2014 MN Doe-Tag-Party?

[sandbur]

Brooks-when there is abuse of party hunting it is all ready illegal.

It is like the gun control arguments. People are breaking the law and abusing guns, so we will make another law.

Why punish those that do it legally?

It is part of our tradition and would be very unpopular with northern hunters.

 

[bwoods11]

I wouldn't call eliminating party hunting creating a new law. Party hunting is an additional regulation that allows hunters to share tags. If we have good deer numbers I think it's fine.

In MN it hurts our deer population and really hurts the buck population in certain parts of the state.

 

[sandbur]

The 5$ youth doe tag is another factor to consider in the sharing of tags/party hunting debate.

The way I understand it, they cannot be used by adults in lottery areas, but is it legal in other areas?

I can see some hunters buying their kids a $5 tag instead of buying a non-hunting wife a more expensive tag. I do not have the answer to this one, except to encourage all hunters to leave youth tags for the kids.

 

[bwoods11]

Loopholes are taken advantage of.

Personally I'd like MN to eliminate party hunting for archery and muzzy as a first step. Then look at shotgun and rifle. If for instance, Zone 1 wants to keep party hunting due to tradition...fine. The problem that I see is some guys just do not quit hunting. They shoot a buck and they look for other tags.

(Last year I shot a buck with my bow in Sept. I never hunted again in MN, instead I filmed my sons hunts which was just as fun)

Contrary to that I know of a guy that shot several deer during the gun season and then one or two during Muzzy. He should be done after (1)!

 

[Reagan]

I'm always up for a good debate. I rather enjoy putting my opinion out there and debating with anyone. Just ask my wife, it drives her crazy sometimes. I just prefer to not be covered up with emails from angry hunters who disagree with me. Debating them could become another full time job.


I thought of a couple other examples. I killed my first mature buck in 2007. I believe he was a 4 or 5 year old that grossed around 130 and netted just under P&Y. I was thrilled. Ohio is a one buck only state regardless of method of taking.

Two days later I had a very nice 10 point spend almost 20 minutes under my stand. I could of killed him at any time. In a party tag state, I probably would have. That would have been one less nice buck on my property if I was greedy.

My best buck ever was killed a year or two later. I was doe hunting 2 weeks after the kill and a 6x4 buck with all kinds of character spent enough time under my stand that I think he had a death wish. The same buck walked under my stand again in that January.

I would expect either case to end up with an extra buck killed in a party tag state. I'm sure a lot of people in Ohio would kill the second buck and tag on someone else's permit. I'd be lying if I said I was not tempted. But shooting the second deer was unlawful and it would take away the chance for someone else to kill him.

It sounds like most people who can legally do it in a party state, shoot the second buck.

 

[Jameson]

I'm always up for a good debate. I rather enjoy putting my opinion out there and debating with anyone. Just ask my wife, it drives her crazy sometimes. I just prefer to not be covered up with emails from angry hunters who disagree with me. Debating them could become another full time job.


I thought of a couple other examples. I killed my first mature buck in 2007. I believe he was a 4 or 5 year old that grossed around 130 and netted just under P&Y. I was thrilled. Ohio is a one buck only state regardless of method of taking.

Two days later I had a very nice 10 point spend almost 20 minutes under my stand. I could of killed him at any time. In a party tag state, I probably would have. That would have been one less nice buck on my property if I was greedy.

My best buck ever was killed a year or two later. I was doe hunting 2 weeks after the kill and a 6x4 buck with all kinds of character spent enough time under my stand that I think he had a death wish. The same buck walked under my stand again in that January.

I would expect either case to end up with an extra buck killed in a party tag state. I'm sure a lot of people in Ohio would kill the second buck and tag on someone else's permit. I'd be lying if I said I was not tempted. But shooting the second deer was unlawful and it would take away the chance for someone else to kill him.

It sounds like most people who can legally do it in a party state, shoot the second buck.

Notice in your experiences you had a second tag to fill besides your buck tag. Multiple tags aren't usully the case in MN, and maybe a big reason why so many like the tradition of party hunting. The experiences you wrote of wouldn't of happened in MN without party hunting. You would have been back at camp, or somewhere, not deer hunting.

 

[wiscwhip]

Notice in your experiences you had a second tag to fill besides your buck tag. Multiple tags aren't usully the case in MN, and maybe a big reason why so many like the tradition of party hunting. The experiences you wrote of wouldn't of happened in MN without party hunting. You would have been back at camp, or somewhere, not deer hunting.

Maybe? Is coyote season open during your gun deer season(it is in WI)? "I am just along with these guys to shoot coyotes, Mr. CO"...."No Sir, I wouldn't even think of shooting at a deer.":rolleyes: Surely not sitting back at camp and yet not officially "deer" hunting, yet still in the field with the party and unless he was caught in the act of actually shooting at a deer there isn't a d*mn thing anyone can do about it. It may look suspicious when you have 15 guys hunting and only 1 deer tag, but if the other hunters all have a small game/furbearer license and the season is open, you can't do squat unless you catch them in the act.

 

[Reagan]

Yes I did have multiple tags. I had to shoot some does to keep the QDM program going!

It as not always like that. When I started deer hunting you had one tag. If we filled it we were finished and happy to about it. Over the years the deer herd grew and more tags were available. Would the Ohio herd have grown if they had party tags? Who knows but it certainly would not have helped. There is some debate in this state that they now issue too many tags. I still have a lot of deer so I like/need the tags. Some parts of my state that is not the case, tags are limited.

In Ohio you can shoot coyotes year round. The one exception is during deer gun season. You must have a deer tag in order to hunt coyotes that week.

 

[bwoods11]

Minnesota is a state that has to make changes. Some of these are changes to "feel good" rules. It is like our government, they don't want to cut anything, because so many are USED to it. Well, without changes our deer hunting will still be poor/average then...we will have to determine if we want good deer hunting or average deer hunting. Cutting back on doe tags is just one minor step.