Unit L Doe Limit

[bloodtrailing]

I would like to get a form or petition for those that think that we should have a per person limit on number of does that can be killed in unit L.

I do not want to debate it in this thread. For someone more tech savvy what is the best way to do this? Is there a process that is accepted by the Commission?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[7X57]

Are you not seeing many? I'm seeing double digits each sit. This is straight woods hunting and no food plots.

 

[BLOODTRAIL]

I don't know what type form you need but when you get it I will sign it.

 

[jb357]

Are you not seeing many? I'm seeing double digits each sit. This is straight woods hunting and no food plots.

Unit L has a wildly varying population throughout. Some areas can sustain the current limit, others have been mowed down by numbers hunters

 

[Mike Belt]

As I understand it that's for the sake of simplicity and cost effectiveness. However, all units aren't created equal and in fact, even a single unit may vary drastically in deer populations and be in need of different regulations. I seriously doubt that our future holds any micro management decisions though.

 

[Remington700]

This might change sooner than we think. If this EHD or CWD hit TN. I have a feeling Unit L will be no more.

 

[TX300mag]

This might change sooner than we think. If this EHD or CWD hit TN. I have a feeling Unit L will be no more.

EHD has hit several times. Most biologists agree that populations above carrying capacity have contributed to some of the outbreaks.

I'd rather hunters keep population under control than disease if possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Winchester]

This might change sooner than we think. If this EHD or CWD hit TN. I have a feeling Unit L will be no more.

EHD has hit several times. Most biologists agree that populations above carrying capacity have contributed to some of the outbreaks.

I'd rather hunters keep population under control than disease if possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dont think this is correct at all, EHD is not contagious and cant be caught or spread in a deer herd. Animals are infected by midge and has nothing to do with herd density causing the outbreak. Obviously the more deer in an area the more that can be infected by the midges but density has nothing to do with causing an outbreak.

 

[TX300mag]

This might change sooner than we think. If this EHD or CWD hit TN. I have a feeling Unit L will be no more.

EHD has hit several times. Most biologists agree that populations above carrying capacity have contributed to some of the outbreaks.

I'd rather hunters keep population under control than disease if possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dont think this is correct at all, EHD is not contagious and cant be caught or spread in a deer herd. Animals are infected by midge and has nothing to do with herd density causing the outbreak. Obviously the more deer in an area the more that can be infected by the midges but density has nothing to do with causing an outbreak.

Maybe not CAUSE, but severity? The 2007 outbreak comes to mind as an example. i think it is more common than most of us realize but when an outbreak strikes an area above carrying capacity it can be much worse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Winchester]

I was simply responding to what you typed.

Most biologists agree that populations above carrying capacity have contributed to some of the outbreaks.

I would be really surprised to find even one Biologist who said this, as again carrying capacity does NOT cause EHD outbreaks in any way.
Obviously the more deer you have in an area the more that can possibly be affected, but this is much more multiplied with a disease that is contagious or can be spread, which again EHD can NOT be.
Not trying to be smart just dont want others to be misled.

 

[TX300mag]

I was simply responding to what you typed.

Most biologists agree that populations above carrying capacity have contributed to some of the outbreaks.

I would be really surprised to find even one Biologist who said this, as again carrying capacity does NOT cause EHD outbreaks in any way.
Obviously the more deer you have in an area the more that can possibly be affected, but this is much more multiplied with a disease that is contagious or can be spread, which again EHD can NOT be.
Not trying to be smart just dont want others to be misled.

No worries. Probably just looking at an occurrence vs. an outbreak differently. I don't think 2007 would've been as big of an event had it occurred in areas below carrying capacity. I suspect EHD happens regularly but isn't as newsworthy as the larger outbreaks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Remington700]

Sorry, I didn't phrase my response well the first go around. I was really just meaning disease not EHD alone. I also had an"or" instead of "and" in my sentence. If these items both hit deer herds I can see the numbers dropping which in turn will reduce limits in areas with large deer populations. Instead of where in Unit L you can shoot many does today. It would reduce that to a few or even applying for doe tags like we use to do many years ago. Hope this clarifies.

