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Post by tynimiller on Aug 29, 2023 17:07:05 GMT -5
Well, it appears atleast two of the bucks I passed appear to have made it and no doubt make someone very happy this fall.
I am possibly heading back next year again….who knows.
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 29, 2023 15:23:42 GMT -5
Completely could have mislabeled, apologies on my part…was the fourth time today alone I had to correct that the opening day is not something that changes willy nilly. Apologies OP Although I am native (born in Indy), I haven't lived in IN since 2000 (Army) and didn't start hunting until 2003 while at Ft Lewis. Nobody in my family hunted so it was an Army buddy that got me started. I have been able to hunt at home a total of about 6 years so my frame of reference was just what the dates said in the regs. Now I know..... Makes sense! Good luck this year!
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 29, 2023 6:14:43 GMT -5
Blue Hills - bluehillwildlifenursery.com/ is one of the best places for great quality stock I've found (one of only three I really buy from anymore). Stock got uploaded yesterday and stuff is flying off the shelf. His grafted two year old trees I've already had fruit in year one (couple of the crab varieties) but most importantly they come usually bigger than advertised, packaged excellently and root balls are amazing. If looking for fruit trees - worth checking out. Will admit for this poor guy I go in with another often cuz shipping is a beast - order at least 4 or more to make worth it.
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 28, 2023 18:44:37 GMT -5
Completely could have mislabeled, apologies on my part…was the fourth time today alone I had to correct that the opening day is not something that changes willy nilly.
Apologies OP
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 28, 2023 18:36:57 GMT -5
You can definitely tell bow season is around the corner. Old and new peps start popping up again we haven’t seen in months. Lol. I really did go MIA the last year, and was really any forum I was otherwise active on. Nice to be back and hopefully like all the years before try and consistently check in.
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 28, 2023 18:21:55 GMT -5
I think it all boils down to how and where we were raised, If you were born in the city then more likey you will be for city slickers, if you were born in the Country then you will favor the country boys. If you were born and raised in a state that has guns seasons in the rut then you are likey to be for gun seasons in the rut. If you were born in a state like Iowa, Illinois or Ohio where you have short guns seasons out of the rut then you probably like that. We mostly are and like the way we were raised. I am just glad we have the freedom to hunt these to opene gun season on a Monday. They tried opening it on a Saturday and most of the hunters did not like the tradition being changed. Traditions are hard to break. From Indiana and personally have never liked the season structure here - but have accepted it
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 28, 2023 17:10:04 GMT -5
Just this week I actually looked at the dates for firearms this year and it hurts me pretty badly. The move to a week later means i am only going to get 4 days max hunting due to needing to be home for Thanksgiving and takes me out of the IL hunt I was drawn for I think I know what is probably behind the change and it annoys me a bit but complaining about that won't do me any good. I may try to borrow a buddys bow and give it a shot if I feel I can get proficient enough to be ethical. Feeling pretty bummed out since this piles on to me not being able to pull a CO deer tag for the first time ever. When will people stop claiming erroneous lies of “changes”. The schedule of firearms has been the same way for years.
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Post by tynimiller on Aug 28, 2023 17:06:51 GMT -5
It is so funny whenever folks are talking about states like Iowa who use big bucks as a motivation of legislative decisions due to the demand and preservation of that aspect they get all emotional when folks merely bring up why Indiana is never going to be such a state.
You bring up the fact our firearms season is one of the main reasons and folks lose their mind. It’s simply true.
Indiana hunters and DNR have different management goals/demands than a state like Iowa - both are completely fine and right for each states objectives. If Indiana wanted to grow big bucks we’d have a different season structure, if Iowa wanted to focus less on big bucks they’d change theirs as well. It is a simple fact.
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Post by tynimiller on Jun 21, 2023 15:50:26 GMT -5
I was blown away that the family doesn't even get to hunt their own land in Iowa each year (they live out of state)...but they also have to draw and they lease some farms but own a large chunk of land too. I know an IN resident that bought ground in IA just so he could get a license to hunt that state every year. I think he is restricted to his property only. This isn't the case for them - my buddy is in year three of preference points. Now it could be potentially a reciprocating law with specific states that allow this but not his. I'll have to ask him next time I talk to him.
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Post by tynimiller on Jun 21, 2023 13:45:24 GMT -5
I finally was going to try and hunt Iowa this year with a buddy, I am pretty bummed, got a reply back today saying I was unsuccessful drawing a bowtag despite us both having 4 preference points. Seems like a ripoff to me now. We had to buy our tags before we applied, so now they keep money for another preference point, plus admin fees and some other fee and send the rest back. Bummer. All odds of drawing in Iowa essentially have went up a whole preference point last couple seasons. Have a buddy that runs an outfitter and it truly screwed them out of some hunts around camp because of it. I was blown away that the family doesn't even get to hunt their own land in Iowa each year (they live out of state)...but they also have to draw and they lease some farms but own a large chunk of land too.
