Harvest numbers down

[Dbllunger]

Check those numbers after the juvy hunt this weekend. Juvy was the 25th and 26th last year so that is probably skewing the numbers some.

Good catch! I didn't take that into account when I first looked it up. If you take last years numbers prior to the juvi hunt and compare them to this years numbers prior to the juvi hunt it comes out:

2014: 14,604

2015: 14,814

So pretty much the same. Actually a very slight (1.4%) increase. I guess that null and voids the telecheck and buck limit change theories.

I didn't know what it was, I just knew something was off.

 

[redhunterZ71]

Probably be low for juvi hunt this weekend too. Looks like rain again.

 

[WRbowhunter]

well Duh! was it not the point in reducing the buck limit to 2 to reduce the number of bucks killed? My guess at the end of the year we will see a 20% drop in bucks killed.

 

[SKFOOTER]

I think we are kicking a dead horse..let's see the numbers after juvi and then compare.

With the wet weekend forecast I would expect the harvest numbers to remain below average even after the juvi hunt.

 

[MrBill]

Deer numbers are dropping like turkeys. More kills go unreported and despite everything you read from TWRA

MORE freakin people than ever are hunting- not less like they say.

More hunters, everywhere you try to hunt people are coming in and trying sit in your lap and they are into this 3 doe a day limit. Does are keyed into this whole idea of being hunted hard now. Matriarch does are instilling into their young the extra wariness that didn't used to be there just 10 years ago.

 

[Dbllunger]

well Duh! was it not the point in reducing the buck limit to 2 to reduce the number of bucks killed? My guess at the end of the year we will see a 20% drop in bucks killed.

Don't know if you saw my post just above this one but overall numbers are actually up. I didn't account for juvi already occuring last year. I have since corrected to compare apples to apples.

Buck harvest is down 9% this year at this point. That may very well be attributed to the buck limit change due to some being more selective. It will be interesting to see what it is when the season is finished.

 

[AT Hiker]

Well the late juvi hunt clears it up.
Im still confused on people complaining about the weather though, it appears there has been some exceptional fronts move through that are unusually cool for Sept and Oct.


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[Buzzard Breath]

Im still confused on people complaining about the weather though, it appears there has been some exceptional fronts move through that are unusually cool for Sept and Oct.

My guess is that good weather for hunters and good weather for deer hunting are two different things for most people. If it's not 40-60 with little chance of rain, most hunters aren't going.

I'll take the extremes. Not only do deer still move, sometimes they move better, but less hunters are in the woods.

 

[MUP]

I'll choose to sit at the house every time when it comes to bow hunting in the rain. I won't take a chance on losing a blood trail in the rain. But that's just me.

 

[DMD]

At this time last year 20,469 deer had been checked in. This year it has been 15,279. That is a 25% decline statewide. Seems fairly significant to me.

In Wilson County where my lease is there has been a 30% decline. from 385 last year to 269 this year. I have tagged the same amount and seem to be seeing plenty of deer but don't know what is happening county or statewide. Anyone have any guesses??

The time of the season that deer are killed, I believe, varies from year to year. I.E. Less may be killed this year in bow season, but perhaps more than normal in ML and Gun. It all has to do with food sources, weather, etc.

 

[WRbowhunter]

well Duh! was it not the point in reducing the buck limit to 2 to reduce the number of bucks killed? My guess at the end of the year we will see a 20% drop in bucks killed.

Don't know if you saw my post just above this one but overall numbers are actually up. I didn't account for juvi already occuring last year. I have since corrected to compare apples to apples.

Buck harvest is down 9% this year at this point. That may very well be attributed to the buck limit change due to some being more selective. It will be interesting to see what it is when the season is finished.

Sorry, I did miss that. But I still think the numbers will go down. If not then what was the point in reducing the limit to 2? I can see the numbers going back up at some point over the next few years. I doubt we would get an overnight change of folks passing on small bucks and only killing the big ones. to get the same number of bucks.

 

[TboneD]

Deer numbers are dropping like turkeys. More kills go unreported and despite everything you read from TWRA

MORE freakin people than ever are hunting- not less like they say.

More hunters, everywhere you try to hunt people are coming in and trying sit in your lap and they are into this 3 doe a day limit. Does are keyed into this whole idea of being hunted hard now. Matriarch does are instilling into their young the extra wariness that didn't used to be there just 10 years ago.

