What do you feel is the single biggest threat to deer hunting long term?

I had similar thoughts about the anti smokers. I remember days people smoked on public busses, and in public elevators. In my wildest dreams I didn't think I'd see a day that one couldn't smoke in a bar.
There are only about 30 million hunters in the USA. 10 years ago there were a heck of a lot more smokers than hunters.

 

Television and Deer hunting becoming an industry.

 

Becoming an industry ? Deer hunting is plagued by consumerism and been an industry for quite some time already.

 

TV deer hunting is a big business. While I don't watch too much TV deer hunting, I don't see it as much of a threat to the hunting industry.

 

The BIGGEST problem in our state is the DNR mixed with Insurance companies and the Farm Bureau! They want the herd at an all time low. You cant stand ground or fight them bc no one has a pocketbook large enough or attorney stupid enough to go against those 3 companies. Keeping the herd deadly low seriously concerns me bc all it takes is EHD or another disease to hit hard one year and we are wiped out for a long time!

 

Not sure what It actually would be here in Tennessee. Not to sure about the whole state, but the area i'm from the TWRA is actually pretty good at what they do. The area/counties i'm from and around me is a pretty rural type area. Almost everyone hunts in one way or another. We get support from local government, law enforcement and so on. Now the main percentage of hunters are either Rifle or muzzleloader, don't seem to be a large amount of Bow hunters, at least from my knowledge it seems like there is not. I don't care what they hunt with myself, as long as they hunt. One of the local TWRA guys, a game warden is a good friend of mine. Again, I think they do a great job supporting and helping us. They hunt as well. So from what I see and my experience 26 years hunting and 21 of those with a Bow. I don't have much to complain about here. Our seasons are pretty nice and long. You can bow hunt from end of Sept to the first weekend of Jan. Which is mostly what I do anyway. If I choose in the Unit I live, I can kill 4 does in archery, 4 does in Archery/Muzzleloader. Then 3 bucks for the year no matter your choice of weapon. In my eyes that is pretty good. I don't see or experience much anti-hunter types down here. At least not as much as other states has from what I read and head. Hunting land is not too hard to find. Lots of nice folks that will let you hunt in most places. If you wanna lease, prices are not insane. Lots of public land that is not highly pressured, especially during Archery season. So, I guess I'm not sure how to answer the question....lol. It just seems like the TWRA is more on the hunters side here they from what I read about other states. So I feel blessed about that.

 

I agree with you bootlegger. We hunt mostly Kentucky, Ohio. I personally think both states have done great jobs. Kentucky has had an all time harvest records 3 years running. Some of the best hunting in the country comes out of Ohio. After bow hunting 40+ years ago when deer were few, these last 5 years have been the best I've seen and I certainly blame it on the DNR

 

how in the heck have 5 pages gone by without someone having the cojones to document the real threat to hunting?

our WIVES... Do all you guys' wives have your passwords or something? grow a pair...

a close second though is land access. If I could hunt closer to home and not have to take 4 weeks of "wasted" (her words; not mine) vacation time from Sept-Nov, I would get a lot less guff at home.

 

Noodles: I had a dog one time that didn't like to hunt. It just ate and put out a lot of crap. Traded it in for a beagle that loved to hunt. Problem solved.

 

Yep, in Unit L you can shoot 3 does per day if you want from the Sept. to Jan...lol. Middle TN is full of deer. TWRA done a great job of getting it that way here.

 

What area of OH are you hunting? Bc after living here for 28 years I've seen it all and unless your in a select few counties the changes the DNR have made have put a hurtin on a lot of people. Being that our harvest rate has been down the lower an lower the last 3 years I have a hard time believing its gotten better. Now I pass a lot of deer a year for the chance to kill one of the deer I have history with but we def don't have the herd like we used to in central OH. On average I could see 6+ deer a hunt, now if I see A deer a hunt it was eventful. Other areas are doing very well but my central area is hurting!

 

Hunting used to be a sport. Now it's a industry and money driven. At one time you could knock on a few doors and get permission to hunt. Now it's all leases and priced that the working man cant afford them. Neighbors used to hunt together do drives on each others land/farms. Now its neighbor fighting neighbor. Stay off my land!! Competing to keep deer on their land and so on.
Because deer hunting is going to be a rich mans sport in the not to distant future. Where the common Joe will be forced to hunt over pressured public land if he hunts at all. In the 40 years I've been deer hunting I have seen big changes. none of it good.
There are not many deer hunters anymore. Lots of deer shooters though. Sitting over their pile of corn or feeder. That's what hunting has become.

 

I see where you're going; but I doubt your other dog was 4'9", 92lbs, and smoking hot.
Although the older I get the less that matters...

 

Rutin. In ohio I hunt mostly Hamilton county. Once in a while I hunt Adams county. It was really good on a couple properties until they took 300 deer out of the local park. But today still beats the numbers we had in 1970.
The deer herd grew to a certain level from 1970 until about 2000. Once we hit a certain number the accidents and crop damage came into play. Now the DNR has to keep enough deer to keep hunters happy, but also keep insurance companies and farmers happy.
Dnr manages the deer by the state. They do not have the responsibility of hiding a deer under every tree. Some areas of the state are better than others. One just has to hunt good hunting spots. Thats why we call it hunting.

 

If its a sport, It is an industry and money driven. It takes money to hire people to manage the herd. Once people see there is money to be made, everybody wants a piece of the action. Baseball, Football, Basketball, fishing, you name it, all are industries that are money driven.
Forty years ago, deer were few and far between. There are way more deer taken today than forty years ago. It takes all kinds of hunters to manage the herd. What ever style of hunting you like. Since I bow hunt, I prefer stalking over driving deer. But that doesn't make driving deer a bad thing.
Instead of being negative about our sport, why not look at the good things going on and enjoy while you can.

 

wouldn't be so sure about that.ever see them exspand a hwy or make it wider.they don't care if it on your land they'll build right on it and you hope they give you a decent amount of money for it.

 

Wildernessninja: You are correct in the fact that land can be lost through eminent domain. The % of land that is lost from property owners is very low and are usually paid at the same rate the the pva says its worth in that area.
We had a local archery club with about 25 acres lose their land for progress. They took the money they got, bought 100 acres a little further out in the county. They paid for the land, put in a gravel road, built a 25 yard indoor range with Kitchen, eating area and 2 bathrooms with the money they got.

 

I would say some of the greatest threats on transferring land to family members is the tax burden of the transfer, kids arguing over the asset and not having long term care.

 

I went with over harvesting. I started all of my nephews and nieces hunting (10 total).The oldest one, that got started before all the bonus tags and major doe kill off on PA public lands, is the only one that still hunts deer. The others got too bored never seeing deer and lost interest. Sure we teach them the beauty of the outdoors, admire other wildlife, etc. But youth need some level of success early on to stay interested.

Some of the others enjoy small game hunting, but you asked about deer hunting. They refuse to hunt deer because the thought of spending hours in the woods and never seeing a deer does not appeal to them.

 

There is only a tax burden on transfering or inheriting land if the party that inherits the property tries to sell it. Then it becomes capitol gain and you will get taxed... otherwise it will only cost you the money for the paperwork transfer. I just started going through this process with our lawyer.

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