Are there any up to date numbers for Deer harvests this year?

[tn24]

I think there is a lot to say for that idea cecil30-30. Most of us used to kill a lot more deer in years past than we do now. That alone is going to account for a lot of the decline.

I think this is very likely. In my family of 5 hunters we probably averaged 25 to 30 deer together a year until ten years ago. In the last ten years we probably averaged 5 to 8 a year together. It wasn't because we couldn't have killed the same amount or more.

 

[TX300mag]

Serious question cecil30-30. How much of that decline do you believe is "real," and how much is hunters no longer reporting kills since we went away from check stations?

I think that just as many weren't checked before as it could be a real inconvenience to drive around at night trying to find an open check station, sometimes on bad weather. I can remember driving into town at night on frozen roads only to find them closed. Or to have the clerk not look at the deer and key it in as the wrong county.

But this is one of those things that we'll never know the truth on.

 

[TX300mag]

I'm guessing there's a lot more like everyone I know around here. It isn't worth the time to mess with them anymore.

It sure isn't because numbers are down.

Same here. Especially antlerless.

 

[TX300mag]

I think there is a lot to say for that idea cecil30-30. Most of us used to kill a lot more deer in years past than we do now. That alone is going to account for a lot of the decline.

That's my experience. One year (2010 I believe) a group of five members met for a public land hunt. Between the five of us we had killed over 80 deer the year before. Now it's a small fraction. Some of us zero this year. Lots of factors, but not lack of deer.

 

[BSK]

Do you think the lack of check stations really changed anything?

I think that by making checking in a deer so easy, it caused hunters to take the process less seriously. basically, "Well, the state doesn't really care about getting accurate numbers anymore, so why should I bother."

I've talked to plenty of "club" hunters who say they have simply forgotten to check a deer in from time to time, especially does. Because they're not going to a taxidermist, hunters shooting several just forget.

 

[BSK]

That's my experience. One year (2010 I believe) a group of five members met for a public land hunt. Between the five of us we had killed over 80 deer the year before. Now it's a small fraction. Some of us zero this year. Lots of factors, but not lack of deer.

This. We used to shoot every doe we saw (could get an ethical shot on). Literally. We would kill about 7-10 per year. Now, we've only killed about 3 does in the last 6 years. We don't need does killed. We actually need more does. We went from averaging around 12 total deer killed in the 2000s to maybe 3 per year currently.

 

[Jcalder]

I think that by making checking in a deer so easy, it caused hunters to take the process less seriously. basically, "Well, the state doesn't really care about getting accurate numbers anymore, so why should I bother."

I've talked to plenty of "club" hunters who say they have simply forgotten to check a deer in from time to time, especially does. Because they're not going to a taxidermist, hunters shooting several just forget.

I don't know that it's changed any, other than the locals don't congregate at the checking stations like they used to. But those that don't socialize, or those that had to travel several miles, probably weren't checking them in to begin with. I don't think there's a perfect solution, but I don't think that the lack of checking stations has hurt anything.