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If one wants a healthy herd here in MI, then hunters have to follow the science, biologists and vets. The issue always is the highest majority of hunters disagree. Then you have TV shows and Dr. Dear telling everyone about MONSTER bucks on every piece of private property.

One also has to consider the number of hunters in MI vs the numbers in the so called "trophy states". MI has dwindling numbers of hunters as do all states. Michigan held 3rd place for the number of hunters for decades behind Texas and Pennsylvania. MI has now fallen to 5th, with 586,000 whitetail hunters. Compare that to Iowa, where the state’s 8,200 paid hunting-license holders in 2018 constitute the nation’s smallest state contingent, according to the F&WS. These hunters took 1,900 deer in 2017-2018, with residents harvesting 1,700 and nonresidents 200. Archers took about 400 of the deer.

MI has a lot of really nice bucks, many of them taken off public lands every year. Private land owners are cashing in on HUGE sums of money leasing even smaller properties to hunters. Its nothing to have to pay $40 per acre.

Between disease, insurance companies, farm bureau, cattle farmers and farmers in general, you'll never see a lack of deer tags in MI.
$40/acre Lease is dead on. It's what a group of 4 of us paid for 60 acres for the last 15 years. Unfortunately, sale of the land is pending. If I were a younger man, I'd consider buying. For a nominal entrance fee, I can hunt the game area at 10 mile and Woodward...
 
I’m packed, leaving early. I do as much visiting as I do hunting. Latest report was 10” of snow on the ground.
Best of luck! Any time spent in the UP is a bonus! Would love to hear how your trip turns out!
 
I'd like to see a primative weapons season 1 November to the start of gun deer... Archery or muzzle loader only during the primative season. That's is the best time to be in the woods due to peak rut occurring then.

Id like gun deer to open the second Friday of Nov instead of always being the 15th.

I'd like our Michigan dnr to drop physical tags and licesences, and do robo phone/Cell phone app check-ins like Virginia. Virginia has it dialed in.

BASICALLY we'd start with archery 1oct, add muzzle loaders 1 November, then add modern guns the second Friday of November until they close the season. ..


With real harvest data you can manage the heard and close seasons and extend them as needed.


If you made those changes I would not care how long the season extended or whatever special season stuff they add in December to meet their quotas.

Yours

Tom
 
I'd like to see a primative weapons season 1 November to the start of gun deer... Archery or muzzle loader only during the primative season. That's is the best time to be in the woods due to peak rut occurring then.

Id like gun deer to open the second Friday of Nov instead of always being the 15th.

I'd like our Michigan dnr to drop physical tags and licesences, and do robo phone/Cell phone app check-ins like Virginia. Virginia has it dialed in.

BASICALLY we'd start with archery 1oct, add muzzle loaders 1 November, then add modern guns the second Friday of November until they close the season. ..


With real harvest data you can manage the heard and close seasons and extend them as needed.


If you made those changes I would not care how long the season extended or whatever special season stuff they add in December to meet their quotas.

Yours

Tom
Problem is the Mdnr doesn’t have real data. They only go by who checks in the deer they harvest. A lot of times the check in stations are closed. And most hunters I know don’t bother with it anyways..not to mention the number of Amish who don’t use tags..Nothing against them or anything but I’ve seen it myself 15+ deer in a day not tagged…..

so back to what I was saying..if we want change what do we do?
 
I'd like to see a primative weapons season 1 November to the start of gun deer... Archery or muzzle loader only during the primative season. That's is the best time to be in the woods due to peak rut occurring then.

Id like gun deer to open the second Friday of Nov instead of always being the 15th.

I'd like our Michigan dnr to drop physical tags and licesences, and do robo phone/Cell phone app check-ins like Virginia. Virginia has it dialed in.

BASICALLY we'd start with archery 1oct, add muzzle loaders 1 November, then add modern guns the second Friday of November until they close the season. ..


With real harvest data you can manage the heard and close seasons and extend them as needed.


If you made those changes I would not care how long the season extended or whatever special season stuff they add in December to meet their quotas.

Yours

Tom
I've heard (don't recall where) the auto insurance lobby is at least partially to blame for the whitetail massacre allowed here in Michigan.
I can certainly believe that, after all they're part of a defunct government.
I'm feeling anxious to get on my soapbox regarding our buck to doe ratio, but apparently Michigan can't take any learning cues from Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc.
Interesting article: Mandatory Antler Point Restrictions: A Dangerous Precedent
 
I've heard (don't recall where) the auto insurance lobby is at least partially to blame for the whitetail massacre allowed here in Michigan.
I can certainly believe that, after all they're part of a defunct government.
I'm feeling anxious to get on my soapbox regarding our buck to doe ratio, but apparently Michigan can't take any learning cues from Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc.
Interesting article: Mandatory Antler Point Restrictions: A Dangerous Precedent
Up here, they're shooting them one right after the other at night with silencers. Each year they've targeted a different area. One of the processors processed 8,000 pounds of venison which was distributed to food banks.
 
I think you guys missed my point... in Virginia all deer kills are recorded... every one (legally taken) is recorded. You do it with yourself with your cell phone, or you can call in a robo call line and punch numbers in and get your registered kill number back, or you can take it to a check station (rarely done).

