Are the glory days of deer hunting coming to a close?

[BenAllgood]

I can remember when compounds were taking off, and I was a kid drooling over a Bear in K-mart. Then bow shops started taking off, and people flocked to compounds instead of traditional archery. The majority of people are going to take the easy route. You're forever going to have advances in technology. I'd rather see regulations on the animals (sex/numbers) than weapons.

 

[Mtyhunter]

as the old saying goes, "it ain't the arrow, it's the indian"

 

[Brian662]

Can't remember where I heard it first but somebody said, "in deer hunting everyone wants to talk inches, the most important 1/2" is the length of your trigger pull."

 

[Wind Gypsy]

You see this? If I’m being honest hes spot on

Read the comments. So many hunters are incredibly ignorant or just flat stupid. That's why things are what they are.

 

[SD51555]

The thing I never see in the crossbow distraction is a discussion about cold weather. It gets so damn cold in my area that you have to have 5” of layers on after November 15th to be able to sit outside. I got one because I can’t shoot a compound bow with that much clothing on.

Maybe I’m not trying hard enough.


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[omicron1792]

I think one thing missing in convo is the number of hunters goes down every year. The young generation just is not into hunting.

As long as the laws don’t go against us (and that is a big if), I think we are in the golden age of hunting for those of us that love it. Lots of bucks running around at my place.

 

[Foggy47]

Deer hunting is dying. That should worry you even if you don't hunt.

The lessons of hunting run deeper, in ways everyone – especially non-hunters – have to understand if we want to close America's rural-urban divide.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Maddog66]

That’s rough SD!

For some reason my state (Wi) thinks that the easier they make hunting, the more participation, the higher the deer harvest.

In the last 30 years we’ve legalized tree stands, baiting, rifles in historic shotgun zones, created far longer seasons, added seasons (muzzle loader), and crossbows have overtaken vertical archery as the most popular arrow launcher. We’ve made the entire registration process online with essentially no accountability. You can buy a license and hunt the same day. Blaze pink is legal. It’s legal for kids to deer hunt before they can walk or form complex sentences.

What’s actually happening out here in the real world? Less participation in almost every demographic…….and lower harvest in spite of nearly unlimited antler-less opportunity in some areas.

I guess it must be time to legalize CO2 arrow guns and heli hunting 365 days a year with no license

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I think one thing missing in convo is the number of hunters goes down every year. The young generation just is not into hunting.

As long as the laws don’t go against us (and that is a big if), I think we are in the golden age of hunting for those of us that love it. Lots of bucks running around at my place.

Definitely regional. The golden age in some places and on the decline in others.

 

[Turkish]

Deer hunters are a whiney sort.

 

[SD51555]

Zone 1 is gonna lose a lot more hunters in MN. I’m expecting my brother and his kids may drop out if I can’t find a spot for them on my small parcel.

The ones that didn’t come this year will see they were right.


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[Howboutthemdawgs]

I think a bunch of posts are missing the point. I don’t think numbers will decline. Maybe the contrary. I all but guarantee less than 10% of the shots I heard this weekend were does. I also would be willing to be an overwhelming majority were 2.5/3.5 year old bucks. This is what I’m referring to as a decline in quality. We have become so efficient at killing, and frankly so many hunters seem content on the first 120” deer (I’m using that as a midwest metric, inches in your neck of the woods may vary!) that walks by that the end result of a weekend in the woods is rarely in question…an immature buck will die.

Yes there are outliers and anomalies and exceptions to every rule and every behavior. There are guys who are trying to manage and balance a herd and get the bucks to maturity. Unfortunately “it takes a village”! Unless you are that .01% that owns enough land, eventually I believe, your deer quality will fall.

And for everyone that says it’s all great where I’m at, awesome. But these things operate on a lag. All this cheap tech at our disposal and certain ridiculous laws are just making their way into the herd dynamics. It could be several years before we have the clarity of hindsight to say remember when….

