Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I would actually be in favor of it on public because it has become such a shitshow. Not on private. No reason
If you could change one regulation in your state
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Cool Hand Luke
5 year old buck +
Heck yeah brother!!!!!
Cool Hand Luke
5 year old buck +
You beat me to the punch man. I was gonna try to explain this in a reply to @SwampCat this morning but I had to swing a hammer in -10 ...
PatinPA
5 year old buck +
Oh yes this 100% for PA too. Allow Sunday hunting. I'm basically limited to Saturdays and hopefully one evening a week. I remember one year it rained almost every Saturday all season long. I don't mind sitting in the rain but I love to hunt the morning after a good rain.
Cool Hand Luke
5 year old buck +
My brother is 7 years my senior! He's lived on 30 acres in the ozarks for nearly a decade. He still talks about how he wants to turkey and deer hunt "one day" with his son. Always says that dad spent more time in the outdoors with me than him. Not true, he was playing Sonic on his sega while I was out in my undies shooting frogs in the pond as a kid. I'm with you guys, it's in you or it isn't!
SD51555
5 year old buck +
I’d love to see a limited draw for bucks and does up by me. I’d be fine only getting a tag every other year if it meant rebuilding the herd. Hell, most of us go out and don’t see shit anyway. At least I could stay in bed and hang out at camp while the other guys hunt. It’d also save me the embarrassment of eating tag soup for the 8th year in a row.
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farmlegend
5 year old buck +
Yeah, I get it, but they can't make regs just for the outlier passionate guys like us. I'd be happy to enjoy myself out at camp without a buck tag(no need to reduce doe tags in my area) and work to make for better hunting experiences in the future, but too many of the masses would just stay home if we did something like a draw for kill tags.
farmlegend
5 year old buck +
For me in Michigan, I'd want zone-specific antler restrictions and shorter firearms seasons for bucks.
Between our sixteen day general firearms season, the ten day December "muzzleloader season" (in which straight walled rifle cartridges are now allowed), and our two day youth hunt, we have 28 days of legal buck hunting with rifles. That's absurd in farm country with 600,000 hunters, just too long for those bucks to have to run the gauntlet.
Between our sixteen day general firearms season, the ten day December "muzzleloader season" (in which straight walled rifle cartridges are now allowed), and our two day youth hunt, we have 28 days of legal buck hunting with rifles. That's absurd in farm country with 600,000 hunters, just too long for those bucks to have to run the gauntlet.
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H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Here is this years deer hunting stats for Ohio;
Most popular hunting implements
- Crossbow: 78,254 (33%)
- Straight-walled cartridge rifle: 77,027 (32%)
- Shotgun: 34,338 (14%)
- Vertical bow: 30,839 (13%)
- Muzzleloader: 17,092 (7%)
- Handgun: 587 (less than 1%)
Like I said, xbows haven't hurt our deer hunting at all.
I remember back in the early 80's when they first allowed them, we heard all the same arguments.... poacher tool/unfair/crossgun/not archery.
Same argument about compound bows being cheating/unfair in the early 70"s. It came down to bowhunters just not wanting more people bow hunting.
Our deer hunting has only gotten better and better over the years with more big bucks being harvested and more people hunting and enjoying the outdoors.
The only downside I've seen is leasing, outfitters and the cost of hunting ground going through the roof.
Angus 1895
5 year old buck +
Idaho…..
Make Archery season longer, and have bigger elk archery units.
Make Archery season longer, and have bigger elk archery units.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
I've never donated venison to a pantry but have certainly gifted them to friends/family.
BenA
5 year old buck +
Yeah, crossbows haven't hurt the Kentucky hunting either. I bought a crossbow for my kids that couldn't pull the poundage on a compound to use during archery season so it would give them a chance to hunt. We shot it, and honestly, it's a little aggravating compared to a vertical bow. It's heavier and the time between shots was slower. Also, I don't think the practice/shooting curve is any different. I had bought a compound for my son, and he was shooting accurately to 40 yards within a few hours. I do the same thing every year. I shoot my compound, and I can shoot accurately to 60 yards in just a few shots. Modern compounds don't take the practice and time they used to. We spent more time dialing in the crossbow than we did the compound. And, on stand, you can hold these high letoff compounds for a long time. The crossbow, you have to have it on a rest to hold it for the same length of time. The gap between the two is narrowing.
