Decades ago OR noticed that people were over-fishing clams on their beaches, so they passed a law saying that you could only have 18 clams in your possession. Later surveys showed that the clam population was declining faster under the new law than before.
What was happening was that people would get their 18 clams, but continue clamming. If they found a larger one, they threw one of their smaller clams back onto the beach, where most then died.
Yet another example of how good intentions often make things worse. Do these people really think this law will stop hunting and fishing in OR?
Here in NH the state has increased the amount of white tail deer you can harvest. Especially here in the southern part of the state.
That is because less people now hunt.
Plus as the southern part of the state has gone from farms in the 1800s to woods in the 1900s the deer population increased.
Then in the rural towns that have been subdivided the lots for a single family home is typically 1-3 acres. This is because these new house lots need to have a drilled well and septic. There is no town water, sewer or natural gas line out front. Just electric, phone and maybe cable. The fiber optic cable stops about a 1/4 mile short of my house.
These larger building lots result in houses that are spread 100-300’ apart. Most lots have a minimum or 200 feet of road frontage and 1 acre. So, this means everyone needs a riding lawn mower and has deer, turkey, coyotes, bobcat, fisher cats, black bear and occasionally moose wandering through their back yard. Plus a lot of Karens FEED the wild animals.
My mother in law feeds the deer.
So, the deer live around the houses. I have about 1-2 feet of snow on the ground. The deer are coming up to eat the shrubs around the house because they are very hungry. They were eating my Azaleas yesterday morning at about 6:30.
The problem you can not LEGALLY discharge a FIREARM within 300 feet of another residence that is not your own.
So, unless you are hunting archery or now crossbow you can not hunt where a lot of the deer are living.
So, the population has boomed.
So, NH fish & game have extended the time in the season you can harvest either sex. You can buy additional tags. So, it is possible IF you are a larger land owner you could potentially harvest 4-5 deer per season in NH.
I shot one about 950’ behind my house. I was 650 feet from one neighbor. Probably 500’ from another house. I shot it with a 30.06. I know exactly where all my neighbors houses are.