 

[muddyboots]

I personally loved the season before unit L in my county. Too many does makes for some great afternoons bowhunting early season. Heck I average seeing more bucks than does now.

 

[megalomaniac]

It took me a little while, but somehow I figured out does are the ones that give birth to bucks. Plus, I just like seeing deer on stand. As long as you are under carrying capacity, why would you want to shoot more than 5 per season?

Ofc, here in south MS, I've only seen 1 deer in the past 7 hunts. Just seeing her Fri afternoon was a thrill.

But seriously, the 3 per day was much needed back in the mid 2000s.... now it is doing far more harm than good. Some local populations are plummeting. Reproduction is barely keeping up with losses from predation, much less hunters

Sent from my SCH-R970X using Tapatalk

 

[DRSJ35]

I understand your pain. Try hunting in unit C. Where you will sit multiple hunts and not see anything at all. And if you do it's the same doe's over and over for the most part. The twra needs to do something man. I to am excited just to see a deer. Why can't they better control the herd. If you have to even split a county why not. I only see biologist sampling deer 1 weekend a year. You wonder why hunter participation is getting lower.Most people can only hunt weekends. How is it multiple counties have the same complaints and nothing gets any better. If things need to change temporarily in my unit so be it. I'm for a larger healthier deer herd by any means nessasary

 

[Hardwoodmaterials]

A small group of us used to bow hunt public land together until around 2010 when most got tired of fighting the heat and bugs just to watch the squirrels. All of us enjoyed it when you had a reasonable expectation to see at least a few deer but they have been thinned badly on public land. Now not a single one of us even bother with it and won't until the deer numbers return. People that only hunt private land have NO idea how thin they are now. I went to the woods 14 days in 2 counties without seeing a single deer year before last, I didn't really get to hunt last year but from what I have seen this years it's no better. It's hard to keep an adults interested in hunting when your seeing no deer or very few deer and kids are just not going to go after a few trips of seeing nothing.

 

[wobblegobble]

I'll see at least 30 does in the mountains each sit and double that in the fie below.

 

[spinal tap]

Unit L has a wildly varying population throughout. Some areas can sustain the current limit, others have been mowed down by numbers hunters

I absolutely agree with this.

 

[GRIT]

Urban areas probably need to keep the pressure on the deer.And try to get the numbers down.
Rural areas can't speak for all rural areas.But some areas have been over killed and the deer numbers are way down.
I think if unit L goes on for 5 more years.They will have to change things.
Probably a much shorter deer season one buck and 3 to 4 doe's for the year.
Something will have to change eventually.

 

[jb357]

Urban areas probably need to keep the pressure on the deer.And try to get the numbers down.
Rural areas can't speak for all rural areas.But some areas have been over killed and the deer numbers are way down.
I think if unit L goes on for 5 more years.They will have to change things.
Probably a much shorter deer season one buck and 3 to 4 doe's for the year.
Something will have to change eventually.

If it stays how it is for 5 more years we won't have a deer herd. The water cooler talk isn't "check out my buck from last weekend" anymore, it's "well I've killed 20 this year". I see more bucks in daylight on the unit L properties I hunt because the does are getting mowed down by the neighbors.

 

[TX300mag]

Wow, I didn't think most hunters were killing that many. I hunt at least occasionally in 8 or 10 unit L counties and I've only actually met one hunter who has killed 20 or more does in a year. I know of several who have killed 10 or more but not in several years.

I checked recently and couldn't find a Unit L county I've hunted that has even killed as many does as bucks this year.

Honest question-Is it possible that some exaggerate or do you think it's more likely they just don't check them in?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bone Collector]

I personally loved the season before unit L in my county. Too many does makes for some great afternoons bowhunting early season. Heck I average seeing more bucks than does now.

