Response from participants was good and some interesting information came from the recent deer hunting survey sent out by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Two out of three people responding to a recent DNR online survey said they use both archery and firearms to hunt deer, and 91 percent said they would be willing to harvest one or more additional antlerless deer if money were not an issue. A total of 9,516 responses were received.

Respondents also expressed strong support for a variety of license packages, including a “sportsman’s bundle” including one archery, one firearms, one muzzleloader and one bonus antlerless license for $72. To purchase each of the licenses separately under the current setup would cost $96.

The survey, conducted by the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife (DFW), is part of a process to review and revise Indiana’s deer management strategy. After meeting with a stakeholder committee, the DFW asked deer hunters and landowners to complete the online questionnaire pertaining to deer season structure and equipment use.

“Because online surveys pose several problems in obtaining scientifically valid results, this questionnaire will be best served as a general indicator for gauging public support or opposition for various deer regulation alternatives,” said Mark Reiter, director of DFW.

“The DFW will be using this information, along with input from a deer stakeholder committee and public input given as part of the administrative rule process, to promulgate a deer rule package.”
The questionnaire was available online from April 19-25. Questions were formatted based on suggestions and recommendations from the deer stakeholder committee to meet the objective of focused deer herd reduction in a strategic manner more adequately balanced for the ecological, recreational and economic needs of the citizens of Indiana.

Before being placed online, the questionnaire was reviewed by a social scientist from Purdue University’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources to ensure the integrity of each question. The questionnaire was designed using an online provider at www.surveymonkey.com

Slightly more than 93 percent of the survey respondents said they were Indiana deer hunters, while 4.6 said they were not and just over 2 percent left the question blank. Approximately 5,300 respondents identified themselves as resident license buyers; 2,600 as lifetime license buyers; 700 as landowners exempt from license purchase; 300 nonresident license buyers; 50 youth license buyers; and 10 military-exempt license holders.
Additional survey results included:

•Eight of 10 respondents said they use shotguns to hunt deer; 74 percent use archery equipment; 71 percent muzzleloader; 20 percent handguns; 19 percent rifles; and 10 percent crossbows. Of the respondents, 27.5 percent said they use only firearms, and nearly 5 percent said they use only archery equipment.

•Total responses favored the current opening date for firearms season. Moving the opening date one week later ranked second, with strong opposition to moving it two weeks later.

•Total responses strongly favored no change to the structure of firearms and muzzleloader seasons, and strongly opposed any choice with fewer days to hunt.

•Total responses supported all options for a strategically targeted antlerless-only firearms season, with most supporting a two-day October season.

•Total responses supported expanding the use of crossbows in the early archery season for hunters age 65 and older. Use in urban deer zones ranked second, followed by expansion into firearms season and expansion into all of the early archery season.

•Respondents expressed strong support for several proposed license packages. The greatest support (75 percent) was for a reduced-cost bonus antlerless license available for early purchase, followed by a “sportsman’s bundle” mentioned previously (71 percent approval).

Other options were two bonus antlerless licenses for $34 (66 percent approval) and three bonus antlerless licenses for $49 (58 percent). Fifteen percent of respondents did not support any of the license packages.

•Asked how many additional antlerless deer they would be willing to harvest if money were not an issue, 9 percent said zero, 17 percent one, 32 percent two, 15 percent three, 9 percent four and 17 percent more than four.

•Respondents identified the cost of additional licenses as the most likely reason they do not harvest an additional deer. Other factors influencing antlerless harvest include processing costs, and no need for an additional deer. Items not perceived to be a hindrance are lack of hunting time; deer herd ability to support additional take; and meat storage capacity.

Tagged muskie in Oswego Lake

Fisheries biologists reported that a 46-inch, 12-year-old muskie tagged in Lake Webster in 2005 was caught May 11 by an angler in Oswego Lake, an 83-acre basin at the west end of Lake Tippecanoe in Kosciusko County.

The fish spent its first seven years of life nearly six miles upstream in Lake Webster before apparently swimming out of the lake sometime over the last five years.

According to DFW, fisheries biologists captured the muskie in a trap net on March 31, 2005, in a bay at the southwestern corner of Lake Webster near the lake’s outlet. Then, the fish was 38.5 inches long and estimated to be seven years old, based on examination of annual growth rings noted on bone samples taken from the fish’s fin.

“We put a small electronic tag in all of the muskies we caught in Lake Webster back in 2005 in order to keep tabs on the survival, growth and movement,” said Jed Pearson, DFW biologist. “Nearly all of the tagged muskies recaptured since then have been caught in Webster, but several have made their way downstream to the Tippecanoe Lake chain.”

The tags, measuring about a half-inch long with the diameter of pencil lead, were inserted into muscle tissue of the muskies near the dorsal fin. They are similar to tags typically placed in cats and dogs for owner identification and have no effect on the fish. The tags, however, are not visible to anglers.

So how did the fisherman who caught the wandering Oswego muskie know he had a tagged fish? When fishing alone or with clients, local muskie guide Chae Dolsen takes a battery-operated meter designed to read the tag numbers.

“Chae scans the fish he and his clients catch to see if they have tags. Then he reports the numbers and sizes of fish back to us,” Pearson said.

The tags and the tag reader were purchased by the Hoosier Chapter of Muskies, Inc. to enable biologists to gather more information on muskie populations in the area. “We’ve learned a lot about muskie biology through the tagging project,” Pearson said.

“The 46-incher we caught in Oswego was only the second tagged one we’ve caught in Tippy or Oswego,” Dolsen said. “We’ve caught a few tagged ones in James (Little Tippy).”