boilermaker
NES Member
Zone 8 for me
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Doe tag day today!!
- Thread starter boxerjake77
- Start date
Just seeing this.
How does this work again? I did it a couple times, but missed the last two years I think. Is this an apply online thing? Or do we call? Or mail something? Stamp it? Go to the post office? I hate all these arcane stupid friggin laws.
How does this work again? I did it a couple times, but missed the last two years I think. Is this an apply online thing? Or do we call? Or mail something? Stamp it? Go to the post office? I hate all these arcane stupid friggin laws.
You click on the anterless deer permit application when you buy your sporting/hunting license. It will ask what zone you want it for. Wait until 8/1 and log back in and try to purchase another hunting license and it will be available to buy if you won it.
bdb
NES Member
deadline to apply was July 16. If you didn't apply, you obviously won't be awarded a tag but can buy surplus tags for the zones that have surplus available sometime in October but they haven't accounted the date yet.
I did the first part of this (pretty sure). Now I need to find the site where to go back and check. Anyone have it handy? Why can't they just send you an email or robocall or something?
If you DON'T get one in Zone 10, you have the WORST luck in the world...
ETA: from what i recall there is a 100% chance (if you applied before the deadline)
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ccm75
NES Member
Ditto
I would rather shoot a doe than an immature buck these days but where I hunt in zone 7 there are plenty of deer. Other zones like 4,5 and 6 the herd is not as good. I believe Mark is in zone 5 and can totally understand his stance.
Then I would expect the fish and game to be limiting doe tags in zones 4 5 and 6. My point, I guess, is that mark stated the population is low "west of 495" and as the population is low "west of 495" he would not shoot does. That includes like 75% of the state. I hunt zone 9.....mostly.......and that is west of 495.......and received a doe tag......and plan to use that doe tag if the opportunity presents itself as I trust the fish and wildlife service to have not provided doe tags in zone 9 if there was a problem with the deer herd population in that area. Hence my question as to if Mark had specific information regarding the population of deer west of 495 or if he was a state paid biologist.
I have a unique perspective on this. I am a Massachusetts resident.......and ice fish often in NH and pay hansomly for the privelage to do so with my out of state license.......and have been on the receiving end of verbal "confontations" with NH residents over me practicing catch and release of Pickerel in certain lakes. My opinion is if the fish and game in NH wanted the pickerel population reduced in certain lakes they would put out a kill order for pickerel on those lakes. A few years ago I took a liking to fishing a certain pond east of Conway NH as it offered nice browns and bows.......and I snagged the occasional large pickerel.....and released them........A local "bucket biologist" made it his business to come over and chastise me for putting the pickerel back in the water as "they pickerel kill the trout". I caught another pickerel a few minutes later and as I practice catch and release because I find no reason to harvest something I don't plan to eat........I put it back. He came over again and his attitude came to a heated argument in which I told him to kindly but sternly go fu## his self...............anyway........
My thought is leave the management of fish and game to the folks that are paid to manage it. if someone receives a doe tag.......they should use that doe tag and not feel guilty about it......and should not be subject to others "opinions" as long as a the hunter is sporting within the limits of what the fish and game provides. that is all
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![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
Mark from MA
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First off, im not telling anyone not to use a permit. If your happy with the herd in your hunt area then by all means shoot. If its the only deer you see all year.... Well thats not so smart.
I hunt places where there is a good herd and hunting ma is like a barren wasteland to me. People that hunted average areas in MA have no idea what a good herd is
Yes, trust the state, we trust them on this website all the time right?
My belief is they dole out permits based on what the insurance companies bitch about. If it was up to them there would be no deer
I have not heard of them doing arial surveys of deer here, maybe the do i dont know but that is the professional way of doing it. I think they guess for the most part or use kill stats which are very unscientific. .
There are good pockets of deer west of 495. Where Arlow hunts is a good example. Some richer towns out by springfield limit it and are hard to hunt. If you get into those towns there is some good hunting.
Ive hunted zone 5,8,and 3. And the trend for me over 20 plus years has bedn very negative. Bavk when i started shotgun was one week, one buck only, and getting a doe tag was like winning the lottery. There was 3 days of muzzleloader and only a month of archery.
In a relatively short time, theyve doubled the available seasons or more, made it way easier to get a doe permit, and added an extra buck tag to the license. Probably all in all a 75 percent increase in hunting time and a 50 percent in increase in tags. Not baby steps.
Now add to that the expansion of the coyotes over 20 years. And the brown is down mentality thatsso prevalent in this state because the herd sucks. So the average hunter shoots anything they see.
What i question is did the deer herd increase that much to warrant that. Not in the areas i hunt. And ive seen first hand the results.
So i choose not to use a doe tag, i also choose not to shoot small bucks for the most part either. I generally stick to bowhunting my ct spots now anyway. I m guarenteed to see a deer every hunt. I dont shoot them all the time but at least its a nice day afield seeing them.
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Got one for zone 5 so did my uncle and my sister, her boyfriend, his brother and dad Got one for whatever zone sturbridge is in and all of bow season last year I only saw does