That is a horrible problem to have.... all joking aside, I know what you mean in some areas. For instance on my property, there are about 5 does that use my 32 acres regularly. 2 don't breed anymore I'm pretty sure they run together. 1 is very easy to identify and I have never seen her with a fawn. The Neighbors behind me hunt and they have 4 kids. I'm guessing that they kill 1-2 does a year, but they don't hunt that hard, so who knows. I have all but stopped shooting does as I do not want to add to their kill #'s. I will shoot that old doe if i get the chance, but she is nocturnal as far as I can tell. I have passed the other does that are back with their fawns several times already. I hope all 3 of them make it. Other areas I hunt (all Unit L and all rural) are pretty covered up.

Are you not seeing many? I'm seeing double digits each sit. This is straight woods hunting and no food plots.

Unit L has a wildly varying population throughout. Some areas can sustain the current limit, others have been mowed down by numbers hunters

I see several on most of my hunting properties. This includes the highly pressured, brown and down (in most cases) PP WMA. I see sometimes as many as 6-8 does in one group out there, during bow. I know they are getting gunned down come ML and Gun season, yet every year I see does with fawns and big groups of does.

 

[Bone Collector]

Urban areas probably need to keep the pressure on the deer.And try to get the numbers down.

I think this is the part that most hunters overlook regarding the urban areas. The issue is hunting has a lot of negative connotations about it, with the urban folks. Not because of pictures online but because we kill animals that they view as cute and cuddly. Eventually they get fed up with them, but some think it is great to see 10 deer in their back yards, and the thought of killing such a beautiful creature and if their kids saw the blood and carnage, oh the horror.... In N.VA where I was born, I know they have archery seasons that go into the end of March, maybe early April. Of course finding a spot is hard, so IDK what the answer is but that is the area if changes are made to seasons, I think they should make the changes.

Rural areas can't speak for all rural areas.But some areas have been over killed and the deer numbers are way down.
I think if unit L goes on for 5 more years.They will have to change things.Probably a much shorter deer season one buck and 3 to 4 doe's for the year. Something will have to change eventually.

If they make changes to rural areas the only changes I think they should make is doing deer density studies and moving counties back to Unit A.

 

[spinal tap]

If they make changes to rural areas the only changes I think they should make is doing deer density studies and moving counties back to Unit A.

Great idea - I'd really like to see the state doing more hunter surveys and deer studies.

 

[Headhunter]

Many do not understand, just because you are not seeing does, it doesn't mean they aren't there. That is a fact. Does are just as smart as bucks and when they are being killed and letting bucks walk, it is unbelievable how you will not see does even though they are still there in significant numbers.

 

[Mike Belt]

The only thing a deer can't get away with, no matter how nocturnal they may be, is leaving tracks. When you're seeing very, very few of them, there are no tracks along field edges, and miles of dirt roads running through the woods and fields have no tracks crossing them I can only guess that the deer aren't there to make them.

 

[Carbajal]

Or they're getting smarter. Which ever of those two things is more likely. But seriously, that's the logic I subscribe to as well. Just look for the tracks and don't overthink things.

 

[TX300mag]

To be fair, I don't think Ames Plantation's management practice is a fair representation of Unit L and certainly not a fair comparison to use to justify regional limit reductions.

From what I understand Ames sets quotas and provides incentives for hunters to kill does. That's not the case for the average property in Unit L.

I've heard that there have been other means to reduce population other than hunters (at least at some point). Is this true or hearsay?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mike Belt]

In the past when Ames hunters haven't met the doe quota set for the year they usually have post season shooters (I think somehow associated with TWRA) come in and remove excess "mouths to feed" deer; any and all.

 

[Gobbler88]

I think they should move the number down. I don't think anybody needs 3 does a day. And the part I don't understand is the week of nothing but doe hunting in January. In my opinion, 3 per weapon season would be good. I don't shoot that many does, but I think that would be plenty. But, what do I know? I try to kill one doe a year.