We have some urban bowhunts in Sept - 100 degrees. The goal is to kill deer because they are eating the residents gardens, flowers, and bird seed. It is more like a culling hunt. Bow only. Some guys shoot 15 - or more. The park a refrigerated truck there and donate all the deer that hunters dont want.
A hell of a lot better than row croppers required to kill and leave lay on depredation permits
A hell of a lot better than row croppers required to kill and leave lay on depredation permits
I bought my wife a compound bow for christmas one year when she was about 55 yrs old. She had never drawn a bow in her life. We sighted it in that afternoon and she killed a deer with it the next day.
My son bought a crossbow about ten years ago - mainly for the kids. I decided I would use it one day since I had never killed a deer with one. Had a decent ten pt with a little palmation coming to a food plot and a sure enough good deer for here - a straight up ten pt close to 150. The smaller deer with the palmation came running in chasing a doe. Shot him at about 15 yards and 10 seconds later that big deer ran in. We are a two buck state. That big deer stayed within 30 yards of me for ten minutes and no way I could reload that loud cranking crossbow. Could have easily reloaded my compound and shot that deer at 15 yards. I had my 12 yr old grand daughter with me in a two man stand on one hunt. Biggest buck she had ever seen came in - she sighted it up - and couldnt pull the trigger. I had failed to snap the bolt in properly. I reached over and snapped it in and deer was gone. Son killed that deer as a nine pt next year - 148 1/2. It was a ten pt the year before
This is what I see with a crossbow as far as effect on the deer herd in our state. Hunters in our state kill 200,000 deer per year - give or take. Crossbow hunters only kill about 6%. Vertical bow about 15%. This year, our g&f allowed straight wall cartridge during our ML season - which I was strongly opposed to. ML hunters used to kill about 15,000 deer. This year, ML hunters kill about 14,000 and the straight wall hunters maybe 16,000 or so - but MG hunters killed a few less - for an annual total of just under 200,000 - same amount as without the 15,000 from straight walled cartridge hunters. All the straight walled cartridge hunters did was rob from the gun hunters.
You look at a lot of those more northern and eastern states and they are killing more deer with archery/crossbow than firearm. We kill 75% with firearm. It is like no matter the weapon, hunters are going to get their deer - with whatever weapon. I have probably killed Well over 100 deer with a compound bow, 25 with a MG, 2 with a crossbow, and 1 with straight wall during the straight wall season. Before my shoulder went south - I would have probably killed three deer a year with a spear if that is all I had.
I bought my first compound bow in late 70’s. My dad called it a “cheater”. Georgia had not legalized them yet. They were the last state to legalize compounds. There is a huge difference in killing ability of a recurve or longbow compared to a compound. My realistic range was about 20 yards with a recurve. It is about 35 yards with a compound - although I have take a couple out to 40. My son and his buddy have both killed deer just over 50 yards with a compound. Not me, but one of my family killed a deer at 45 yards with a crossbow. I have seen a doe “jump” the string at 45 yards with one of our ravin crossbows. The sound of a crossbow is LOUD and sharp
All that said, a crossbow is easier to kill a deer with more because you dont have to draw the bow in the presence of the deer. Our grand daughters usually start hunting with a crossbow - not because it is the most effective weapon - but because it doesnt make a loud bang. The younger kids can be noise shy just as much as they are recoil shy. Of course, they could not draw a legal compound anyway. I now spend some time hunting some public that is mostly bow only - with a crossbow - besides not killing my shoulder, I can hunt from the ground without lugging a climber around. I havent killed one yet - but not because I couldnt - I just chose not to. I do that a lot nowadays.
farmlegend
5 year old buck +
Casual anecdote time.
My state began to allow straight walled cartridge rifles a few years ago in both the "muzzleloader" season and also the general firearms season in a region of the state (Michigan's southern lower peninsula, where 60% of hunting effort is applied and 75% of the deer herd resides) where it was previously a shotgun-only zone.
I have noted an uptick in the number of dead deer carcasses on my farm, obviously wounded from nearby hunters before running off to the best piece of cover in the township to die. I find 5-7 each year, usually all bucks, in an area that is overrun with does. Disturbing.
I think guys plunk down their cash, buy their rifle with a shiny new chinese scope already attached to it, get her boresighted at Cabela's, watch a few videos of guys killing big game at extended distances, and can't resist touching off a round or two at a deer 300 yards away just as legal shooting light expires. I am certain this is going on around me.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Unfortunately the bigger bucks get the most desperate attempts as far as the hail mary or through the brush just hoping they somehow connect on the big one.
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