Just recieved a Deer Management Survey

So bolo I guess. ( Sometimes things get lost in my email )



A lot of ideas to simplify licenses, most of which made sense. One that didn't to me was making Archery and Muzzy tags buck only. That will create a lot of confusion. I was surprised to see an idea for a velvet deer season. I was somewhat alarmed when they suggested age restrictions in the same breath, because there is no doubt in my mind that it's a backdoor way of slipping that stuff into the regular season. There was also a section on going to a trophy management season, raising the spectre of counting points and the like. No offense, but I voted no thanks.

Here is what I put in the comments section:

First off, What does my education level, race, and income level have to do with deer management, unless you plan to weight my opinions based on this information, a dubious yardstick.

Secondly, let me say that I think the DNR largely does a good job managing the deer herd, given the complexities of the task. That said, I detect the slow creep of trophy management dogma into the conversation. Notions like point and width restrictions are the antithesis of scientific deer management, as using these antler traits as a barometer of health and age is "ballpark" at best. It's TV science meant to sell deer management products.

A trophy management system punishes people that have less time to sit and be picky. Forcing a working stiff to pass a smaller buck when he saves a lot of money feeding his/her family with that meat is poor management. Not everybody gets unlimited time to just sit in the woods waiting on a certain deer. Personally, I don't want to pass an obvious adult buck because it's dim and I can't count his points or stretch a tape across his antlers. Opportunities are often fleeting.

I saw a lot of nice bucks last year. leave well enough alone.

Thank you all for your work.