Very good post. Yes I live in Iowa now but I grew up in KY and lived there most of my life "moved to IA last year"....I've been saying for years one of the best things KY could to for their deer heard is push rifle season back to December. The Nov. rifle season is the biggest downfall the state of KY has and if they ever hope to become a true big buck state like IA that is the first thing they are gonna have to change. Baiting might be somewhat of an issue but it's not the big problem....Yes there are ALOT of corn piles scattered around the state of KY, I never hunted them but I have freinds that do it all the time, but honestly they very rarely kill anything over them other than a doe or two. I've heard that the population seems to be down alot from previous years after last years EHD outbreak...I still thing pushing gun season back would help out with that problem too.

 

I personally think that they should stop the killing of antlered deer for 3 years throughout the state. I think that is the only thing that will get the numbers back where they should be.

 

I agree with the teleckeck issue. When you look at the results it is amazing how many couples hunt. It seem fishy to me when I read the results.

 

Check stations are really no better than telecheck. If they arent going to check it they arent.

 

I also live in Ky. I would like to see something different as far as the out of state hunters coming in, the tags are cheap and over the counter when the gun season opener comes in the area where I'm at is covered up by out of state plates you can't just drive up to Iowa and buy a tag and take off hunting

 

Some hunters that I know would still rather kill a four point buck than a doe.

 

Why? I dont understand this.

 

I would love to see some of those proposed changes happen. I manage a sporting goods shop. You should see and hear some of the stuff I do.

 

I think that one thing that would help is if you had to check in a doe before you got your buck tag, at a check in station not tele-check. I don't think that the price of out of state tags should go up though, or just not shoot a buck for three years maybe one year but not three.

 

Are you saying that during modern firearm season each hunter could kill a doe and a buck? My county would be devastated if that were to be. No way they could do that statewide. The counties not having the earn a buck system would be overwhelmed with hunters. JMO.

 

I'm on board with the OP on #2 and #4. But, both go back to $$$$$.

(#2)they won't move the gun season to a later date, because as it is now it don't conflict with OH (which is shotgun), and WV( which comes in later), and I'm not even sure about the other border states. The way it is now nearby non-res. can come down and get a jump start on their gun seasons. Then in turn we are supposed to be able to go to theirs. That way everybody can SPEND more money.

(#4)Their not going to go back to the old type tagging because they aren't concerned if a few people take a few more deer than they are allowed. They harvest #'s aren't being met in alot of places as it is. Thats why you are seeing more x-bow, muzzleloader, etc... seasons that last longer.

I would like to see more WMA's with the 15" spread. And even though it isn't really possible. Several of the Eastern Counties go to BOW ONLY! or even some type of rotational thing where counties are bow only for 2 years then rifle/muzzleloader for 1 year.

I would also like to see it go back to 1 buck with archery only (not x-bows), and 1 with anything else. In the big picture of it, there really wouldn't be that many more bucks killed.

 

I live in Indy, but grew up in KY, and do most of my hunting in Owen Co. I shot my first in Owen Co. over 30 years ago.

First, I like the telecheck. It allows me to butcher at the farm, and bring the deer out in a cooler, and most of the mess stays there. If people are going to cheat, they will. We have to keep ourselves honest, and teach and encourage others to do the same. In my opinion, tagging a spike is part of the game. I admire you for doing it 'cause I know it hurts, but that's the way it goes. We call those little fellas "buck tag stealers".

Corn piles, Oh the whole corn pile thing. I really think it has it's uses. If I want to put a doe or two in the freezer I like corn piles. Why?? I have a better look at the deer and can see better what you are shooting. It helps dodge "buck tag stealers", and take soem of the big does. I don't know about where you hunt, but those little suckers are everywhere where I hunt. I have no idea where they go after they turn 2, but when they're 1 1/2 they are everywhere. I'll throw this out there, getting a bow back on a big maturnal doe on a corn pile is not a walk in the park! (Feel free to throw the rotten fruit now)

I thought it was interesting everyone seems to have seen less deer this year. We did too. It was real hard to find them in the mornings. We discussed maybe EHD taking a lot more than we thought. In our area the oaks didn't produce this year, and we thought that might have had them spread out more, and just seemed to be less. We even thought we might be getting a few too many does shot. From what I see I think that would be hard to do though.

I agree that the gun season has a lot to do with $$. I also believe Fish and Game wants that big buck rep, because of money. "KY the big buck state" means more out of state hunters, and higher non-resident fees. Just my opinion.

