Antlerless Deer Draw Results are up 2014

[NoQuinn]

I was successful in 61!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's 4 in my camp that I know of!!!!

[rf2]

I suspect that the number of applicants in 64A will actually be up quite a bit from last year, since it showed "100% success" that likely attracted a lot of people (like myself) who hunt multiple WMU's and always have trouble deciding. My other WMU only had about a 40% success rate - so of course I changed to 64A as my number one.

It's always more or less the same number of applicants, year after year. If you do have the option of hunting more than one WMU, then keep an eye on the MNR website as the deadline for applying approaches. A couple of weeks before the deadline they post the tag quotas, which you can use with the previous year's summary to determine where your best chance of getting a validation tag is. I've been doing that for a few years now, so I knew the chance in 64A was going to be about 70%. This was still better than my other option, so I applied in 64A. Sometimes you are just unlucky though...

[35wailin]

Sorry guys, I gotta vent...

For the first eight years or so that I have been hunting with my current partner, we have been getting an antler less tag every second year. Four years running one without. I figure the next year we gets tag, it will be both of us getting one and we will see a whole pile of bucks instead of the many does we see and won't need the tags.

End of vent. Thanks for understanding...

[jweese]

So far - 4 (tags) for 10 (gang members) in 63A.

I know for a fact one guy didn't apply, when he went to apply for his tags he forgot the zone we were in so he applied for his home WMU instead. I have a feeling another, at least, two guys didn't apply either (or missed the deadline) even though we were adamant they had to apply.

Is there any way, in the future, to get proof from gang members to make sure everyone is applying? I mean seriously, this affects all our hunts.

[Naiscoot]

We are 0 for 10 in WMU 49. Really shocking. We haven't been without a doe tag in over a decade... Im curious if the other 49ers here had better luck. Rather the herds were hit really badly (which is totally expected with our last winter... but i would of assumed the reduced quotas would come next year) or we just have terrible luck.

[krismerry]

jweese, Out of 15 guys in our camp. No one got a tag in 50. We all applied. We send out reminders for both moose and deer. Helps that most of us hunt moose together as well.

We know of 1 person outside of our camp that has got a antlerless tag this year. We are very close with 2 other camps in the area. So lets say they have 10 people/camp. That is 1 tag for 35 people.

Last year all but 1 got a tag in our camp. Here is where it hurts the most. In the last 4 years we have seen 3 bucks. 2 of them were last year. We average seeing around 15-20 doe per year. MNR cut WMU 50 by 60% this year.

Sorry I am still scratching my head at the numbers.

Good luck to everyone this year.. I know I will be dogging my hardest this upcoming season.

So far - 4 (tags) for 10 (gang members) in 63A.

I know for a fact one guy didn't apply, when he went to apply for his tags he forgot the zone we were in so he applied for his home WMU instead. I have a feeling another, at least, two guys didn't apply either (or missed the deadline) even though we were adamant they had to apply.

Is there any way, in the future, to get proof from gang members to make sure everyone is applying? I mean seriously, this affects all our hunts.

[northernontario]

Is there any way, in the future, to get proof from gang members to make sure everyone is applying? I mean seriously, this affects all our hunts.

If the application is done online you get a page displayed which they tell you to print/save for your records. I saved both of mine (regular application and additional tag purchase). Just checked, the "regular" purchase receipt... clearly shows when the license was purchased, which WMU's I chose for choice 1/2. You save an HTML file, and it's easy enough for guys to PDF that and send it to the group.

And if you sign in online to check draw results it will show which WMU's you entered, and success/unsuccessful result. If someone failed to enter the draw, they wouldn't even get a result.

Our gang created a private Facebook group to discuss the hunt and things related to it. Only seen by those members who are invited to the group. It's an easy way to "remind" others of the approaching deadlines. Of course you have to be on Facebook, and lots of people aren't (what are you... some sort of terrorist?). With the ability to buy licenses online now, it's easy to remind people on Facebook and then get your license at the same time. Of course you need a credit card... everyone has an excuse why options won't work for them (no computer, no internet, no credit card, no balance available...). The big advantage to the online system, you can triple check you're picking the correct WMU an instant before you buy, you can buy when out-of-province (some of our gang work out of province for portions of the year).

One member of our group has been entering the same WMU since they started the draw process. (Forgive me... I'm a 3rd year hunter... I don't know how the system used to work decades ago). Apparently, since the inception of the antlerless draw, he has NEVER gotten an antlerless tag for his WMU. This year, 4/6 in camp (wmu61) got antlerless... he still didn't get one. His son got one... I have to assume he's doing it properly if he mentored his son and now the son enters and gets tags.

[jweese]

jweese, Out of 15 guys in our camp. No one got a tag in 50. We all applied. We send out reminders for both moose and deer. Helps that most of us hunt moose together as well.

We know of 1 person outside of our camp that has got a antlerless tag this year. We are very close with 2 other camps in the area. So lets say they have 10 people/camp. That is 1 tag for 35 people.

Last year all but 1 got a tag in our camp. Here is where it hurts the most. In the last 4 years we have seen 3 bucks. 2 of them were last year. We average seeing around 15-20 doe per year. MNR cut WMU 50 by 60% this year.

Sorry I am still scratching my head at the numbers.

I'd be scratching my head as well. We're hearing about plenty of guys in 63a not getting tags, but for the third year in a row I've got my tag, and so has my brother-in-law. It doesn't seem to make much sense, although I'm not complaining.

I'm seeing what you're seeing however - out of the two bucks we've seen in the last two years (and they're BIG bucks) we're seeing 20 different does, and various fawns. High doe numbers, low buck numbers. It makes you wonder where they're getting their tag numbers from, in reality.

The problem I see, at least for 63a, is the zone size is so large - the deer population could be completely different depending on which end of the zone you're in.

[justinj]

53a. No doe tag for me.

This is crazy - I have cameras up again this year and the doe population looks even more healthy than before. Never failed to receive an antlerless tag in the past.

WTH is going on over at the MNR? What is the science behind this?

[Deerslayer99]

No tag for me in 49 also......was up last week and seen lots of deer......don't know where they are getting there numbers from.....doesn't seem right to me to cut the quota in half....

We are 0 for 10 in WMU 49. Really shocking. We haven't been without a doe tag in over a decade... Im curious if the other 49ers here had better luck. Rather the herds were hit really badly (which is totally expected with our last winter... but i would of assumed the reduced quotas would come next year) or we just have terrible luck.