We don't fish the spawn but we hunt the rut?

You have no control over which fish takes the lure
You have 100% control over what deer you shoot

Ideally the bucks have already done their job before you shoot them
 
If you fish the spawn you will have a major impact on future fish generations because you aren't just taking one fish out of the stock but possibly thousands of off spring with every fish

Hunting the rut still only takes one animal out of the population
 
One of my hunting buddies came over the rise and spotted a mulie buck mounting a mule doe. Being a kindly chap, he let the buck finish before he shot the doe. That was the tag he had and his choice. We kidded him about whether the meat tasted any different.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have wondered if we as hunters chasing the biggest bucks aren't constantly thinning the gene pool.
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
One of my hunting buddies came over the rise and spotted a mulie buck mounting a mule doe. Being a kindly chap, he let the buck finish before he shot the doe. That was the tag he had and his choice. We kidded him about whether the meat tasted any different.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have wondered if we as hunters chasing the biggest bucks aren't constantly thinning the gene pool.
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There's a theory along that line, especially with sheep.

https://www.themeateater.com/conser...ement/can-trophy-hunting-alter-wildlife-genes

Grizz
 
We fish salmon in the rivers, we fish burbot in the spawn, most of the creeks around here are closed for the spring spawn, but lake trout are still open in the fall, I’ve never fished walleye but I think they can still be fished during the spawn, most record bass are big females guarding nests, crappies and such are caught off their nests, noodling catfish is done while they’re nesting. Anybody please feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken, but I think a lot of fishing is done, during or just before the spawn.
 
Where I am in Ontario walleye is closed before and during the spawn, bass is closed, lake trout/speckled trout are closed, but pike, burbot and I’m sure a few others are still open
 
jables said:
Where I am in Ontario walleye is closed before and during the spawn, bass is closed, lake trout/speckled trout are closed, but pike, burbot and I’m sure a few others are still open
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Ok, for walleye, bass, and panfish ive only read about it. Fishing river mouths for prespawn walleye and using creature baits for bass on the nest and stuff. I can’t think of any fall closures around here for char species, but I could very well be wrong....
 
diabeticfreak said:
For deer at least, there are a ton of them. I remember seeing a statistic saying that the people who track the numbers think there are more deer around now than there were during the fur trading days despite the number of hunters in North America (I saw this stat a couple years ago, and never fact checked it so I'm not 100% sure). At any rate, there are A LOT of deer, and I know tags are given out to at least keep the numbers as they are, if not to diminish them slightly. Fishing is harder to control, as you can keep a certain number, and that number is much higher than the numbers you can keep compared to deer. It's also easier to poach fish than deer just because of the size. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's better to let fish spawn uninterrupted than let deer spawn uninterrupted, especially if you factor in car accidents. It's much harder to hit a fish with your car than it is to hit a deer!
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Yes, this is true. Deer populations have exploded and their range has been greatly expanded due to intensive agriculture.

Ad the Meat Eater guys say, these are the "good old days" generally speaking for deer.
 
starvin said:
We hunt the rut to have a better chance at the males. Killing males has very little effect on population sustainability for most species.
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So how come it's next to impossible to get a bull tag in ON., but anyone can get a calf tag, and cow tags aren't too hard to come by?
 
Suther said:
Exactly.

Besides that, there is good reason why we can have rifle seasons in the rut: We have enough of the resource in comparison to the demand on it. A lot of states have very short rifle seasons - only one or two weeks with the rest of the hunting season being bow only, maybe throw in a few weeks of muzzleloader season. This is because the demand on the resource is too great to allow for longer rifle seasons.
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That's definitely conventional thinking in Ontario as far as Whitetail Deer go. Now,if we could just get everyone on board for Moose........
 
hawk-i said:
Yeah, he probably had his nuts cut off or inactive...lol
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More likely he wasn't dragged through a swamp, then paraded around town on the hood of the truck for a week, before being hung till almost rotten on the porch, before it was taken in for cut and wrap.

But, you know. It must have been the rut. Or the lousy Butcher's fault!
 
trevj said:
More likely he wasn't dragged through a swamp, then paraded around town on the hood of the truck for a week, before being hung till almost rotten on the porch, before it was taken in for cut and wrap.

But, you know. It must have been the rut. Or the lousy Butcher's fault!
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Nope, I grew up in great whitetail country and you could tell which week in November a buck was shot by the rut taste...it gets stronger each week.

If you want great meat the archery pre-rut season was/is/and always will be, the time to harvest :)
 
The difference being spawning fish congregate in specific locations (shallows, flats, rivers, etc) and will often guard their nests until they're exhausted enough to die. For example, one could hit a sandy flat and pick off bass one by one or walk into a river and net salmon, trout or walleye.

With deer the season around here starts when the fawns are old enough to survive on their own if the doe is shot and it ends after most does have been bred, bit before the embryo is developing. But, I have seen a few tiny fetuses in does that were shot during the last days of the season.

Any earlier and fawns will be too young to survive and any later we'd be seeing far too many unborn fawns killed.

As for bucks, one deer can breed many does so it's not really a big deal when they're shot and waiting until after the rut to shoot a buck is silly as he would have passed his genes the season(s) beforehand anyways.

Many fish are targeted during their spawn, or on their way to do so...perch, crappie, trout, salmon, pike, bass and likely more.
 
hawk-i said:
Nope, I grew up in great whitetail country and you could tell which week in November a buck was shot by the rut taste...it gets stronger each week.

If you want great meat the archery pre-rut season was/is/and always will be, the time to harvest :)
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I hunted around the croplands and hills South of Moose Jaw SK for a bunch of years, and honestly, never could tell the difference between the bucks or does that I harvested. When I was there the seasons ran from Labor Day, pretty much to Chriistmas, so covered pretty much the gamut. Can say the same about the deer I got around Cold Lake, or when I was living near Edmonton.

I had one buck that was a festering mess of scabs and infected wounds along the sides of his neck, and even he wasn't any different tasting than the rest.

Maybe I'm just lucky, maybe not. I still think that it has as much to do with how the carcass is treated, as anything. I suppose if I ever end up with that 'one' buck, I'll change my mind.

Grain field deer are OK, but I prefer the taste of one off an alfalfa field, if I can get! :)
 
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