This will be a long post filled with questions, ranting, and hopefully useful information. I apologize in advance for length and do not in any way mean to offend anyone, any references to hunters that will be brought up are not about people I have encountered on THR but instead are based off of observations involving 1st hand experiences.
For years now, the mule deer population has been in steep decline, the ngpc's has been (for the last several years) to issue tags allowing whitetail either sex or antlered mule deer to be taken. This year, they finally stated that no fmj can be used and only landowner tags may take mule deer. About time! I'm not a conservation expert but a doe produces 1-2 offspring per year, a buck can cover multiple does producing 2-16 times that (the most does I've seen with a single buck is 16, feel free to chime in if you've witnessed more). At this point I'd like to infer that Nebraska loves and endorses out of state hunters for higher priced tags and local tourism based economy boosts during Nov firearm season. Rarely do I meet an imported hunter looking for whitetail, last year alone I witnessed 5 pairs of hunters pass up a massive whitetail buck in search of our western muley. For every mature male I see in an out of state truck, I've seen 2-4 yearling sized deer......insert rumbling frustrations here..... :banghead: . Obviously not all hunters are blind but that is soooo aggravating. How do you convince the commission to listen to common sense? Apparently someone got through to them, but it shouldn't have taken almost a decade to properly address the issue. In conversation with many hunters they are ALL looking for muley trophies, but not all hold themselves to such standards by the end of the first weekend. I can't say whether it's founded or not but it FEELS like we were more willing to cater to the almighty dollar than to serve the actual cause. I'm glad that the issue has finally been addressed but am apprehensive about how long it will last. I do hope that every ethical hunter can successfully fill their tag and encourage interest in all hunting......I just don't feel that an entire species should suffer population decimation as a cost.
For years now, the mule deer population has been in steep decline, the ngpc's has been (for the last several years) to issue tags allowing whitetail either sex or antlered mule deer to be taken. This year, they finally stated that no fmj can be used and only landowner tags may take mule deer. About time! I'm not a conservation expert but a doe produces 1-2 offspring per year, a buck can cover multiple does producing 2-16 times that (the most does I've seen with a single buck is 16, feel free to chime in if you've witnessed more). At this point I'd like to infer that Nebraska loves and endorses out of state hunters for higher priced tags and local tourism based economy boosts during Nov firearm season. Rarely do I meet an imported hunter looking for whitetail, last year alone I witnessed 5 pairs of hunters pass up a massive whitetail buck in search of our western muley. For every mature male I see in an out of state truck, I've seen 2-4 yearling sized deer......insert rumbling frustrations here..... :banghead: . Obviously not all hunters are blind but that is soooo aggravating. How do you convince the commission to listen to common sense? Apparently someone got through to them, but it shouldn't have taken almost a decade to properly address the issue. In conversation with many hunters they are ALL looking for muley trophies, but not all hold themselves to such standards by the end of the first weekend. I can't say whether it's founded or not but it FEELS like we were more willing to cater to the almighty dollar than to serve the actual cause. I'm glad that the issue has finally been addressed but am apprehensive about how long it will last. I do hope that every ethical hunter can successfully fill their tag and encourage interest in all hunting......I just don't feel that an entire species should suffer population decimation as a cost.
