Thread: Need Crappie.com Support.

On a side note, we have i think all watch conservation efforts grow and change. For me a big eye opener was watching how the deer seasons changed and evolved over the last 20+ years in Maryland when i lived and hunted there.

When i first moved to MD and started hunting and even more bowhunting, man there were deer everywhere.... there were places that one could go to and see well over 100 deer a day. But in those days there were very strict buck only hunting with a requirement being that a buck had to have horns more than 3" long for you to harvest it. You might go a week, see a 1000 deer (I BS you not) and not have a chance at a single legal animal. In addition during that time deer regularly had large die off's in hard winters do to being so overpopulated. You could walk thru the woods and there was not a single green thing below 7ft from the ground, all of it had been browsed.

Times started changing, bowhunters were allowed to harvest does, a couple doe days were dropped into the mix. Next thing you know, more and more nice bucks are taken...... more changes... more doe days... lots of people were very slow to change their mind about shooting does, because they were raised in the days of the deer being very rare. But slowly opinions were changed. Now a days, the deer herds are much better managed, There are still many places in Maryland where you can go and see a prodigious amount of deer in a day. But a good percentage of them will be racked bucks, additionally the animals are much more healthy since the herd has been reduced a bit to being closer to the lands carrying capacity.... as a result you don't see deer dieoff's in the winter, you actually see available browse in the woods, etc etc etc... In the last few years they have started pilot programs to have hunter only harvest 6 point or better animals with decent antler spreads.... The results have been astounding with more does being taken and with bucks being given the opportunity to mature... each year some absolutely MASSIVE deer are coming out of MD. Don't believe me??? look up the P&Y & B&C records.. you will see that maryland has more and more entries every year.

All of this based on proven science that we today know and call Quality Deer Management. It's almost universally accepted today that its the way to manage your deer herd. Thus i would like for our conservation path here, and nationwide to be based on the science of how to make the population completely sustainable and increase its quality.

I hear you prowler and agree, but there is way too much speculation that this is not based on science. There is a meeting coming up and IF after that meeting it is found out that this wasn't based on science, then the riots can start and bring out the pitchforks

Still not sure why people are so worked up about a fish that no one hardly catches?!

If in the meeting it ends up that we have a whole bunch of science already done here to support these limits. Then heck i am all for it.

I think the reason people are getting up in arms about this is twofold...

#1 at its root everyone can agree that if regs are not based on sound science and just based on someone saying this is what we should do.. that's never good. So people are worried that if the state starts making snap judgements on whims, they might do the same for other stuff. (at least that's a major concern for me)

#2 secondly... most of the people posting on the other forum are from the SW part of the state where there is a has been different regulations from the rest of the state in regards to speckled trout. A lot of people are strongly questioning why this was done, because they are seeing that a fishery that was once considered to be a trophy hotspot is rapidly being turned into just a good place to catch a limit. (wrong or right that's the perception out there) It certainly have some scientific legs because it has been proven in many different ways that when a water body become's overpopulated with a certain type of fish they quickly become stunted and don't reach their growth potential.

I still think half the folks over there are crazy for jumping on the we wont support conservation program X because of this little itty bitty thing.

All in all during this discussion I probably agree with you more than anyone else, But i do think putting a little bit of pressure on folks to show the science / get the science to support a decision is a very good thing.

ooops double post sorry.

Guys, I'm on the (Other site) as well. I rarely post there anymore because there is always an argument going on. I mean no disrespect and am not trying to be rude when I say this. Please don't make this post the same thing so many of us here try our best to avoid, an argument.

Thanks in advance; respectfully, S.R.

I agree with Shallow Runner and don't post on that other site either (and for the same reasons). Maybe this should be moved to the off topic board. Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by Shallow Runner

Guys, I'm on the (Other site) as well. I rarely post there anymore because there is always an argument going on. I mean no disrespect and am not trying to be rude when I say this. Please don't make this post the same thing so many of us here try our best to avoid, an argument.

Thanks in advance; respectfully, S.R.

I don't think there's any fighting going on here? At least i can certainly say that for my part i mean nothing i have said here to be negative towards anyone. First and foremost i am a fisherman, which plainly means that i love and enjoy many of the same things that all of you do. I do believe this letter needs to be shared so people can make their own choice on sending / or not sending it in.