Deer Licenses

[Obi-Wan]

Obi - as of December 2017 - the archery tags and success rates have NO impact on determining how many rifle tags are allocated.

I posted this earlier in this thread and will post it again.

Question
Do the archery tags being issued today, have any impact on the number of licenses available for rifle tags/gratis tags?

Answer
It’s possible but probably not a big factor at this point. We use several different methods to determine how many deer tags to issue each year, are the number of deer being harvested by archers making a difference in the overall number of deer on the landscape which would then make a difference in the number of licenses being issued for gun tags? A number of years ago I would say that answer was most definitely a no, but the harvest associated with archery hunting has also increased a fair amount over the last 10 years to where we can no longer say that number is insignificant.


Also adding this again since it does apply to your post.

Question
If that plan were to have been implemented, there may have been X number (past discussions said it might be 7,000 to 10,000) of bow hunters that were no longer in the lottery due to wanting to keep the statewide bow option. If that were to have happened, would that simply have reduced the number of people in the lottery OR would it have actually increased the tags in the lottery?

Answer
The idea behind the one deer plan was to reduce the competition in the gun lottery, not add licenses to the lottery due to a lower number of bow licenses being sold.

If the G&F doesn't take the amount of archery tags and the harvest ratio into account when determine rifle tags then they are not doing their job. that would be like trying to balance your budget without taking into account what your wife is spending

 

[bowhunter88]

does the game fish treat bow tags as buck tags? when i was looking through the potential number of hunters to the field, it seems that those numbers are assuming that the tags added into the lottery would automatically become buck tags. I would think that the additional tags put into the lottery would be split up among buck and doe tags and the additional buck tags would be even less than that number, to the point where drawing a buck tag, (which seems to be the meaning of the argument) would be insignificantly easier.

 

[dust in the wind]

If the G&F doesn't take the amount of archery tags and the harvest ratio into account when determine rifle tags then they are not doing their job. that would be like trying to balance your budget without taking into account what your wife is spending

When we had 80,000 and more rifle tags, the deer taken by bow wouldn’t be a concern.

i have no idea how low the rifle tags would have to get to for archery to be a significant #. I’m sure people on here could come up with many different responses.
that was a question I had sent, mixed in with the one about determining rifle tags. It either got missed, overlooked or ignored.

- - - Updated - - -

does the game fish treat bow tags as buck tags? when i was looking through the potential number of hunters to the field, it seems that those numbers are assuming that the tags added into the lottery would automatically become buck tags. I would think that the additional tags put into the lottery would be split up among buck and doe tags and the additional buck tags would be even less than that number, to the point where drawing a buck tag, (which seems to be the meaning of the argument) would be insignificantly easier.

IF archery tags were thrown into the lottery I too would think they would have to be split up somehow between mule deer and white tail and buck or doe.

 

[tikkalover]

 

[dust in the wind]

Just to clarify this topic - A one tag system isn't a position that the G&F is taking right now. Again, this was just a discussion that I had with another individual. We've had lots of different discussions regarding hunting and licensing and other items.

This particular topic is one that I do feel very strongly about though and I went back and forth quite a bit on whether or not to post anything.

At any rate, the poll results are interesting and quite surprising to me.

 

[Uncle Rico]

The poll results are extremely telling. Just another example of "just because a group is the loudest doesn't make them the majority"...........

 

[Kentucky Windage]

I personally like the current system,
between my wife and I we have killed 6 bucks in the last two seasons :;:stirthepot

Carry on ......;:;popcorn

Pics of all 6 basket rack bucks or it didn’t happen.

 

[WormWiggler]

Would a separate Mule Deer lottery / season make an interesting change scenario, like it would be earlier application date / lottery, if you get the coveted Mule deer tag then you are bounced out of the whitetail shindig?

 

[Bfishn]

Would a separate Mule Deer lottery / season make an interesting change scenario, like it would be earlier application date / lottery, if you get the coveted Mule deer tag then you are bounced out of the whitetail shindig?

That doesn’t really make sense. Literally everyone would put in for mule deer, if they knew they could also put in for whitetail later. The odds for those tags would get 10x worse then the already are.

 

[savage270]

Speaking of deer tags, has anyone actually received theirs yet in the mail?

 

[ND_Hunter]

Speaking of deer tags, has anyone actually received theirs yet in the mail?

I emailed them in early July because I was moving, they said end of August.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Would a separate Mule Deer lottery / season make an interesting change scenario, like it would be earlier application date / lottery, if you get the coveted Mule deer tag then you are bounced out of the whitetail shindig?

If you pull a mule deer tag now you already are ineligible for another rifle tag.

