Editor, Times-Union: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has greatly liberalized nearly aspect of deer hunting. For example, we are now able to use certain calibers of high-powered rifles. Crossbows can be used year round. There is no longer a “resting period” for deer in between the closing of firearms season and the beginning of muzzle-loader season. Instead, crossbows and bows are allowed to be used to keep pressure on the deer during this period. Deer hunters used to be required to take their deer to a deer check-in station within 48 hours upon harvesting their deer. At the check-in station, they would record the date, time, county of the kill, weapon used and sex of the deer killed. Most importantly though, the person checking in your deer would personally hand you a deer tag, and personally watch you attach it to the carcass of the deer. This gave them a chance to visually inspect the deer to make sure the information the hunters gave them was correct. Now, all hunters are required to do is check in their deer within 48 hours of it being harvested using the newly created Check In Game website. You can call in your deer over the phone, or use your computer. Not being mandatory to have your deer turned in at a state check-in station, where the deer is visually inspected, is a big help for poachers. They have created a special anterless-only firearms season that runs from Dec. 26 until Jan. 6 for counties with a doe quota of four or more, which happens to be most of the state. Several counties had their bonus doe quotas (the allowed number of extra does to be taken), raised to eight extra per person! Sadly enough, there are people out there who will shoot all eight of their bonus does even though they don’t have a place, or use for all that meat. The IDNR has made it easy for people to kill this many deer. After you purchase your first bonus doe tag, each additional doe tag can be purchased at a discounted price. If you don’t have room for all the deer you kill, you can donate them to a processing center that will give the meat to food banks. The donation centers are nothing new, what is new is that the IDNR has made it free to donate your deer, where in the past the hunter used to have to donate a fee to help cover the cost of processing the deer. This motivates people to purchase more bonus licenses. Most of us have figured out exactly what is fueling the changes. It is greed. Deer have become a cash crop for the IDNR. Don’t need the meat? Just donate it for free, purchase a discounted license and shoot more deer. It makes no sense to allow more does to be shot every year when there is a growing number of hunters out hunting a rapidly decreasing population of deer. Part 3 to follow. Josh Leffel North Manchester, via e-mail
