

I think this is the reason we are required to tag deer at the kill site. What many fail to realize is that it doesn't matter whether you're caught using a someone else's tag at the kill site or enroute, the deer must be accompaied by the license holder from kill site to freezer including registration. In other words, it doesn't matter if they use a bogus tag or none at all, it's still just as illegal. Might as well save the cost of the licesnse if you're going to poach a deer.

Bob

[harvey lee]

I do believe that the CO's have done a good job on cutting down on that. I know of several people that have been tagged for that in the last few years.

[TrophyEyes]

BobT, that is correct unless the person signs over possetion after registering it. I thought you could also wait to tag your deer until you get your deer out of the woods, while having a valid tag and in "process" of taging the deer. I know 3 years ago I tag it in the field and in the process of dragging the deer out I lost my tag. It ripped in half on a tree branch. I found it after an hour of searching. I definately has to be tagged before transporting with a vehicle.

[xedge2002]

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I thought you could also wait to tag your deer until you get your deer out of the woods,

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I'm pretty sure you are correct on that. I am 99% sure they changed the law last year that you could move from site of kill as long as you had the tag notched out for date, time, etc. You just have to have the tag on it when you put it in the back of the truck or on the 4 wheeler.

[koonie]

I've already noticed an increasing number of women coming in and buying licenses in my area. I know whats going on and I hope these people get tagged by a well informed CO.

[SKIPPERS KID]

This is said the same has gone on for fishing as well .

[brittman]

Stopping party hunting would do much to eliminate this problem. Too easy to stretch the rules especially if you are hunting private land .....

[slimngrizzly]

Ill second that brit! I have nothing good to say about party hunting! Its damaged the quality of the herd and its damages the quality of the hunt. I understand people have tradition of hunting as a group, thats fine, but they can all shoot thier own deer!

[BLACKJACK]

Chucker, I read that article also and noticed that about the extra licenses. I also noticed the quote that women are better off with independent instructors rather than having their significant others instruct them! Go figure!

I was out last night shooting my bow with my wife, she was also shooting her bow. Shes been bow hunting for five years, has missed a couple deer, and has yet to fill her tag, and I can honestly say I've never filled her tag for her.

Lets not brand all women license holders as 'extra licenses for the husband'.

Hopefully this will be the year she gets one!!!

[BobT]

Personally, anyone that hunts "with me" is in my party and we share the bounty as well as the opportunities. If someone isn't willing to share, they are on their own in every aspect of the hunt.

When you go fishing, do you keep your fish separate from all others in the boat too?

Bob

Edit: I don't feel that party hunting takes away from the quality of the hunt. In fact, I feel quite the opposite because it provides opportunity for others in the group to benefit from the spoils of the hunt along with the rest. What other purpose would there be for party hunting?

Party hunting does not permit one to take a deer for another member of the hunting party even if he/she is not hunting at the moment. The person who's tag is affixed to the deer best be there if and when the CO happens along. Trust me on that one.

Bob

[archerystud]

I agree that I would like to see them do away with "party" hunting. I used to like the fact that I could still hunt with my dad even though I have shot a deer.

If they do away with party hunting and I get a deer early, I'll just hunt with a camera..

[slimngrizzly]

I understand... its good to here you do it the way it was intended. Even w/o "party hunting" your group can still hunt together with EQUAL oppertunity though!

Unfortunatly, way to many deer take a bullet only to satisfy a hunters greed, not a hunters need! Not all, but way too many.

[chucker34]

Good luck to your wife Blackjack. Mine has been talking about getting a handgun for recreational shooting but always backs off when we look at them. I told her she should get one powerful enough for deer hunting and then we could go out together during gun season. In fact, I'd have such a blast doing that I'd just leave my bow behind to help/watch her.

[BobT]

The way I understand it I belive you are saying that you would like it if it was unlawful to take to the field without a valid useable tag in your possession. In other words, you could start out hunting with a party but the moment you shot your deer, you would no longer be part of the party, correct?

Is that fair to the rest of the party? They may have helped you with your hunt just by their presence in the area and now you are forced to stay home while the rest of "your party" attempts to fill their tags without your assistance.

Oh yeah, the idea of helping by hunting with a camera? The last I understood the regulations, it is unlawful for a non-licensed person to assist another hunter. If we were to outlaw party hunting wouldn't it be fair to uphold this law as well?

