MO landowner regulations

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Joined
Dec 25, 2007
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missouri
A bit of backstory: Grouch Attack used to deer hunt occasionally but hasn't for several years after Grandkids got old enough to hunt and were filling the freezer easily.
After a couple of mild winters and other factors, the deer have become a problem during summer causing considerable crop damage. Additionally, MDC in their infinite wisdom has unilaterally determined that each hunter can only harvest 2 antlerless deer in our county. In past years, I'd been buying tags to kill does on our own land to control the numbers but now that's not allowed so GA was going to get some landowner tags and harvest her 2 doe quota to help out.
Guess that's not going to happen(not this year anyway) since the landowner permitting system has become so high-tech that a landowner can't just ask for and receive free deer tags w/o jumping through numerous hoops and filing various forms which most certainly will not be done by day after tomorrow.
WHY does everything have to be so complicated and onerous???? With a couple of phone calls, I can get permission to kill deer in the soybean fields during summer and let them rot but we can't get tags to kill them during regular season and donate to the food pantry. Something is wrong with this scenario.
 

contender

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Sep 18, 2002
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Lake Lure NC USA
Gotta love some of the management types who fail to understand common sense.

Same here in NC sometimes.

But a lot of the regulations & such are grounded in trying to prevent poaching. At least according to the stuff I'm told.

Here's a fun one that I love discussing with Wildlife Enforcement officers.

In NC,, we are allowed to bait for deer w/o many restrictions. But we are not allowed to hunt bear over bait or use bait to hunt. Yet,, in their own regulations,, in some sections of the State we CAN use "Unprocessed foods" to aid in the hunting of bear. This means we can put out "natural" foods, such as apples, corn, raw grain, and use dogs near the bait to jump & run bear. Now,, under the list of processed foods that are prohibited for this include salt & honey,, which are specifically listed as prohibited along with candy, pastries, grease, oils, spices, extracts etc.
Allowed is "Bait means any natural, unprocessed food product that is grain, fruit, nut, vegetable, or other material harvested from a plant crop that is not modified from it's raw components."

So I enjoy asking them; "Honey & salt are pure, natural foods, why are they expressly excluded & not considered natural?" or I really get them with; "So,,, if I find a natural salt lick, or a bee gum tree, in the woods, can I hunt over it?"

I've enjoyed confusing more than one officer.

I asked a few questions of a Senior enforcement officer once,, to where he,, in final defeat,, said; "We are complaint driven,, and as such,, we can't enforce everything,, especially when it's a gray area."
I was asking about hunting on my own private property, on Sundays, which, as the crow flies, some of my property is "too close" to a church AND too close to buildings that I own, as well as a few neighbors houses. So I was asking; Is the 500 yds distance required as the crow flies, or by road? Or is it from my deer stand to the church or the edge of my property? They do not have the dimensions specifically defined as to where all that stuff is restricted.

Sometimes game regulations can be confusing and often contradictory.
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
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missouri
I received a fairly 'hissy' reply this morning. Basically, either follow 'their' rules and jump through the hoops or buy deer tags to hunt our own property.
As far as I'm concerned, this is another step in the need to get MDC under control and stop funding their wanton waste of resources. I plan to begin a campaign to force MDC to pay property damage to vehicles, crops, and infrastructure caused by 'their' livestock. Many Western states have such policies.
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
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missouri
Years ago, MDC "commissioner" was changed to an appointed position to lessen the effects of politics on wildlife management. Then, voters approved a 1/8% sales tax to fund MDC not realizing how this would actually change things. The money flooded in and MDC became an extravagant out of control agency neglecting their responsibilities and entering into all sort of projects like re-introducing river otters and surreptitiously coddling cougars.
The results are: CWD is rampant across much of the state. Sheep and goat operations can only survive by using expensive guard dogs, electric fencing, or both. Cattle operations suffer serious losses to coyotes during calving season. Otters stripped privately owned and stocked farm ponds of fish. And NOW wild hogs are ravaging areas of South MO while MDC restricts access to the state lands where they're harbored.
In 54 years of farming, I've NEVER had anyone from MDC ask me if/how their policies were effecting my operation nor have I heard anyone else say so.
With soybeans @ $12/bushel, a conservative estimate would be deer damage of $100 per acre on my farm. That's a LOT of $$ yet here's the comment I received from MDC regarding spouse's attempt to get farm tags C&P from the email: "Your wife will have to have a conservation number. She can purchase her permits and go hunting or she can register the land and receive the free landowner permits."
Not something that happens overnight. Shows the snippy, snotty sort of response often received when dealing with MDC. Very similar to the response I got when trying to get my blind Marine hunter a free or reduced cost deer tag 2 years ago.
 
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
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Connecticut
Normally Connecticut sucks but for mom, me, my brother, and our kids, we can get a free permit on line by requesting it and entering the land record info (book & page) and the total acres. Minimum of 10 acres required. NO hunting license is required either but we still have tag and report. Limit is 2 deer per person but only 1 antlered
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
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11,656
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Kentucky
Mobuck said:
WHY does everything have to be so complicated and onerous???? With a couple of phone calls, I can get permission to kill deer in the soybean fields during summer and let them rot but we can't get tags to kill them during regular season and donate to the food pantry. Something is wrong with this scenario.

When our generation is gone it's gonna be a whole different world, and not for the better. :(
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
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6,314
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China Spring TX
Ale-8(1) said:
Mobuck said:
WHY does everything have to be so complicated and onerous???? With a couple of phone calls, I can get permission to kill deer in the soybean fields during summer and let them rot but we can't get tags to kill them during regular season and donate to the food pantry. Something is wrong with this scenario.

When our generation is gone it's gonna be a whole different world, and not for the better. :(

That is our opinion here. There are quite a few younger folks that seems to have it together but are wildly outnumbered by those who lack any reasoning skills and common sense not based on the real world...
 
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