Deer tag system changes

[espringers]

the units kind of get in the way of a one buck tag system being preferred in my mind. if i could only get one tag, i don't think i would want to be limited to a unit if the unit looked like the ones we have now. and if i wasn't limited to a unit, then i would be all over the badlands like flies on shit along with everyone else in the state.

to make that idea work, i think it would have to be good state wide if you are using a bow and unit specific if you are using a gun.

but, even then you throw the herd management right out the window. there is a reason we only have 60,000 tags or whatever the number is and less than half of them are bucks... its cause we don't have enough deer, yet alone bucks, for 130,000+ people to be killing a buck every year with a rifle. and you can bet everyone of us would go buy an OTC buck tag every year if we could.

that's my constructive food for thought on that issue.

also... V owes you a steak supper for all of the hits and posts this thread will generate. good work!

 

[Lungdeflator]

Family reunion pic? #thatbeltaintdoingadamnbitofgood

 

[guywhofishes]

Family reunion pic? #thatbeltaintdoingadamnbitofgood

yes - that's me on the right - wearing the glasses and bomber hat - see my bulging eyeballs?

That's cuz I am crapping my pants and thinking to myself "Please don't say "Burn this ##### down""! Aww man... you went and said it."

 

[Rowdie]

One thing SD does differently is they issue 'any deer' tags instead of buck tags. (or any white tail) This gives guys a CHOICE if they want to harvest a deer but don't have to shoot a scrub buck to get meat. I'm not sure how this would affect the ND herd, but SD is similar to ND in landscape and habitat.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Archery tag can stay over the counter but if one choses to archery hunt they are not allowed to apply for rifle or muzzy and are limited to hunting archery equipment. This would result in fewer gun / muzzy applications and increase the chance for everyone to draw a deer tag.

OR


One tag per person and all tags by the lottery system which should increase the number of tags in the drawing without having much of an impact on the amount of applicants.

 

[Account Deleted]

Trying to make everyone happy is a fools errand. Their job should be to manage the resource. Not our happiness. There are only so many deer to go around.

 

[NDSportsman]

I think they should leave the tags and hunting seasons alone and tweak the lottery so some people aren't waiting 4+ years for a tag while another guy draws the same tag every year or every other year. Not sure how you would do it, maybe in the harder to draw for units you are simply unable to apply the year after drawing. Or maybe ramp up the point system after 2-3 years to give the guy that's been left out an even better chance at drawing. Just seems totally wrong to rely on luck alone when someone is drawing every year and another guy has to wait 4+ years for the same tag.

 

[dust in the wind]

Trying to make everyone happy is a fools errand. Their job should be to manage the resource. Not our happiness. There are only so many deer to go around.

exactly! When this topic was discussed a few years by the G&F - they stated the changes proposed were only for social reasons not biological.

Taking the opportunity away to apply for rifle and/or muzzleloader for archery hunters just to increase rifle only hunters odds at drawing a tag is just plain selfish.

We're all in this together, we don't need to be pitting one group of hunters against the others.

 

[Ericb]

I think they should leave the tags and hunting seasons alone and tweak the lottery so some people aren't waiting 4+ years for a tag while another guy draws the same tag every year or every other year. Not sure how you would do it, maybe in the harder to draw for units you are simply unable to apply the year after drawing. Or maybe ramp up the point system after 2-3 years to give the guy that's been left out an even better chance at drawing. Just seems totally wrong to rely on luck alone when someone is drawing every year and another guy has to wait 4+ years for the same tag.

Maybe a note with the denial email saying you were unsuccessful but if you would have applied in any of these units you would have drawn a buck tag.

 

[dust in the wind]

I think they should leave the tags and hunting seasons alone and tweak the lottery so some people aren't waiting 4+ years for a tag while another guy draws the same tag every year or every other year. Not sure how you would do it, maybe in the harder to draw for units you are simply unable to apply the year after drawing. Or maybe ramp up the point system after 2-3 years to give the guy that's been left out an even better chance at drawing. Just seems totally wrong to rely on luck alone when someone is drawing every year and another guy has to wait 4+ years for the same tag.

There was talk of adjusting the lottery when it was discussed a few years ago and there were some good suggestions to do some of what you talked about. They (G&F) seemed to like the idea but it went nowhere.

 

[H82bogey]

How about instead of the out of state hunters being given an automatic 1%, they are the last to be served. The way the current system is set, Non Resident hunters are the first to be given a tag, then gratis then resident applicants. Shouldn't gratis and resident hunters come before non resident?

