2018 Hoosier state hunting regs

[j-bird]

So, the Indiana DNR has released the 2018 deer hunting rules, yet has yet to publish the harvest report from last year. That to me seems....."odd"!

Anyway, to my fellow hunting Hoosiers here are some links of some info you may find of interest.

The new hunting regs for the year.
http://www.eregulations.com/indiana/hunting/bonus-antlerless-deer/

The 2017 state park hunt report - note the goal is to have a .2 Harvest/Effort ratio state wide......That is 1 harvest for every 5 hunting "efforts".
https://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/files/sp-DeerRMRR.pdf

And the 2018 bonus antlerless map.

 

[MarkDarvin]

MN is the same way.


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[swat1018]

I guess they are headed in the right direction, but who knows. A few years ago you could kill 8 bonus doe in my County, now it's 2. Oops, but hey, in another decade we may have deer again, at this rate.

 

[Chad Hauenstein]

I am interested to see the harvest report as well. My guess, is that numbers are a bit down last year due to the weather. I was out in Indiana the last week of Archery and where i was much of the low lands were under water. A couple guys from camp stayed the first 2 days of gun and said high winds and rain made hunting tough.

Hoping that means some real good bucks this year

 

[j-bird]

I guess they are headed in the right direction, but who knows. A few years ago you could kill 8 bonus doe in my County, now it's 2. Oops, but hey, in another decade we may have deer again, at this rate.

It's "BETTER"....I'm just frustrated that they where slow to react when we had a real problem and now they are slow to react again. I still don;t think they know how many deer we have. I bet they harvest report will show a minor "crash" in harvest numbers in the north and that is what drove the changes. Very reactive process they use.....and I am thinking they released this info BEFORE the harvest report because they knew the deer hunters would flip out over the report. Now they can use the recent info to make folks feel a little better and then maybe ease the pain of the 2017 harvest numbers.

 

[j-bird]

I am interested to see the harvest report as well. My guess, is that numbers are a bit down last year due to the weather. I was out in Indiana the last week of Archery and where i was much of the low lands were under water. A couple guys from camp stayed the first 2 days of gun and said high winds and rain made hunting tough.

Hoping that means some real good bucks this year

Numbers have been down statewide on a 5 to 10% rate year to year for the past few years now. And the DNR always tries to put some spin on it as to the cause other than saying "there are less deer". I suspect the 2017 report will show an even greater harvest reduction and thus what drove the bonus number reductions....especially in the northern counties. Like I mentioned in another post, I think they issued the bonus antlerless info before the harvest report to try to defuse any eruption that may have come from hunters if the report was issued first.

 

[dogghr]

How the heck do you guys not have last years deer tally. I'm sure the numbers are no more than ours and we got them months ago. And for that matter with electronic registering, they usually post the numbers after each season thru the fall with some updating at finish of season. And its with these numbers that they have various public meetings thru the spring for inputs before regulations are decided. I may not always agree with the WV dnr but at least they put forth some effort and the legislature keep their noses out of it. Good luck with you guys con job.

 

[j-bird]

I tossed something together that I thought was interesting. Below is a graphic just to show what we have seen in the past few years. I find it interesting after years of hammering the deer......and hunters starting to say something years ago about the declining numbers.....now, this year all of the sudden we see HALF as many counties under the attack of the DNR on the deer. This appears to be similar to racing towards a cliff and then all of the sudden slamming on the breaks to try to avoid a total disaster!

Indiana counties (total of 92) to have 4 or higher bonus anlterless quota AND participate in the special late season antlerless hunt (when en-acted).
2011 - 73 counties
2012 - 73 counties
2013 - 69 counties
2014 - 63 counties
2015 - 60 counties
2016 - 60 counties
2017 - 51 counties
2018 - 24 counties

 

[TheOldOak]

Have to agree, bad news coming on the 2017 harvest numbers. Absurd that it is almost August and we don't have the 2017 numbers. At this rate, our DNR will be as incompetent as Illinois soon! I grew up there, so I can say that! Seriously though, i do a lot of driving up and down the Hoosier state and not seeing many deer in the beanfields these days. Big anterless quotas in many counties has finally brought the chickens home to roost. Less revenue for DNR now too.

 

[Tom Threetoes]

Have to agree, bad news coming on the 2017 harvest numbers. Absurd that it is almost August and we don't have the 2017 numbers. At this rate, our DNR will be as incompetent as Illinois soon! I grew up there, so I can say that! Seriously though, i do a lot of driving up and down the Hoosier state and not seeing many deer in the beanfields these days. Big anterless quotas in many counties has finally brought the chickens home to roost. Less revenue for DNR now too.

That's no big deal just raise fees for dummies like me who didn't buy a life time license. On another forum I visit any hint that our DNR is less than perfect would get instant flames. Dear sightings on our property have decreased by at least 60% over the last 10 years, due mainly to the wholesale slaughter of does. My opinion for what it's worth.