The one change I would like? A grandfather clause allowing born and bred Kentuckians to purchase tags at resident prices. I know, I know, but I can dream.

The rather shoot a four-pointer than a doe. It 'aint just KY. I see the same thing in Indiana.

Good thread!

 

In recent conversations that I have had with others I seems that everyone wants the heard numbers and ratios fixed and they would like to see less money hunting going on but I have yet to encounter one individual that is willing to give up their buck tag for a while to do it. Three years of only antlerless hunting would do wonders for our herds here and allow us to raise out of state licenses tremendously because of all the deer that were allowed to mature in that time.

 

NMP........

Come on now!! Let's not raise out of state fees!

 

I feel your pain, I really do but in the last 2 weeks the MO license plates have outnumbered the KY ones by about 90% here. I see the same guys year after year and they take the same thing year after year. People dont have to leave MO to kill basket racked deer. I rarely see any of these guys with anything that goes over 120 (but all want to take a buck and doesnt really matter what size) and that is really not that hard to accomplish here. Just gets frustrating when someone comes in and just shoots the woods up where you know there were good deer.

 

I agree with a lot of your ideas but would not push the 16 day season too far.
I would like to see two seperate one week seasons for gun hunters one the second or third week in Nov and the other should be in late december after the smokepole season.
Kentucky could learn a thing or two from the hunters if they would just listen.

 

I think we should have to kill a doe first, i know this will make the trophy head hunters mad. but will put the buck/doe ratio a little closer were it needs to be.as a meat hunter i am tierd of hearing ALL I SEEN WAS A BUNCH OF DOES... :teeth:

 

Nky

I also hunt in Northern KY and after opening week of gun season the deer were extinct. I dont mean this literally of course but after the plague of week long gunfire the deer have gone into hiding for sure.

 

Setting the season back would be a big bonus for many reasons.

1. It would give bowhunters better rut opportunities.
2.Would keep the rut stupid mature bucks alive longer to do more of the breeding. Also, it would allow some of them to keep their head an extra year or two allowing them to reach full potential.
3.If the season would open around the Thanksgiving holiday, it would give more parents and kids the opportunity to hunt during the holiday vacation.
4. Personally, I think that it would bring more revenue to the state if we had better rut bowhunting opportunities. It seems that bowhunters are more willing to travel and pay out of state fees than most gun hunters.
5. I dont think that the rifle hunters success rate would drop if the season was set back. Why? They would still be catching some late rut action and most rifle hunters do a lot of drives to get the deer moving too.

As for me, I dont stick around during the boom boom season. I'm usually in Ohio or some other state bowhunting. I do enjoy rifle hunting but, the older that I get the less I can take of the orange army.

The telecheck I do agree is more conveniant but, I do see the downside to it as well. I ride the fence on that issue.

I would like to see the earn-a-buck program in Kentucky. Shoot your doe before you get a buck.

I live in Northeast KY and our biggest issue here is the poaching and road hunting. More good bucks bite the dust blinded than they do legally. It is a pure shame.

 

Some people said they would like to see the earn-a-buck put in place here.

With the tele-check method in place, I would imagine there would be a lot of "archery"(wink,wink) killed does taken the day before our early muzzleloader and rifle season. This inflating the #of does that is actually taken. Hint: does being called in that were actually never killed. Thus creating more problems for determining the # of deer killed.

Really need to do away with the tele-check system in my opinion. The old system worked much better in my opinion. Stores that were also checking stations, got business that they may otherwise not get if hunters were not stopping to check there deer in.

 

Good point Scrapejuice...about the only thing that I like about the telecheck is the conveniance. I do miss the evenings of hanging out at the check station to see what come in and of course while I was there I would buy a few things too.

 

Someone that doesnt pic up the phone to check a deer wont drive anywhere to do it either.

