IDNR deer management is out of step

Both deer and landowners pay the price for Indiana’s liberal and antiquated deer season structure

With 32 days of combined muzzleloader and modern firearms seasons, Indiana has the unique distinction of offering the longest deer gun seasons in the Midwest.  Add the fact that we are one of only a few states that opens our gun season during the peak of the chasing phase of the rut, and it’s no wonder hunters are starting to question the IDNR’s plan and motives. 

But hunters aren’t the only people who question the way our DNR structures deer season.  Landowners and trained deer managers don’t understand why we have such long gun seasons either.

Though he declined to comment on Indiana’s deer management plan, Mike Tonkovich, Ohio’s top deer biologist, had a lot to say about long, drawn-out deer gun seasons.  And none of it was good.

“If the goal is to cull more deer from the herd, there is no question that short, separated seasons is the way to go,” he said.

 Even with two additional days last year, Ohio only allowed 13 days of combined firearms deer hunting in 2007.  They also didn’t open gun season until November 26, more than a week later than Indiana.

“We experimented with a longer gun season in Ohio in 1995 and 1996.  The additional days only accounted for two percent of the harvest,” Tonkovich revealed.  “It was not worth the effort, and didn’t help us control the herd in any way.”

He added that over the past several years, not a single hunter survey has been returned with a request to lengthen Ohio’s deer season.

Tom Micetich, Deer Project Manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources agrees with Ohio’s Tonkovich.

“We have proven that shorter, separated gun seasons are not only the best way to manage our herd at a healthy and desirable level, they are also preferred by the great majority of our hunters,” he said.

Illinois offers 13 days of combined firearms deer seasons.  They are split into three and four day groups and spread out over two months.

 Illinois also experimented with a longer firearms season in the 1970‘s.  They got the same results as Ohio.

 “It was the only time our harvest actually dipped,” Micetich said.  “The deer disappeared after the first few days, hurting the hunters who waited instead of harvesting the first deer they encountered.  The result was  hunters who normally killed deer in other years, likely ended that season empty handed.”

Since returning to the current short gun season structure, seventy percent of Illinois deer hunters say they are satisfied with the timing and structure of deer season there.

Illinois and Ohio aren’t the only places where deer biologists and hunters are in step with shorter gun seasons.  Kentucky allows a maximum of 27 days of firearms hunting, Missouri allows 21 days, Iowa allows 20 days and Wisconsin only allows 18 days of firearms hunting. 

But a healthy, manageable deer herd is not the only reason deer managers in all those states prefer shorter gun seasons.

 “Farmers and other landowners can deal with a week of the gun season, but more than that is an undue burden on them,” said Ohio’s Tonkovich.

He explained that the vast majority of trespass, poaching and harassment calls to the Ohio DNR happen during deer firearms season.  Like Indiana, Ohio is approximately 95 percent private property, and that leads to a lot of problems since deer don’t respect boundary lines, he said.

“It is just an unsafe time for landowners,” he added, saying they are increasingly forced to patrol their property and confront intruders.

Ohio’s understanding of the burden a long gun season places on landowners is shared by every state in the Midwest except for, once again, Indiana.

“Deer firearms season is by far our busiest time of year,” said Jason Sherman, Illinois Conservation Police Officer.  “I’m not saying I think deer gun hunters are bigger violators than anyone else, it is just a matter of volume.”

It’s a tough time for landowners, who are forced to defend their property against the sudden increase of people in field, he added.

So, if shorter gun seasons are more efficient at controlling the deer herd and reduce the conflicts between landowners, the non-hunting public and hunters, then why has the Indiana  Department of Natural Resources clung to its antiquated management scheme? 

The argument that we might lose hunters and revenue is not supported by Illinois’ and Ohio’s recent experience.  In both those states hunter satisfaction is at an all time high, and they both continue to increase  deer tag sales every year. 

Someone at the IDNR likely has an answer, and it usually starts with their narrow definition of a healthy deer herd.  Hunters and landowners can only hope that one day, the IDNR will tire of having to explain why they’re the only agency who gets it right, and why the rest of the world is always wrong.