Having been on the short end of several severe beatings in my youth - I'm talking ball sports here - I've never had much of a stomach for slaughter in any form. So I don't think much of coaches who run up scores against hapless opponents and don't believe in things like cheering an opponent's mistakes. It means I take no joy from a lopsided win - my own, my kid's or anyone else's - over an outmanned foe. They prove nothing and provide less, if possible.
Warm weather aside, that's the biggest reason I sat out the Indiana firearms season for deer this year. I enjoy deer hunting, wanted to go and almost did several times. But each time I backed off.
It was all about refusing to be a party to real slaughter, refusing to be an armed stooge for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, itself the lapdog of the Indiana General Assembly, which in turn barks when the farm and insurance lobbies say doggie.
There's no other word but slaughter for Indiana's excuse for a firearms deer hunting season, its 16-day pass to the killing fields. Three weekends around two work weeks. Death to Indiana's deer herd.
Kentucky and Illinois combined hunt the same number of days. Is it any wonder their deer herds shame Indiana's by comparison on any criteria; be it quality or vitality or anything else you can think of?
You see, Indiana's deer management policies mirror the thinking of the people actually running the show, the farm and insurance lobbies. Vehicle collisions with deer cost money to insurers, just like the few surviving white-tailed deer cost farmers with their taste for corn, other grains and fruit.
All you need to know about the mentality of both can be summed up by the words of one old farmer I know. After he gave me and some friends written permission to hunt an island he owned, I politely asked him how many deer we'd be allowed to take.
He shot me a puzzled look and said sternly: "All of them. Kill them all."
It seemed almost comical at the time and we obliged as best we could. That six hunters took six deer pleased him. But the fix was short term. Deer can swim and breed.
What Indiana does to its deer herd every year with its 16-day season does nothing for the quality of the herd or individual animals on a yearly or long-term basis. Trophy management on all but the most-exclusive leases is a pipe dream in Indiana.
Because so many Indiana hunters are willing to whack any and every buck they see - "if I don't the next guy will" is the infectious mentality - bucks are few and far between. Trophy deer? Not many.
Which is not the case in Kentucky or Illinois. In the Bluegrass state the season is nine days running. Hunters are limited to one buck out of a maximum of two whitetails. I suppose there are even some responsible hunters who don't see worthy bucks that would take two does in the season to better balance the herd.
Illinois has an even better system with its firearms season. The season comes in two parts, usually two weekends apart. The first lasts Friday through Sunday, the second Thursday through Sunday.
Illinois' second season ended today, same as Indiana's meatgrinder. Wonder which state saw the best deer? Wonder which state has the most-responsible hunters? Wonder which state has to limit licences because the demand is so high for a quality hunt?
The answer is not Indiana. Never has been, never will be until something changes with the DNR, which means the legislature and the governor have to back off after choosing to ignor farm and insurance lobbyists to some degree.
Which ain't gonna' happen, ain't gonna' happen, ain't gonna' happen.
Indiana even blows it when it comes to something as simple as a herd reduction at places like Harmonie Park. Since there were no restrictions placed on the sex of deer, hunters were cherry-picking bucks and ignoring does when they should've been the first animals taken. It was rediculous.
Unfortunately, though, rediculous might be the single word that sums up Indiana's deer management policies. It leaves Hoosiers with one choice if they want a quality hunt.
They can travel. That's it.
December 2, 2001