2018 Hoosier state rules are out

j-bird

Moderator
So, the Indiana DNR has released the 2018 deer hunting rules, yet has yet to publish the harvest report from last year. That to me seems....."odd"!

Anyway, to my fellow hunting Hoosiers here are some links of some info you may find of interest.

The new hunting regs for the year.
http://www.eregulations.com/indiana/hunting/bonus-antlerless-deer/

The 2017 state park hunt report - note the goal is to have a .2 Harvest/Effort ratio state wide......That is 1 harvest for every 5 hunting "efforts".
https://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/files/sp-DeerRMRR.pdf

And the 2018 bonus antlerless map.
2018 bonus.jpg
 
Do you know when reduction zone maps come out?
 
Do you know when reduction zone maps come out?
I do not....the interactive map the DNR site has up is from last year.....
 
Glad they dropped the doe quotas where i hunt!! They claim very few people shoot many does...not true in my experience though. Maybe few report it, who knows

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I’m encouraged by the overall drop of bonus tags available in counties near me (Allen), and notice that approximately half the state will no longer be open for the late antlerless firearms season. I guess the pressure became so uncomfortable that insurance lobby allowed the DNR to throw us a bone?


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Hopefully not, "too little, too late..." How do you go from 8 bonus doe permits to 2 in a few years? Deer management is a joke in Indiana...
 
Looking at the limits, I'm thinking the reduction zone doesn't even happen this year....
 
Swat ……… post #6 - Deer management is a joke in most states anymore. Deer here get managed by & for the entities forking over the most $$$$$$ to political campaigns - developers, ins. companies, timber industry, etc. Denial doesn't = truth. Evidence observed by people with brains tells the tale.
 
I’m encouraged by the overall drop of bonus tags available in counties near me (Allen), and notice that approximately half the state will no longer be open for the late antlerless firearms season. I guess the pressure became so uncomfortable that insurance lobby allowed the DNR to throw us a bone?


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I figure the harvest report is going to show a significant drop even further than what we have seen in the past. Our reactive process - took things too far and now we will have to crawl out of the hole. At least they adjusted the numbers.....in many of the northern counties.
 
Looking at the limits, I'm thinking the reduction zone doesn't even happen this year....
I would suspect they will still have the urban zones as they have a very hard time controlling deer in those areas and the special antlerless hunt is still scheduled for any county listed as a 4 or higher.
 
Hopefully not, "too little, too late..." How do you go from 8 bonus doe permits to 2 in a few years? Deer management is a joke in Indiana...
I'll agree. What upsets me is the reactionary manner and the lack of data. We still don't know how many deer we have. And we still don't know how many deer they want us to have. All they know is harvest numbers. They don't even know how many hunters we have....roughly 30% of successful hunters are not required to purchase a license.....how many actually hunt that don't tag a deer that are never accounted for? I figure the 2017 harvest report must have been pretty bleak if they made the changes they have.
 
I tossed something together that I thought was interesting. Below is a graphic just to show what we have seen in the past few years. I find it interesting after years of hammering the deer......and hunters starting to say something years ago about the declining numbers.....now, this year all of the sudden we see HALF as many counties under the attack of the DNR on the deer. This appears to be similar to racing towards a cliff and then all of the sudden slamming on the breaks to try to avoid a total disaster!

Indiana counties (total of 92) to have 4 or higher bonus anlterless quota AND participate in the special late season antlerless hunt (when en-acted).
2011 - 73 counties
2012 - 73 counties
2013 - 69 counties
2014 - 63 counties
2015 - 60 counties
2016 - 60 counties
2017 - 51 counties
2018 - 24 counties

13202_eafed0199bba3d3a3bae473e44ee4704.jpg
 
I am glad that they left my county an 8. I appreciate the ability to manage the deer population on my ground as I see fit. Last year I harvested zero, but in a couple years I may need to shoot a bunch. Property to my north (600 acres) is hunted by one guy and he doesn't shoot anterless. That means on my 180 acres I need to harvest enough doe to make up for his zero every year.

Throughout the past couple years I have noticed one thing about most Indiana deer hunters. They complain for 11 months out of the year about how no one should shoot any doe, how the state is out to kill every deer, if you kill more than one deer you are just wasteful, insurance companies, farmers kill all the deer with dep tags, etc. Then during gun season they go out and shoot multiple antlerless deer. Then they will talk about how they didn't see any deer this year and the dnr needs to do something about it.
 
I am glad that they left my county an 8. I appreciate the ability to manage the deer population on my ground as I see fit. Last year I harvested zero, but in a couple years I may need to shoot a bunch. Property to my north (600 acres) is hunted by one guy and he doesn't shoot anterless. That means on my 180 acres I need to harvest enough doe to make up for his zero every year.

Throughout the past couple years I have noticed one thing about most Indiana deer hunters. They complain for 11 months out of the year about how no one should shoot any doe, how the state is out to kill every deer, if you kill more than one deer you are just wasteful, insurance companies, farmers kill all the deer with dep tags, etc. Then during gun season they go out and shoot multiple antlerless deer. Then they will talk about how they didn't see any deer this year and the dnr needs to do something about it.

To an extent....I was one of those guys! 2 years ago I took 3 antlerless deer off my place. We had been able to do that each year for a few years prior and never saw a negative affect. We actually averaged 5 deer a year..... The deer are not wasted - we eat them. Deer are THE red meat in my house. However....with the "kill them all" policy the DNR had.....we managed to kill only a single deer off my place last year. Turns out things can turn pretty quickly. Now I hunt in a county not known for lots of deer as it is....but I will certainly keep the antlerless harvest more in check for years to come. I may even institute a earn a doe policy......now that's having the shoe on the other foot! Last year was the first time I didn't take a deer of any type since I started in 2002.....
 
