Montana General Season Structure Proposal

[Shed God]

I owe hedgehog an apology, as well as Gerald, eric albus and randy. Was just trying to fire u guys up.

My opinion nothing changes. October mule deer hunt. Maybe 10 percent of the bucks survive with that season structure. But with that pressure it pushes elk to private compounding that problem. For little change and lost opurtunity. And then 2000 dinks become professional mule deer hunters in October with there 6.5 prc.

It is 2024. Hunting is $$$. If fwp and landowners, outfitters, out of staters ( non resident) and the resident public land hunter cared about mule deer. They would choose limited entry depending on the population. That is actually managing.

The way it is. Private landowners outfitters selling hunts at will at quality hunts. The mule deer population is great on private. On public it is decimated. Not even managed. Sell tags.

Le give private landowners tags, give non resident percent. Public the rest. If the private is good, the public will be too. No shame in it. The mule deer benefit.

How it sits residents buy tags. Idk why. I do to apply for le. Non resident buy to experience it. Hunt private. Landowners selling rights to hunt. Outfitters have gaurenteed clients. With the way it us. Only good deer hunting is private or LE. LE is a joke. Not many mature bucks killed off it anyway. How bad the draw odds are right now. Make it all LE mule deer. Based off science. Add choose whitey no mule deer app. Add choose cow elk no mule deer app.

 

[Shed God]

No I didn't comment on the fwp website. Because nothing changes for the benefit of the wildlife or the public. It seems like it is always excuses and bullshit. For $$$. Amazing because I don't think fwp realizes residents would pay alot more and buy points every year along with non residents. To hunt every 3 to 5. For a quality hunt. Nobody is killing a mule deer every yr for meat. But u get what u pay for, so what should we expect.

 

[BuzzH]

I owe hedgehog an apology, as well as Gerald, eric albus and randy. Was just trying to fire u guys up.

My opinion nothing changes. October mule deer hunt. Maybe 10 percent of the bucks survive with that season structure. But with that pressure it pushes elk to private compounding that problem. For little change and lost opurtunity. And then 2000 dinks become professional mule deer hunters in October with there 6.5 prc.

It is 2024. Hunting is $$$. If fwp and landowners, outfitters, out of staters ( non resident) and the resident public land hunter cared about mule deer. They would choose limited entry depending on the population. That is actually managing.

The way it is. Private landowners outfitters selling hunts at will at quality hunts. The mule deer population is great on private. On public it is decimated. Not even managed. Sell tags.

Le give private landowners tags, give non resident percent. Public the rest. If the private is good, the public will be too. No shame in it. The mule deer benefit.

How it sits residents buy tags. Idk why. I do to apply for le. Non resident buy to experience it. Hunt private. Landowners selling rights to hunt. Outfitters have gaurenteed clients. With the way it us. Only good deer hunting is private or LE. LE is a joke. Not many mature bucks killed off it anyway. How bad the draw odds are right now. Make it all LE mule deer. Based off science. Add choose whitey no mule deer app. Add choose cow elk no mule deer app.

Anyone know of a remedial school on sentence structure and/or an interpreter for that nonsense?

 

[Shed God]

Sorry, I full of shit. I guess

 

[Rie Bread]

If the mule deer season is shortened and changed to October with the species split- I’d wager most will go for a mule deer tag the first season, not tag out/ not like to hike as far up into the higher elevations and then the following season choose to hunt whitetail all year and in the rut 500 yards from the truck.

 

[Schaaf]

“But with that pressure it pushes elk to private compounding that problem. For little change and lost opurtunity.”

My experience hunting in states that have rifle only mule deer seasons in October doesn’t support this. I would regularly see the same elk that never left the basin over week long hunts while I was deer hunting.

Huge difference in direct pressure vs indirect pressure in my opinion.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I think there's some flawed logic thinking that everybody who typically hunts elk in November with a deer license in the pocket will also be hunting for a deer in October.

 

[BuzzH]

I think there's some flawed logic thinking that everybody who typically hunts elk in November with a deer license in the pocket will also be hunting for a deer in October.

If anything, it will force people to make decision on where they spend their vacation time. I know in Wyoming that's exactly what happens, people either choose to blow a week hunting deer, or they spend a week hunting elk, not many do both.

