Hey you sold out and moved to Nebraska so your vote don't count LOL
One-buck proposal for the combined muzzleloader and gun seasons
- Thread starter The German
- Start Date
Hey you sold out and moved to Nebraska so your vote don't count LOL
^^^^THIS!! People wanting the state to get on board with "quality deer management" is piss ignorant. Hell, you can't even go kill some of these worthless feral hogs out here without having to pay someone to do it. I have hunted my entire life out here in NWOK and it makes me sick to see how it has turned into such a money game out here. People want "trophy bucks"? Then come one out here and buy some of this land out here selling at inflated prices that isn't good for **** other than deer hunting and manage it yourself.
I've killed some nice bucks, some dinks, and more slickheads than you could fit in a tractor trailer and had fun doing all of it. Like ignertbend stated, meat in the freezer.
Smart guy right here folks ^^^^^
30BulletHoles, I've been hunting, leasing and looking to buy out west for about 10 years now. You think your land prices are inflated? Come here to my side of the state and try and buy land. I bought some river bottom land (flood plain) that isn't good for much, it was some of the cheapest I could find around here and i still had to pay 5x more than I would have it if bought in out west.
I agree though, hunting is a money game now. But i dont hunt for meat, my house MIGHT eat half a deer a year and i give away 5-6 deer a year. So I'd much rather pay a bit more to kill quality animals than hunt for free to kill scrubs.
I spent two hours with an ODW Game ranger today. We discussed the 100% online. He was not in total favor of it, but Texas has been that way for a long time. I didn't argue the point though. Poachers will be poachers. Thats why we pay our taxes/fees to pay these folks to make sure they can enforce our laws, and shut down the poachers as much as they can.
They are totally undermanned, and have way too much area to enforce. I'm in favor of finding a way to hire more game rangers.
Having to chase night poachers, and then answer calls during the day is almost an impossible job. They do what they can, but in the end its you and I that suffer the poachers taking our animals.
Exactly! We are one of only about 5 states left that have physical check stations. If it was such a bad idea/caused problems then there would still be several states with physical check stations.
First off I hunt on private land. Second I guess I can't solely say that the buck regulation is the only reason for the difference in quality or matureness of the deer I have seen over the past few years. I do believe that it has something to do with the choices in deer we choose to take, while they might not be record bucks, we arent shooting spikes and basket racks anymore! I know that Oklahoma continues to be recognized as one of the top 5 big buck states and I would have to say that I believe that by limiting the number of bucks killed per year that helps the buck to doe ratio. Where i hunt in NW OK it's 1:15. We all need to do our part and take does if possible. I'm guilty of passing on them sometimes from being lazy and not wanting to mess with them. 4 years ago I wouldnt turn down any deer! Now I get more enjoyment out of taking my wife and kids hunting!
Thanks for the response, it's about what I expected, as you have said, you are CHOOSING not to shoot immature bucks! The improvements you are seeing are not because the state has changed the rules, it's because YOU have decided to protect the smaller bucks.
As I said before, and you have confirmed here, the problem in many areas isn't a lack of bucks, it's too many does, and you can't fix that problem by shooting fewer bucks, you must kill more does.
A couple of years ago, I was hunting as a guest in western Oklahoma, we went to a local place for lunch and happened to strike up a conversation with a local farmer. He was telling us how there were too many deer and told us to kill a bunch, he said there would be over 100 deer on his wheat every evening. We offered to come over and shoot some DOES, oh, no, he didn't allow any hunting........and he wonders why he has problems!!!
On my property, we don't have too many does, in fact, I see about as many bucks as does. We also don't have too many deer, if the state forced me to take a doe before I could take a buck, it would actually hurt the deer population on my place. Five years ago, we saw very few deer, now, I am working hard to improve the habitat and it's paying off.
That's the problem with a "one size fits all" management plan, it just doesn't work everywhere.
As I said before, and you have confirmed here, the problem in many areas isn't a lack of bucks, it's too many does, and you can't fix that problem by shooting fewer bucks, you must kill more does.
A couple of years ago, I was hunting as a guest in western Oklahoma, we went to a local place for lunch and happened to strike up a conversation with a local farmer. He was telling us how there were too many deer and told us to kill a bunch, he said there would be over 100 deer on his wheat every evening. We offered to come over and shoot some DOES, oh, no, he didn't allow any hunting........and he wonders why he has problems!!!
On my property, we don't have too many does, in fact, I see about as many bucks as does. We also don't have too many deer, if the state forced me to take a doe before I could take a buck, it would actually hurt the deer population on my place. Five years ago, we saw very few deer, now, I am working hard to improve the habitat and it's paying off.
That's the problem with a "one size fits all" management plan, it just doesn't work everywhere.
The number of does has absolutely nothing to do with the size/maturity of the bucks in this state. No correlation what so ever. It can be argued that the health of the herd can be affected by to many does, but otherwise there is zero ties to maturity/size of the bucks that are here and the number of does.
Out west, there are fewer deer than anywhere else in the state. Deer will travel a few miles in the evening/morning to make their way to food. Thus local farmers will feel like they are overrun with deer. When in reality, they are seeing deer from a very large area. WMA's out west are holding around 5-6 does per one buck when they do their spotlight counts in the fall. This is on public land where the buck harvest has to be as heavy, if not heavier than most private lands. With the exception of 1 western WMA, none allow doe harvest in rifle season. 5-6:1 is not optimal, but it is far from unhealthy.
I agree that we should all harvest a few more does. I try to make a point and harvest 2 does for every buck that I shoot. Most years I can do it, some years I don't get it done.
Can't tell from your post if you are disagreeing with me or not, but I never said that the number of does had anything to do with the size or maturity of the bucks?? However, available habitat will only support so many deer and, when food is limited, the entire herd suffers, that, in turn, can and does effect the overall health and antler quality of the bucks. The post you quoted was in response to a previous post that said he had seen an improvement in bucks as a result of the reduction of buck limit from 3 to 2.
Some folks have suggested that reducing the limit on bucks will lead to the harvest of more does, that theory is not necessarily true and the result of such a change may be the harvest of less does because of reduced hunter days in the field. As I have said all along, in areas where the buck to doe ratio is way out of line, you don't fix it by killing fewer bucks, you fix it by killing more does, and reducing the limit on bucks doesn't equate to killing more does.
Some folks have suggested that reducing the limit on bucks will lead to the harvest of more does, that theory is not necessarily true and the result of such a change may be the harvest of less does because of reduced hunter days in the field. As I have said all along, in areas where the buck to doe ratio is way out of line, you don't fix it by killing fewer bucks, you fix it by killing more does, and reducing the limit on bucks doesn't equate to killing more does.
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