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FWC Approves Draft Plan With New Deer Hunting Regulations For Northwest Florida
November 21, 2013
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved a draft proposal Wednesday that would divide the state’s Hunting Zone D (from Pensacola to Tallahassee) into two deer management units (DMUs), each with its own unique set of deer antler-point regulations and antlerless deer harvest days.
These proposals for Zone D, which if passed at the April 2014 Commission meeting, would take effect during the 2014-15 hunting season and are part of a larger, statewide project aimed at managing deer on a more local level and providing stakeholders with a greater say in deer management. The Commission also directed staff to provide an update on this issue at the February Commission meeting.
The FWC conducted a public outreach and input process in northwest Florida during the first three months of 2013. During that period, the Commission received input and comments from hunters, farmers and the general public regarding how they would like to see deer managed in the newly proposed DMUs.
As a result of this outreach process, the FWC is considering rule proposals for both public and private lands in both of the DMUs in Zone D, specifically north and south of Interstate 10. Currently statewide on private lands and most wildlife management areas, bucks that are legal to take must have at least one antler that is at least 5 inches long.
The proposals would require that bucks harvested north of I-10 in Hunting Zone D have antlers with at least three points (each point having to be at least 1 inch long) on one side. South of I-10 in Zone D, the minimum antler requirement would be two points on one side.
The proposal includes an exception to the antler requirements in both DMUs whereby youth 15 years old and younger may continue to harvest bucks with at least one antler that is 5 inches or more in length.
Also, the FWC is proposing a change to the antlerless deer season (“doe days”) on private lands within Zone D. Currently in that zone, the season to take deer of either sex (except spotted fawns) runs for seven consecutive days: Dec. 26 – Jan. 1. In the proposed rules, those dates north of I-10 would change to eight days distributed across four weekends (Saturday-Sunday after Thanksgiving, first weekend of muzzleloading gun season, third weekend of general gun season and the weekend after Christmas).
South of I-10, in Zone D, the proposal would change the antlerless season to four days consisting of two popular holiday weekends (the weekends after Thanksgiving and Christmas).
The purpose of modifying the antlerless deer season, the FWC said, is to spread out the hunting opportunity, so that more hunters may be able to participate without substantially reducing deer populations. These changes would be monitored to measure the impact on the deer harvest and hunter satisfaction within each DMU.
Comments
13 Responses to “FWC Approves Draft Plan With New Deer Hunting Regulations For Northwest Florida”
Its about time florida has antler restrictions. Better quality deer in the future. And as for the dog hunter who complain I cant see the points when dogs are running it. Quit hunting I personally thing dog hunting is only good for cats coons hogs and bear NOT deer.
It doesnt make any sense to jump to a 3 on one side rule. You first need to clean up the heard there are too many does when you have spotted fawns in january. Then there is the bad genes, many of the deer in for instance blackwater will grow old and die a cowhorn or a forked horn 3 or 4 point so I would think some doe days and maybe a fork on one side for several years maybe 5 or more. Then you may be able to jump up higher with your restrictions. The FWC wanting to jump from a 5 inch horn on one side to a 3 pt or bigger on one side is just plain stupid!!!! Who comes up with these ideas? The farmers are already getting deprivation permits like crazy now you want to have more deer to eat their crops ?? ingenious folks!!! Now they will be overrun and still the deer will have less than 3 on one side…
I really don’t understand why the state would be for increasing rules that hunters have to go by when they( the state) doesn’t enforce the ones that are in place now. I haven’t seen a game warden where I hunt, for years. As usual, this will hurt the law abiding hunters, the outlaws are always going to outlaw.
I also am against regulating horn size and anterless deer for the hunters when the farmers get deprevation tags and let so-called hunters bait deer on their property and shoot anything and as many as they want at night. If the deer are eating up your crops, do everything to prevent them from coming to your fields, and not allow feeding to draw them to the fields.
Hey Andrew,
Simple solution. If you cannot IDENTIFY your target, DO NOT SHOOT.
Now, back to what is at hand… It’s about time FWC has approved an antler point requirement.
Too many people with the attitude, “If you don’t shot it, somebody else will”, referring to a barely legal spike. Also the amount of people who kill an excess of 10+ deer a season, It’s unreal….
FWC… I wish you’d also bring back the Tag system, allowing only 3 to 4 buck kills a year per hunter…..
What about the people that run dogs in Blackwater when a deer jumps out in front of the hunters they don’t have time to count how many points the deer has. A deer is not going to jump out in front of you and stop just to let you count there horns.
What a bunch of controll freaks.
theres no way they can enforce this outlaws are going to be outlaws that’s the way it is
I don’t think it’s going to do any good as long as the deer depradation permits allow hundreds and hundreds of bucks to be shot before season comes in every year with no restrictions or regulations.
I live off Hwy. 29, from Dec. to prolly March, there will be maybe 20 to 25 bucks killed by cars, shooting couple does on doe days & restricting horns will only add to bucks wasted on hwy.
Georgia has done wonders with their deer herd. You can shoot ten does and two bucks. On your license there is a slot that is filled out when you harvest a deer. It makes a person a little less likely to shoot a small buck knowing you can only take two. Even if you don’t take a buck, does are better eating. That allows the bucks to grow larger the following year. I hear of people killing 8 or 10 bucks a year and no real trophies among them. They wonder why the don’t kill any good bucks. They are not allowed to mature into one.
In 35 plus years of hunting this is the first time iv seen common sense actually considered,dito Kieth.
Keith, not everyone hunts private land or can afford a club.
It’s a good and bad thing. It’s good because it will keep people from shooting every cow horn they see and allow for bigger deer. It’s bad because those that hunt for meat will be badly affected. (I fall into the meat hunter category, as you can’t eat antlers, but at the same time, I also practice QDM on my land to allow them to grow out and control the population)
I think they should maybe expand antlerless season or make it a quota system, and instead of a possesion limit, cap it with a season limit instead. For example – There is someone who is already in double digits from blackwater I believe, and it’s not even gun season yet.
The FWC should also start monitoring the amounts harvested via actual tags as there is no way they can do anything but make a very broad estimate on the herd populations.
When you have a 16 spike to 2 doe population, it’s time to do some culling. Now, under the proposed rules, if I didn’t have my kids who are under age 15, I wouldn’t be able to control that herd and that would cause problems.
I think they need to listen to both sides (meat hunters and trophy hunters) and come to some middle ground.
Well F.W.C. you got this one right .I am glad you listened to the people and did what they wanted. Most of us already have the point restrictions on our private lands or clubs. Now everyone will be on same page.Also good idea about doe days. About time,thanks.keith