Indiana jumps in Top 20 Whitetail states

[HICKMAN]

Guess the cat is out of the bag. I've seen more and more "pros" come to Indiana to film over the last few years.

20 Best DIY Whitetail States for 2014 | North American Whitetail

 

[Hookeye]

They check record buck data, see hot areas, come in and lease a bunch of ground (you can't compete against their wallet).
Do some QDM, take inventory of the results and in a few short years it's time to make TV shows.
Now watch the programs and buy the gear that makes them so successful


For a DIY...................are they too on private ground?

Or are these like the Whitetail Adrenaline guys that hunt public ground?

Even crap ground around here is being gobbled up by leasing companies or the owners themselves are leasing it.

 

[MRP2003]

Wow, we are number 2!!

 

[jblomenberg16]

Very cool! I hope that the ever increasing fame doesn't put further squeeze out the little guys like many of us, that are just average hunters hunting on private family land or land owned by long time family friends. Each year I hear more and more land owners getting big bucks (pardon the pun) to lease their land, making it harder and harder to hunt some of the old family hunting grounds.

Each year I hear more and more stories of guys poaching trophy bucks off of private land during the first weekend of season, simply by driving around the country roads "glassing" and killing the deer as they move around in response to all the sudden hunting pressure in the woods.

 

[phylodog]

Time to up the non resident fees or we will very quickly become just like Iowa, Illinois and Ohio meaning unless you own land or are a millionaire you won't be hunting private property in this state. MI is charging $76 for a non resident fishing license now, I say it's time to bump IN non resident buck tags to $500 or more. I don't blame the farmers and landowners for taking the offers to lease their land for ridiculous money but I'd sure like to see the attraction to out of state hunters eliminated before it gets out of control.

 

[Willie]

An Outdoor writer's opinion has never held much sway with me...

From the comments..

IN>DeerHunterfor40years! • 4 months ago You simply need to stop making up deer herd estimate numbers for Indiana that are not true at all .. We have not got 1,000,000 deer and have never had that many deer here. In fact we are lucky to have half that number .Our state does not give a herd estimate and was decimated by EHD the last two year .Your writing here is simply wrong and nothing more than uniformed opinion .I sugest you contact our state Biologist before making false claims about our deer herds .Our harvest fell last season by almost 10,000 deer from the previous year and looks worse this year. Bonus tags will be cut drastically in many counties this year and was last year in some.LOL .Our buck harvest has fallen in just 3 years by almost 6000 per season from our high . I suggest you know what you are talking about before sensationalizing our deer hunting here and making up numbers for our deer herd here .Do we have good bucks yes ..Do we have the numbers you suggest not in any way shap or form .Also private land is all but un accesable without a lease up front and thay are expensive here .



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[HICKMAN]

I still don't know why everyone complains about public land hunting in Indiana.

When I lived up in Indy, I hunted nothing but public grounds in the Hoosier Nat'l, Morgan/Monroe, Yellowwood, Martin State Forest, Greene-Sullivan State Forest.

Hell, I'm allowed to hunt on Crane and have still killed more deer on public land than I have here.

Anyhoo... I was just trying to put a little hope into aspriring deer hunters like me that there is always a chance of bagging one that's worthy of mounting.

I start my season working to fill the freezer and hope that I nudge just a little bit closer to taking a bruiser. I'm getting better at being in the right place at the right time, just need the right shot to come with it.

Good luck to all this season.

 

[jblomenberg16]

I still don't know why everyone complains about public land hunting in Indiana.

When I lived up in Indy, I hunted nothing but public grounds in the Hoosier Nat'l, Morgan/Monroe, Yellowwood, Martin State Forest, Greene-Sullivan State Forest.

Hell, I'm allowed to hunt on Crane and have still killed more deer on public land than I have here.

Anyhoo... I was just trying to put a little hope into aspriring deer hunters like me that there is always a chance of bagging one that's worthy of mounting.

I start my season working to fill the freezer and hope that I nudge just a little bit closer to taking a bruiser. I'm getting better at being in the right place at the right time, just need the right shot to come with it.

Good luck to all this season.

I agree with you...we have some great options here in Indiana, with a very real possibility of a trophy buck. My very first hunt ever when I was a boy was with my Uncle. After an hour in the woods, a beautiful 10 point walked within 15 yds, and was dead on the spot with a slug to the chest. I was hooked and have been ever since!

Good luck out there!

 

[bwframe]

Don't the biggest bucks routinely come from the north half of the state? Up in the flatland where you hunt "a woods," surrounded by crops, vs those of us to the south hunting "the woods," surrounded by more woods?

 

[sportsman223]

They got it wrong, there are no big deer in Indiana

 

[Willie]

They got it wrong, there are no big deer in Indiana

They did get it wrong, but there ar big deer in Indiana just like there are in every state. Their method is saying which state for a DIY hunt is flawed IF you try to extrapolate that to big buck deer. Major points were given to the price of the license and the ability to purchase over the counter to get it. No way does Indiana have a million deer either. Number of deer hunters? No one, not even the DNR knows for sure as there are a BUNCH of life time license holders out there and untold numbers of landowners and their families.

the article is typical outdoor writer BS....

Unfortunately some folks will believe it and try to come to come to Indiana. Then they will see that the land availabity is not quite what the writer said it was.. which was another point gatherer in their formula..

 

[HICKMAN]

Don't the biggest bucks routinely come from the north half of the state? Up in the flatland where you hunt "a woods," surrounded by crops, vs those of us to the south hunting "the woods," surrounded by more woods?

She shot this in woods, surrounded by more woods, less than a mile from my desk.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...012-daily-deer-hunt-chat**-6.html#post3444609