|
Post by boonechaser on Dec 20, 2017 14:44:15 GMT -5
Impossible to say ..... once we get away from the numbers its nothing more than speculation. Im not going to go through and look up weather conditions on each of these opening days but I will go out on a limb and say that there hasnt been an opening day as bas as this one in my lifetime. Not even close. I’ve got 49 opening days under my belt and this year was the first one I EVER missed and I had my grandson from NY here to hunt with me. I told him to forget it and we would make our opening day on Sunday. A lot of the state had bad weather Sunday too. Yep, I blame the opening weekend for the big drop in numbers. Since the MZ seasons is pretty well on schedule to top last year I’m saying that in most areas the deer herd is just fine. I suspect you are the norm. Sat out Saturday and then hunted Sunday and some rest of firearm's. That's kinda my point. One bad day with Indiana's two week long firearm's season should not have a major impact on total harvest. That said I agree that much of state deer population is stable BUT I would add that we are beginning to see some area's population's not stable and still declining. Per our new deer biologist we are now in the beginning of maintenance phase with deer population. Hopefully that means continued decreases in antlerless tags.. Even in my home area of Switzerland County I have friends that are reporting sharp decreases in antlerless deer. Not gonna lie that concern's me even though it may not effect me.
|
|
|
Post by swilk on Dec 20, 2017 15:03:42 GMT -5
I get what you are saying and agree .... and disagree. There will be (a few at least) cases of folks who only hunt that first day. There will be (a few at least) other situations where the missed opportunities of that first day were not made up.
Lots of that number will simply be made up as the season went on .... but at least some part of it wouldnt be. Thats why I cant say that had the opening day weather been good we would be higher than last years totals. I personally dont think we would be .... but I think we would be at least a few thousand higher than we are.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 20, 2017 16:03:50 GMT -5
From hunt-indiana.com/thread/60324/deer-seasons-2016-2017Firearm season was down 12,217 from 2016. The 2017 opening weekend extreme weather and the later start caused a drop of 20,763 from the 2016 opening weekend. Since opening weekend we made up 8,546 in firearm season of that loss, so that is a positive. Again, I am using daily numbers (that have 48 hours to be registered) posted by the DNR against the numbers in their 2106 Deer Report. But, this gives us an idea of where we are at.
|
|
|
Post by boonechaser on Dec 20, 2017 16:15:05 GMT -5
I get what you are saying and agree .... and disagree. There will be (a few at least) cases of folks who only hunt that first day. There will be (a few at least) other situations where the missed opportunities of that first day were not made up. Lots of that number will simply be made up as the season went on .... but at least some part of it wouldnt be. Thats why I cant say that had the opening day weather been good we would be higher than last years totals. I personally dont think we would be .... but I think we would be at least a few thousand higher than we are. AGREED. I guess my point is that's there more than 1 variable. Yes opening day of firearm's weather was horrible, but that alone is not why harvest number's are down. Certainly as a state we have to have less deer as we are 10 year's into a herd reduction program.... (Think maybe that's a little bit of reason??) Youth was comparable to last. Early archery was up slightly BUT we had 6 additional days of hunting due to how calendar fell for gun opener. Verdict still out on muzzy. Season appears that it will match or be slightly up over last year. Late antlerless ![???](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/huh.png) who knows. Less counties participating and many social media pages encouraging not to shoot doe's. Maybe it's down? As a whole season is looking to be 6-8% down. Again we have more than 1 variable at play.
|
|
|
Post by greghopper on Dec 20, 2017 19:41:27 GMT -5
I thought the "herd reduction program" started in 2012 the same year crossbows in early archery!
|
|
|
Post by esshup on Dec 20, 2017 19:56:44 GMT -5
2000 November 18 22,893 2001 November 17 19,951 2002 November 16 22,829 2003 November 15 21,423 2004 November 13 29,858 2005 November 12 26,709 2006 November 18 25,254 2007 November 17 26,305 2008 November 15 17,418 2009 November 14 24,832 2010 November 13 24,761 2011 November 12 25,801 2012 November 17 25,786 2013 November 16 20,690 2014 November 15 23,853 2015 November 14 26,038 2016 November 12 25,231 Average for these 17 seasons is 24,096 Average for the last 5 seasons is 24,320 We will not know exactly how many deer were killed on opening day of this year until the report comes out next year .... we have 48 hours to check in killed deer so we cannot go by the checked in number that we currently have access to. Its gonna be lower ... a lot lower. Just wont know exactly how much lower till spring. I know that I didn't hunt this opening weekend because it was also the opening weekend for Wisconsin Gun season. That is a 9 day season, and the opening weekend is THE weekend to be in the woods there. I wonder if having Indiana opening weekend fall on a nearby states opening weekend has any impact on the number of deer killed here on opening weekend? Last year Indiana gun season was a week prior to Wisconsin's opener and I shot a doe here.
|
|
|
Post by boonechaser on Dec 20, 2017 23:21:46 GMT -5
I thought the "herd reduction program" started in 2012 the same year crossbows in early archery! Pretty sure it began when DNR went to county bonus antlerless system. JMO
|
|
|
Post by greghopper on Dec 21, 2017 5:50:11 GMT -5
I thought the "herd reduction program" started in 2012 the same year crossbows in early archery! Pretty sure it began when DNR went to county bonus antlerless system. JMO So your saying we are in a "herd reduction program" as long as there is a "county bonus antlerless system" ? Interesting personally I haven't ever seen it stated like that before. I know the DNR asked for Hunter/citizen input(late 2010) on reducing the Herd and then a plan was formulated that was put in place in 2012. Actually the president of IDHA spear headed the Hunter Idea's/Input to pass on to the DNR which became Prop 1. Maybe someone can give us the history of why a county bonus antlerless system was started and when it started.....