 

[gonefshn]

:;:deadhorse

Another option is moving back or to a different state.

I think there should be a law that until every "real" North Dakotan (those born and raised here) has a tag, imports should have to wait. If it wasn't for all the imports I know us real North Dakotan's would get one every year. And it really pisses me off when people who just moved here get a tag their first year while I'm piling up preference points. Or put in a 10 year residency requirement.

:;:stirthepot :::

 

[savage270]

I kind of like the way Wyoming does it with 75% of the tags going to the people with the most points and the remaining 25% going in a random drawing of all applicants.

I'm fine with the current system in ND though and don't see a need for a major overhaul. Everyone understands the rules and odds and makes their own choice based upon those facts when they apply.

Why people bitch and moan after making those choices and not get drawn is what I don't understand:;:huh

 

[KDM]

Oh for "F" sakes!!! Leave the system alone!! I was denied everything in ND except a bow tag. SO WHAT!?!?!? I had 3 buck tags in ND last year and it took 9 years to get the muzzy tag and 4 to get the rifle tag so I expect that to happen again. It's LUCK of the draw and everything is equal for everyone. I know getting a ND rifle or muzzy tag is tough right now and as a result I plan to NOT get one. It's important enough to me that I've made it a priority to go rifle hunting so I will be doing so in MN and MT and I might start in SD as well. The loudest bitching I hear every year is based almost solely on the "I don't get to hunt bucks in ND exactly where I want to every year for $30 so lets F the system up so I can." mentality. That's CRAP!!!! Opportunities to rifle hunt deer ARE available in other places besides ND. You just have to prioritize, plan, and prepare!! Take your bonus points, toast the lucky hunters that got a tag, and move on. If I had one thing I would change is the time it takes to get the lottery results out.

 

[dean nelson]

Lol John Wayne on the memes. So everybody wants to complain about not drawing a tag but they don't want to talk about changes to the system so they can hunt more often? Sounds just like my wife when she comes home complaining about a coworker or part of her job. I listen, she talks until I ask her what she did about it. That usually ends the conversation.

No its just that your new so you were not here for the first 1356.5496 times this conversation has been beaten to death in past years!

 

[Phill Latio]

I think the system is fine. I would prefer a management style geared towards more restrictive harvest in the name of better quality bucks and I think badlands your seen that. I know hunting isn't about horns, and many people wil disagree with me. I also think the system of online archery and lottery for rifle and muzzy is fine. it does not ruffle my feathers one bit that someone has 3 tags and I have 0.

I however do not understand how it takes sooooooooooo long to run a draw when Wyoming, SD can do it significantly quicker.

I also do not think ND should do anything our liberal neighbors to the east do so lets not compare ourselves to them.....:;:thumbsup

This is spot on, even though waiting for the tag sucks the quality of bucks statewide has substantially increased over the past few years due to the decreased pressure. I have seen more 170" deer killed in the last two year than the last 10. I HATE waiting so many years to get a tag but when you do get one its pretty awesome not to see a thousand people driving circles around every quarter of land waiting for any deer of any size to come out

 

[ffjr]

I think G&F should just put all (non-residents, residents and gratis) rifle tags in one pile for the lottery, once the 1% is done for non-residents they stop giving them. The rest of the tags go to residents and gratis tags in the same lottery and just cross your fingers its your year to be drawn. Just a thought!

 

[Rowdie]

I also think they should take gratis tags away for 5 years and let them apply like everyone else. To be fair give them say 4 points, they just never go to 0.

- - - Updated - - -

:;:

#$%^&>

 

[Obi-Wan]

Selfish on whose part the rifle hunter that wants to increase his chances of getting a tag or the archer who doesn't want to give up his guaranteed tag?

exactly! When this topic was discussed a few years by the G&F - they stated the changes proposed were only for social reasons not biological.

Taking the opportunity away to apply for rifle and/or muzzleloader for archery hunters just to increase rifle only hunters odds at drawing a tag is just plain selfish.

We're all in this together, we don't need to be pitting one group of hunters against the others.

 

[Flatrock]

What do you guys think about doing a true preference point system? Then, the guy with the most points gets the tag. The plus to that system is that the guy with the most points is guaranteed the tag. That would eliminate the whiners who say "it's not fair that he drew a tag with 0 points and I had 8." The bad thing is that say you draw a 4C badlands tag and apply for it again in subsequent years, you have 0% chance of drawing until many years later when you are once again the guy with the most points.

Personally, I really like ND's system and wouldn't change it at all.