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Post by tynimiller on Jun 21, 2023 10:09:31 GMT -5
Yet again hunters in Indiana prove they truly don't care at all about herd management - the percent of hunters participating is an embarrassment. No saying they don’t care isn’t totally correct… many are most likely fine with the current Deer herd and elect to not share that information or want to complain! Got any other Midwest state Deer surveys to compare with Indiana? I see more than 3,000 people a year complaining on FB LOL....perhaps I should have said they don't care to the degree they claim. FTR I'm using "they" to describe the majority out there not the fewer of us, shoot anyone reading this on this forum already probably care more than the vast majority.
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Post by tynimiller on Jun 21, 2023 9:50:37 GMT -5
Yet again hunters in Indiana prove they truly don't care at all about herd management - the percent of hunters participating is an embarrassment.
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Post by tynimiller on Feb 19, 2023 12:30:27 GMT -5
I have a retired buddy from Iowa that swears he knows and has beers with a gentleman that has potentially two top 5 all time bucks with bow but the man wants left alone and zero interest in being bothered. Yep…. If you live in the land of giants no one questions your Deer for the most part! Mitch has deer in Books that are legit! Yeah I have a good friend who owns two farms and lives in Iowa and he is amazed at the effort many others put into hunting for 120s in Michigan or PA or 140s in IN….he some years hunts one or two hunts and kills a 170.
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Post by tynimiller on Feb 19, 2023 11:25:44 GMT -5
I think personally at this point it doesn't matter. It's out of the record books and he doesn't seem interested in ever submitting it regardless. It reminds me of all the Area 51 conspiracies with people coming forward, who knows... There will always be bigger bucks out there, and who knows how many 220+" deer have been shot by a farmer in rural Iowa who just doesn't care about scoring. I have a retired buddy from Iowa that swears he knows and has beers with a gentleman that has potentially two top 5 all time bucks with bow but the man wants left alone and zero interest in being bothered.
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DNR Survey
Feb 19, 2023 11:23:50 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by tynimiller on Feb 19, 2023 11:23:50 GMT -5
Lifetime needs to at minimum be more expensive than forty years of hunting time frame. Seems the majority of hunting occurs in someone’s life for around that time frame if not less. Quick calculation puts it north of $4,000 really fast to be worth it.
Now a thought could be offer a post 50 year old lifetime that maybe has a cost of similar to fifteen or so years
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Post by tynimiller on Feb 19, 2023 11:20:46 GMT -5
Will forever boggle my mind how so many of the social media “experts” are shocked at the deer season dates…and believe DNR is behind “screwing gun hunters” with the later start date…
Some folks just refuse to learn
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Post by tynimiller on Jan 31, 2023 18:10:44 GMT -5
Exactly... And to think, Indiana treats the entire state the same. Not true entirely, each county has separate bonus quotas.
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Post by tynimiller on Jan 31, 2023 11:04:56 GMT -5
The main prime three zones in Iowa are not special solely based on the gun season. I'd argue after being there and knowing many Iowa landowners they could move the gun season into the prime rutting time frame and it wouldn't do a ton. How about lengthening it to the same as ours. Think that would matter? Also the zones. Think if they managed all of Iowa's as a whole that would matter? Could it, maybe - but the impact severity I still don't think would be that crazy out there. Large parcel ownership, and large leases don't change mindsets practiced on many of them. Yes you'd have areas that would be impacted more so by that, but having knowledge of one large operation and meeting tons of landowners while there, many of them LOVE the management style and age structure and they would not want that to change. They would LOSE a TON of conservation funding if they didn't do the zones. Certain zones demand more in drawing funds and point preferences...plus if they didn't have zones you would have an imbalance of NR hunting occurring in the prime zones and the prices there would skyrocket because unlike most years where only so many NR tags are drawn for say zone 4...you'd now have that time 10 all wanting in to that zone.
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Post by tynimiller on Jan 31, 2023 7:29:08 GMT -5
Once you have seen the difference in the deer here and the deer in those short gun season states...but I will take a guess that most have no idea what they are missing... The main prime three zones in Iowa are not special solely based on the gun season. I'd argue after being there and knowing many Iowa landowners they could move the gun season into the prime rutting time frame and it wouldn't do a ton.
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Post by tynimiller on Jan 31, 2023 7:26:28 GMT -5
If Indiana moved our gun season out of the rut like Iowa, we would blow them away in terms of producing big bucks. Indiana has the potential to be the best deer hunting state, but squanders it due to idiots driving the ship. I disagree. Taking some of our firearms hunting out of rut could improve things some, but Iowa is nearly 20,000 square miles larger and has less than half the population. End result ... a lot more suitable habitat to grow quality deer, meaning more will make it to maturity. I will say this much, Iowa has TONS of open unpopulated areas but my mind was boggled by the lack of true good cover. twenty yard wide drainage runs would hold deer....CRP fields that only were half as tall as a deer is where many would be bedding....it was crazy. Most of the bedding cover I was hunting edges of or watching deer come from I'd consider very low quality cover - but two massive factors make them out there excellent: massive amounts of land and low human activity.
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