 

[Bill Loser]

That’s rough SD!

For some reason my state (Wi) thinks that the easier they make hunting, the more participation, the higher the deer harvest.

In the last 30 years we’ve legalized tree stands, baiting, rifles in historic shotgun zones, created far longer seasons, added seasons (muzzle loader), and crossbows have overtaken vertical archery as the most popular arrow launcher. We’ve made the entire registration process online with essentially no accountability. You can buy a license and hunt the same day. Blaze pink is legal. It’s legal for kids to deer hunt before they can walk or form complex sentences.

What’s actually happening out here in the real world? Less participation in almost every demographic…….and lower harvest in spite of nearly unlimited antler-less opportunity in some areas.

I guess it must be time to legalize CO2 arrow guns and heli hunting 365 days a year with no license

Where is baiting legal in Wisconsin? I know it's not in my county. Doesn't stop most though. As far as shotgun only, most ofc slugguns these days have nearly the same range as a rifle and just as accurate so what's the difference? The online registration? I'm of the belief that it makes zero difference. What's different between shooting a deer and not taking it to the reg station or not calling it in? Neither is any easier than the other. Violators will violate how the law abiding register their deer makes zero difference to them. that said, I do miss the registration station days, hanging out shooting the shit telling lies about your hunt, it was fun and good for the business owners.

 

[roymunson]

I think a bunch of posts are missing the point. I don’t think numbers will decline. Maybe the contrary. I all but guarantee less than 10% of the shots I heard this weekend were does. I also would be willing to be an overwhelming majority were 2.5/3.5 year old bucks. This is what I’m referring to as a decline in quality. We have become so efficient at killing, and frankly so many hunters seem content on the first 120” deer (I’m using that as a midwest metric, inches in your neck of the woods may vary!) that walks by that the end result of a weekend in the woods is rarely in question…an immature buck will die.

Yes there are outliers and anomalies and exceptions to every rule and every behavior. There are guys who are trying to manage and balance a herd and get the bucks to maturity. Unfortunately “it takes a village”! Unless you are that .01% that owns enough land, eventually I believe, your deer quality will fall.

And for everyone that says it’s all great where I’m at, awesome. But these things operate on a lag. All this cheap tech at our disposal and certain ridiculous laws are just making their way into the herd dynamics. It could be several years before we have the clarity of hindsight to say remember when….

Hunter restraint and the desire to challenge yourself is what's going away. a 3.5 year old deer is a pretty deer, to the untrained eye. but when you see a 4.5 or a 5.5 year old buck, you know it. And it's a different animal.

 

[Bill Loser]

I thing I have noticed in all the gripes on this is all anyone seems to be concerned about is the size of the bucks. I think that's sad. I mean look at the posts of deer kills on here, a lot start with "it's not the biggest" or some version of that. I say Smile that, if you shoot it be proud of it. If your not don't shoot it. If you prefer to sit and let every deer in the county walk by waiting in hopes of a chance at the big one that's your choice. That's not necessarily the choice of others. As long as it's legal what's the problem? The division in our sport IS what will kill it some day. Instead of judging everyone by what they choose to kill, celebrate that they at least have the gumption to at least get out there and do it.
As far as the glory days? Populations of all wild animals is cyclical, they go up they go down. The populations will go back up. A couple years ago Wisconsin was there, we are currently in a rebound. And it's getting better. I know the population by me is growing and very healthy. Some up north areas still struggle but they'll come back also eventually.
Hanges do need to be made, wolves need to be controlled, timber in the state and national forests needs to be harvested, a lot of things need to change but it's not all doom and gloom.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Hunter restraint and the desire to challenge yourself is what's going away. a 3.5 year old deer is a pretty deer, to the untrained eye. but when you see a 4.5 or a 5.5 year old buck, you know it. And it's a different animal.