Bob

[BobT]

archerystud, didn't you contradict yourself? You wish to do away with what you liked to do?

Hunting with your father after you took a deer yourself is party hunting.

Bob

[Ebiz]

Food for thought, now that the hunter's safety requirement (Born before 01/01/80) is extending to more women of the "marraige age" - could this be a factor in the declining number of "women license holders" who would normally buy a tag for their husband but not if they have to take a class first?

[96trigger]

Wives with no intention of buying tags for their husbands is completely different than party hunting. They are not on the same page, one is illegal, the other is a legal way to take big game. Party hunting gained popularity when an antlerless tag was recieved by lottery. Much of the state was lottery area so it was nice to know that you could shoot a buck or doe, as long as a few in your party had a doe tag. I'll admit that with intensive harvest and management areas party hunting doesn't seem to have as much of a need. However, we still party hunt, we do one drive a day opening weekend, the rest of the time is spent on stand. I'm not sure why we still party hunt, some explainations might be the cromrodarie, the chance at kicking up big bucks that are sitting tight, or maybe just to kill time. We've been getting more deer sitting than pushing the last couple of years. That said, I'm not a big fan of groups of 30 hunters with a dozen four wheelers driving through the woods, but hey, its not my decision to tell them no, its the landowners. Unfortunately, the land on either side of the owner might as well be considered useless.

[archerystud]

Bob,

Yes Bob I did. However, I did say that if I shot a deer early I'd be willing to hunt with a camera (i.e. would limit my killing of a deer to one deer).

I guess my point was that orginally I liked party hunting but I'm growing to hate it. I know a few large hunting "parties" in which one or two people shoot 75% of the deer. Either buying tags for your wife or filling all of the parties tags are the same thing to me.

It would be nice if people were only allowed to shoot multiple deer if a zone had a population that was too high.

I think party hunting is fine in some zones. I mainly hunt in 442 and there has never been an over abundance of deer in that zone. Other than the All-Season license I've never had the opportunity to tag more than one deer in this zone for 30 years.

It will probably be hard to do away with party hunting or people buying extra tags so my point is probably moot.

[LABS4ME]

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Party hunting gained popularity when an antlerless tag was recieved by lottery. Much of the state was lottery area so it was nice to know that you could shoot a buck or doe, as long as a few in your party had a doe tag.

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Correct me if I'm wrong (and I might be! ). But in order to 'party hunt' with a doe tag in the lottery days, didn't you need to also be awarded a doe tag to be able to shoot one. It's been a long time since I worried about that (25 years), but I seem to remember that the guys who held a buck tag were not able to shoot a doe even if party hunting.

I would have zero problem with getting rid of party hunting. You can't party hunt in most western states... if you go out for a week to hunt Muley's or Elk and shoot yours the 1st morning, you're done. You're able to go along with your buddy and be part of his hunt, but not make the shot. It should be no different here. If you have such a bang-up spot to harvest deer, slide other members of your party into your stand once you are done filling your tag(s). And personally, to clarify, I feel all (buck, doe, bonus, mgmt) tags should be hunter specific...

Good Luck!

Ken

[UdeLakeTom]

Opening weekend in our party is "shoot your own". The last weekend is "help your group". I got mine one year and wasn't able to return to camp the following weekend and the comment was made..."didn't he ever hear of party hunting", just because he got his, doesn"t mean he can't come back to help the rest of us".

I guess it all depends on your group, but I do not condone getting somebodies deer if they aren't willing to go out in the woods or field.

[BobT]

Are we all on the same page with the definition of party hunting? Party hunting, poaching, and driving deer are different things but what I’m reading here seems to suggest that some of us don’t separate them. Party hunting does not allow buying “extra” tags to fill. Buying tags for your wife is the same as party hunting ONLY if your wife is one of the hunters in the party when the deer is taken. Any other use of the tag is just as illegal now as it would be if party hunting was not allowed. Those that fill their non-hunting wives tags are taking a chance that they won’t get caught in transit. I doubt making it illegal to party hunt will have any affect on poachers. A party is any group of two or more hunters working together so they improve their chance of getting some share of venison.

