Cougar Mag

ORIGINAL: Cougar Mag

huntingson, as much as I enjoy reading your posts on other threads you are not making any sense at all regarding outfitters and private landowners are the only ones managing the land and producing the B&C bucks. How many B&C bucks do you think are taken in any state on public land vs private land? You also say Illinois allows too many bucks to be taken......IL. allows only 2 bucks per season total, regardless of weapon(s) used. Thats 2! IL. also has no limit on does taken by residents or non-residents and non-residents can buy antlerless tags cheap. So tell me how is IL. allowing too many bucks to be taken?

I believe when it comes to sound deer herd management shoudn't that include does as well as bucks? Be honest here, an outfitter manages for big bucks and I know they encourage does to be taken but not many hunters booking with an outfitter are taking does for fear the next deer that might apear is the buck of their dreams.

MeanV2

Are the outfitters in IL. because there were big Deer, or are the Deer Big in IL because the Outfitters moved in?

I can remember seeing a lot of Big Deer before I ever heard of an outfitter in this area. It seems if Outfitters are the answer to a states Deer herd woes, that there are several states that should roll out the Red carpet

I have nothing against outfitters and use them on a lot of my out of state hunts (an outfitter being someone who provides you an area to hunt)

Carry On!![8D]

Dan

Kid

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! I find it quite telling that not a single ILLINOIS resident has much good to say about outfitters. I've said it before and i'll say it again, over 90% of the deer harvested by non-residents are Bucks. So, in my opinion, Illinois is allowing too many Bucks to be taken by non-residents. There are some outfitters in Illinois who do a good job managing their herd, but you guys that believe that outfitters are "saving" deer hunting in Illinois are sadly misguided. I agree with the post that made the point that we had big bucks long before the outfitters came. The real problem is the hunters (almost exclusively non-residents)who are willing to pay absolutely ridiculous amounts of money to harvest bucks herebecause either their own home state is sadly lacking in it's management program and/or their own lack of hunting skills means they have to pay someone to put them on big bucks. Illinois's reputation for big bucks is the single worst thing to ever happen to deer hunting in this state, IMHO.

huntingson

This is very close to what I am trying to say, apparently I am just saying it horribly and I apologize for that. I think you all were assuming that I am all for the non-residents coming in and shooting bucks and no does, which is what I am trying to say a huge part of the problem is. Did the outfitters make the deer big? Come on, I wish someone would give me a little more credit than that. Why does every discussion turn into an argument on here?

I ask you residents, do you see more, less, or the same amount of trophy bucks on public land as you did 10 years ago? As splitear so eliquently put it I have no first hand knowledge and am going off of what I have read.

Cougar: As far as Ohio goes, a pretty good number/% of the trophies taken are on public land. All other states I don't know. There are quite a few states that have really made a charge over the last few years by making big changes in their management practices, whether that be antler restrictions or changes that have increased the amount of does taken. Again though, no first hand knowledge and we all now know that research and #'s are biased[:-]

englum_06

Im glad you noticed that as well. Must mean something.

BTBowhunter

One property in Brown county

635 acres

Landowner requested a goal of 15 does taken

2007 harvest 15 does 6 bucks.

ALL but three of the does were shot by non residents. Those three were shot by the landowners family. It's all in how things are managed

Splitear_Leland

Which is great for that one piece of property, but are you gonna tell me that all leased and outfitted properties are managed this way. You can find an example to prove anything that you want, but it still doesn't make you right. There are antlered does, but does that mean that the majority of does have antlers. It's not even worth arguing with you over these things because you are going to bend it to where you are in the right, and I the majority of Illinois resident HUNTERS are in the wrong. We are thieves because we "take something for nothing", and outfitters are saviors because all they do is give back. Give me a break man.

Kid

All i'm saying is this needsto be by far the rule and not the rare exception. Glad to see that someone is doing their part.

THWACK_007

You obviously dont know much do you? Outfitters lease many farmers land. They lease land for about $20-30 an acre. Are you telling me that is outrageous? I know of some prime spots that outfitters are leasing land for that price. So you dont know of 3-4 guys that wouldlease a 200 acre farm for $4000-6000 a year??

THWACK_007

On our outfit this year we killed over 70 does this year. If the outfitter knows what they are doing they will manage there heard properly. I can find many other outfitters that do this as well until their heard is the way they want it.