co-ops & crop damage permits

[brutusbeefcake]

We have a situation in numerous Ohio co-ops with crop damage permits being severely abused. In Ohio there is no law stating that does are the only sex allowed to be harvested with crop damage permits. It is up to the county officer to decide what is allowed and what isn't! Outrageous! So that means we have 88 differant interpretations of how they can be used. attached is a story of an article published on the front page of a local newspaper about a week ago. Bucks are being shot and left lay. In a seperate incident a friend of mine near our co-op found 2 dead bucks laying in a field that were shot by crop damage hunters and left lay we have pics of them and have sent them to game warden and haven't heard anything yet, doubt if we will. What I'd like to know is if there's anybody out there that has any success stories of how a co-op helped a land owner reduce the crop damage on his land. Has anyone been creative in coming up with ideas other then the obvious one of shooting loads of does. needing some input.

http://www.timesreporter.com/archive...control-issues

[browndowner]

hey there ,
around where i live i shoot alot of crop control permits.... and you are aloud to shoot bucks and does... we have a big over population problem so we have to shoot hundreds of deer each year .... what i think you should do is try to get on these permits and shoot alot of does ... cause what makes the farmer the happiest is numbers ...and maybe he will let u take over the crop control in your area ...... after shooting the permits by me for a few years and trying to only shoot does there has been an amazing result ... BUCKS EVERYWHERE!

[Wayne Sitton]

This is a universal problem, but there is a solution, here is a little background that is just a fact of life. Farmers depend on crops to feed their family, make payments and I support that. The last thing we need as sportsmen is more land fragmentation. Most farmers are also deer hunters and deer managers so why should they allow access to sportsmen to harvest the buck that them and their kids have been watching and feeding all season? We as hunters are typicaly jealous of the nice bucks taken off farm ground and feel the world is not fair, and it isn't. If we spent as much money on foodplots as the farmer and owned that much land, we would have the same quality and density as they do, but then we would also need to sell crops to make "Deer Camp" cash flow, and we would be farmers too, probably seeking damage permits. The other side of the fence is farmers need people willing to harvest doe, and leave the bucks for them and their family. They also need education on deer managment, help determining ratios and setting harvest criteria to improve the quality of their herd. Michigan has the very same problem and very same complaints, here is what we have done. Most states have missed the boat by catigorizing farmers and sportsmen into two seperate groups, and have done a great job of it. All this accomplished is driving a wedge between neighbors. Sportsmen want to hunt, farmers also want to hunt but have to protect their livleyhood. I asked one of the local QDMA co-op's to set up a deer managment seminar in the area. It was invitation only and we tied in with a local farm group. We had 300 people attend and were divided 50% farmers 50% sportsmen. I gave a seminar on basic deer managment and nutritional needs and the other half on population control and disease control issues. What we found was that both groups had exactly the same issues. To make a long story a little shorter the co-op is certifying people to hunt farm ground. These "shooters" are gaining access to local farms long closed to the sporting community. The farmers have been educated and the shooters qualified and educated on closing gates, and follow the farmers rules to the letter. They harvest doe only and the right ones. The bucks are reserved for the landowner and his family/friends hunt. We are seeing great relationships formed because of small property owners struggling to plant food plots with atv's and bed springs they are trading with the farmers who already own the equipment and have the food plot knowledge most hunter don't. In return the sporting community is holding work bees with their group on the farmers land. We help build fences, barns, do electric and plumbing work in exchange for food plots supplied by the farmers. What a deal, everyone working together. Now the compliance is a more difficult issue. As a result of the cooperation between sporting and ag communities the state has asked for guidance from the new alliance. We have a committee who is making reccomendations to the state and regulations are changing where crop damage permits are concerned. This all is supported by Cattle Associations, Milk Producers, Sporting Communities and even Chambers of Commerce in the area. This type of relationship with Farm Bureau and others involved will get the regulations changed in your state. I met your Wildlife Chief who is an avid hunter and would support cooperation between the two groups. Approach the thing professionaly, get support and you can be a hero in the area. If this sounds like something you have time for or your group has intrest in, drop me an e-mail address and we can exchange phone numbers and I will give you the in's and out's of how to make the thing work for everyone. Hope this helps.

