7/21/17 - 2017-2018 Deer Regulation Sets

[BHC]

You just beat me to it...stop the presses, the Division has screwed the pooch again. 

what the state of NJ screwed up? No way

[Lunatic]

Just got a email from Fish & Game:

 

The Regulation Sets announced earlier today for the upcoming deer season have been removed from the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife website due to there being some inaccuracies.  The final version of the Regulation Sets will be posted early next week and a message notifying you of the posting will be sent. We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience.

 

Some idiots running this thing, there isn't much more you could say about it:-(

[GhostBear]

Ha!!!! So it ain't me!!! Lol

[Nomad]

Ghost Bear go to post #14 and you will see a link to the Regs,

[Lunatic]

the concept is simple and I discussed with a biologist yesterday. Two FLEXIBLE buck tags per hunter, per year/season. Use them in any season, any weapon you choose. It does not matter in terms of wildlife management when and how you shoot your two bucks, it only matters that they are reported accurately.  Although statistically a small percent shoot more than 2, there still is a percentage of hunters that shoot 3 or more. 

 

By having two tags to carry over from season to permit season to season to permit season, it will change behavior. Long gone will be the late October "gotta burn my buck tag" mentality, when young bucks are at their absolute dumbest and many shoot a buck the last week of October they would not have shot prior. 

 

The longer term affects of this are immeasurable but beneficial. Also - the convenience and flexibility to the actual license and permit paying hunter, by putting the personal choice completely in their control without the added pressure of a buck tag expiring..

 

I say all that and realize, that come the last week of "all seasons" there will still be some, that will once again adopt that "gotta burn my tag" mentality, but by that time bucks will be well educated, as well as many already killed and thinned down - so it won't be as easy. 

 

 

I think you are not thinking like the people in charge of this thing. How much could they charge you for the two buck tags?. Now they get about 160 from each hunter if he only hunts one zone and its only $26 each time. There is too much money involved with  buck tags. If you kill 20K bucks in a season how many buck tags are really purchased? We are talking about millions. Money is a big factor driving NJ hunting regulations and there is no changing it in this state.

Edited July 21, 2017 by Lunatic

[JHbowhunter]

I think you are not thinking like the people in charge of this thing. How much could they charge you for the two buck tags?. Now they get about 160 from each hunter if he only hunts one zone and its only $26 each time. There is too much money involved with  buck tags. If you kill 20K bucks in a season how many buck tags are really purchased? We are talking about millions. Money is a big factor driving NJ hunting regulations and there is no changing it in this state.

 

I would pay more, to limit tags to two, and have that flexibility. Yep I said it... I would pay double for FLEXIBLE tags...  I want to decide when I harvest a buck not the season or weapon. If they did this right and kept the stupid permits and seasons and weapons, but put a premium on buck tags like say $40 a piece ($150 for NR), they would make MORE money. 

[Nomad]

I think 4 bucks is plenty.  2 with bow and 2 with gun.

[GhostBear]

Cool, thank nomad, if these regs stand, zone 2 went from unlimited to 5 antlerless, with EAB in place.

[SlugsnArrows]

Just got a email from Fish & Game:

 

The Regulation Sets announced earlier today for the upcoming deer season have been removed from the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife website due to there being some inaccuracies. The final version of the Regulation Sets will be posted early next week and a message notifying you of the posting will be sent. We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience.

What an absolute disaster! Lmao!!!!

 

 

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[SlugsnArrows]

We are never going to come up with regs or fees that makes everyone happy.

 

People hunt for different reasons and believe in things and see things differently.

 

I want EAB gone because what it stands for isn't working and more buttons are being shot than would be if there wasn't an EAB program. Fake reporting is happening for people to justify shooting a buck.

 

More bucks in the woods is a positive our Buck to doe ratio is out of whack and this state has proven even with unlimited doe they can't get the doe numbers where they want them.

 

I am not for antler restrictions cause as some have pointed out and for me hunting the Pine Barron's years ago you can have a mature deer with practically no rack!

 

If you are a meat hunter or horn hunter a better quality heard is what is important and what our focus should be. The division is all about money regardless of what they tell you.

 

This is all a joke how these regs have rolled out the last two years with all the errors.

