With all this talk on DMU's,tagging,point restrictions and other crap I will be looking for a lease in Georgia next year. At least in Georgia they have a proven system that is based on solid information. In my opinion FWC and whatever other agencies that make the rules in Florida have a very hard time or are incapable of collecting and utilizing accurate data to manage our woods and water. If you want our hunting to suffer the same fates as grouper,red snapper and snook fishing by all means beg them to change the system that has worked for years and see what you end up with. Just remember that once it's gone we'll never get it back.
I believe if you bring the fish argument into this, you must consider the commercial fishing aspect into the equation. In my opinion that is what killed the fishing. Raping the shallow bottoms with their drag nets and killing everything down there. We have commercial hunting(poachers) down to a minimum so there is no effect there. FWC did not mismanage the fishing industry. I think it was lack of control by the feds and state. but another topic another day
...Bottom line, FWC needs help from a state that has been doing this longer than 15 years. FWC has only been up and running since 1999 and prior to that it was a part of FL environmental protection without any real authority or management capablity.
Prior to the FWC, Florida's Game and Freshwater Fish Commission handled the wildlife management. It was formed in the '40s and brought all the county rules under one jurisdiction. The GFFC created the WMA system and by the end of the '40s over 2.5 million acres had been set aside as WMAs. Deer populations had been decimated by efforts to eradicate cattle ticks, and the WMA system helped start rebuilding the herds. When they eradicated the screw-worm in the late '50s, that helped the herds grow even faster. Deer population has grown practically every year with these management practices and increased law enforcement.
Florida doesn't necessarily need help from some other state where the ecological diversity and factors affecting the deer herd are totally different. Our varied terrains, from piney woods and hardwood forests to swamps and prairies, coastal lands, etc. coupled with our large but concentrated population centers, as well as vast tracts of land used for agriculture, make managing the deer herd in Florida a unique proposition. What other state has a rut that happens anywhere from August through February?
The WMA system has allowed the deer herds to grow, despite poaching and other illegal activities. The private landowners have benefited from this increase as well, since deer don't recognize man-made lines and borders. It is no longer a matter of numbers. Deer herds are probably about as large as we can handle. Now it has become a matter of keeping the herd healthy, and improving it overall.
Opening up more land to hunters, especially some of large Swiftmud tracts, and increasing the doe harvest would be good places to start. By opening up more land, less pressure is put on the bucks in the current areas, and these new areas would probably enable more hunters to kill a good buck that would meet any antler restrictions. Allowing more does to be harvested would satisfy the needs of the meat hunters, and then they wouldn't have to have the "if it's brown it's down" mentality. Then FWC could impose more antler restrictions on the WMAs and adjust them by region as needed. Perhaps for the earlier muzzy and archery seasons, no antler restrictions at all, and allow hunters to take the cowhorns and such out of the gene pool before the rut.
My 2¢ - may be worth half that.
Our deer herd is in better condition right now than it ever has been in. I see no need for these rules. People kill plenty of 6pt deer, and better right now with out restricting hunters further. I think most people who lack a nice buck hanging on the wall from Florida are either a young man, or a guy who just does not put in the time to find them. People want to take all the work out of hunting, and apply restriction to others because of there lack of success. Open up this months Woods-n-Water magazine. There are more quality bucks being killed in this state every year with the rules we have in place right now. I have several registry bucks to my name, but do not want to be forced by a law, or restriction to have to shoot 1. Rather than being able to put a tender spike in my cooler for my 1st deer of the season. I restrict myself after I have 2 deer in the freezer. I also restrict myself, and let young ones walk, or doe if I see a dandy working the area. Forcing people to shoot older deer is BS, and a waste of time, and our resource. Spend more time doing your homework, and the trophies will come. People need to think about others need to have a chance at killing a deer, and not force there goals of trophy hunting on to every one.
Flintlock rifles only in muzzleload season.
Ohhh BOY! Now there's a rule I'd like to see put on the books!!
I'd love to see Florida's Muzzleloader season go like PA's. The early ML season is just that. Inlines are legal along with the rest. Then there's a late season ML hunt for flintlocks only. Hell, I'd be pleased if it just went "Traditional ML" and even let the percussion guys in too. It'll never happen here though because their just isn't enough traditional ML shooters to push for it.
Why we're at it lets get rid of compound bows,hunt only three days a week,never hunt Sundays.Shorten the rifle season to just one week like they do up north,and while we're still at it,let's get rid of rifles and go to strictly shotguns. Another great idea is the earn-a-buck program. My advice to you would be hunt on private land and you can use your flintlock everyday of the season.
There used to be a saying that was pretty true when it came to hunting and fishing. That saying went something like this: 20% of the hunters kill 80% of the deer and 20% of the fishermen catch 80% of the fish. It usually applies to most activities of life, 20% usually do the work and the others just are along for the ride, be it a BBQ or a work day at church or school, any voluntary activity. This being said, I tend to agree with CitySlicker, that we see an undercurrent of folks not being successful in the woods wanting to add laws or regulations to make the outdoors much more controlled or be like such and such a state. If it's all that good in that state, by all means go there and kill a big deer!
CitySlicker is apparently policing his hunting with common sense concerning what deer and when to kill the deer that is right for him. Another ol' saying "You can't eat the horns" should come into this discussion. Every 2 or 3 years I have been blessed to kill a "pretty good" deer, but personally I'm not out there to kill a "good" deer. I'm there to enjoy the hunt and try to take a legal deer that shows up on my property or on the lease where I'm a member. A spike, 3-point on one side or a doe will fill the freezer just the same as wallhanger, and yes I do let quite a few walk.
This brings us around to another point to discuss, how many FOHAF readers actually eat the venison they are blessed to take? We have eaten 4 or 5 legal deer every year for more years than I care to remember without the help of a 3-point rule. Treefarmer