[brutusbeefcake]

Great post Wayne! keep talking to us. Sometimes I wonder if a guy wouldn't just be better off trying to work with your neighboring farmers, putting on educational seminars, and setting up opprotunities for farmers to connect with local sportsmen to help them deal with their crop damage issues rather than making somekind of political push to get regulations changed that if they wouldn't be abused could possibly aid in managing the local deer herd. I do feel however that there needs to be somekind of, say, wasting law in place that makes it a crime to just use permits and let them lay. there's all kind of ideas of how co-ops could help their neighbors find places for them to get rid of their deer at local food banks etc. But how does a guy get them to change any laws?

[Wayne Sitton]

If you learn nothing else from me remember this.....State Agencies....all of them, practice the same 3 "R's"....Re-act..Re-spond and Regulate. The best Agency Wildlife Chief in the nation is burdened down with red tape which is difficult to work around in a timely fashion. Sportsmen and Ag producers want action NOW...sorry don't happen that fast. The ODNR reports to some type of Natural Resources Commission which in most states is comprised of less than friendly people toward the agency. These committies are usually appointed by the Governor and work for the people. Let me say that again...THEY WORK FOR US and guide direction to the DNR. Most Wildlife Chiefs encourage people to go to the Commission meetings as it cuts the red tap that gets in the way. I will promise that if your group is proffessional, have a plan and it's endorsed by the proper groups ie: Farm Bureau, Ohio Milk Producers, Ohio Cattlemens Association, USDA in your county QDMA Co-op's, Sportsmens Clubs and anyone else you can muster, the change will happen quicker than you can gut an old doe! They are waiting on you to do SOMETHING!!!! so they can Re-act...Re-spond and Regulate. The changes you want to see are the very same changes the Agriculture community is wanting also, it just has to be presented with a united front. It is not a LAW change, you need but a REGULATION change which can happen with the stroke of a pen from the right person. Education is key, Unity is Key the rest is a snowball effect. I will call you but let's put together a seminar, I will be happy to come down if you will orginize it. Kick the pencils off their desk, make some noise, Do what's right for the resource and the ODNR will support you. Remember, they work for you, the landowner.

[buckdeer1]

In Kansas hardly anyone ask for them because of whats good about it.you can only shoot does and you have to take the meat and it can't be done during a deer season but has to be done with a firearm.The exception is if a tree farm gets permits then sometimes they let them shoot bucks but from what I heard on this you had to turn the antlers in.What about raising funds to pay the farmer the difference of damage if he doesn't allow bucks to be shot or paying for does but taking away from that for bucks.Another option would be to plant food plots to take some pressure off crops.I know on my farm I sustain 10 times the damage from coons,turkeys and other wildlife and birds than I do deer.Coons and turkeys will break a plant down alot of times

[Ohioboy]

The crop permit issue has been going on for a while. You would be amazed at the number of bucks that get killed carelessly or by accident. When you are using spotlights and rifles things happen. There are alot of issues behind this, out of staters, leasing, etc. The only solution is to thin down your herd. Our group helped one neighbor out by shooting a substanial number of does on his property during shotgun season. The only complaints we got was from person(s) who hunted on the neighboring farm, but not that farm owner. It stinks but there is nothing the game wardens can do. If you own land plant food plots and try to keep the deer on your property.

[brutusbeefcake]

We also are going to be trying to help him with his groundhog and coon control as they are causing a lot of damage also. My neighbor man has a friend who owns some kind of lil terrier that goes into a ground hog hole and kills the ground hog. the dog is wearing a collar and owner can tell where and how deep in ground the dog is. the dog hast to be dug out of the ground cause he won't let go of the ground hog. He's gonna be at my neighbors place today can't wait to see what happened. couple of saturdays ago they got 22 groundhogs with these dogs on one farm.

[OHletemgrow]

Great discussion on this topic guys!

And also,

Originally Posted by brutusbeefcake

we have pics of them and have sent them to game warden and haven't heard anything yet, doubt if we will.

I can feel for you on this statement. The game warden in carroll really does very little in the way of enforcement. We tell him about poachers and deer being shot from the road and he says he will be out to check it out and he never comes. Ever since he has become the game warden I have never once seen him out on the road or doing anything that resembles work whatsoever, and I'm all around the county during hunting season to. We have solved this problem though by just calling the county sheriff. They actually respond when they get called and address any problems much more quickly.

I'm going to keep watching this thread to see how it works out.