2017-18 Kansas Deer Harvest Survey Supplementary Material - Hunter Comments This Document Contains All the Comments Received As Part of the 2017 Deer Harvest Survey
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2017-18 Kansas Deer Harvest Survey Supplementary Material - Hunter Comments This document contains all the comments received as part of the 2017 Deer Harvest Survey. The comments are provided as they were written by the respondent, except that personal identifying information (e.g. names, phone numbers, etc.) are redacted and vulgarities have been removed. There were 13,982 responses to the Deer Harvest Survey and 5,632 of the respondents provided comments. Comments are in the order they were received. Hunter Comment I truly enjoyed my trip. I did the best I could at remembering the unit/county in which I hunted. I may be off a bit. I also did not 1 understand the question about first deer antlerless only. I purchased an "any deer tag" and a n antlerless tag for my hunt. However, I did not use my "doe tag". I hope that I have the opportunity to hunt again in your fine state. 2 Didn't see as many deer this year but there were more young ones. I never saw the buck I was going for based off trail camera photos. However, I saw a lot of potential for future season with the 3 yearling population. 4 I enjoy hunting Kansas. Am thankful for the opportunity. 5 seen a lot of great young bucks and a few shooter bucks just could not seal the deal on a good mature buck. 6 I think I got a really good deer as I heard them talikig about for I being my first. 7 Was unable to hunt in 2017 do to back injury. 8 Keep the number of tags in the control of the game dept. Not the land owners 9 Too many out of state hunters road hunting 10 didn't get to go 11 You're giving out to many doe tags at the detriment of rural areas. 12 To many horn hunters and no meat hunters, I didn't even see a trophy deer the whole time I was in Kansas. Had a nice hunt, thankfully. It was really the only day available to me with work schedules. I got a nice big doe. Saw a young fawn 13 first thing in the morning. Then saw two does and two more fawns, when I took my doe. Didn't see any antlered deer during my hunt Thank you 14 DEER NUMBERS SEEMED TO BE DOWN 15 hunting was great. I was trophy hunting, but the buck i was looking for never gave me an opportunity . 16 Where u hunt in jewell county there were very few deer and I have been there for 4 yrs and relatives for 20+ said there were fewer 17 Season needs to be a little longer Been hunting my entire life and haven't seen deer numbers as low as I have for the last 3 years. Maybe this is unique to the counties I hunt. Again this year, 5 strait days of hunting Russell county during rifle season I seen a total of 2 buck and 5 dow where I use to see 18 15 to 20 deer a day. Didn't see anything in the dark on my drive to the hotel. Something is wrong and if Kansas wants to keep up with other states especially for trophy's I think we need better management practice. Also Nightvision, thermo scopes and "cans" should be considered "tools of Poachers" and if in your position during big game season hefty fines and confiscation should be the law. My husband got his antlered buck a week after I did and then he left me the first of December & has filed for Divorce so I will not get 19 to hunt this area anymore! I hope to find somewhere else to hunt in the future but I have no idea where to start! 20 Extended doe season should be longer in unit 6 21 Less deer Mule Deer numbers worst i have seen it ten years. and the herd deer i did see looked ok but not the best you could easily pick out the 22 ones that were sick whether its CWD and i also seen one small buck with deer warts Other than being a dad! My Nov trip to Kansas is very special to me. Being able to harvest a doe along with a buck even makes it 23 better. Thank you for what you do! 24 Really love the way the state is set up for hunting...y'all do a good job of deer management. Good season. Lots of does. Need to work on a better hunter feeding hungry program with more $$$ and more opportunities to donate 25 deer. 26 better selection of quality deer 27 did not hunt 2017 in kansas .no time in 2017 28 Benidictine was outstandingly managed but hot weather and work hurt to me. The whitetail population is very low. Disease is affecting numbers greatly. Doe harvest needs to end in regular and special seasons. 29 Mule deer population seems to be stable but I think resident mule deer licenses need to be restricted some so that you can't hunt mule deer every year with over the counter MZ and Bow licenses to protect the population that we currently have. 30 Just where not out when i was bad weather 31 I am very fortunate to live and hind deer in Kansas our natural resources are very well managed my observation is that the local deer population has decreased significantly in the last couple of years. would like to see the number of 32 nonantlered deer permits decreased. 33 saw many does early and passed on them. Did not see anything after then 34 Deer numbers are getting better in Dickinson Co 35 Nothing to do with the state. The weather just happened to be warm this year. 36 Fewer deer. Fewer mature bucks. this was the worst deer I've had in 20 years. I think fish and game needs to do away with baiting deer seems like the only people that see deer are the ones with the biggest corn pile. and the outfitters in this state have ruined hunting for the normal guy, its impossible to find any hunting ground in this state unless you pull $5000 out of your pocket for 200 acres of ground. I think im about done deer 37 hunting in this state after 35 years. I think ill stick to fishing because I don't have to beg some farmer or pay an arm and a leg to go fishing. Thanks again for [Expletive] the hunting up in this state for the normal guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 38 Didn’t get a deer but enjoyed the opportunity to hunt ks 39 Enjoyed hunting in Kansas 40 enjoy hunting the big whitetail 41 Hunted at [Redacted] outfitters had great time great deer managment seen plenty of niice mature deer No real complaints, harvested an 8.5 year old Buck. Glad to see the State raised prices on NR tags, however I would like to see an actual limited number of NR tags issued. I am all for them hunting Kansas, but I hunt private land that borders public. I have seen first hand what happens when a piece of ground receives so much pressure, and so many 3.5 year old (or younger) deer are harvested. The piece of public that borders me is a tract 120 yards wide, and close to 3/4 of a mile long, I counted 24 different hunters in 2 weeks in 42 November, all but 4 were NR, but what I didn’t see one time, was a game warden check anybody hunting that ground, or even myself (in fact I never even seen a game warden during archery season). Maybe what I am seeing on this piece is an anomaly, but if other public grounds are used like that piece, I fear for the future of whitetail hunting in Kansas. I still see some of the bucks on the private land reach maturity, however the number seems to decrease every year. Raise the cost to hunt Kansas “Trophies”, implement mandatory deer check-in stations for public (or all) hunting grounds. 43 Look forward to going to Kansas every year!!!! 44 Game lands were over hunted. Walkin areas were misleading for whitetail hunting many having no trees at all. 45 Most deer i saw were very slender and young. Only saw 1 mature doe, did not take because it was with its young 46 Not many mature deer. 47 I'm having trouble with my neighbor sneaking on my land 48 Population seemed really low this year 49 Numbers seemed low There are to many out of state hunters. They lease up all the land. In state people can not afford the thousands of dollars to lease up good land. Hunting is already expensive and having to pay for a hunting lease is out of the question. Deer populations are down 50 because we allow so many people out of state to hunt. We allow anyone to use crossbows. More and more deer are being harvested every year. Crossbows should be used only for handicap and youth. Or severely shorten cross bow season like rifle. I did not get a deer this year, probably more related to the noisy kid sitting in the blind with me than management. A nice buck was 51 taken from the property I was hunting by another hunter. Deer numbers are down and you wont cut back on tags. Our mule deer are almost gone because you wont manage them correctly.