# Metal deer tags and droughts



## H20hound (Apr 15, 2008)

I was talking with a friend over the weekend about how we miss the metal tags from deer hunting years past. While the new game check system is faster, more efficient and allows for DNR to collect huge amounts of data on harvest activity, the old stamped tag is a reminder for me of traditions gone by.

I shot my 4th ever buck on 11/4/17 after passing two small guys early in the morning. This old boy was having a tough time, but was still looking for does. As much as I love to watch and hunt whitetails, it was hard to see this one hobbling on 3 legs. He either took a hard fall, or was hit by car in the previous 24hrs. The right shoulder was broken and completely locked up. It wasn't hard to make the decision to pin him as he stood below me. After phoning him in to DNR, I contemplated shoulder versus euro and chose the latter.

Only when I got home, looked at the other three in my office, did I realize my last buck was shot in 2010 and still had the metal tag on the left antler. Hard to believe 7 years have gone by without an antlered harvest. Sure I'm a bit more selective, but it's not like I am waiting on a Booner to come walking by. This guy will rank #3 on my short list but #1 at the new place I've been hunting since 2011. 

Suffice to say, the drought has ended and I miss metal deer tags.


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## RMK (Feb 21, 2017)

nice mature deer. glad you took him out. i miss the metal tags too


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## ya13ya03 (Sep 21, 2010)

That's a very nice buck. Congrats. I too miss the old tags.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Congrats on a very nice buck!
And another kudos to you for ending his misery. Especially with winter coming on.
As far as the old metal tags...I use to save them from year to year. A lot of years of enjoyable memories in that cardboard box. Somehow, the pieces of hand written paper just don't hold the same value.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Great looking buck. Congratulations. 
I'll agree with many here and miss the old tags.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Nice buck. I thought the metal tags were cool but I hated the check in stations. At one time Williams county only had one that was open on Sunday and they closed at 5pm. Driving back the next morning and having to miss work sucked just to tag a deer.


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## chadwimc (Jun 27, 2007)

Yeah, I kinda miss the old metal tags...


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

It's not just you and I that miss the old check in stations. I used to see a lot of old-timers who couldn't get around in the woods anymore, but they'd dress up in their hunter orange and hang around the check ins to see the deer come in. It was their way of hanging on to that part of their lives! 

Yes, the new way is more convenient, and the old way could be a hassle, but there was a kind of romance to it!


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## H20hound (Apr 15, 2008)

chadwimc said:


> Yeah, I kinda miss the old metal tags...
> View attachment 249251


Very cool...what is the oldest?


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## chadwimc (Jun 27, 2007)

H20hound said:


> Very cool...what is the oldest?


1989. My first deer. A 10 point, Hocking County, Ohio buck...


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

You are spot on buckeye on the old gathering places.

There was a check in station down in Meigs County in the 80's & early 90's that was just like that. Lots of old timers & many locals just hanging out to see the deer & shoot the bull. Sure do miss that.
Another aspect of the old way that I miss ; when my now adults sons were first hunting, it was a BIG deal for them to take their deer to the check in station & everyone there would come out to see it & praise them. Made them so proud to have the adults make such a big deal of it and it didn't matter if it was a 10 point or a little yearling.
Those metal tags were cool too.


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

Love the mass and abnormal point ... beast!!!


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## Saugernut (Apr 22, 2013)

Sure brings back memories of a time when I was a kid going to the check in stations with deer and turkeys too but just like cell phones and texting the new system is taking the personal aspects of life away
Most people only communicate through texts or emails these days


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

T-180 said:


> You are spot on buckeye on the old gathering places.
> 
> There was a check in station down in Meigs County in the 80's & early 90's that was just like that. Lots of old timers & many locals just hanging out to see the deer & shoot the bull. Sure do miss that.
> Another aspect of the old way that I miss ; when my now adults sons were first hunting, it was a BIG deal for them to take their deer to the check in station & everyone there would come out to see it & praise them. Made them so proud to have the adults make such a big deal of it and it didn't matter if it was a 10 point or a little yearling.
> Those metal tags were cool too.


Exactly! The place I was thinking of was Monty's Mosquito Lake Carryout. Everybody in that part of Trumbull Co. would go there! They even had a scale right outside the door so you could weigh your deer. Always had a big gang of guys hanging around the place, and everybody would come look at your deer and congratulate you!