Even if they do hunt both, it's only a week for each, rather than a full 2 weeks with both tags in their pockets with seasons running concurrently.

No question it relieves some of the pressure, Montana's 12 weeks of brown its down offers no relief from constant pressure.

 

[Shed God]

Ya makes sense to me. The 200k mule deer hunters are going to not buy a deer tag because they are going to hunt elk in November. And with how popular hunting is no one is going to go out and kill them in October. 10 percent rule in my mind.

If everyone was honest. The hunting pressure otc public land is war time. Orange army would take Ukraine.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Sorry, I full of shit. I guess

Not really, as I think you have some good points hidden in there somewhere. It's just the poor grammar, poor spelling, poor sentence structure is tough to follow and cloaks your message.

 

[Shed God]

Sorry, I graduated from beaverhead county high school. Alot of babes in my grade.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Sorry, I graduated from beaverhead county high school. Alot of babes in my grade.

Gold.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Sorry, I full of shit. I guess

No - i think there are some decent thoughts/ideas/comments in your post. Its just lacking for folks to follow a coherent argument. I dont agree with all of it - but it could add to the conversation.

Not trying to be a wise ass - but youll notice theres a culture here of an amount of thought put in to posting/commenting thats somewhat refreshing based on most social media interactions. You'll probably get more positive correspondence if you try to read your message through the eyes of someone who didnt write it.

 

[SwaggyD]

Sorry, I graduated from beaverhead county high school. Alot of babes in my grade.

Sig worthy?

 

[Gerald Martin]

Not really, as I think you have some good points hidden in there somewhere. It's just the poor grammar, poor spelling, poor sentence structure is tough to follow and cloaks your message.

Yes. This. Having to fill in the gaps makes it difficult to follow the logic.

Most folks have only so much vacation time to dedicate to hunting. The further out the different choices of what can be hunted are spaced, by default less animal are killed as targets of opportunity.

I really don’t agree with @shedgods argument that an Oct mule deer season leads to 10% survival rates of mule deer bucks.

By having to choose between whitetail or mule deer the current number of hunters will be split into two categories. What percentage choose mule deer and what percentage choose whitetail is unknown but it’s guaranteed to be less than the potential amount of mule deer hunters currently. Add in a week shorter season and hunters having to choose to hunt elk or deer with limited vacation time and there should be less cumulative harvest not more at the beginning. As deer populations recover from the cuts to doe tags and drought/ range conditions improvement we should see an increase in harvest to at least current levels or perhaps even surpassing current levels if the resource can sustain it.

It’s illogical to think that a shortened Oct. season with less hunters will kill more deer than a longer season that incorporates all phases of the rut and includes all hunters .

 

[Shed God]

I think u underestimate the hunting pressure on otc mt. In theory it's a good plan. No rut hunt. But disrupt elk in the process. Biggest question in mt maybe besides lack of mule deer on public land is alot of elk on private which causes alot of problems. Compound that with a ton of mule deer pressure before the public can harvest an elk. Leads too more elk on private. Less elk harvested. Blm fwp forest circus in a pickle.

Deer easy to kill in the rut. Yes October a little harder to kill a buck. But basically everyone be out in October trying to kill a big old mountain muley. 90 percent of them will die still. Like the 6.5 Creedmoor be a fad in mt to hunt muleys in mt. Won't be that hard. Still not management.

 

[Hunt West]

I think there's some flawed logic thinking that everybody who typically hunts elk in November with a deer license in the pocket will also be hunting for a deer in October.

For residents I think this is true but the nonresident side does concern me. Example being, currently If I draw a big game combo and don’t draw my permit I still keep my general deer tag even though I haven’t used it in nearly a decade. How many guys will keep their deer tag going forward or instead return it to be resold to a NR who will absolutely be deer hunting in October. This is one of several reasons the combo tag needs to go away and each species/quota managed independently.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I graduated from Froid High School. No babes in my grade. None.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Graduated Great Falls High School, 533 grads with over 200 real babes! 'Didn't learn how to spell until I was a 36 yr old.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Graduated Great Falls High School, 533 grads with over 200 real babes! 'Didn't learn how to spell until I was a 36 yr old.

Over 200? You must have been in hog heaven.

I had 3 girls in my glass. 2 of them had great personalities.