Yes, the liberal doe and turkey limits haven't helped our pressured and/or public lands, but if signs of over-harvest aren't evident in their neck of the woods, most folks don't seem to care. They see it as not affecting them, but the question is, do we want to wait till there's signs of over harvest or should the state set more conservative limits, at least for public land, besides TWRA's crown jewel WMA's, where the limits already are often extremely conservative.


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[JeepKuntry]

On the public land I hunt, the sign is horrible. I've seen 1 lone doe. Hoping that changes once more folks get out and start hunting. Make them use the travel corridors and bump em my way.

 

[thejetman]

This is a great post. I am currently sitting in my stand. Intermittent rain, and I like it. White oaks don't have any acorns like last year. I killed a doe here last Sunday. When I checked her stomach contents it was 90% green leaves. Only a handful of acorns. Buck sign is down. But I have 1 buck tending some does already. That doe I killed, was headed to a fake scrape I made that morning as well. Most of the deer movement here, Roane county, has been between 8-11 am and then about 20 minutes before dark. I am all about the 2 buck limit as well. I just hope that people are actually registering the deer they kill and not just faking it. The majority of our local herd is 3.5 year olds. We have a handful of older deer but they are scattered and are searching. Cruising very far actually.

 

[Dbllunger]

This is a great post. I am currently sitting in my stand. Intermittent rain, and I like it. White oaks don't have any acorns like last year. I killed a doe here last Sunday. When I checked her stomach contents it was 90% green leaves. Only a handful of acorns. Buck sign is down. But I have 1 buck tending some does already. That doe I killed, was headed to a fake scrape I made that morning as well. Most of the deer movement here, Roane county, has been between 8-11 am and then about 20 minutes before dark. I am all about the 2 buck limit as well. I just hope that people are actually registering the deer they kill and not just faking it. The majority of our local herd is 3.5 year olds. We have a handful of older deer but they are scattered and are searching. Cruising very far actually.

Good luck!

 

[Headhunter]

Deer numbers are dropping like turkeys. More kills go unreported and despite everything you read from TWRA

MORE freakin people than ever are hunting- not less like they say.

More hunters, everywhere you try to hunt people are coming in and trying sit in your lap and they are into this 3 doe a day limit. Does are keyed into this whole idea of being hunted hard now. Matriarch does are instilling into their young the extra wariness that didn't used to be there just 10 years ago.

Deer numbers are up for sure. Just because you don't see them don't mean they aren't there.

 

[Deer Assassin]

Telecheck.

That's all I've got to say!

had it for a few years now

 

[TX300mag]

Deer numbers are dropping like turkeys. More kills go unreported and despite everything you read from TWRA

MORE freakin people than ever are hunting- not less like they say.

More hunters, everywhere you try to hunt people are coming in and trying sit in your lap and they are into this 3 doe a day limit. Does are keyed into this whole idea of being hunted hard now. Matriarch does are instilling into their young the extra wariness that didn't used to be there just 10 years ago.

Deer numbers are up for sure. Just because you don't see them don't mean they aren't there.

I would agree.




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[TboneD]

Deer numbers are dropping like turkeys. More kills go unreported and despite everything you read from TWRA

MORE freakin people than ever are hunting- not less like they say.

More hunters, everywhere you try to hunt people are coming in and trying sit in your lap and they are into this 3 doe a day limit. Does are keyed into this whole idea of being hunted hard now. Matriarch does are instilling into their young the extra wariness that didn't used to be there just 10 years ago.

Deer numbers are up for sure. Just because you don't see them don't mean they aren't there.

Deer numbers are up? Really? Even on all the public land that folks drive plumb across the state to for a chance to shoot 3 does a day? If deer numbers are up everywhere then why can't a guy shoot a single doe with a firearm at Cheatham? Ironic, because that's some public land where the numbers ARE actually up. Hmmmm...Could it be because they've protected the does up there for years now (since the EHD outbreak)? No, I don't want them to go back to the doe days of old, but I do think that 3 does a day sends the wrong message when the herd is already pressured in a certain area.

And heck, we've had testimonies of lease members complaining on here that their members won't shoot does. If a guy pays several thousand $ a year to shoot a wallhanger it doesn't matter if you tell him he can shoot a dozen does a day. If he doesn't want to mess with shooting does, he's not gonna.


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[Matador]

I will be a lot more interested to see if the percentage of harvested 4.5 and 5.5 yr old bucks go up in the next 2-3 yr along with say 145 or better class bucks. Maybe then we will see a better picture as to whether the 2 buck limit is working.