Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Iowa racks a'plenty A photo like this just might upset Wisconsin hunters who faced an Earn-A-Buck season last fall and came home empty-handed.  I don't know the whole story here, as this photo was passed along to me via e-mail today, but from what I could decipher from the message within the message within...   These 14 bucks were taken in a span of 3 days within the same square mile near Allamakee, IA.  I'm guessing it was during Iowa's shotgun season and likely during the rut, as it is rare to see so many big bucks in such a small area.  This part of Iowa resembles SW Wisconsin, judging from the hills behind the farmhouse.  In similar habitat in Wisconsin, the year before CWD was discovered there, I participated in a hunt where we moved over 100 deer on the first drive of the day.  Most were does, but still... It continues to amaze me that some hunters still don't believe there are well over 1 million deer in Wisconsin going into the fall season.  If we harvest between 400,000 and 500,000 per year and CONTINUE to do so, then where the heck are they coming from?  These same hunters seem to forget that back in the 1970s, we killed less than 100,000 deer in both gun and bow seasons combined.  Now, bowhunters take over 100,000 each year. I'd go on, but you get my drift.  We got game, despite what many hunters believe.  If we gave up baiting and feeding deer, I think we'd see a lot more of them come hunting season. Later... 9:22:54 PM    comment []