I'm one of the folks who has hunted with Dave Mitchell at or around Lake Hope for 30 years. I understand the number of deer in any area can be a bit cyclic, but a series of things has happened over the last 15 years that has dramatically reduced the number of deer and big bucks in the area. Here's a few examples.
A number of years ago a national hunting magazine published an article relating the hunting experience of one of it's contributing authors while at Lake Hope. The number of in and out of state hunters increased dramatically. Lots of hunting pressure. (Even last year, we saw license plates from Minnesota, Maine, Vermont, Kansas, Arkansas, etc. ). Not complaining about out of state, simply showing what one well intentioned article can do in terms of attracting a large crowd.
Second, inclusion of cross bows seemed to increase the number of hunters by more than 50%. Eight out of ten hunters I saw last year had crossbows. Again, not complaining, just trying to show how a regulation change can affect the number of hunters.
Third, about 15 years ago the State forest folks began a program of clear cuts, and also pulled out a lot of logs for lumber sales. I think small clear cuts can actually produce a 'food plot' kind of situation, and that's usually a good thing. But the clear cuts were not small. They often included 100 acres or more. And they were often located right at the edge of the forest next to private land. Within a couple of years these spots became a thick, impossible to penetrate area. Great for deer, but not people. It's possible these thickets became the preferred bedding areas and the deer had little or no need to travel through the huntable woods when they could go from the thicket right on to private land where all the crops are planted.
Fourth, the number of commercial stands, the free standing type with a small cabin on top, on private property next to the forest increased dramatically. One of the Park Rangers told me most of the surrounding private land was taken up with hunting leases and the number of hunters active right next to the park increased.
So, you might ask, how were the number of deer affected? Well, here's a non-scientific illustration. Many years ago, one of the things we did to see where the concentrations of deer might be located, was to drive the park roads at night and count deer. We would drive a 15 mile loop around the park and usually see more than a 100 deer. Last year we did the same thing and saw three small deer all at the park entrance eating grass around the welcome sign.
Like Dave, I hope the area rebounds. I have 30+ years of fond memories of hunts and fellowship at Lake Hope. But, right now, it's simply not the premier spot it used to be.
Topic: Lake Hope State Park in Ohio (Read 839 times)
