3 Week season for Mule Deer

[rogerthat]

Think about it,

Unlimited Tags, tens of thousands sold
5 day season

5 tags
Year-long season

How many deer die?
What is the hunting experience like?

Unlimited Tags, tens of thousands sold
5 day season
How many deer die? a lot
What is the hunting experience like? poor

5 tags
Year-long season
How many deer die? 5
What is the hunting experience like? Excellent

Not sure I understand the point you are trying to make

 

[geewhiz]

The idea of a 3 week season? Or the idea of a season to minimize the rut? Please expand

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

 

[huntin24/7]

Yeah the word Trophy is a giant turnoff in hunting. It's all about age class. Just trying to keep some semblance of a healthy age class on the landscape.

You’re absolutely right. We wouldn’t consider a fishery to be a healthy fishery if all the fish were really young and small or big and old. There has to be a good representation of age classes for that distinction. MT has a very large discrepancy, particularly on public land, between 1-2 year old bucks and older age class.

 

[rogerthat]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

I would support this however the administration of this would be unreal due to the coordination among federal,state, and all the county govts and that’s not even getting into the politics of such a proposal…

 

[Nick87]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

What is an exceptible distance from a road? Fat guys, young kids, elder hunters and those with physical restrictions have a right to hunt to like it or not.

 

[4ohSick]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

Closing access to public roads paid for by public tax dollars and only leaving them open to ranchers is an even worse idea than the ones the commission's debating today.

 

[Tukudeka]

Unlimited Tags, tens of thousands sold
5 day season
How many deer die? a lot
What is the hunting experience like? poor

5 tags
Year-long season
How many deer die? 5
What is the hunting experience like? Excellent

Not sure I understand the point you are trying to make

right on! I agree with you. I'm just offering up a simple, common sense way of thinking about the question posed by this thread.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

Perhaps the fat guy just wants a forky for the freezer or maybe someone takes their kids out for a weekend hunt. As long as they're legally far enough off the road I have no problem with anyone taking a forky near the road.
If you wish to hike in 5 miles to hunt mature bucks knock yourself out but don't try to lock other hunters out because they don't hunt like you do.
Please explain just how much effort would be acceptable to you?
You sound like some of these fly fishing purists who look down at bait fisherman.
To each his own as long as it's legal.

 

[SAJ-99]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

I get your point, and even agree, but the question posed to start the thread wasn't about open roads. It was 6 week season or 3 week season that cuts out the rut? I would rather have to commit to a shortened time frame knowing it will be a higher quality hunt than to just want time in the field know I need it in order to find the deer. Seems 3-weeks would still require effort, even more so if you avoided the rut. Weekend road hunting isn't going to go away no matter how much we hope it would.

 

[JT88]

Road hunters don't need a road. Haven't you guys seen all the new off road truck options available these days?

I witnessed some guys open the gate on a piece of state land and proceed to run down a herd of elk a few months ago. This idea holds no water whatsoever. Rules like this won't stop rule breakers

 

[Edwin]

To each his own as long as it's legal.

Its not. There are more deer taken from and retrieved with ATVs and sxs in Montana where it is absolutely not legal, but apparently accepted by most. Probably a better question for the enforcement division because no one seems to care. Off road vehicles loaded with guys and rifles capable of shooting 500+ yards. Call it fair, call it cheating, call it what you want. But its hell on the Mule Deer in MT.

 

[antlerradar]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

Opportunity is nice but it has its down side.

Opportunity is why wealthy people like the Wilks buy ten's of thousands of acres for there own private hunting. And when they want even more opportunity they use there money to push for policies that give them what they want with little regard for how those policies will effect public land and their neighbors.

Opportunity is why resident hunters are willing to spend the money to run half page adds on the front page of agricultural publications looking for hunting rights to lease so they and there friends can have some quality hunting.