 

I still say the best thing that could ever happen to the deer herd in KY is to push gun season back into Dec. I grew up in KY and bowhunted for over 20 years there and always thought it would be a good idea, but after moving to Iowa last year I now know it would be a good idea. If Iowa changed shotgun season to the 2nd week of Nov. "like KY's gun season" there wouldnt be a deer left in this state. I gun hunted many, many years in KY and it's a whole different ball game than it is here in IA. I'd be willing to say that 95% of the shotgun hunting here in IA is deer drives, 100% up in the part of IA where I live...These guys shoot everything that jumps up, they partner up in groups of 15-25 hunters and say we have "X" amount of tags between us all, keep shooting until we fill those tags. To them it doesnt matter if 1 guy ends up shooting 10 deer that day, they just divy the tags up and go on. No telling how many deer are wounded during shotgun up here, last year after shotgun season I found 3 dead does in 1 feild that were wounded and never found "grown up feild" or shot and not wanted,,,that was just in 1 feild on 1 piece of ground. If they did deer drives in KY during Nov. like they do up here in Dec. the whitetail would soon be extinct in KY.
But the Nov. rut hunting here with a bow is crazy, I've never seen anything like it in my life growing up hunting in KY....Last year was my 1st season here and I saw more rut activity in 2 weeks than I had seen in 20+ years in KY. The KY DNR doesnt realize how good the deer hunting could be if they would just fix gun season....It'll never happen though, they know if they push it back alot of people would stop rifle hunting down there and they would lose $$$ because of it. I think it's funny that the KY DNR always says that they want to make KY into a "Big Buck State" like IA,IL & KS, but they refuse to fix the problems that keep it from being what they say they want it to be. The only thing they do is extend rifle season and make more liberal bag limits on does. Yes that might help keep the doe numbers in check but it's not gonna make KY into a true "Land of the Giants".

 

I think it's funny that the KY DNR always says that they want to make KY into a "Big Buck State" like IA,IL & KS, but they refuse to fix the problems that keep it from being what they say they want it to be. The only thing they do is extend rifle season and make more liberal bag limits on does. Yes that might help keep the doe numbers in check but it's not gonna make KY into a true "Land of the Giants".


That's is too an absolute T the only thing DNR has done. It is so sad to because we could definatley be a contender in the big buck states. Here's one to look at, just look at the quality of deer that come off the Thompson Center's Game trail farm Here. You'll see several big deer on many shows like Real tree Roadtrips, Tom Miranda's show, and of course Thompson Centers Game Trails Tv Show. It will Blow your mind the caliber of deer that come off that land. I know it's 14,000 acres and strictly managed but it will give you and idea of what this state could produce.

 

About the only suggestion on here I agree with is pushing back the gun season and maybe the earn a buck tag as well. But like someone else said that would probably just lead to a ton of phantom does being checked in.

 

Now, how do we change it?

Good discussion guys! It seems like a lot of us are dissatisfied with the current seasons and regulations but how do we get KDFWR to change? How does KDFWR receive public input?

 

Leave things as they are. Not everyone is IN to trophy bucks and those guys buy tags just like the trophy hunters do. KDFWR is pretty much supported by tag sales 100%, so the more tags sold the better off we all are. It may not be perfect, but it is pretty good for a "one size fits" program. Deer hunting is supposed to be fun, so don't over-regulate it into oblivian.

 

It's not just about trophy bucks, it's about the health of the herd as a whole. And yes when the herd is healthy there is a better chance of harvesting better bucks. Everyone isn't into just trophy hunting including me and that's fine. I kill my alotted amount of does each year and enjoy them on my table until the next season has come. Here's the thing, the people who are into just hunting would probably like to see the herd in better shape as well. If we let it keep going the way it is then those people will not buy liscence's and tags. There are fewer people hunting now than ever, (here that is) and the herd continues to suffer.

I didn't know KDFWR was funded 100% by tag sales. I thought they were also funded by hunting license, fishing Lisence, duck stamps, migratory bird, quota tags, and major fund raising programs. From what I see around here with the local wardens they're not suffering in thier 07 and newer Quad Cab gas suckin 4-wheel drive pickups that stay running outside the store for hours while they loaf and drink coffee

 

The herd is doing just fine.

 

Its not here! Buck to doe ratio is out of whack bad and the herd is definately suffering from it. I have watched a steady decline in the herd as a whole (health, size and numbers) since I began hunting. There was a time that we didnt have any deer and I dont want to see those times come back because we didnt utilize the QDM that we pioneered in this state. I think that deer deserve to live longer than one or two seasons as well.

 

I would like to see the season pushed back a week. I've been hunting since the "70"s and it's allways been a one buck state. Could you ever kill more than one buck in a season?

 

I know back in the late 80's you could kill one buck with archery equip. and one buck with whatever. I think it was about 1987-1988. Not sure how long before or after that it was like that.