Letters To The Editor May 2005

A Different View On Decoys

Dear GON,

Congratulations to Donald Jarrett for a very good piece — Closing The Distance — in the April issue. He provided helpful information about minimal calling, birds behind barriers and toms in fields. The question of decoys, however, remains  problematical.

Donald has had bad experiences with decoys. I have harvested three birds coming to decoys. My frequent hunting partner, Bill, took a bird Sunday that was milling around looking at his decoy. Previously, he had shot at one that came in intent on attacking a decoy. Marvin, another companion afield, had taken one gobbler coming to his decoys.

All this is not to disagree with Donald. I have not yet experienced a turkey running away from my decoys or hanging up looking at them out of range. That’s not to say this won’t happen in the future.

Do I use decoys on every setup? No. Do I think they’re a panacea for birds hanging up? No. I’m just a bit more open to using decoys than Donald.

John Ottley, Alpharetta

Likin’ A One-Buck Limit

Dear GON,

I am responding to Ren Anderson’s letter in the April GON. He hits a 10X with his assessment of what a one-buck limit would do for Georgia. For more than five years I have thought a one-buck limit would do far more than QDM. It seems hunters tend to be a lot more interested in quality over quantity.

Two years of a one-buck limit would have a profound impact on our deer herd. Some attitudes need to change, but I believe they would if the DNR and sportsmen got behind the idea of a one-buck limit.

Jim Browning, Jackson

Keep Hooks Off The Beds

Dear GON,

I would like to see you people make a big fuss with the DNR about fishing for bedding fish. I think it’s terrible and very unsportsmanlike to bother any fish that’s trying to hatch us a new crop of bass. I thought conservation was everyone’s goal — catch-and-release and restocking.

We don’t have the hunting season when the does are having their young.

Neal Douthit, Gainesville

Coyotes Need Exterminating

Dear GON,

I agree with Tommy Jacobs (April Letters) that coyotes are killing our deer. The DNR are not on top of this problem. Coyotes are not a pet and must be killed.

Sam Iddins, Stockbridge

Confused

Dear GON,

Are we as hunters not capable of making our own choices? Let WRD make the harvest 100 does. I will choose to harvest what I need and can consume, and I believe that other hunters make the same choice year after year. Just because the limit is 15 doesn’t mean we have to harvest that many! We are wasting time and energy. Save it for a real battle, like the right to keep and bear arms.

Thanks For Letting Me Vent!

Al Bowman, Locust Grove

Hunting… I Quit

Dear GON,

I own 125 acres, and no deer have been taken in the last four years, and no does in the last eight years. I saw a  11 deer this year, five does and six bucks. I will stop all hunting this year.

Jim Wheeler, Barnesville

Let’s Add Some Doe Days

Dear GON,

I’m sure the issue of increasing the antlerless bag limit recommendations by the Deer Study Committee has been a thorn in the WRD’s side from day one.

I think it’s in everyone’s mind that the issue came about because of the insurance companies. I don’t know this for a fact, but I do know it’s only natural to curtail a hazard by weeding out the source. Like every concerned motorist, I, too, don’t want to end up with a deer through my windshield.

However, speaking as a hunter, I don’t see the need to take more game than you need for the freezer. I was raised to only shoot what you’re gonna eat. I resect what Philip Gambrell wrote in your March issue, “I wish everyone would think about the future generations of outdoorsmen and remember that we are all guests in God’s woods and God’s lakes and rivers.”

Raising a limit is now just a way of legally killing off a natural resource, and that’s what upsets me, especially knowing that most hunters I know are holding off on shooting a doe in anticipation for the wall-hanger.

Let’s have a 15-day antlerless-only season in January. WRD could gain extra revenue by adding it to the license at an extra fee or just let it go. Either way you look at it, everyone would be happy. For one, it’d be a longer hunting season. Two, you get meat for the freezer, Three, you’d be weeding out your hazard.

Willie Aguilar, Kathleen

Is The DNR Nuts?

Dear GON,

I have written GON before about the DNR and the non-resident hunters. As stated before, I am the president of two hunting clubs in the Alma-Hazlehurst area, one approximately 600 acres and the other about 1,000 acres. There are 15 adult members between the two clubs plus their under 16 children.

We have found out through your GON magazine that the non-resident licenses have increased. The DNR is so ashamed of what they have done to the non-resident hunters that they haven’t even put the changes on their web page. Maybe the DNR is trying to pull a fast one on the out-of-towners. If the DNR wants to make some good changes to the deer population, ask the out-of-staters. Most of us only harvest the deer we will eat and look for that monster buck. Change the number of bucks to three per season, and leave the does alone. Maybe then we out-of-staters will continue to hunt Georgia, pay for leases, rent motel rooms, eat out at least once daily, buy gas and snacks, hunting clothing, etc.

If  DNR is not willing to help the non-residents, we can and will take our money elsewhere.

S.C. Collins, Central Florida