SCDNR Deer Survey-# of Bucks

[PBiz]

This is the stupidest shit I have ever read. The deer density varies from block to block even on a certain piece of property. Manage you property the way you see fit, and let the experts worry about the important stuff. Like shooting 3 wooducks and 2 hen mallards. I swear, wood vs. Metal stands makes a better argument than this shit.

[Stalker]

Dang a set of horns if I cant put em on the wall! I would much rather smoke 10 does a year and 1 mature buck than 10 small basket rack bucks. IMO

X2

[dixiedeerslaya]

This is the stupidest shit I have ever read. The deer density varies from block to block even on a certain piece of property. Manage you property the way you see fit, and let the experts worry about the important stuff. Like shooting 3 wooducks and 2 hen mallards. I swear, wood vs. Metal stands makes a better argument than this shit.

sometimes its hard to "manage" your property when your neighbor shoots anything that walks......

ive got a neighbor that had killed 4 as of last weekend.... nair-e-one of them was bigger than a basket racked 6........ he is an old guy, doesnt care about horns, and does kill big deer every year, but its hard to pass up a basket 8 point when he is gonna get shot on the other side of the property line.

[DUCK MASTER]

DDS - I understand your point but if you kill him he dang sure wont ever get any bigger. Maybe some may be smart enough not to go over there and get shot.

[Carolina Counsel]

I have heard a lot more stupid discussions than this. I consider this one of the most important issues in sc hunting.

[PBiz]

Well buy more property and plant more food or put out more food than the next guy. SSF and myself counted a little over 100 deer that we are feeding on 11 stands since July. If you want deer on your property, cut out the pressure, plant high quality food plots and stack corn up high as the truck bed. Pressure being a big ticket.

[Catdaddy]

how can it only be 3:1?

Let's say you kill every buck by the end of the year. You have 50 does left. They are all pregnant.

Each doe has one fawn and nature splits their genders even. Some will have twins and some will have none, but the numbers will still be about the same.




Now you have 100 deer ....75 does and 25 bucks..........which is 3:1



That's the worst case senerio. Nobody kills every buck. Nature has it's own way of correcting things.

[PBiz]

Since television shows it seems that there is no short supply of biologists, that hunt.

[buckpro]

If you want deer on your property, cut out the pressure, plant high quality food plots and stack corn up high as the truck bed. Pressure being a big ticket.

Bingo!

[dixiedeerslaya]

ok, so is that the answer to all the problems??

people on here complain ALL the time about no ducks in south carolina..... is the answer to that "buy you some land and create an impoundment"?

[PBiz]

Whitetail deer aren't migratory...

[BRR]

What does it matter what they make the limit, they will never enforce it. there are huge number of people baiting in the upstate but there is not much that can be done to stop it. People will shoot a doe any day of the week if they want without much fear. I am a surveyor, so i see different tracts of land all the time, along with everybodies bait piles and everything else.

[Glenn]

The enforcement argument doesn't hold much water.

I think Kentucky has about the best system set up for this with their phone in check system. It's quick and easy and can be done from the field. You print a harvest log on line. No tags. Call in the kill and they give you a number you write in for that animal. That number follows the animal to the farm, to the processor, to the taxidermist.

All a green jeans has to do is hit the taxidermist shops and processors and verify the animals all have tags/numbers.

And the real smart ones will brag about their lawlessness on FB and innerweb chat forums like this.

[WoodieSC]

Reported ratios of 4:1 to 8:1 ?

The only folks that would report that is the folks that caused it by shooting too many bucks.

The absolute worst ratio you can have at the beginning of the season is 3:1. It can only get higher by shooting too many bucks during hunting season.

The ratios I stated above were told to me by a neighboring land owner who claimed that DNR told him that our ratios were upwards of 8:1/9:1 a few years back. I adjusted downward because my personal experience the last few years are lower than that... but I don't know what they really are.

Let's say you kill every buck by the end of the year. You have 50 does left. They are all pregnant.

Each doe has one fawn and nature splits their genders even. Some will have twins and some will have none, but the numbers will still be about the same.

Now you have 100 deer ....75 does and 25 bucks..........which is 3:1

That's the worst case senerio. Nobody kills every buck. Nature has it's own way of correcting things.