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 21, 2017 7:35:10 GMT -5
Current reported deer harvest: 106,215From Sept 15, 2017 to Thursday, December 21, 2017 That is 384 registered since yesterday That is 7,960 deer registered for the muzzleoader season so far. Last year we killed 7,990 in Muzzleloader season. Deer harvest numbers are updated as deer are checked in via CheckIN Game. All numbers are raw data that have not been verified by the Indiana DNR. www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8367.htm
|
|
|
Post by js2397 on Dec 21, 2017 7:47:56 GMT -5
I thought the "herd reduction program" started in 2012 the same year crossbows in early archery! Pretty sure it began when DNR went to county bonus antlerless system. JMO I thought Indiana has always had a bonus antlerless system.
|
|
|
Post by greghopper on Dec 21, 2017 8:23:10 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by js2397 on Dec 21, 2017 8:25:12 GMT -5
Makes sense, I didn't start hunting until 1989.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 21, 2017 12:38:09 GMT -5
The issuance of bonus tags does not necessarily mean the state or that specific county is in a reduction mode.
Since bucks and does are born at about the same rate taking of antlerless deer along with antlered deer could very well mean keeping the herd stable..
Not allowing growth is not the same thing as reduction.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 22, 2017 5:19:00 GMT -5
Current reported deer harvest: 106,631 From Sept 15, 2017 to Friday, December 22, 2017 at 4:20 am CST That is 416 registered since yesterday That is 8,376 deer registered for the muzzleoader season so far. Last year we killed 7,990 in Muzzleloader season. Deer harvest numbers are updated as deer are checked in via CheckIN Game. All numbers are raw data that have not been verified by the Indiana DNR. www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8367.htm
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 23, 2017 7:13:48 GMT -5
Current reported deer harvest: 107,042 From Sept 15, 2017 to Saturday, December 23, 2017 at 6:20 am CST That is 411 registered since yesterday That is 8,787 deer registered for the muzzleoader season so far. Last year we killed 7,990 in Muzzleloader season. Deer harvest numbers are updated as deer are checked in via CheckIN Game. All numbers are raw data that have not been verified by the Indiana DNR. www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8367.htm
|
|
|
Post by greghopper on Dec 23, 2017 7:34:49 GMT -5
Current reported deer harvest: 107,042 From Sept 15, 2017 to Saturday, December 23, 2017 at 6:20 am CST That is 411 registered since yesterday That is 8,787 deer registered for the muzzleoader season so far. Last year we killed 7,990 in Muzzleloader season. Deer harvest numbers are updated as deer are checked in via CheckIN Game. All numbers are raw data that have not been verified by the Indiana DNR. www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8367.htmThat looks to be at roughly 90% of the harvest from last year....
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 23, 2017 7:41:52 GMT -5
Current reported deer harvest: 107,042 From Sept 15, 2017 to Saturday, December 23, 2017 at 6:20 am CST That is 411 registered since yesterday That is 8,787 deer registered for the muzzleoader season so far. Last year we killed 7,990 in Muzzleloader season. Deer harvest numbers are updated as deer are checked in via CheckIN Game. All numbers are raw data that have not been verified by the Indiana DNR. www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8367.htmThat looks to be at roughly 90% of the harvest from last year.... Yep, but it ain't over yet.. The first weekend of firearm we were down about 22,000 from the 2016 first weekend of firearm season. We are now only down about 12,000 from ALL of last year's season with some serious hunting to come. We've made up a lot of ground...
|
|
|
Post by jjas on Dec 23, 2017 8:05:02 GMT -5
If you look @ the raw harvest data (so far), the numbers appear to be up in every season this year when compared to last season except for the firearms season.
Early archery was up approximately 5,000 deer and the M/L season is up nearly 1,000 deer (with 2 days left in the season) as compared to last year.
If you look @ the firearms season data, opening weekend this year was down 20,000+ deer as compared to last season. However, if you compare the numbers from the last 14 days of the firearms season for this season versus last, it appears the last 14 days of this season the harvest was up by approximately 8,500 deer. So some ground appears to have been made up on that lousy opening weekend.
Will the late antlerless season be down? Who knows...There are fewer counties this year participating in the season and the weather is always a wild card. Last season there were 4,200 deer killed during the late antlerless season.
Regardless, at the time of this post there have been 107,000 deer reported harvested. If the muzzleloader numbers rise another 1,000 or so and the late antlerless numbers match last year's, that should put us @ about 112,000 deer.
While we still have a way to go, considering what we were down on opening weekend (as compared to last year), I'd say that being down roughly 6% for the season wouldn't be too bad.
BTW, the opening weekend of firearms season normally accounts for approximately 40% of the buck harvest for the entire deer season.
To those that say the weather (and to a lesser extent) the timing of this season wouldn't impact those numbers, IMO ignores the facts the data shows year after year.
So will the buck harvest be down this year? I would imagine it will be, but I think it's got a whole lot less to do with overall deer numbers and a whole lot more to do with the weather (and to a lesser extent) the timing of the opening weekend of the firearms season.
|
|
|
Post by greghopper on Dec 23, 2017 8:28:24 GMT -5
currently we are down 10% for the season....or 12,435 Deer
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Dec 24, 2017 6:31:21 GMT -5
Current reported deer harvest: 107,647 From Sept 15, 2017 to Sunday, December 24, 2017 at 5:30 am CST That is 605 registered since yesterday That is 9,392 deer registered for the muzzleoader season so far. Last year we killed 7,990 in Muzzleloader season. Deer harvest numbers are updated as deer are checked in via CheckIN Game. All numbers are raw data that have not been verified by the Indiana DNR. www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8367.htm
|
|