If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS May Giveaway ***Canik METE SFX***
The extended archery season in 10-14 yielded an extra 700 deer according to the article I read.but, but no one hunts anymore....
Totally blew away the record from last season. I was not expecting that either .ThanksI’m surprised. Not what I expected.
Thanks for posting.
Bob
The extended archery season in 10-14 yielded an extra 700 deer according to the article I read.
From what I saw they didn't post the zone by zone data yet just the totalAnd another 300 deer from added wachusett lands. Which will be a lot less next year.
This year absolutely should have been a record. As expected.
I havent looked at the data vs previous years in the west. Thats what’s important. The east will continue to rise because the deer are protected there.
The deer herd also has to be at record levels in MA.
I’d need permission from at least a dozen homes to hunt the deer in my backyard and I would still have trouble meeting the 150’ setback from a road requirement. It would be completely safe to hunt back there, particularly now hunting from a tree stand. But here in MA the setback limits for bow hunting are the same as the setback limits for shotgun hunting. It’s totally moronic.
The deer herd also has to be at record levels in MA.
From what I saw they didn't post the zone by zone data yet just the total
Mark is spot on. Come out to the Berkshires and tell us the herd is doing great. Although I do think it's more about improving habitat than it is reducing the harvest numbers. The habitat is nearly all open hardwoods which doesn't support much life. 1-2 deer per square mile may even be an accurate number in some spots.
I will say I'm surprised at the numbers in zone 2, 4N and 4S. I heard less shots , and saw less trucks this year than ever before.
How many folks actually hunt it?A whopping 147 deer in my zone 6, where its surrounded by the quabbin and mostly all wooded and once was one of the best areas of the state to deer hunt, and where everyone went. Yeah....talk about mismanagement.
A whopping 147 deer in my zone 6, where its surrounded by the quabbin and mostly all wooded and once was one of the best areas of the state to deer hunt, and where everyone went. Yeah....talk about mismanagement.
You have to consider the hunting pressure to use that data. If there are far fewer hunters in zones 1-6 then the data on total harvested is not valid.This.
More than half of the deer killed came from 21 % of the deer management zones (3 of the 14). Sounds like sound management to me./s
Bob
You have to consider the hunting pressure to use that data. If there are far fewer hunters in zones 1-6 then the data on total harvested is not valid.
I'm not disputing that the herd may be small in those zones. Just stating the facts. When you look at total harvest data by zone that alone does not alone indicate low deer numbers. Number of deer harvested as compared to number of hunter days afield would be the statistical data to be used.Meh. There are a lot of factors. It is a complex problem.
I’ve been hunting a long time and some things are indisputable:
The deer densities in western Mass are abysmal.
It is common to hunt a week out here and only see a few deer.
A fair number of doe tags from eastern mass get filled in western mass.
DFW doesn’t care as there is no real management of the deer herd in western mass. Aside from the pellet count at Quabbin there isn’t anything done to verify deer numbers.
Bob
How many folks actually hunt it?
How many folks actually hunt it?
Its a bad situation, especially when you get greenie treehuggers out there that think they are doing good by being anti wood cutting. Retards.
A fair number of doe tags from eastern mass get filled in western mass.
I've also tried for years and have never drawn a doe tag in 2, 4N or 4S. I don't know anyone who has ever gotten one in one of those three zones.