I see your point, but what if there are very few hunters taking does and only half of them get pregnant due to the low number of bucks?

So, if there are 50 does, and only 25 get pregnant, half have twins, the other half have one fawn, for a total of 19 doe fawns and 18 buck fawns... you now have a 5:1 ratio... right? Duplicate that over a couple of years and what happens?

I'm seeing a number of yearling does that aren't pregnant, and no twins this year (or the last three or four, for that matter)... at least in my little corner of the world. Not sure what that all means, but I sure ain't seeing that many bucks running around.

[3chunter]

Stop being greedy and bitching about your neighbors people!!! Go hunt and do what you want, and let your neighbors do what they do. Confrontational, selfish, commercialized mofo's round here!

[SCLAND&TIMBER]

no limit on does..no limit on bucks. no baiting and no shooting a deer with caliber smaller than .30
If any buck restrictions pass I hope they make it where a buck has to have 3 on one side or better to be legal.

Why no caliber smaller than .30?

Why no bait?

Seriously do you believe that the GA is going to outlaw baiting or hunting with calibers smaller than .30?

I can already tell you the answer to that is not no but hell no.

This is the stupidest shit I have ever read. The deer density varies from block to block even on a certain piece of property. Manage you property the way you see fit, and let the experts worry about the important stuff. Like shooting 3 wooducks and 2 hen mallards. I swear, wood vs. Metal stands makes a better argument than this shit.

x2

Since television shows it seems that there is no short supply of biologists, that hunt.

x2



Another problem I have is with buck tags. What are these tags going to cost and where is the money going?

[WhitewaterDuck]

Two bucks with three on one side limit and seven doe tags or more per person. Use the money to help with enforcement. Hopefully, we can do like most do in other states that have similar systems; we primarily regulate ourselves/each other. The honest folks will obide and the dishonest folks will break the law...nothing unusual there. Gotta have a rule first before you can enforce it. BTW, am I the only one who thinks that having gun and bow season open right now and not allowing doe killing AND requiring folks to buy doe tags when they can shoot a buck anytime they want is insane? I mean, look at whats getting whacked right now. A pisspile of little bucks have gone down in the last two weeks while we have a ridiculously whacked doe to buck ratio on all but the best managed large blocks of land throughout the majority of this state.

[WhitewaterDuck]

Why no caliber smaller than .30?

Why no bait?

Seriously do you believe that the GA is going to outlaw baiting or hunting with calibers smaller than .30?

I can already tell you the answer to that is not no but hell no.



x2


x2



Another problem I have is with buck tags. What are these tags going to cost and where is the money going?

Actually, you are correct sir. If you want to kill a small 4pt or a spike on your land, you should be able to. I think the two buck per year limit, if enforced, would do enough to improve the overall size of the bucks that make it that the antler restriction would not be needed. Heck, who's to say you can't shoot the young tender buck for eating. You are correct sir.

And I share your same pessimism about where the money will go and who will use it. There needs to be some type of law that states that 100% of the money collected will go directly to adding enforcement officers for DEER SEASON...or something similar with easy public access to view the use of the money/paper trail. It will never happen.

[Candor]

There is something flawed about every approach.

The average SC deer hunter is too uneducated (I don't mean stupid, just not informed) to be influencing this, IMO.


I can counter every type of management system with a valid, unarguable flaw.

We aren't the first state to skin this cat. DNR/legislature just needs to man-up and manage.

I'm for something analagous to Texas on antler restrictions.... But I think more important and more effective for SC is a buck limit.

Two bucks per man and re-evaluate in 8 years.

Certainly that punishes someone that hunts 1000 acres by himself but there has to be some injustice with nearly every approach.

SC will never be Illinois or Kansas, but education of the hunters on what our deer could be, will pay long term dividends. Most hunters don't realize how much more they could enjoy hunting knowing they stand a good chance of killing a hammer.

[SCLAND&TIMBER]

I understand what you're saying Candor but...

To some people though enjoying the hunt doesn't mean killing a hammer. I'd love to shoot a nice buck on a hunt but others would be just as satisfied with a basket six point.