A lot of these trend lines follow that pattern of up/down….up/down…..up/down…..from one year to the next because of other variables like you mentioned while still trending gradually upwards or downwards over the long term……Just like the red line is doing in the graph below.



I think you’re probably hitting close to the answer on year 2 for Jackson Co….Some other variable had an influence that year that’s keeping it from being a smooth line climbing upward on the graph. That total from last year will probably be the peak if I had to guess and now we’re on the downward slope on the other side. Keeping with our up/down pattern you may see a slight increase again next year but then followed by another tick downward the year after…..stair stepping further and futher down. I think if we had good data for the 4-5 years prior to baiting to go along with what we're looking at then the change would be much more easily seen right now. Again, the real question is…..How far down will it go before leveling back out?......How much impact will baiting have? Maybe it’s a little, maybe it’s a lot…….My guess is that it will vary from county to county……That’s why you have some folks kicking back and smiling while other folks bend over. I think the reality though is that more people are being impacted than they realize. No different than the 2 per day doe shooting…..it wasn’t until after the fact that folks looked back and saw it. Here we are again……We’re gonna ride it out, see how everything settles out, then MAYBE we adjust…….I get it but some things just arent that hard to see coming…..This is where I think Frankie nailed it by saying people have to learn the hard way…..About the only way you’re gonna get the hunting public to willingly change is for them to actually suffer first. Its not enough just to say “Hey, we’re running in the ditch.”……You actually have to run it in there.

Maybe this is what you gotta do to keep people happy, keep votes and keep your job…..but it would be a whole lot easier just to say screw what the hunters bitch about and do what needs to be done…… Heck, as a whole the hunting public is all over the place with opinions anyways