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Flathead76 said:


> Nice buck. I thought the metal tags were cool but *I hated the check in stations*. At one time Williams county only had one that was open on Sunday and they closed at 5pm. Driving back the next morning and having to miss work sucked just to tag a deer.


I'm with Flathead on this. Even though I drove past 2 different check stations in southern Clermont Co on my way home, if we got a deer in the evening they were never open. It always meant another trip out the next day and if it was the last day of the season it was almost impossible to find anywhere open in the evenings


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## bigeye1 (Nov 13, 2007)

Checking deer in on my phone is quick and easy, and real convenient. However I enjoyed the check station especially the first day of gun. You got to go around and look at everyone deer, get lunch, talk to everyone. It was like the whole town came out for it. That was the busiest time of year for the little grocery store where I hunt.


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## Kenlow1 (Jul 14, 2012)

Feel bad for the small stores and gas stations that were check stations as we would go to check deer and always buy a sandwich, bowl of chile and snacks, beer or sodas and try to patronize their establishments. Sure do miss the old timers stories and chewing the fat with them. I understand the reasoning behind the changes the DNR made and guess we have all adapted as things in life always seem to change. We can still keep the memories alive and tell the new generation how times used to be.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

buckeyebowman said:


> Exactly! The place I was thinking of was Monty's Mosquito Lake Carryout. Everybody in that part of Trumbull Co. would go there! They even had a scale right outside the door so you could weigh your deer. Always had a big gang of guys hanging around the place, and everybody would come look at your deer and congratulate you!


LOL, your first post in this thread made my think of the days we'd hunt the public hunting at mosquito and go to monty's to check in our deer. we'd just hang out for hours waiting for guys to come check in some of those monster Trumbull county deer and bother the game wardens. we'd go inside to get some lunch and have to wait to get a table, then you'd see a pick-up pull in with hooves the size of a horse sticking up out of the bed, go back outside to check it out and lose our place in line. yea, I miss that and the tags too. hell, I'm going to be one of those old men dressed in blaze orange just hanging out in a few years.


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## Fishcreamer (Apr 16, 2021)

I wonder how many deer don’t get called in? I can remember going to Reds just to see the the deer and hear the stories


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Fishcreamer said:


> I wonder how many deer don’t get called in? I can remember going to Reds just to see the the deer and hear the stories


The exact same number that never got checked in before. BTW, this is a 5 year old thread bumped by someone trying to sell crap.


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## Harry1959 (Mar 17, 2011)

Flathead76 said:


> Nice buck. I thought the metal tags were cool but I hated the check in stations. At one time Williams county only had one that was open on Sunday and they closed at 5pm. Driving back the next morning and having to miss work sucked just to tag a deer.


 I kinda miss the old check in stations. Seeing the kill of others and pictures of those previously harvested. Maybe running into a buddy or 2.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Harry1959 said:


> I kinda miss the old check in stations. Seeing the kill of others and pictures of those previously harvested. Maybe running into a buddy or 2.


I kinda do too Harry. 
Talked to...met a lot of good people at the check stations over the years. 
What I don't miss...even a little bit is having to rush at the end of the day...especially the last day of each seperate season...IE...bow,shotgun,m/l...after a long tiring day in the woods to try and find an open check station.
Seems around these parts...towards the last few years of having to take them in to get em tagged...you never knew from year to year where the check stations were going to be. More and more places that had checked them for years simply stopped checking deer.


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## chadwimc (Jun 27, 2007)

"Metal deer tags"??? I didn't respond to "metal deer tags". Wait a minute... I did 5 years ago...


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## floater99 (May 21, 2010)

I also miss the trips to town to tag and chk in our deer buy beer ice shoot the bull with other hunters I seen a guy trying to check in a goat once true story athens ohio LMAO


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I got a buck(slug shot out of my 12 ga. o/u!) during one of the earliest “bucks only” seasons in the early seventies! The nearest check station was abt an hour away. I think there were 125(bucks) or so shot that year In the Whole State! Not many stations needed! Amazing what it’s evolved to! Great Job, ODNR!(turkeys too!)


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