I personally like the system they have gone to with non-transferable permits. I hope they NEVER go back to the old system. I used to go to my favorite WMA's and the same joe's would be there every hunt with multiple permits in hand. I know it was luck of the draw, but this way everyone does get a fair shake when applying. Unless you have a hook up within the FWC who alerts you to permits being returned.....
Ted - "I would like to see tags or increase the numbere of permits. or give guest an equal quota take."
If they increase the numbers it will decrease the quality of the WMA. Same with guests getting equal take.
Sorry let me clarify - if they up the number of permits IMO it will decrease the quality of the WMA. If they allow the guest to get eqaul tag, they would more than likely decrease overall number of permits to the WMA and just make a guess on guests coming in. Therefore, making odds of getting the initial draw harder.
Just by allowing an increased harvest to accomodated guest is not going to ruin the quality of animals on wmas. Wise old bucks are still going to behave the same way. Elusive! Most hunters do not put the time in to be able to harvest a nice buck on a regular basis, and no wmas ever have 100% hunter success. I would like to see every hunter on a quota hunt have at least a 1 deer bag limit with the biologists having the power to stop the buck harvest if there own mandated quota was met.
Wise old bucks will remain wise, but if they allow guests to take same bag and leave the quote the same - then hunters are gonna pop the first legal one that comes by. All the younger bucks will get waxed, and maybe even some of the older "wise" bucks too or just die of old age. After a few seasons of this there will be spikes and fork horns being the top breeders. Leading to a decline in quality of the WMA. I'm not a biologist or anything, just seen certain WMA's or areas of WMA's that go to shart after too many people hit it.
Most have antler restrictions. With this system we take the first legal deer.
From the wmas i hunt the number of deer taken is about the same now as it use to be with transferable.
You want to control deer population do it thru tags not thru land use.
Most have antler restrictions. With this system we take the first legal deer.
From the wmas i hunt the number of deer taken is about the same now as it use to be with transferable.You want to control deer population do it thru tags not thru land use.
Exactly, most in high demand WMA's already have strict quotas, and anter restrictions of 3 on 1 side or better. So a large amount of bucks are already off limits. Not to mention most of these places only allow 1 deer to be harvested. Allowing a guest to have an opportunity to kill his own deer will have little to no impact on the size of the herd. Guys that are seeking purely trophy hunting need to join, and manage QDM lease, and not force that stuff on the average WMA hunter. That stuff is what scares off new hunters, and is why license sales are down. To many restrictions already.
"Exactly, most in high demand WMA's already have strict quotas, and anter restrictions of 3 on 1 side or better. So a large amount of bucks are already off limits. Not to mention most of these places only allow 1 deer to be harvested."
That is exactly the WMA's I'm speaking of. Let's say they let in 75. If half of them brought a guest you're now looking at 112. I am in the opinion that the system they have in place for those WMA's is fine and the guest should share the bag limit. I think the biggest culprits behind any drop in license sales have to do with Playstation, Nintendo or X-box.
