Interesting data comparison...IN, IA, OH

You have to look at HOW the include BB's in the mix. Not all anterless deer are created equally.

Also, look at total number of DEER hunters.

If you remove the button bucks from the picture in OH, or put them in the antlerless category (assuming that most were shot by either mistake as someone did not know they were a button buck, I know it is a big assumption) than OH shot 64% antlerless deer. That is a huge swing in antlerless vs. antlered. Even if you assume that only half were shot by accident (not knowing they were a button buck) you still have a 58% antlerless harvest, that is a large number of hunters trying to whack antlerless deer if you ask me.

Kratz

BB's are antlerless, but it does nothing to include them in the cat. with does except screw up the data. IF they have balls, they are bucks and should be counted as such. Any other way is miss leading at best.

60%-40% is tough to get and impossible to maintain.

Math works against it. Kill more of one sex and there is less to kill next year. Kill less of one sex and there are more to kill next year.

Don't kid yourself. You are only pointing out what almost everybody already knows. It has nothing to do with the ratio of bucks to does shot. It IS about getting gun hunters out of the chase phase/early part of the rut.

Nothing I have heard or read convinces me otherwise. The only way to shoot more does is to LENGTHEN the time period that hunters can be armed with the most efficient equipment (Firearms), and let them hunt when deer are most active (the rut).

Ohio has a week-long shotgun season and sure they shoot a ton of deer, but they have a ton of deer, more deer habitat (and it seems like more access), and more hunters. I've hunted there. Their numbers mean nothing in Indiana. I have heard that even Ohio recently realized they needed more firearm days to increase their antlerless harvest.

Actually here while back I posted the seasonal breakdowns of IA and OH and they to put the BBs in the average as Indiana does with the bucks category . So in fat these type separations of right at 50 / 50 have been the trend in both OH and conversely IA for about the same period within a few years as IN has had this trend its been well over 20 years for them as it has been us .

Truth here is that this has zero to do with lowering buck kill % compared to Doe kill it has everything to do with a group of individuals that want to turn IN into IA or OH ,or IL .Funny thing is despite their every tactic and rule change nothing really changes not the size of bucks not the percentages not even the hunter satisfaction .They are soo jealous of the other states and want to be over run with big bucks but until they simply shut off buck hunting for a few consecutive years that just will not happen and funny thing is it will not even happen then as there will vast numbers of hunters who will still shoot the first basket rack or fork horn they see .

But the idiots making up this stuff are to stupid to understand this.!

What would work is to NOT SHOOT BB's and yearlings (1.5 yr. olds) but instead take a doe. That's what the Stakeholders wants you to do....at least 2 of them. That would likely get the 60/40 mix and reduce the herd at the same time. Problem is, most hunters don't want a reduced herd and want to shoot what ever turns their crank. These proposal are 100% QDM driven and the DNR is buying it lock, stock and barrel.

Bucks die from natural causes (non-hunting causes) more than does because they have a more dangerous life style and are more aggressive. A 50/50 harvest will not reduce the herd level, thus not achieving the goal of the DNR.

No in fact when you check a deer in there is a place on the regester book that seze Button Buck .That is how since you are supposed to check them in after you kill them and claim the sex and button buck have these neat little buttons on thier head so its no hard to tell .LOL