Tag Sabotage

MJE2083 · Jan 9, 2017

I've been thinking about an issue recently. Here in PA there is a small(I hope) group of hunters who are upset with the current deer mgmt plan and feel that too many does are being killed and that the deer herd has been decimated. I've heard tell that some of these people organized by groups such as http://www.unifiedsportsmenpa.org/ are buying up as many antlerless tags as they can and purposely not using them to keep other hunters from killing does. I wanted to get everyone's opinion on this issue. Does this type of thing happen in other states? What is to stop anti's from drawing tags with the purpose of keeping them out of the hands of hunters?

James Riley · Jan 9, 2017

Interesting. Never heard of that. I'd expect it would swell coffers and up the number of licenses, defeating the intent of the antis.

Doublecluck · Jan 9, 2017

I can't speak to that specific situation in PA., but I will tell you that anti hunters in Ca have been known to purchase hunting licenses, stamps, etc, and use the state reservation and drawing systems to reduce hunter access and opportunity.

Mature Buck · Jan 9, 2017

Yeah it's happened before in other states I believe it was Illinois or maybe another state where they had a new bobcat hunt and Anti hunters were buying Tags so hunters couldn't kill them. However there were a little more tags issued overall and 4000 less in WMU 3B so maybe that's where your hunting and that's why you couldn't get tags WMU 2G and WMU 2G also have less tags

Mature Buck · Jan 9, 2017

I read the article about bobcats a while back so I just recently visited the Illinois fish and game website and it says you purchase the permit after you kill the bobcat now so maybe that's change his because of the anti hunters or maybe it was another state I read about feel free to correct me if Illinois was wrong

MJE2083 · Jan 9, 2017

I guess it depends on what parameters are used to gauge population and tag allotments. I'm merely guessing but I would assume that if harvest is down for several consecutive years yet it is determined that population is up then the agency would respond by increasing tag allotment?

jryoung · Jan 9, 2017

Quackillr said:
I can't speak to that specific situation in PA., but I will tell you that anti hunters in Ca have been known to purchase hunting licenses, stamps, etc, and use the state reservation and drawing systems to reduce hunter access and opportunity.

Not to hijack, but do you have anything supporting this claim or that it has actually had a material impact if happening? I see this reference for D3-5 tags all the time, but my BS is pegged.

MJE2083 · Jan 9, 2017

Mature Buck said:
I read the article about bobcats a while back so I just recently visited the Illinois fish and game website and it says you purchase the permit after you kill the bobcat now so maybe that's change his because of the anti hunters or maybe it was another state I read about feel free to correct me if Illinois was wrong

From what I can tell in Illinois you enter a lottery for a bobcat permit which is needed to hunt/trap for bobcat. Then if you are successful (within 48hrs) you have to purchase an additional bobcat pelt permit.

buckbull · Jan 9, 2017

MJE2083 said:
From what I can tell in Illinois you enter a lottery for a bobcat permit which is needed to hunt/trap for bobcat. Then if you are successful (within 48hrs) you have to purchase an additional bobcat pelt permit.

Thats correct. The lottery cost $5 to enter. Alot of anti-hunting folks from across the country applied for one of the 500 permits that the state made available.

Gut Shot · Jan 10, 2017

buckbull said:
Thats correct. The lottery cost $5 to enter. Alot of anti-hunting folks from across the country applied for one of the 500 permits that the state made available.

The Illinois bobcat tags have to be the biggest money grab scheme the state DNR has come up with in a long time.

mplane72 · Jan 10, 2017

I've read accounts similar to what the OP described about PA in other forums. I've also seen it discussed on an Iowa specific forum that I am active on. General consensus in these discussions is that buying tags with the intent of not filling them will only lead to more tags being issued when herd numbers don't fall. If change needs to happen then the real way to do it is by not buying the tags and addressing tag allocation numbers with the legislature and management agency.

Flatrock · Jan 10, 2017

Yea I'd say it happens in other states as well to some degree. I remember reading an article a few years about Wisconsin and their wolf seasons where anti-hunters were applying for the wolf tags.

MJE2083 · Feb 16, 2017

I got a survey the other day because I had hunted in a special deer study area. One of the questions on the survey was asking for reasons that you did not use your antlerless tag. There was several answers to pick from such as:
A. didn't see any deer
B. saw deer but couldn't get a shot
C. only saw antlered deer

But the one that got me was that there was an answer saying something to the effect of "I purchased this tag to prevent another person from killing a deer"

COEngineer · Feb 16, 2017

MJE2083 said:
I guess it depends on what parameters are used to gauge population and tag allotments. I'm merely guessing but I would assume that if harvest is down for several consecutive years yet it is determined that population is up then the agency would respond by increasing tag allotment?

This is the correct answer. For any single year a group could screw up the system, but in the long run more tags will be available and it will be a net gain to the State wildlife agency.

Laelkhunter · Feb 16, 2017

Is it a state that requires Hunter Education? Might be a way to stop the Anti's by requiring a Hunter Ed # on application. I doubt that many of them would go and sit through a class with all the hunting talk and videos going on to get the certification. But then again, they might.

MTGomer · Feb 16, 2017

Although i've actually applied for cow elk tags I have no intent of actually using, I don't think you're going to see anti-hunters doing this all that much. That would require contributing monetarily to do something constructive and positive, which they're against.

hank4elk · Feb 16, 2017

Heard of this in CA 20 yrs ago.
They'd have to get a HSC I was told.
I always thought it's just 30k people putting in for 35 tags......think Goodale hunt...lol

Flatland Crusoe · Feb 16, 2017

Plenty of states publish stats on the percent of hunters that actually hunted on a tag when a limited quantity is given out. I've never seen the percentage below 90% or so. Until someone shows me compelling numbers I don't believe its an issue having much effect.

Lots of hunters blame their DNR for their own lack of success. Its especially crazy in states with millions of whitetail deer that are at or near historic numbers.

MJE2083 · Feb 16, 2017

The issue in PA I don't think is as much about anti's getting tags as we do require hunters ed (although I have heard of people being able to purchase a first time license w/o showing proof of hunters ed). The issue that I have heard in PA is that there is a (hopefully small) faction of hunters in the state that hate the current deer mgmt practices and feel that too many doe's are being killed so they are buying tags to keep them out of the hands of those that will use them.

old man · Feb 18, 2017

It happens here in CT. When ever there is a special hunt to control the deer populations in areas that normally don't allow hunting.

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