1000%.
Honestly I think the overwhelming bulk of hunters don’t have the skin in the game that some guys do. Whether it’s financially or time or obsession! So if they just show up a week prior with a truckload of corn and get in the blind a couple Saturdays a 130 looks pretty good for their mental and physical investment.
Not saying they are wrong, just stating an observation as I see it.

 

[roymunson]

I thing I have noticed in all the gripes on this is all anyone seems to be concerned about is the size of the bucks. I think that's sad. I mean look at the posts of deer kills on here, a lot start with "it's not the biggest" or some version of that. I say Smile that, if you shoot it be proud of it. If your not don't shoot it. If you prefer to sit and let every deer in the county walk by waiting in hopes of a chance at the big one that's your choice. That's not necessarily the choice of others. As long as it's legal what's the problem? The division in our sport IS what will kill it some day. Instead of judging everyone by what they choose to kill, celebrate that they at least have the gumption to at least get out there and do it.
As far as the glory days? Populations of all wild animals is cyclical, they go up they go down. The populations will go back up. A couple years ago Wisconsin was there, we are currently in a rebound. And it's getting better. I know the population by me is growing and very healthy. Some up north areas still struggle but they'll come back also eventually.
Hanges do need to be made, wolves need to be controlled, timber in the state and national forests needs to be harvested, a lot of things need to change but it's not all doom and gloom.

Not at all. Sure everyone wants to kill a big antlered deer. But I'm arguing for age. Size generally comes with age.

I can put out enough corn to kill every 3 year old on my property. And my neighbors are doing just that. And because they have more corn, they're killing the 3 year olds on my property too. Either I fight fire with fire and outfeed the feeder guys, or i suck hind teat to their inability to pursue more. Like I said, it's not illegal. But if you're a 45 year old guy with 10 bucks that size sitting in a pile in the garage, your manhood will be the same size whether or not you punch a buck tag this year or not.

 

[Bill Loser]

Not at all. Sure everyone wants to kill a big antlered deer. But I'm arguing for age. Size generally comes with age.

I can put out enough corn to kill every 3 year old on my property. And my neighbors are doing just that. And because they have more corn, they're killing the 3 year olds on my property too. Either I fight fire with fire and outfeed the feeder guys, or i suck hind teat to their inability to pursue more. Like I said, it's not illegal. But if you're a 45 year old guy with 10 bucks that size sitting in a pile in the garage, your manhood will be the same size whether or not you punch a buck tag this year or not.

Like I said, if they are not breaking any laws then what's the problem? People hunt for many different reasons, your goals are not necessarily someone else's goals. For instance I'm a meat first hunter. I would rather take a 2 or 3 yearold than a 5 year old because in my opinion the meats better. If a big 5 yo came out would I shoot it? You bet your life I would, but if it came out alongside a good 2 or 3 yo? Now I have a decision to make. I'm not saying you are wrong, if how you do it makes you happy then I am happy, what I don't like is judging others because their goals aren't the same as ours.

 

[Mortenson]

People need that hero pic for social media. Before the hero pics were a thing, guys in my state needed that pin for their hat. IL has always given out pins for a deer harvest. A different color each year. When CWD counties became a thing, the colors for those pins are only black n white. They said those were more collectable and valuable... yeah right. I'm not sure I ever see a scenario where the majority is passing up 3.5 yr old bucks. Most guys can't even tell what that is. They see a rack, they shoot.

 

[Telemark]

I think hunter participation will increase again after the economy and political landscape stabilize. Best guess is in about 5 to 10 years. Things are too expensive for young people right now, and there is political turmoil caused by a changing world. When the jobs come back to the US, and traditional values are no longer under attack, I think people will get back into hunting and the US in general will look a lot more like it did in the 70's.

As far as regulation, that depends on what the goals are. If the vast majority of hunters want to shoot younger bucks, that's probably how it's going to be. There is always room to maneuver within the system. I might just take more effort, or a different kind of effort.