With the limited mule deer in ND I think they should not be allowed to be harvested with an over the counter bow tag.

 

[NDbowman]

Speaking of deer tags, has anyone actually received theirs yet in the mail?

My gratis tag came today.

 

[8andcounting]

My gratis came Thursday my dads came yesterday . My muzzy tag hasn't arrived yet .

 

[db-2]

for me and one tag only would work this way:

9 years of muzzle loader rejected. Thought I could hunt muzzle loader with bow but found out otherwise so that ends applying for shooting with a single shot rifle and I guess I leave it to those that actually want it and big time for those who actually use a muzzle loader.

Have not apply for a rifle whitetail since 95 and have no intention to every apply again.

Mule deer, since about 97 have applied and did get awarded three times. three horns of 130 class plus in the house over those 20 years. Love those hunts with the rifle and look forward to one more time.

But if I apply for a mule deer again and am lucky to draw that means no bow tag. Over 20 years of bow tags and five deer. There is no doubt in my mind but over those 20 years I could of shot a deer with the bow every year over my food plots. But it was and is not my goal in life.

Well it would be hard at may age to never apply for a mule deer rifle tag but bow tag means that much to me so you will get rid of my muzzle loader and mule deer app. Maybe in the end it will help someone out to get a tag and make it fair for all. I can live with that if need be. I can live with the way it is and I can live with never taking the rifle out of the case on the wall. I love my bow, my food plots and sitting countless hours watching. Just leave the bow tags as they are now is all I ask of all. Get your tag and the tag for the kids. A bow tag I guess it is my fair share of the game.
But there are way more problems out there than not getting a rifle tag that one needs to address. db

 

[8andcounting]

for me and one tag only would work this way:

9 years of muzzle loader rejected. Thought I could hunt muzzle loader with bow but found out otherwise so that ends applying for shooting with a single shot rifle and I guess I leave it to those that actually want it and big time for those who actually use a muzzle loader.

Have not apply for a rifle whitetail since 95 and have no intention to every apply again.

Mule deer, since about 97 have applied and did get awarded three times. three horns of 130 class plus in the house over those 20 years. Love those hunts with the rifle and look forward to one more time.

But if I apply for a mule deer again and am lucky to draw that means no bow tag. Over 20 years of bow tags and five deer. There is no doubt in my mind but over those 20 years I could of shot a deer with the bow every year over my food plots. But it was and is not my goal in life.

Well it would be hard at may age to never apply for a mule deer rifle tag but bow tag means that much to me so you will get rid of my muzzle loader and mule deer app. Maybe in the end it will help someone out to get a tag and make it fair for all. I can live with that if need be. I can live with the way it is and I can live with never taking the rifle out of the case on the wall. I love my bow, my food plots and sitting countless hours watching. Just leave the bow tags as they are now is all I ask of all. Get your tag and the tag for the kids. A bow tag I guess it is my fair share of the game.
But there are way more problems out there than not getting a rifle tag that one needs to address. db

great post db

 

[SupressYourself]

I haven't read this whole thread because most of it looks like the same old crap that makes me start looking for a spoon to jab into my eye.
However, I found this interesting:

With the limited mule deer in ND I think they should not be allowed to be harvested with an over the counter bow tag.

Have you ever tried to hunt mule deer in (usually) open country with a bow? It's extremely challenging, even for those that are good at it. It's exponentially harder than sitting in a tree stand waiting for whitey to come into your food plot.
I would expect the success rate is low enough to make no difference at all.

 

[Davy Crockett]

Speaking of deer tags, has anyone actually received theirs yet in the mail?

Got my gratis tag. That made me happy.

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For now.

 

[Obi-Wan]

I haven't read this whole thread because most of it looks like the same old crap that makes me start looking for a spoon to jab into my eye.
However, I found this interesting:



Have you ever tried to hunt mule deer in (usually) open country with a bow? It's extremely challenging, even for those that are good at it. It's exponentially harder than sitting in a tree stand waiting for whitey to come into your food plot.
I would expect the success rate is low enough to make no difference at all.

1046 mule deer definitely makes a difference. Approximately one in 8 deer taken is muley. Bow hunter took approximately 1/3 of mule deer taken

• Archery Statistics
  • 28,481 - Archery licenses issued (26,114 resident, 2,367 nonresident)
  • 23,003 - Number of bow hunter license holders that hunted
  • 8,900 - Number of deer taken by bow hunters (7,854 whitetails, 1,046 mule deer)
  • 39% - Bow license holder success rate

 

[Davy Crockett]

I feel there is room for improvement, You can't take that against me.