We are back live from the field on day 2 of the RBR Quota hunt. Taking a quick break, I decided to update DRD on the hunt. 11 deer were killed yesterday among 29 hunters. Weather played a big role in yesterday’s poor showing. Today I got a late start as expected but was in the field around 10:30. Very few hunters arrived today so I took advantage of the lack of hunters. Yesterday I sat on stand for 10+ hours. Today has been a “boots to the dirt” day. Still hunting is when you walk and look and walk and look. With the rain from yesterday the woods are very quiet and I have covered a lot of ground. Unfortunately with zero results. I have yet to even jump a deer today.
With that said, I am starting to question Georgia’s deer population and plan. 29 hunters in a closed state park hunt are going to end up killing less than 20 deer. Many of the hunters saw very few deer in general. We were encouraged to take does to help control the herd. At some point Georgia DNR is going to have to take a step back and reevaluate its plan. There is no need to have a hunt every year or even every other year just to have one. Maybe the 10 doe limit is a bit excessive with a 2-3 month gun season. There are states that have thriving deer herds that are doing the exact opposite of us.
Now don’t get me wrong. The biologists only make suggestions to the state and the law makers are the ones passing the regulations making our deer population very much a political one. Insurance companies want to see fewer and fewer deer to lower deer vs car situations. You also have anti-hunters fighting the hunting in general so many groups are scared to change anything without other recourses. All I am saying is that the hunters across the state have spoken. They have lobbied their frustrations and hopefully the changes made this year are just the beginning. Otherwise, there will be more and more hunters saving their money from Georgia hunting licenses and spending the extra dollars to go hunt other states.
Also, the game wardens, biologists and staff at RBR have done a great job of accommodating us. It has been a very pleasurable hunt and they should be proud of the way they took care of us. Thank you to everyone that worked the RBR Quota hunt.
I will be sure to post the final results after the hunt.
Dirt Road Dispatch 