Post by cambygsp on Sept 25, 2005 7:59:11 GMT -5
www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/12738919.htm
Posted on Sun, Sep. 25, 2005
Bonus allows taking more antlerless deer
By Phil Bloom
Outdoors editor
After coming close to setting a modern-era record last year, Indiana deer hunters could do even better this year when the 2005-06 season begins Saturday with early archery hunting.
Last year’s hunter tally of 123,058 deer was just 28 shy of the all-time mark set in 1996.
Hunters are expected to benefit this year from changes in the bonus permit system aimed at managing the deer population by targeting antlerless deer, primarily does.
The program allows hunters to buy up to four bonus antlerless permits that may be used in any county so long as the hunter does not exceed the bonus limit in any specific county.
Bonus quotas are set on a county-by-county basis by the Department of Natural Resources using a variety of factors, including crop depredation and the number of deer taken in previous years.
Previously, bonus permits could not be used until the start of firearms season in mid-November. In some counties, designated A counties, use of bonus permits was restricted to a four-day period in late November and the late archery season in parts of December and January.
This year, hunters can use bonus permits beginning with Saturday’s kickoff of the early archery season.
Additionally, the DNR is increasing bonus quotas for 71 of the state’s 92 counties, including six in northeast Indiana.
The bonus quota in Allen, DeKalb, Steuben and Whitley counties increased from one extra antlerless deer to two, and Huntington changed from two to three. Hunters can also take one bonus antlerless deer this year in Wells County, which fell under the restricted A designation a year ago.
Perhaps the biggest change in the bonus system is the DNR’s classification of 13 counties as “deer reduction” zones. Most of the deer reduction counties are in the southeast corner of the state (see map below).
Here’s where it requires a pocket calculator to figure bag limits in the deer reduction counties:
•A hunter may take up to four antlerless deer in one of those counties under the bonus program, or take up to four from any combination of counties around the state.
•A hunter may take an additional four antlerless deer from each of the reduction zone counties.
But it all adds up because a valid license is required for every deer taken.
At $24 for a deer license, a hunter hoping to bag four deer in each reduction county, plus four bonus antlerless deer, would have to spend $1,344 just for the opportunity.
Posted on Sun, Sep. 25, 2005
Bonus allows taking more antlerless deer
By Phil Bloom
Outdoors editor
After coming close to setting a modern-era record last year, Indiana deer hunters could do even better this year when the 2005-06 season begins Saturday with early archery hunting.
Last year’s hunter tally of 123,058 deer was just 28 shy of the all-time mark set in 1996.
Hunters are expected to benefit this year from changes in the bonus permit system aimed at managing the deer population by targeting antlerless deer, primarily does.
The program allows hunters to buy up to four bonus antlerless permits that may be used in any county so long as the hunter does not exceed the bonus limit in any specific county.
Bonus quotas are set on a county-by-county basis by the Department of Natural Resources using a variety of factors, including crop depredation and the number of deer taken in previous years.
Previously, bonus permits could not be used until the start of firearms season in mid-November. In some counties, designated A counties, use of bonus permits was restricted to a four-day period in late November and the late archery season in parts of December and January.
This year, hunters can use bonus permits beginning with Saturday’s kickoff of the early archery season.
Additionally, the DNR is increasing bonus quotas for 71 of the state’s 92 counties, including six in northeast Indiana.
The bonus quota in Allen, DeKalb, Steuben and Whitley counties increased from one extra antlerless deer to two, and Huntington changed from two to three. Hunters can also take one bonus antlerless deer this year in Wells County, which fell under the restricted A designation a year ago.
Perhaps the biggest change in the bonus system is the DNR’s classification of 13 counties as “deer reduction” zones. Most of the deer reduction counties are in the southeast corner of the state (see map below).
Here’s where it requires a pocket calculator to figure bag limits in the deer reduction counties:
•A hunter may take up to four antlerless deer in one of those counties under the bonus program, or take up to four from any combination of counties around the state.
•A hunter may take an additional four antlerless deer from each of the reduction zone counties.
But it all adds up because a valid license is required for every deer taken.
At $24 for a deer license, a hunter hoping to bag four deer in each reduction county, plus four bonus antlerless deer, would have to spend $1,344 just for the opportunity.
