Five Seasons

even further to the point, total take does not help us understand impact. What does the boots on the ground in september do for the rest of the season? What does taking a doe in september do for your chances of her being in heat and bringing a shooter by your stand. This is what I was driving at when it comes to impact of the early season hunt.

I have 3 kids, all in sports. I coach baseball and I'm on the board for the football league. I'm an executive for a fortune 500 company and I make it out to the woods. As much as I used to? Hell no, but I get out and I punch tags... some nice ones at that. I don't say this for any other reason than to say that I prioritize hunting. I go to bed early on a weekend without booze so I can get up and hunt. I take vacation in the fall instead of the summer. I may work late on some days so that I can take a half day on others. But yes I've missed mornings because of games. I missed just about all of muzzleloader for a work trip. It happens. No 2 situations are alike, but if you have your priorities in order, there is no reason you can't get time in the woods excluding health or family issues. If you prioritize a few beers, a night out to eat with the wife, going to church sunday morning or staying up late to watch a game that is perfectly fine, but that is your choice where you place hunting on the list. technically it is the off season lol

haha that's crazy. 108k does killed via dmp and just under 5k killed by dmap's. Yeah 4%, that's significant lol

I agree that it's not lazy. I think he may have been alluding to the guy that only goes out once or twice a year and it's a deer drive where he sits. This is the kind of guy that will get an eye roll for me, but I also understand to each his own. If deer camp is about drinking too much with your buddies and going out at 1:00 for a push or two, then that's cool. You're buying a tag and helping the cause. You're just in a different class of "hunter" than some, but that's ok.

i'd push back on this a little. I love squirrel and rabbit hunting. But I would never go out there next week and small game hunt and risk pushing deer to others.

the day ny eliminates a season that isn't bear or trapping will be when unicorns come back and fart rainbows that cure cancer

I know you're an educated outdoorsman and that you know there is no way to answer that question right now. In fact, the answer to the study might not be for another 5 years or so.

The Elk population is getting crushed out west in states like colorado right now. Studies are showing, especially since covid that more and more people are entering the woods for recreation and also shed hunters are bumping the deer that are already stressed from cold and lack of food in late winter/early spring and adding stress to the herds that they can't absorb. Not sure how it affects whitetails.

some people forget that they added a week of f'n gun in september to many WMU's this year too. GUN IN SEPTEMBER!!!

that's well said. I think a better compromise would have been to remove the current mz season then and shift it to this week. Same amount of time in the woods as we've always had (and I agree with the chris that it's super generous as is), but shifts the timing to a week that works better for many.

you know... there's some truth to this. It's a long grind. Yes I realize that many say "just don't hunt it". But some of us hardcore guys can't control ourselves if the season is open we will hunt it. Self control is a bitch haha

I would have been ok if they kept and added this as a youth/new hunter week or even moved the youth hunt to this, although I know that wouldn't happen. Would be great that if you could hunt this weekend if you were under 18 or the first 3 years post education class regardless of age. I could get behind that.

a property owner has every right to allow or not allow deer drives on their property. This place is funny. AS LoNG aS iTs LEGal everyone loves to throw out, but those same guys get their panties in a bunch when someone limits themselves or hunts a little different on their property. WHY doYOu CAre It ISNt YouR prOPErty aND nOT YouR dEEr

day 1 of the off season, headed to the woods to do some work tonight. Have my hands full with a trail cam stolen sometime during gun. people f'n suck and worse yet, hunter on hunter bs.

yeah i guess my point was actual roads that intersect the land, not that you could just baja through the wilderness. On that, you and I agree.

What are your thoughts now that it's near?

i like that rubber palm saver you got there. did it come with the gun or did you buy it?

yeah i get 5g in my house when it used to be lte. I'll take it!

maybe not in droves but I know some who after a year of us "lab rats" doing just fine are coming around to it. Maybe it's driven by the restrictions or them feeling like it's less of a risk and more proven. But I know a few people and see stories online that are getting motivated by the filling hospitals. If you think about it, it's been a year since the vaccines came out and many of the unvaxxed have done just fine yet the hospitals are filling still, and now more than ever. So how many of them just got lucky over the last year? Has the reopening made it easier to contract? I don't know, but I don't think EVERYONE is as intrenched as you think they are.

if you polled the audience, 90% of members would say the biggest issue facing hunters today is access. Simply put, there isn't a whole lot of private land you can hunt without shelling out money. Restricting access to large chunks of land just inhibits this more. When I hunted public land down south they had roads all throughout the national forest. Without it there would be 10's of thousands of acres that would be virtually impossible to hunt, let alone retrieve game from. Those roads were decently maintained, but some of the off shoots required a 4 wheel drive in the rainy season and none were so good that you dared push it above 30, even in a truck. To be honest, we have a cabin in the daks and the road is very well maintained, but it's dirt. We like the occasional pothole and washboarding as it slows people down with all the kids and people it's not a bad thing so long as it's not ridiculous, everyone should know that a dirt road is going to not be suited for a sports car, yet any car with a little bit of ground clearance should be able to slowly make it up and down the roads, while not turning it into a rally track. Just my .02 having quite a bit of experience with various dirt roads.

Good luck man, long day so stay warm! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is so true. I had a rough season a few years ago and had some doe come through during mz and I swear they weren’t looking at me and all I did was turn my head slightly and slowly and they immediately did the “swift head raise” and I was pegged. And I’ve had seasons where I’ve shot at one missed and had them stick around for another. Made videos, moved around etc. it’s wild. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bad news guys, I’ve been up since 3 for a meeting with China and Australia and I’m still alive. You’ll have to deal with my anti-crossbow elitist nonsense a bit longer I guess. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i'm no lawyer but I believe it just boils down to a guy who is hunting next to a dead deer and maybe he wasn't the guy who called, blah, blah, blah. I doubt you'd win against that.

DEC doesn't need a warrant iirc