mez

I grew up in Nebraska where there are check in stations and i agree it was a pain. The local fire department ran the check stations and I don't think they got a lot of quality info to the game and fish other than sex of the deer. I think they are a waste of time. I now live in South Dakota and like the system they have in place here. You get a tooth envelope with your tag and remove the first two incisors from your deer and mail them back to the game and fish so they can age the deer, not sure what other info they get from them. They also send out a survey at the end of the season to fill out and send back in as to how many days hunted, county hunted in, number of animals seen. If you do not send the survey back they have the right to deny you a license the following year. This system works good and they get all the information they need. Like has been said before, the illegal deer are not going to visit the check stations so what is the point?

MissouriTrapper

Everyone has made some really good points. It sounds like South Dakota has a good system for checking deer. I am going to write some letters to the Missouri Department of Conservation and see about making some changes to the current system. I feel that it would be cheaper to send out surveys instead of paying businesses so much per animal for check-in stations. Thanks for all the replies, just wanted to see how everyone else felt about this.

rockytop

We have to check them in Tennesse and I'm guessing about 1/2 or 2/3 of the deer killed actually get checked. I took a kid to a safety course last year and asked the game warden instructor why we have check ins and he said it was all bs. The game warden said it was started in the early 1950's when tennessee's deer herd was very small and being restocked. He said it gave them some idea of how the herd was growing. But, the herd is so large now that those numbers don't mean anything. He said is wasteless bureacratic bs.

dpv

Killed my first dear this year. A doe at last light. by the time I got out of the tree, tracked her, cleaned her, and dragged her out of the woods the only checkin station I knew of was closed. I called the police dept and they told me of another that was likely open. They also said that if absolutely neccassary, I could check it at the Police Dept. Don't know if that is the way at all Virginia Police or Sheriff, but it is here in Chesterfield.

David

Iowa Monsterbuck

They sound ridicuous! I agree that the carcass tags where you punch out the date of kill are far better than getting a tag from a station. You tag your deer before you move it, if you have a deer you haven't tagged it's a fine. Plain, simple, and the poachers have no alibi of "on the way to get it checked". I also agree that the postcard surveys should be effective enough for data collection.

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bigcountry25

I too live in missouri and beleive that checking deer can be a pain.
I was at my local bow shop about two months ago and a conservation agent was there asking what people thought about the state wide any deer permits for firearms season( which I think is wrong in the area I live in) and she said that they were thinking about doing away with check in stations because is cost them $1.00 for every deer checked and going to a phone/internet type system. I don't know how this works but if you called in and they asign your animal a number and just like they do when you check one in at a station then that would be great IMO. Because the people who kill deer and do ckeck them all they get is a tag with a number on it and the phone in system would do the samething as most check in station do, I have never had my deer checked for the type of weapon used so what would be different? And it would serve the same perphs as the check station as far as giving the conservation agents a record of what is taken and by who, with cell phones useing the internet the agent could see if your animal has been checked and the check in number if he happens to visit you. And this system would make no difference to poachers because they don't check in deer most of the time anyway. I have seen the conservation agent come into the check station many times and see that someone took a deer on opening day or took two with a few days or weeks of each other and ask people working there or anyone in the store for that matter if they know this person and do they think they are in some many words a poacher, so who really gets more attention the person who checks there animals in or the one who doesn't????????

bad czech

I don't know how it is in your state but in OK the season differs from year to year. Lets say the doe count is low in one county they will increase it the next year and the only way they know is by the deer that is being checked in. I'm sure there is a better way but today it's the only way.

davidmil

I know they get infor from the check stations. The thing is they can get the same info from a mail in card or a call in system.

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