The other day I came across a C.O., Let me say one of the nicest guys I met, we talked for 3 hours and would have been longer if I did'nt need to go help my wife. I want to share what we talked about because alot of it made sense.
We were discussing the lack of deer people seem to be complaining about. I always figured it was development, bears, yotes, to many doe days.
his reply on development was this.
Deer and bear are a edge species. They prefer the edges of woods and fields. So lets say you take 10 acres and sub divide it into 10, 1 acre lots look at all the edges you just created. Look at all the food you laid out for the deer. development is'nt hurting the deer pop it's making it thrive. were just not seeing deer because while were all in the big woods on the ridges, and the funnles or bottlenecks we see all the deer sign on, Those deer are on the house edges. they have a perfect spot for bedding and feeding without having to really go more then 50 yds.
Also.....
back when I was a kid and hunting with my dad in the early 80's Those who remember this time. how many days were you able to gun hunt. SIX. Mon -sat. and the state gave you 1 doe day. Therefore there were many more people inthe woods moving deer. Not meening drives. But those hunters who cannot sit still past 7 or 8 and start walking around. or people just walking for any reason.
How many days can we hunt with the gun now. Alot more then 7. There for who needs to take off work on a mon if they can gun hunt for another 2 months. Point is far less hunters in the woods now then back then. All in All one part of why were not seeing deer.
KILLING DOE'S
He was happy as hell when they eliminated EAB. I said so was I. I said I felt bad having to kill a mom in sept. and orphaning the fawns. His reply about this was. Not that he likes to kill doe's to each his own but if he had to DO NOT shoot the mature one. go for the yearlings. (not the BB) for this reason. You kill a doe who could breed now you kill 3 deer period. that doe fawn will not produce fawns of her own for 2 seasons, meaning that doe fawn you let live will breed next season and you wont see her fawns for the following season. where if you took the yearling, in those same two years how many fawns did that mature doe give birth to. your talking 4 more deer compared to only one. hence the fact to many doe days. we talked more about this but they were the main reasons why he belives hunters arnt seeing as many deer. Nothing to do with road kills, bears, or yotes.
HIS COMMENTS ON ANTLER RESTRICTIONS.
GLAD THERE GONE THEY DONT WORK FOR MAKING BIGGER BUCKS. He explained it to me this way. Lets say on the same property you have 2 year and a half old bucks. Ones a basket 6 the other a spike.they both come walking past a hunter, the basket 6 with great genetics dies. While the spike lives to breed with poor genetics.Also as 35whelen always said. he was very vocal about hunters not killing BB.
WHERE'S ARE MONEY GOING FOR LICENCES.
Off the record we talked about the state of new jersey. I never new this but out license fees pay for rattlesnake research, bobcat research bear research. It goes to help pay for the divisions saltwater research. They have a big boat with a crew and we pay for it. it goes to maintaing lands that the tree hugging anti's go hiking in. or canoe down our rivers we pay to maintain. Yet they bitch about us killing animals. But our very sport gives them the land to do all thier activitys in. THE BIGGEST BLOW TO ME WAS THE SALTWATER FISHING THOUGH. If saltwater fishermen had to pay only 5 bucks for a licence, that would help reduce the amount of money we had to shell out. Charge Hikers and people using rivers a 5 dollar fee for using the trails and rivers. I DONT MIND HELPING MY SPORT BUT WHY AS A HUNTER DO I NEED TO PAY FOR SALTWATER FISHING RESEARCH WHEN THERE ARE AT LEAST 3 TIMES AS MANY FISHERMAN OUT THERE IN THE SUMMER.And this BUY A BUCK is nothing more then a money making scheme.
We talked about alot of things, Hunting work related and personal stuff. He shared a few things about hunters I wont put on here but to all hunters. No deer is worth being unethical. Always no where your shooting and what is beyond it. A slug can travle 400 yds. buck and bird shot can be very deadly. Safe and smart hunting comes before any deer,bear, or any other game.
We were discussing the lack of deer people seem to be complaining about. I always figured it was development, bears, yotes, to many doe days.
his reply on development was this.
Deer and bear are a edge species. They prefer the edges of woods and fields. So lets say you take 10 acres and sub divide it into 10, 1 acre lots look at all the edges you just created. Look at all the food you laid out for the deer. development is'nt hurting the deer pop it's making it thrive. were just not seeing deer because while were all in the big woods on the ridges, and the funnles or bottlenecks we see all the deer sign on, Those deer are on the house edges. they have a perfect spot for bedding and feeding without having to really go more then 50 yds.
Also.....
back when I was a kid and hunting with my dad in the early 80's Those who remember this time. how many days were you able to gun hunt. SIX. Mon -sat. and the state gave you 1 doe day. Therefore there were many more people inthe woods moving deer. Not meening drives. But those hunters who cannot sit still past 7 or 8 and start walking around. or people just walking for any reason.
How many days can we hunt with the gun now. Alot more then 7. There for who needs to take off work on a mon if they can gun hunt for another 2 months. Point is far less hunters in the woods now then back then. All in All one part of why were not seeing deer.
KILLING DOE'S
He was happy as hell when they eliminated EAB. I said so was I. I said I felt bad having to kill a mom in sept. and orphaning the fawns. His reply about this was. Not that he likes to kill doe's to each his own but if he had to DO NOT shoot the mature one. go for the yearlings. (not the BB) for this reason. You kill a doe who could breed now you kill 3 deer period. that doe fawn will not produce fawns of her own for 2 seasons, meaning that doe fawn you let live will breed next season and you wont see her fawns for the following season. where if you took the yearling, in those same two years how many fawns did that mature doe give birth to. your talking 4 more deer compared to only one. hence the fact to many doe days. we talked more about this but they were the main reasons why he belives hunters arnt seeing as many deer. Nothing to do with road kills, bears, or yotes.
HIS COMMENTS ON ANTLER RESTRICTIONS.
GLAD THERE GONE THEY DONT WORK FOR MAKING BIGGER BUCKS. He explained it to me this way. Lets say on the same property you have 2 year and a half old bucks. Ones a basket 6 the other a spike.they both come walking past a hunter, the basket 6 with great genetics dies. While the spike lives to breed with poor genetics.Also as 35whelen always said. he was very vocal about hunters not killing BB.
WHERE'S ARE MONEY GOING FOR LICENCES.
Off the record we talked about the state of new jersey. I never new this but out license fees pay for rattlesnake research, bobcat research bear research. It goes to help pay for the divisions saltwater research. They have a big boat with a crew and we pay for it. it goes to maintaing lands that the tree hugging anti's go hiking in. or canoe down our rivers we pay to maintain. Yet they bitch about us killing animals. But our very sport gives them the land to do all thier activitys in. THE BIGGEST BLOW TO ME WAS THE SALTWATER FISHING THOUGH. If saltwater fishermen had to pay only 5 bucks for a licence, that would help reduce the amount of money we had to shell out. Charge Hikers and people using rivers a 5 dollar fee for using the trails and rivers. I DONT MIND HELPING MY SPORT BUT WHY AS A HUNTER DO I NEED TO PAY FOR SALTWATER FISHING RESEARCH WHEN THERE ARE AT LEAST 3 TIMES AS MANY FISHERMAN OUT THERE IN THE SUMMER.And this BUY A BUCK is nothing more then a money making scheme.
We talked about alot of things, Hunting work related and personal stuff. He shared a few things about hunters I wont put on here but to all hunters. No deer is worth being unethical. Always no where your shooting and what is beyond it. A slug can travle 400 yds. buck and bird shot can be very deadly. Safe and smart hunting comes before any deer,bear, or any other game.