The more opportunity in the form of long seasons and liberal tags the more money landowners can make and long seasons and liberal tags is also a big part of why many landowners are cracking a cold one a half hour after sunset the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Opportunity is the Texas model of wildlife management.

 

[OntarioHunter]

In today's FWP commission meeting they talked about moving to a three week mule deer season, and potential avoiding November all together. I was wondering what everyone thought of this. I know Randy has always critisized the state for how hard and liberal we hunt mule deer. I also understand long term population models depict that the species is unsteady and even going down.

Going down? Not where I hunt on the Hi Line! That's ridiculous. The highway between Malta and Havre is almost one continuous blood smear. The concern seems to be less big "shooter" bucks, not a declining population. I saw herds of a dozen to thirty everywhere last fall and I wasn't looking for them. The FWP is unloading mule deer doe tags, having late season CWD shoots, and still talking about cutting down the season or eliminating hunting during the rut? Huh?

 

[tjones]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

Some guys throw out limiting opportunities and are in favor of it until it’s their opportunity that is getting limited.

 

[SAJ-99]

Going down? Not where I hunt on the Hi Line! That's ridiculous. The highway between Malta and Havre is almost one continuous blood smear. The concern seems to be less big "shooter" bucks, not a declining population. I saw herds of a dozen to thirty everywhere last fall and I wasn't looking for them. The FWP is unloading mule deer doe tags, having late season CWD shoots, and still talking about cutting down the season or eliminating hunting during the rut? Huh?

Yes, plenty of MD in some places(East, mostly), but quality is declining. Western side of state is a different story.

 

[mtmiller]

Going down? Not where I hunt on the Hi Line! That's ridiculous. The highway between Malta and Havre is almost one continuous blood smear. The concern seems to be less big "shooter" bucks, not a declining population. I saw herds of a dozen to thirty everywhere last fall and I wasn't looking for them. The FWP is unloading mule deer doe tags, having late season CWD shoots, and still talking about cutting down the season or eliminating hunting during the rut? Huh?

What were the R6 trend counts this year? Above or below what you saw last year? Slightly?

 

[OntarioHunter]

Are you guys listening to yourselves? "Quality bucks" is all I'm hearing. FWP is charged with managing the whole herd, not just the wall hangers. Older bucks are not necessarily better for the herd. Smarter ones definitely are according to the laws of evolution. If forked horns are doing the majority of the breeding, it sure hasn't hurt the deer numbers anywhere I've been hunting. The spread of CWD due to overpopulation poses a much greater threat to health of the whole herd, including the wall hangers.

I agree that stricter enforcement of access restrictions might go a long ways to changing the quality of hunting in some areas. I gotta say most of the worst offenders I've observed over the years have been landowners. It wouldn't break my heart if quads and SxSs were banned entirely everywhere on federal and state land during hunting season. THAT would make a huge difference overnight. But then the govt agencies would be going head to head with the lazy fat old rich guys. Seems most of the people making decisions in govt are the fat old rich guys.

 

[Tukudeka]

Some guys throw out limiting opportunities and are in favor of it until it’s their opportunity that is getting limited.

I'd give up a few of my tags, maybe I could ditch the extra backpack I use to carry all of them around.

 

[Schaaf]

Montana is the land of opportunity. Thats fact. Personally, I love the long season and what if offers. What I dont love is lazy people.

If you're goal is to eliminate every other forky being blasted from the road which in turns keeps the mean age class low, how about reducing access. Blasphemy, I know. Close all secondary roads to anyone but ranchers and require people to exibit a bit of effort to get to their quarry. Create safe zones and sanctuaries that require effort to access. Nothing annoys me more than seeing big fat guys with a whole 2yr old deer strapped onto the back of their sxs, for many reasons.

I'm sure i'll get bashed for this but you asked my oppinion.

The month of October would be far more opportunity than any other state.

 

[tjones]

What were the R6 trend counts this year? Above or below what you saw last year? Slightly?

Slightly= -40% unless we get our population numbers based on road kill.