Letters To The Editor – January 2011

GON Member Killed In Action

Dear GON,

My husband John always enjoyed your magazine greatly but mostly when it was hunting season. He was either training or deployed, but he always asked to keep his subscription to the GON current. He enjoyed getting them in another country. It was just a little part of home.

First Sgt. John David Blair was killed in action on June 20, 2009. I didn’t write you until now because getting GON in the mail was so nice because it was still getting something that he loved.

I know that you have great stories in  your magazine. If you want to read a great story about a great man, go on the Internet and type “1st Sgt. John D. Blair.”

Just thought you would like to read a great story about one of your subscribers.

Donna Blair

Too Liberal On Bag Limits, Either-Sex Days

Dear GON,

I wish to make some comments regarding the way Georgia WRD manages deer.

The last 10 years has seen increased bag limits and season length. We have also seen a reduction in population, and hunters are generally upset about seeing fewer deer. I think our deer population may be lower than what DNR says it is.

First, I think the 10 anterless and two-buck limit is entirely too high, especially in certain areas of north Georgia. We need to move away from treating Georgia as one block of habitat, when in reality there are five different physiographic regions (Ridge & Valley, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Upper Coastal Plain, Lower Coastal Plain). The mountains hold far fewer deer per square mile than habitat in the Piedmont, and our policies should reflect this difference in habitat.

DNR’s plan is for landowners and hunting clubs to manage the land as they see fit, implementing their own harvest limits. This would be great in theory, but it just doesn’t work very well. The average hunter doesn’t understand deer management.

Most guys don’t shoot 10 anterless deer a season, but there is a bunch who are killing four or five. We need to set reasonable antlerless limits so that even if a large number of hunters harvest their limit, it will not adversely affect the population. All it takes is a few guys harvesting a bunch of does in a given area to have a detrimental effect on the deer population. Heck, there are many areas of north Georgia that hold only 10 to 20 deer per square mile (psm), and some only hold 5 psm.

My home is in Pickens County, and it is either-sex the entire season, with a deer population that can’t be more than 15-20 psm. I drive in this area all the time and see very few deer or even road-kills.

I believe there is significant predation on deer, especially fawns. Coyotes have been around for a while, but over time they seem to have have hurt deer numbers in certain areas. We need to do our best to curb coyote populations, but in the meantime we should look at adjusting antlerless harvest in areas with high predation. Furthermore, the black bear have also increased in population, and they are probably gorging themselves on fawns during the summer months. Couple this with a lack of good deer habitat in the mountains, and you have a situation where deer are few and far between.

Joshua Antinozzi, Jasper

Another 2-Mouthed Fish

Dear GON,

Approximately 22 years ago my son Ray Collier, Jr. and I were fishing at Lake Oconee. To our surprise, I hooked a bass that had two mouths. We released the fish back into the water in good shape, and it swam off.

As I was reading the article in the November issue about Phillip Walker’s two-mouth fish, it reminded me of the two-mouth fish I caught years ago.

GON magazine is the best magazine we receive.

Ray Collier Sr., Dallas