Tooner,
No, the DNR is trying to manage a deer herd of 1,500,000 deer by managing 650,000 deer hunters. They are trying to manage for a more balance age structure in the herd. Since we seem unable to do it with the old rules, the majority of hunters asked want to try something new. And APR's seemed the most popular because most Michigan deer hunters still want two buck tags and not just one a year. In addition, the majority don't even shoot any kind of bow, they shoot firearms.
Rules shouldn't be based mainly on the hunters needs and wants, like the old rules were, they should have a better balance about what's good for the majority of hunters and what's good for the deer herd/nature/forest too. The rules you and I grew up with were hunter focused after the initial purpose of growing herds in the post market hunting era, with the deer herd/forest getting little thought by the mid-1930's. We hunters, especially traditional bowhunters, should consider ourselves to be among the premier conservationists in the country, not merely consumers of the resource.
All of us deer hunters are deer managers and make management decisions all the time. Like it or not, we're all deer managers. Even traditional bowhunters are deer managers. And, we also make management decisions when we decide not to shoot something, like not shooting a doe or fawn and waiting for a spike buck instead.
(On a side note, I killed a doe on Saturday and she was being trailed by a spike. I killed the doe and essentially passed on the spike. Most often, many hunters would have shot the spike.)
Since the 1920's, Michigan deer hunters have killed too high of a ratio of yearling bucks. MDNR biologists knew it by the late 1930's but hunters loved killing bucks and overpopulated herds and wouldn't hear of changes until recently. We kill more yearling bucks than any other state and have for years. That is not a badge of honor, as far as the deer herd goes or the habitat damage a skewed herd can do.
The problem is, too many Michigan deer hunter focus solely on bucks and have for generations. The combo tag is good for two antlerless deer with a bow, yet most deer killed with it are yearling bucks. The biologists want to "trigger manage" the managers, that being us. By making a 3pt APR, studies show that hunters will increase antlerless harvest by 10-15% and that buck harvest numbers will be the same after about three years. On top of it, Michigan offers over a half million antlerless tags, (on top of the two in the combo tag) so it isn't as if opportunity to kill a deer is low. The problem is, still too many deer hunters value the quality of a deer as having antlers vs. having none. Too many still don't consider a doe to be a quality deer. So, since voluntary restrictions haven't worked, the state is trying rule changes, with super majority support and after years of surveys and public hearings.
We have rules on when you can bait, how much you can bait. We have rules about when you can hang a stand and where to put your name on it. We have rules about treesteps, shooting times, "doe" quota's, rifle calibers, how to tag a deer, etc.
Believe it or not, Michigan hunters have been living with an APR since the 1920's, that being the 3" APR. And we've had a 4pt APR with the 2nd combo tag since the 1990's.
I won't add any other posts on the subject in this thread, but I'm excited for new rules, virtually every other hunter I know is excited about new rules, all but one customer at Cabela's was excited for new rules, I'm excited for the possibilities my kids will have with new rules.
Topic: Traditional or Semi-Traditional (Read 3218 times)