Father and 14-year old son go out hunting together. Ten minutes into opening day, dad takes a small buck and fills his tag. The son, being only 14, can’t hunt alone but since party hunting is outlawed, the son’s hunting season is over for the year unless he can find another licensed adult to hunt with him. Or how about this scenario? Father has a buck only license but his son has an antler-less permit. Father has opportunity for nice doe and takes it and they use the son’s license to tag it. Since party hunting IS legal, the son can still enjoy hunting with dad for the rest of the season even though he has already used his tag.

My family has shared deer hunting together since I was “hunting” with my dad using my BB gun. Taking a deer is never guaranteed and many a year would have gone by empty but for party hunting. I haven’t been without venison for probably 20 years, not because I personally have taken deer every year but because I hunt with a small party. Yes, in some of those years it was one hunter that happened to be in the right stand and took most or all of our deer. If it wasn’t for party hunting he would have filled his tag and unless someone else took over his stand we might have shared one deer between many hunters. But instead we were able to share two or three deer. Sure, party hunting isn’t about sharing meat. It’s about sharing the hunt. Party hunters are less concerned with actually pulling the trigger. Success to us is putting some venison on the table. That doesn’t mean we’re out there slaughtering anything and everything that comes into our crosshairs. We let plenty of deer meander past.

The deer population is as high as ever and growing. I don’t think we have anything to be concerned about with regard to party hunting depleting the resource.

Party hunting hasn’t proven to be detrimental to the deer population. Party hunting provides opportunity for groups of hunters to improve their chances for hunting success at putting venison on the table. Party hunting makes it possible in some cases for young hunters to enjoy more of the hunt when they otherwise would not. Those that don’t care to party hunt don’t have to. Those that abuse the aspect of party hunting are not party hunting and in fact are probably violating the law and they would continue to do so regardless. I can’t seem to find any reason to outlaw party hunting.

It also would seem that to do this we should also consider outlawing it for all types of hunting including waterfowl, pheasant, grouse, and fishing. How many times do we bird hunt where one hunter happens to have a means to carry the quarry so their all placed in his vest? We’ll have no more of that. You shoot it, you carry it and best not have more than your own limit on your person. How about fishing? Maybe we should each tag our fish with a personal tag as we put them in the well. If you have more than one limit tagged in the well, someone better not be fishing. Wonder how many fishing partners would alternate the tags to get around that one?

[slimngrizzly]

BobT,

I think you mis-uanderstand the law. Party hunting is defined as anyone ine the party "USING" a firearm.

If dad shoots a deer, there is nothing saying he cant go out and sit with his son!?!?! You see..... thats not party hunting. And I can go with a friend with my camera when Im filled!

Im saying... "why does dad need to shoot the boys deer? Let the boy do it himself with coaching and mentoring from his father."

You wait for the deer you want, you shoot it and your done (shooting)! You can still be a member of the group, sitting, watching, having fun, taking pictures, your just done killing deer!!!

Your implying BobT, that every camera crew for every Deer Hunting TV show in every state that DOES NOT allow party hunting is breaking the law??!?!?!? Because they cant be along with a camera! I dont think so....

I think hunting with family and friends is great. But one member does not need to shoot all the groups deer. It often leads to unselective harvest. If the other member of your group wants the venison so bad, but cant shoot it themselves, there are plenty of venison donation programs and good roadkills available out there!

[chucker34]

I see no reason to outlaw party hunting, but I don't personally care for it and agree with most of what slimgrizzly just posted. I guess it comes down to a personal belief that I'd like the opportunity to shoot my own deer rather than someone else doing that for me, especially in a lottery area, which is where I mainly hunt. And I don't want to use someone else's tag just so everyone has a deer for the freezer. I'd rather they have the opportunity to shoot it themselves or go home empty handed. That's why its called hunting and not killing. I like venison but if I don't get any because I didn't get an opportunity at a shot, well then I can eat beef and have plenty of friends that will throw some steaks and sausage my way.

Finally, party hunting to me often = deer drives, which I have a great disdain for. Again, I can't see any reason to ban them and there's nothing legally or ethically wrong with them in my books, I just don't like hunting that way. I'm not saying its not as sporting as sitting and waiting in a treestand or blind. I'm just saying I don't like the feel of it or the safety concerns involved. Perhaps much of this is because I bowhunt pretty much exclusively now. But I think I'd feel that way even if I exclusively gun hunted.