 

I'm not going to compare us to some great deer hunting states out there but if our state did just a little homework and saw how some of these states charge for hunting and manage things and took the actual hunters opinions and what we see seriously I think there is a lot we all could accomplish. Getting some reputable management organizations in wouldn't hurt either.

 

Oh and to make you all laugh to end this rant - have a real Pro-gun - Pro-Hunter as governor in this state!

 

 

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[GhostBear]

Gooooood luck with that last one!!lol

[SlugsnArrows]

Gooooood luck with that last one!!lol

Lmao - hence the good laugh

 

 

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[Greybeard]

Cool, thank nomad, if these regs stand, zone 2 went from unlimited to 5 antlerless, with EAB in place.

That probably won't help anything.  There aren't too many people left who still shoot 20+ doe with the bow just to keep count.  5 per season still allows 15 with the bow, and 10 with the gun.  Members of gun clubs will still be shooting every doe until everybody has all their tags filled, if they can find enough doe to fill them all. I only hear 1-3 shots a day during gun seasons, anymore.  It should have been 5 total per year, better yet, 2 or 3 with the population as low as it is.  And it doesn't help to force the killing of a doe with EAB.  Getting rid of unlimited doe is a step in the right direction, but I don't see any change coming with the herd.

[mazzgolf]

I would pay more, to limit tags to two, and have that flexibility. Yep I said it... I would pay double for FLEXIBLE tags...  I want to decide when I harvest a buck not the season or weapon. If they did this right and kept the stupid permits and seasons and weapons, but put a premium on buck tags like say $40 a piece ($150 for NR), they would make MORE money. 

 

Generally, I'm not one to agree for the government to raise fees, or taxes, or tolls, or whatever (politicians feel its all too easy to pick our pockets - that goes for many of our current Republicans as well as Democrats!)... however on this one, I think I do agree with that. I think its ridiculous to pay $26 for a buck tag for each season/weapon. I'm OK with charging $40 and just say, "this buck tag is good regardless of season or weapon". Now you don't have to worry about taking a muzzy or shotgun out late in the year and have to worry about spending another 26 in addition to that 26 buck tag you bought for permit bow.

 

Yeah, the state is losing 12 bucks (if you bought the two it would have been 52 rather than 40) but IMO they would actually make money because I'm not that sure they are getting a lot of people buying buck tags for bow and shotgun (and I would guess there aren't a whole lot of people buying a third for muzzy too). So for those guys that buy just one, you are making them pay an extra 14 dollars - but at least now it frees them up allowing them to getting out more. If $50 helps the numbers work better, I'm OK with that - but max of $50 IMO.

 

I dunno - I just hate the fact that buck tags burn so easy with the stupid rules. Just raise the price and let us hunt a buck all year with any weapon with that one tag. How many buck tags should they let you have per year - who knows? 2? 3?

 

The one problem I see with this is when a guy (or gal) bags a buck, are they going to be willing to pay out another 40 (or 50) for a second one? This might lower the harvest numbers, which is probably NOT what the DFW really wants (certainly not down here in these unlimited doe zones).

[Lunatic]

I would pay more, to limit tags to two, and have that flexibility. Yep I said it... I would pay double for FLEXIBLE tags...  I want to decide when I harvest a buck not the season or weapon. If they did this right and kept the stupid permits and seasons and weapons, but put a premium on buck tags like say $40 a piece ($150 for NR), they would make MORE money. 

 

I think it would have to be like $80 just to compensate paying for 6 vs 2.  ( I wish I had some hard data of how many people buy tags but I don't so this is just a guess, cost of 6 bucks divided by two).  But I think there is more to it if we made this change. I believe this would drastically reduce the number of people purchasing all individual permits. There are many guys hunting bucks only and if they were to get two in October you may see them again one day for the six days, since they already paid for it, and that would be it. Now you are maybe looking at a buck tag worth hundreds. I don't know what is the answer but I am also not convince we don't have enough bucks in this state.  It looks like over 50% of all kills are bucks,this number includes antlerless bucks . How could this indicate we have no bucks?  What makes me wonder even more is the fact we do this every year and the numbers are virtually not dropping. The chart above shows almost identical number of bucks killed in 2005 and 2017. I don't know