The game managers get live harvest data... and with the cell phones they can even get GPS coordinates... with the phone system they get zip codes... Hunters don't get tags, you write the registration number the system gives you back after registering your kill on something and affix it to the deer. You fill out a blank on your printed off your computer form with that same registration number after a kill (or the cell phone app auotmatically records it for you): You get 6 blanks/kills with your license (unless you are using harvest managment tags).. ie 6 deer for your $40 license fee, no tags to carry...

it works... and works well. we don't need to re invent the wheel. It would be as easy as the DNR's computer guys copying and pasting stuff from the Virginia DGIF (dept of game and inland fisheries). When you go hunting you just take your phone with you and you are set.

In Virginia landowners don't buy licenses... they use their property tax ID number in the system and record all their kills under that... Folks like the Amish would probably get a mail in system...

Michigan is behind in just about every way I've seen it.
 
I think you guys missed my point... in Virginia all deer kills are recorded... every one (legally taken) is recorded. You do it with yourself with your cell phone, or you can call in a robo call line and punch numbers in and get your registered kill number back, or you can take it to a check station (rarely done).

The game managers get live harvest data... and with the cell phones they can even get GPS coordinates... with the phone system they get zip codes... Hunters don't get tags, you write the registration number the system gives you back after registering your kill on something and affix it to the deer. You fill out a blank on your printed off your computer form with that same registration number after a kill (or the cell phone app auotmatically records it for you): You get 6 blanks/kills with your license (unless you are using harvest managment tags).. ie 6 deer for your $40 license fee, no tags to carry...

it works... and works well. we don't need to re invent the wheel. It would be as easy as the DNR's computer guys copying and pasting stuff from the Virginia DGIF (dept of game and inland fisheries). When you go hunting you just take your phone with you and you are set.

In Virginia landowners don't buy licenses... they use their property tax ID number in the system and record all their kills under that... Folks like the Amish would probably get a mail in system...

Michigan is behind in just about every way I've seen it.
DGIF was changed last year to DWR Department of Wildlife Resources in VA.
I just notch the computer license then call in to answer several questions then write the number given on the paper like you said.
We can also do this all on cell phone or computer now. They stopped using game check stations this year. It's all electronic now.
 
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I think you guys missed my point... in Virginia all deer kills are recorded... every one (legally taken) is recorded. You do it with yourself with your cell phone, or you can call in a robo call line and punch numbers in and get your registered kill number back, or you can take it to a check station (rarely done).

The game managers get live harvest data... and with the cell phones they can even get GPS coordinates... with the phone system they get zip codes... Hunters don't get tags, you write the registration number the system gives you back after registering your kill on something and affix it to the deer. You fill out a blank on your printed off your computer form with that same registration number after a kill (or the cell phone app auotmatically records it for you): You get 6 blanks/kills with your license (unless you are using harvest managment tags).. ie 6 deer for your $40 license fee, no tags to carry...

it works... and works well. we don't need to re invent the wheel. It would be as easy as the DNR's computer guys copying and pasting stuff from the Virginia DGIF (dept of game and inland fisheries). When you go hunting you just take your phone with you and you are set.

In Virginia landowners don't buy licenses... they use their property tax ID number in the system and record all their kills under that... Folks like the Amish would probably get a mail in system...

Michigan is behind in just about every way I've seen it.
Agreed. How can a management team succeed if they can't even count?
 
Agreed. How can a management team succeed if they can't even count?

They also nickle and dime us to death here in the Mighty Mitten... it seems they are getting better but it used to be a bit of an administrative burden to get a doe tag just so you could shoot a doe...

in VA.... six kills per license issued... and a license is like $40 for a resident. Whether you can shoot a doe or buck with so many points is a bit like here (depends where you are), but when you take an animal they know where you are, and what you can register... so no tags with crazy symbols, and referencing charts to figure out what you can shoot... And in VA they don't have anything to mail you, or that you have to go to the gun store to buy (unless you want and purchase a physical license for more $... or a federal duck stamp, etc), so their costs are all limited to the phone/computer system issuing licenses and tracking kills.

When you kill a deer in VA, they know where you did it (if you use your phone), and you report sex, points, and any other metrics they ask for. They get real time data and know how many deer of what type are killed in what locations.

If we got a system like that, with a special early muzzle loader, and change opening day of general gun deer to the second friday in Nov, we'd be set.

My .02 USD

Tom
 
For the most part, I don't like all of this new technology. Too much of a conspiracy theorist I guess. As we all know, many of the 'outrageous' predictions of overstepped boundaries and big brotherism has come to fruition. When technology is used appropriately, like in your scenario, I can see where it would be helpful. When reminiscing on hunts from the 70's, I think fondly of the backtag licenses. Thinks were simpler then.
 
It really boils down to the honest hunter's. If you get caught with big game it's easy for the DWR to check your kill now.
It sure is better than the paper tags we had. I used to take a safety pin to attach the tag to the ear. One had to be really careful when dragging a deer or bear so the tag wasn't lost.
 
Here in MI I keep Zip ties in my hip pouch to affix my tag to my kills. Each tag costs $20 each and come in the mail (or you can buy them at the store counter) I miss the VA hunt fish app that made it all so easy.. Just take your phone and driver's license and go hunting.
 
I have been using zip ties here in Indiana for a number of years now.It is almost impossible to find a check in station here so I go on line and check mine in that way.
 
I’m back from my hunt, only shot I took was to clear the charge after the hunt. I saw a good amount of anterless, not a one with antlers.

The closest I came to a shot was a coyote on a frozen pond 300 yards away. I gave a few toots with my predator call, but I think he knew I was in the area, by his direction. He looked for a fair bit, then trotted away.

I was out in the cold & snow, gun went off as well as ever. I like to shoot it off rather than trying to push the load out. Today I did a complete, off the stock cleaning & lube for the ‘off season’.
 
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