[rquote=1484790&tid=103770&author=pinwheel][rquote=1484782&tid=103770&author=MellerAM]This is the Firearms Portion (normal novemer season only) numbers for the last 11 years. Had some good and bad. My main concern would be that there are a LOT more hunters out now than in 1998. *youth season began 2001*
2009 To The Minute 187,200
2008 Firearms Season 200,679
2007 Firearms Season 214,494
2006 Firearms Season 235,054
2005 Firearms Season 205,460
2004 Firearms Season 222,329
2003 Firearms Season 208,940
2002 Firearms Season 217,435
2001 Firearms Season 205,867
2000 Firearms Season 201,165
1999 Firearms Season 175,925
1998 Firearms Season 194,670 [/rquote]
Like you said, we didn't have a youth season then, so you kinda got to add the youth #'s to the total, don't ya? How about ML & archery season #'s, have they increased, stayed the same or gone down? The more seasons we've got, spreading the #'s into more sections of pie, will make other stats go down, won't it?[/rquote]
That is true, I wish MDC would show total year kills, I think that the harvest might be about stable but dont know. My only concern is that there are a lot more rifle hunters out now than 10 years ago. Are the low numbers a result of AR or are there just not as many deer?
My thinking is if the population is good then more hunters should mean more deer killed. I'm concerned that the conservation's way of determining deer population by kills is bad management. The kill numbers could hold stable with declining deer numbers if the number of hunters in the woods increases. I need one of those economics graphs.