Proposed deer regs for 2009

[Ranger J]

What is everyones take on the list of 'proposed'  changes in the deer permit prices and such for next year.  You can read these on the MDOt web page.   Personally I am not in favor of a lot of them.  I'm grandfathered in on the over 65 free fishing and small game permits but those turning 65 from now on will not be.  My feeling is that it is unfair and if I don't have to pay other 'seniors' should not have to.  I would be fine with paying the small few for the permits.  The amount they charge will not break anyone.  I also don't like the upping the land holding from 5 to 80 acres for a free permit.  Why not do away with it completely.  Again the price of the permit will not break you.  I hope I am wrong but lately I get the feeling that when the MDOT proposes some change and asks for public input it has already decided on doing it and is just going through the motions of checking with the public.  The DOC has done a lot of great things in the past, such as bringing back the deer and turkeys and providing free shooting ranges, etc. but in the last few years it seems to have lost touch with the average hunter and fisherman ad is pandering to the special interests.  What do you all think?  There, that ought to stir things up!

RJ

[Encore]

For a hunter/fisherman buying a permit at age 64 (which they would have had to do under the "old" rules), they receive a "forever permit" which gives them a permit that lasts the rest of their lifetime.  i.e. the "forever" permit for Resident Senior Hunt Small Game / Fish “Forever” Permit (age 64+) will be $20.  Which again they would have paid under the "old" rules because they would have been only 64 not 65.

I think that too many 5 or so acre plots in very developed communities (almost suburbs) were being used to acquire permits that were actually used to check deer that were harvested elsewhere.  There is also the loss of Federal aid money that the state claims they were losing because of the way that both of these groups of hunter were being counted under the old rules. 

[Hillbilly Jim]

We won! The commission backed off  most of these ill concieved rule proposals.  They did indicate that with the econemy tanking it was not popular and also said they did not need the money but it would act as a future hedge against increases in expenses.
Heck they knew the economy was tanking back in Sept. and the change in permit exemptions when the deer herd is not being controlled by present rules made  even less sense.  What our land owners need are more relaxed rules.  A herd of deer in a corn field is a recipe for financial  disaster, deer destroy thousands of dollars of corn harvest.  Losing ten bushels yield per acre for 100 acres or more hurts.
It was not the commissions doing it is the pointy headed managers in the department who are to blame.
They did implement out of state permit fee increases.

[Ranger J]

With the change in the governor all the department heads that are not covered by the merit system had to turn in their resignations.  The new governor also requires all of them to 'justify' their job and position.  Perhaps some new blood will look at things from another angle.  We can only hope.

RJ

[Hillbilly Jim]

No department heads in Mo. government are covered by the merit system, all serve at the pleasure of the Gov. except the Highway and Conservation directors who are hired by commissions and thus insulated from politics. [HA].
All polices and or rules from conservation come from and are approved by their commission.

[jenkst]

Ranger; I"ll try and make my thought's short on the changes. I don't own any land, so must hunt the conservation areas. I think everybody ought to pay like the poor man does. No free lunch for anybody. We'll maybe for the older or the youth, give them a break. It seems to me everything is amimed at the the guy at the lower end of the pole. Those that have more give less. Everything it seems is done to make money for those who have a lot. Those who have,hunt over nice food plots, but the poor man can't throw a hand full of corn on the ground and not get fined. He can't run a small beagle for deer in SE missouri, where it was done and acceptable for to many years to count. The gobbler population in Iron county and southeast mo, has just about had it and yet they don't even think about it. I've hunted turkeys almost since it started and I've never seen it so bad. But all you hear is lets let the big bucks get bigger. I'am tired of hearing about the bad hatches every year. You see theirs no big money to be made in southeast mo during turkey season. To many people siting behind a desk making the wrong moves. I don't think they even hunt. Sorry, but thats how I see it. I passed through you'r area on Hwy 8 a few days ago. It sure looks like a great place to live.    Jenks

[Ranger J]

While I am a refugee from the semi-flat lands of Southern Illinois I have really grown to love the Ozarks.  I can just about throw a rock from my location in Crawford county and hit Iron by the way.  I agree with you on a lot of what you say.  I too hunt largely on public land and in the last ten years have seen the bottom drop out of the turkey population.  I personally don't hunt turkeys but enjoy seeing them occasionally in the woods.  Just listeniing to the locals I suspect the main reason  the turkeys are not prospering is that a lot of people hunt them 365 days a year  and consider any bird to be 'fair game'.  We also have a similar problem locally with deer.  I would like to see the MDOC spend less time and money trying to promote 'quality deer ' hunting and see more spent on year round effort to stop illegal hunting of the game.

RJ