New MS Deer Seasons

[Bigpoppa]

They must want em all dead. How can they change anything? There is no method of keeping up with deer numbers to see if what we are doing is helping or hurting. I aint saying I wont enjoy it but I do think there is something awfully wrong with the way our deer herd is being managed.

[SNEAKER]

i/ve said it before and i'll say it again:

we need a tagging system and a much shorter gun season

they did good with the antler restrictions.

But why wouldn't you mirror states like illinois, iowas, kansas, wisconsin, & ohio when it comes to managing your whitetails? They all have a few things in common:

tagging system

really short gun seasons

lots of mature monster deer that aren't scared to move during daylight

[mts68]

i/ve said it before and i'll say it again:

we need a tagging system and a much shorter gun season

they did good with the antler restrictions.

But why wouldn't you mirror states like illinois, iowas, kansas, wisconsin, & ohio when it comes to managing your whitetails? They all have a few things in common:

tagging system

really short gun seasons

lots of mature monster deer that aren't scared to move during daylight

Not trying to be a smartass, but our deer population and midwest states populations are completely different. From what I understand our population continues to grow, even though we have a ridiculously long season and have many hunters killing more than they are legally allotted. I could definately be wrong (usually am), and am too lazy to look up the facts, but I have hunted here and there and the situations are completely different. There is a reason MDWFP allows farmers to slaughter them by the thousands. I bowhunt as well as rifle hunt, but making a short rifle season would do nothing but take hunters out of the woods.

[armyduckman]

I agree with MTS68. I have hunted in many many states as well as many different areas of MS. I have noticed that there is a tremendous difference between not only the size of the herds in the midwest, but also in the ratio of bucks to does. As our population continues to grow in MS our buck to doe ratio is continuing to get more and more skewed. Big bucks depend on much more than allowing them to grow to maturity, with the proper amounts of forage being one of the critical factors.
I have watched the population on our family farm skyrocket over the past 30 years. When i was young, even seeing a handful of deer over a season was a great season, now if i dont see 5-6 deer a day it is a bad day. I know for us we have to start shooting more does, in the past couple of years we havent been as diligent about balancing the herd (our boys grew up and now want to kill bucks) and as a result our buck to doe ratio has increased and we are seeing more small bucks and fewer big bucks.

[quackheadbp]

I say ban all dog hunting, and you can only hunt with bow and shotgun or muzzel loader. I think it would grow better deer and the pressure would decrease on alot of areas. Ok . let me have dog hunters!!

[Bonehead]

With the regulations in the mid-west the way they are....what is the factor that keeps their herds under control?(keeping them from being overpopulated) Is the weather up there severe enough to kill a certian number of their herd every year?

I agree with those of you who say that our buck-doe ratio is out of whack and that we need a way to let the bucks reach their potential....It just doesn't seem feasable to decrease gun hunting and still be able to control the population(because it continues to rise now).

[mshunter77]

we need a tagging system, and make people kill a doe before they can kill a buck.

[cwink]

I agree we need a tagging system... But if the purpose of the new regulations is to decrease the herd numbers/mgt, especially the number of does then I don't understand why they don't allow baiting.. I know that there are a ton of people on here that don't agree with it.. But if hunting's two main issues are Doe numbers and decreasing hunters then to me it is an easy solution.

Allow baiting, then I think you can better manage your herd, plus if you are seeing more deer and are able to take a kid with you to harvest a doe or two easily then you may get a kid hooked... I know so many of you think that baiting is not "hunting" and that we need to teach our kids how to get out there and scout and I agree with that.. But you have to get them interested at first and going out and not seeing any deer is one way to get them uniterested really fast..

[gtk]

Over 300 have voted and its fairly even... I would have thought more would be against the season changes..

[deltadukman]

I agree we need a tagging system... But if the purpose of the new regulations is to decrease the herd numbers/mgt, especially the number of does then I don't understand why they don't allow baiting.. I know that there are a ton of people on here that don't agree with it.. But if hunting's two main issues are Doe numbers and decreasing hunters then to me it is an easy solution.

Allow baiting, then I think you can better manage your herd, plus if you are seeing more deer and are able to take a kid with you to harvest a doe or two easily then you may get a kid hooked... I know so many of you think that baiting is not "hunting" and that we need to teach our kids how to get out there and scout and I agree with that.. But you have to get them interested at first and going out and not seeing any deer is one way to get them uniterested really fast..

If you want legalized baiting, then go back to Texas and hunt them in a pen

[bigoak]

So why do we need a longer rifle season? It is not to control the population. How many days does it take you guys to kill two or three does with your rifle? We can all do that the first week of the rifle season if we really wanted to. This bill has nothing to do with controlling the population. It has more to do with trying to increase hunting license sales and increasing revenue for the MDWFP.

[cwink]

I agree we need a tagging system... But if the purpose of the new regulations is to decrease the herd numbers/mgt, especially the number of does then I don't understand why they don't allow baiting.. I know that there are a ton of people on here that don't agree with it.. But if hunting's two main issues are Doe numbers and decreasing hunters then to me it is an easy solution.

Allow baiting, then I think you can better manage your herd, plus if you are seeing more deer and are able to take a kid with you to harvest a doe or two easily then you may get a kid hooked... I know so many of you think that baiting is not "hunting" and that we need to teach our kids how to get out there and scout and I agree with that.. But you have to get them interested at first and going out and not seeing any deer is one way to get them uniterested really fast..

If you want legalized baiting, then go back to Texas and hunt them in a pen

You know not all Texas is high fence right?? Have you ever even hunted in Tx?? Or are you just regurgitating what you hear everyone else say???

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1121245/1

BTW.. I could care less for the baiting thing... But they need to either legalize it or do away with it completely... None of this you can feed this at this time and that at that time and you got to be 100 yards of more out of site and you can't have it close to the property line, oh and if you break the law then its a slap on the wrist.. Either legalize it or start confiscating guns and putting 1000.00 dollar fines on those breaking the law. They are trying to have it both ways right now which doesn't bennefit anyone..

[DUCKAHOLIC]

So why do we need a longer rifle season? It is not to control the population. How many days does it take you guys to kill two or three does with your rifle? We can all do that the first week of the rifle season if we really wanted to. This bill has nothing to do with controlling the population. It has more to do with trying to increase hunting license sales and increasing revenue for the MDWFP.

You do understand that the MDWFP is the only self supported agency in the state.....and they use the money to help you the hunter....not to pad thier pockets....their whole budget is run off those sales.......looks like you would want that so your taxes would not go up

Did anybody even read the article that said our hunting seasons were set years ago when deer populations were at an all time low and were very conservative and that times had changed and this was a better mix........I love to bow hunt and I got a youngun that does to so we know where I stand on that.....

[DUCKAHOLIC]

If you want legalized baiting, then go back to Texas and hunt them in a pen

You know not all Texas is high fence right?? Have you ever even hunted in Tx?? Or are you just regurgitating what you hear everyone else say???

I got 5 hondo that says he has never been...........................what ya say delta wanna bet

[cwink]

How many days does it take you guys to kill two or three does with your rifle? We can all do that the first week of the rifle season if we really wanted to.

That is not the case everywhere across the state.. I would welcome the longer season to increase my chances of being able to fill my tag..