If you deer hunt please add your input on this poll

[Haymaker]

I hunt Jennings and Scott Counties! Without question I saw fewer deer during the 2011 archery and firearms season.

 

[The Mechanic]

I hunt western jennings,close to the refuge(about 3 miles)2011 was defintly up from 2010 for me as far as sightings.But never did get a shot at a mature buck.

 

[witdog2020]

I just want to say, that I haven't seen more or less bucks, but better bucks. This be due to the one buck rule. I have to say the doe population in my area is way down, I've hunted the same ground for 20yrs. The doe size is almost yearling size, and I see much fewer dear than before. I wish us as hunters would address this issue more with DNR. We need to reduce the doe tags. I go to Ontario every year, and I was very impressed with how they manage their deer. Does are by drawing only and very few, their stance is that the does is what maintains there population and health of the herd. More does equals more bucks hanging around to hunt. Save the does. hunt by draw only. It looks like a pretty good concensus.

 

[snapping turtle]

Madison county here. Numbers still up, but this may be biased since I only hunted 15 minutes opening day and 38 minutes on opening sunday and scored a buck and doe.

Others have said less deer than the peak a few years ago. Remeber that last winter we had lots of hard pack/snow and Ice and that always make it hard on the deer.

Coyote numbers are up but that will change here soon again. It is coyote season after all.

 

[hooky]

I hunt in Cass Co and my brothers and nephews also hunt there. We all saw less deer this year in that county. Go north to Fulton and my family there says its about the same as last year, which means they saw plenty and all filled at least one tag.

 

[johntheplinker]

Perry Co. here. Much less than a couple years ago. We live out in the boonies, so we used to have deer in the yard on an almost daily basis. "Huh, only 3 deer out back this evening." Now its more like, "Hey, there's a doe in the yard! First one in what, 2 weeks?" Seeing less even out driving, now its a special occasion worth mentioning. 'Yotes are still around, although maybe not as many as a couple of years ago. Still hear them regularly right after dark, but its only 2 or 3 individuals howling and not 3-4 groups.

 

[bd1024]

Poll

I hunt primarily in Monroe and Brown counties. Deer populations seem to be steady, maybe slight decrease.

 

[bccorvette]

Jackson Jennings line. Saw more bucks but less does durring season. Had a trail camera up before season and saw a bunch of does. They went nocturnal on us.

 

[BiggEarl]

Clay and parke county. I have definitely seen more deer and a lot more yotes. To me it seems like most deer are going nocturnal. I didn't see a lot of deer in the woods but they blew up my cameras this year at night time.. that is during season. I saw that they started moving during late season and after season was over. Could have something to do with the weather.

 

[koenig clone]

I hunt grant an allen counties. Does have been on a steady decline for last 3 years. Used to see 10 to 20 every outing. lucky to see 2 or 3 in a weekend now.

 

[joker762]

I hunt primarily in Cass county. I'd have to say that i my neck of the woods I've seen fewer. I didn't see the first buck during archery or firearms season. But with that being said, I killed twice as many coyotes as i did deer. One coyote during archery and one during muzzleloader. I had also left one of my trail cams up all year and had over 100 pics of coyotes and roughly 25 of deer.

 

[joshennis84]

I saw a lot less this year, but the best place I have to hunt was being timbered all season. It's a large piece of ground so it took them all season to do it and it completely messed my season up. I have other places to go, but that spot has always produced large bucks so I generally chose to hunt there. My little honey hole I go to to shoot a doe showed decline. But, this could be due to more pressure on them. They are allowing a couple more people to hunt there now and I believe they do a lot of walking around which causes deer to be skiddish or go nocturnal. Anyhow, the places I hunt are in owen and monroe counties. Slight decline on my end even though it may not be a fair comparison due to the circumstances.

 

[onesurveyor]

Way down on the farms I hunt in Rush,Shelby and Hancock. I think habitat has a great deal to with it as well. More fence rows are cleaned out every day. A lot can live in those thickets.

 

[zombiekilla]

I live and hunt in Posey county. A few years ago we got hit pretty hard with EHD. Then this last spring we had lots of flooding. I haven't seen as many deer lately, but I was still able to kill 3 deer on the last day of season. I have been seeing more coyote's over the last 3 years also. I think all things combined are playing a toll on the population, but that means that as a hunter I must adapt to the environment also.

 

[kolob10]

I hunt Brown, Jackson, Monroe, and Morgan counties. I've seen fewer deer during deer season. I've seen fewer deer during post season scouting also. The size of the bucks that I've shot over the past few years seem to be about the same. The mature does seem to be maintaining their weight also. I've seen more coyotes in the last three years.

 

[devious169]

i was stalked by a mouintain lion in bow season, didn't see a damn thing that morning either, the thing of it is i will always see deer rather i shoot them or not. i think that the overall quality is declining

 

[philagothon]

I was talking with a farmer friend about the theory that the herd is declining. He literally laughed out loud! He says that he and every farmer he knows are facing more and more crop loss every year because the herd is so large. Maybe the local deer are patterning some of you guys?

 

[sinnful]

I farm in Starke county and a hunter as well. The deer population around me has been on a drastic decline for the past 3 years. However our turkey population just keeps growing and growing. It is insane the amount of turkey that are here now.

 

[rby1rby]

Seems like N. carroll county area has more deer in the last 5 years

 

[ajanes10]

I recently got property a little North of McCordsville and went from only 4 deer (1 doe and 3 fawns) to seven deer this year! This icludes the origionals along with 3 new bucks. One of the bucks has shed one side but the other are a 7 and 8 pointer. Hopefully I still see it climbing next year!!