2022 ND Deer Season Set

[8andcounting]

There's more mule deer bucks being shot with a rifle than archery equipment.

How do you know ? I’m not saying I disagree. But I dunno - I bet it’s close

 

[brocksw]

I think some change is coming for Archery hunting the badlands. They should require mandatory reporting for archery to get a better idea of who is hunting out West, what areas, and the success rate.

I'm on the Badlands License Work group. There is a lot of hesitancy to go to mandatory reporting. But in 2020, they did introduce a new archery survey to try and fill in some gaps left by the original harvest reporting survey. After this season, they'll have 3 years of data and I believe we (Badlands License Work Group) will discuss the results of that data and see what it tells us.

 

[8andcounting]

There's more mule deer bucks being shot with a rifle than archery equipment.

1650 mule buck tags in the major badlands units (4B 4C 4D 4E) . I’d say there’s atleast that many getting taken with archery . Have you been there during archery? It’s busy from Labor Day until Jan 1

 

[brocksw]

How do you know ? I’m not saying I disagree. But I dunno - I bet it’s close

In 2021, this what the Antlered Mule Deer tags were for the "Badlands units", the region 4 units.

4a - 250
4b - 550
4c - 450
4d - 400
4e - 300
4f - 200
Harvest success for mule buck rifle in ND has consistently been in the 70%-80% range (Basically the same as MT) year in and year out.

So, 2150 mule deer buck tags available in those units.
70% success = 1,505 MD Bucks Killed
80% success = 1,720 MD Bucks Killed

I'm fairly confident in the GF data for total harvest for Mule Deer archery, even using their original harvest survey. The debate comes when trying to figure out success rates, number of hunters on the landscape, who's spending time and how much time, chasing which species.

But regardless, according to GF data, there were less than 1,000 mule deer killed with a bow each of the last couple years in the badlands. 2021 was the first year they went over 1,000 total mule deer killed in the state. That's because there were a bunch killed outside of the badlands units. Lots of MD killed outside of the badlands. Hell, the state record Mule Deer killed a couple years ago was killed by Zap, a non badlands units.

 

[8andcounting]

In 2021, this what the Antlered Mule Deer tags were for the "Badlands units", the region 4 units.

4a - 250
4b - 550
4c - 450
4d - 400
4e - 300
4f - 200
Harvest success for mule buck rifle in ND has consistently been in the 70%-80% range (Basically the same as MT) year in and year out.

So, 2150 mule deer buck tags available in those units.
70% success = 1,505 MD Bucks Killed
80% success = 1,720 MD Bucks Killed

I'm fairly confident in the GF data for total harvest for Mule Deer archery, even using their original harvest survey. The debate comes when trying to figure out success rates, number of hunters on the landscape, who's spending time and how much time, chasing which species.

But regardless, according to GF data, there were less than 1,000 mule deer killed with a bow each of the last couple years in the badlands. 2021 was the first year they went over 1,000 total mule deer killed in the state. That's because there were a bunch killed outside of the badlands units.

How many people didn’t fill out the survey ? I’d say your on the low end with 1,000. But who knows - thanks for your work - it’s good to know there’s a group doing something

 

[Benjamins]

I think the amount of deer that get wounded with archery needs to be a consideration as well. I have seen multiple deer with arrows sticking out of them or visibly wounded which will most likely be lethal by the end of the year.

 

[brocksw]

How many people didn’t fill out the survey ? I’d say your on the low end with 1,000. But who knows - thanks for your work - it’s good to know there’s a group doing something

It's all about sample size. Even a few hundred responses is generally enough to get a good feel of whats going on for harvest statistics. Confidence only increases when the year to year numbers seem to match up pretty well. ND archery harvest rates are pretty consistent.

 

[brocksw]

I think the amount of deer that get wounded with archery needs to be a consideration as well. I have seen multiple deer with arrows sticking out of them or visibly wounded which will most likely be lethal by the end of the year.

I had a rifle tag on the edge of the badlands last year. In 1 day I saw 3 mule deer wounded by rifle hunters. It's an epidemic for both weapons. I don't think it's worth spending much time debating which ones worse.

 

[brocksw]

Some speculation here, but if you count up all rifle license holders for the badlands Mule Deer, white tail, bucks, does, elk tags (around 6,000), my gut feeling is that there is roughly the same amount of hunters out in the Badlands during the 16.5 day rifle season as there are in the first couple weeks of archery season. There might be some year to year variability but ROUGHLY, the same.

 

[Benjamins]

I had a rifle tag on the edge of the badlands last year. In 1 day I saw 3 mule deer wounded by rifle hunters. It's an epidemic for both weapons. I don't think it's worth spending much time debating which ones worse.

Just to be clear, I participate in both rifle and bow hunting of mulies in the badlands. I wasn't trying to say one is better than the other. But just using my own anecdotal evidence, I feel like the amount of wounded animals to recovered/tagged animals is much higher with archery. Again, just my experience.

 

[brocksw]

Just to be clear, I participate in both rifle and bow hunting of mulies in the badlands. I wasn't trying to say one is better than the other. But just using my own anecdotal evidence, I feel like the amount of wounded animals to recovered/tagged animals is much higher with archery. Again, just my experience.

You might be right. But again, I don't think the difference is enough to spend much time talking about. It is what it is. Wounding rates are about impossible to really get a solid number on year to year. In other words, very difficult to use that in decision making.

 

[NDGuy]

Some speculation here, but if you count up all rifle license holders for the badlands Mule Deer, white tail, bucks, does, elk tags (around 6,000), my gut feeling is that there is roughly the same amount of hunters out in the Badlands during the 16.5 day rifle season as there are in the first couple weeks of archery season. There might be some year to year variability but ROUGHLY, the same.

Like we've spoken on previous threads the decision should be made after reviewing the available data. Please share if able to whenever your work group reviews it, I am very interested!

 

[brocksw]

Like we've spoken on previous threads the decision should be made after reviewing the available data. Please share if able to whenever your work group reviews it, I am very interested!

Absolutely. I am excited to see it myself. Rightfully so, the GF was reluctant to make decisions based on that data until they had at least 3 years worth. That might not even be enough. 10 years would be better. Obviously, if archery keeps growing, we might not have 10 years. I think everyone agrees we're at or near a precipice.

 

[chevyman181]

I work in the badlands and spend probably 70% of my time in them. I archery and gun hunt mulies there too. I don't want to see the tages harder to get but I think in the last 10 years big mulies are harder to find. I used to see them a lot just riding around at work. I also know many people that shoot and do not recover multiple deer a years with a gun and bow. It makes me sick. I think something has to give. Antler restrictions or something in those units. There has been a significant increase in the number of hunters as well. There are also a large number of people that moved out of state but still use their parents address to get over the counter tags and/or resident gun tags.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

There are also a large number of people that moved out of state but still use their parents address to get over the counter tags and/or resident gun tags.

Call em in. They assumed I was doing this a while back and were slow to drop it even though I had proof.

I was working on the road for about a decade and for 3 or so years maintained my permanent residence in ND. Once while building a project in CA I had a credit card compromised and had to create a CA billing address to get another credit card sent to me. So when I bought my ND resident licenses with a card that had a CA billing address it got flagged and a warden burned half a day staking out the house i used as a permanent residence. I paid ND income taxes on money made in TX, had NR hunting and fishing licenses in all other states that I used them in, and they still wouldn't drop it until another warden who knew me well from my college years vouched for my situation.