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 #110854  by pick_six
 
Came across an interesting article where some state forest land will be withdrawn from general public availability and leased to limited groups.

one of the complaints is that hunters are not killing enough deer, and at the same time, the state is limiting the use of firearms during early and late firearms seasons.

it seems odd that state wide crop damage figures are noted, when the state forests are localized. it also seems that other alternatives to increase deer harvest numbers would serve the general public better.

allowing more crop damage permits would help where populations, and encouraging landowners to increase access would allow for hunting based reductions across the state, not just on the edges of state forests.

the land owner where i hunt usually has a stack of crop damage tags. they are doe only, and work pretty well at targeting deer.

for state forests and parks, more could be done to improve hunters access. white clay and other urban areas could increase their days. other states do NOT count deer killed on state park/forest hunts against their yearly quote. as far as state land goes, this could help.

but the biggest problem is getting the private land owners to provide access, and then working out a way to hammer the deer. many landowners don't want to provide access due to liability concerns or complaints from neighbors. some states provide laws limiting landowner liability, and that encourages access.

some place like possum park road, it can be like frogger, with the deer. again, without hunter access to land, the problem will not be cleared up. this issue is true in many areas. most things north west of 95, and may places the newer large developments that are springing up. like huge chunks of eastern sussex county. even if you kill a load of deer at the cape or the waste water plant, the inland side on private land will still be loaded.

delaware used to have an "expert hunter" program, which appears to be discontinued, where you had some extra, required courses, bgc's, etc, but it was supposed to allow you to participate in controlled hunts in "tight" areas. as i understand it, it was for getting access to small parcels of state or conservation land in places like those along possum park road. ***edit: delaware master hunter. the application is online, but didn't see the courses offered. also the description of what hunts would benefit from this was not linked to anything on the web page. or maybe i missed it.

it just seems that getting more access to more places, with assistance from the state is a better solution, as opposed to limiting the public on a few small places.

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/ne ... 308948002/