ORIGINAL: Wanderer
Bryan78,
The part that I don't understand is the fact that they want us to kill more does, yet a doe license still costs 24 bucks (for the 1st one, then 15 bucks). So some young up and coming deer hunter has to shell out 2 license fees in order to be able to shoot a buck and a doe. Some guys just can't go the extra money. If the DNR really wants to up the doe kill, why don't they let a 'Gun License" cover one antlered buck plus one antlerless deer? Right now I can legally kill 8 does on my leased land in Marshall County and another 8 on my home place in Fulton County. If I were paying for tags, that would be 249 dollars. I usually kill 2 to 3 deer a year. Adding EAB or a special doe season won't up my kill any, nor will it make doe tags any cheaper to buy. This year I'm still trying to fill the one antlerless tag I bought back in early bow season. Who'da thunk it? By the way, if I stay in Fulton County at the home place, all my deer go on landowners permit...no license required. I usually buy an archery license and an antlerless tag to cover my wanderings. If I don't tag out a buck with the bow,(this year is the 1st time since I moved to Indiana in 2007), I'll buy a gun license for that season. ML season I hunt with my antlerless tags or landowner permits. Please keep me in the loop on new proposals. I own my own business which sometimes has me working out of state, but it also allows me to schedule my time, so maybe I can make one of those meetings that you said you can't get to.
I do know that it is being discussed and I do think it will probably happen that DNR will change the Firearm License to a buck or doe on the first license then buck after that then your bonus licenses. I have also heard that they were throwing around the idea of a bonus antlerless package (3 bonus tags for a very reasonable price). Your very fortunate to own land that you would not need to buy a license to hunt deer. And if I was in your position where I had to buy a license to hunt, then I would probably only hunt my land.
The next meeting is January 16th in Indianapolis (probably at Ft. Harrison on the eastside of Indy). There are going to propose a whole new package and present it for open comments. I will diffidently keep everyone updated if I hear anything and post links to the DNR site where you can leave a comment.