I am glad that they left my county an 8. I appreciate the ability to manage the deer population on my ground as I see fit. Last year I harvested zero, but in a couple years I may need to shoot a bunch. Property to my north (600 acres) is hunted by one guy and he doesn't shoot anterless. That means on my 180 acres I need to harvest enough doe to make up for his zero every year.

Throughout the past couple years I have noticed one thing about most Indiana deer hunters. They complain for 11 months out of the year about how no one should shoot any doe, how the state is out to kill every deer, if you kill more than one deer you are just wasteful, insurance companies, farmers kill all the deer with dep tags, etc. Then during gun season they go out and shoot multiple antlerless deer. Then they will talk about how they didn't see any deer this year and the dnr needs to do something about it.

That's great for you. For one, in southern Indiana things are somewhat different. Again, since Indiana doesn't manage for deer, the whole state falls into the same regulations because it would be too much work to manage the resource properly. 2 hunters on 780 acres isn't the norm in Indiana, you do realize that don't you? I also own land in Ohio County, so I have one farm with more deer than where I live in Central IN where things are night and day different. Even in Ohio County the numbers are a shell of what they once were.
 
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I am glad that they left my county an 8. I appreciate the ability to manage the deer population on my ground as I see fit. Last year I harvested zero, but in a couple years I may need to shoot a bunch. Property to my north (600 acres) is hunted by one guy and he doesn't shoot anterless. That means on my 180 acres I need to harvest enough doe to make up for his zero every year.

Throughout the past couple years I have noticed one thing about most Indiana deer hunters. They complain for 11 months out of the year about how no one should shoot any doe, how the state is out to kill every deer, if you kill more than one deer you are just wasteful, insurance companies, farmers kill all the deer with dep tags, etc. Then during gun season they go out and shoot multiple antlerless deer. Then they will talk about how they didn't see any deer this year and the dnr needs to do something about it.

That's great for you. For one, in southern Indiana things are somewhat different. Again, since Indiana doesn't manage for deer, the whole state falls into the same regulations because it would be too much work to manage the resource properly. 2 hunters on 780 acres isn't the norm in Indiana, you do realize that don't you? I also own land in Ohio County, so I have one farm with more deer than where I live in Central IN where things are night and day different. Even in Ohio County the numbers are a shell of what they once were.
Agree, he is in a lucky situation. Different neighbors and everything changes...makes managing even by county difficult and there is no perfect answer. I hunt a several hundred acre farm...neighbors harvest behavior changes are very noticeable...probably 75% drop in deer sightings last 5 years. I would not want to own 50 acres there anymore and feel bad for those that do. Very few people need 8 does to feed their family and i have no issue with those that do...but plenty of folks that shoot 8 does sell the meat (salami) illegally or just do it to brag since its legal

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Relatively small parcels and largely private ownership make the DNRs job nearly impossible. Heck, for most people and places the doe quota could be unlimited and it wouldn't change the number of does they shoot. I personally don't know anyone that shoots more than 2/year. I know the quota being lowered in the county I hunt most will have no effect on the numbers we take.

The one thing too many people, IMO, ignore in this state is the loss of quanitity and quality of habitat. Urban/suburban development swallows 10s of thousands of acres of crop ground and habitat every year.
 
Relatively small parcels and largely private ownership make the DNRs job nearly impossible. Heck, for most people and places the doe quota could be unlimited and it wouldn't change the number of does they shoot. I personally don't know anyone that shoots more than 2/year. I know the quota being lowered in the county I hunt most will have no effect on the numbers we take.

The one thing too many people, IMO, ignore in this state is the loss of quanitity and quality of habitat. Urban/suburban development swallows 10s of thousands of acres of crop ground and habitat every year.

I agree with you that the DNR does not have control, and cannot obtain it in reality. It is the landowners and the guys pulling the trigger. Regardless of bonus anterless tag limits everyone can still shoot 2 with a bow/xbow and one with their muzzy. That is 3 before they even touch the bonus tags. Very few guys (less than 3% of successful hunters in 2015 and 2016 according to the 2016 deer summary) harvest more than 3 deer. Every doe counts if you are in an area where the population is down then you shouldn't shoot one. But you also should not try and limit the people who are struggling to get oak regeneration and cannot even grow Norway spruce without the deer eating them.
 
I agree with you that the DNR does not have control, and cannot obtain it in reality. It is the landowners and the guys pulling the trigger. Regardless of bonus anterless tag limits everyone can still shoot 2 with a bow/xbow and one with their muzzy. That is 3 before they even touch the bonus tags. Very few guys (less than 3% of successful hunters in 2015 and 2016 according to the 2016 deer summary) harvest more than 3 deer. Every doe counts if you are in an area where the population is down then you shouldn't shoot one. But you also should not try and limit the people who are struggling to get oak regeneration and cannot even grow Norway spruce without the deer eating them.
We are pretty much on the same page. The push to lower the doe quotas is pretty much a feel-good idea that I suspect won't "improve" things. Improve is in quotes as that is definition that can cover a L O T of ground...
 
It may be a "feel" good thing....but it sends a message. it says..."we don't have to kill them all". That "message" can have an impact on which deer a hunter choose to take as well as the number. I know many hunters were "doing their part" in killing does only to donate them. Or encouraging others to take does. All in the name of "doing their part". if the message changes....maybe so will some of the thinking. I think things will improve, but it will be slowly and I look for the DNR to try to keep things at a much more manageable level..... We will still have pockets of things being too far one way or the other....but that you can see even within the same county or even just a few miles down the road.
 
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