Montana General Season Structure Proposal

[Shed God]

I hope so. Came together for the wildlife.

 

[cgasner1]

I hope so. Came together for the wildlife.

Well like almost all of us have said this isn’t a Chris Gasner season structure it’s a group that was trying to accomplish the same goal so we all had to make compromises. I’m glad I’ve hitched my wagon to this because your never gonna see a change just smashing the keyboard by yourself it’s gonna take a group a very large group hopefully we can start getting a lot of support from other groups.

 

[DFS]

I don’t get to post anymore but shed god has some good thoughts. I respect some of the guys that came up with the proposal some of the others I don’t. I don’t see a good path forward without nonresident caps, maybe even resident caps no matter what date the season falls on.

 

[cgasner1]

I don’t get to post anymore but shed god has some good thoughts. I respect some of the guys that came up with the proposal some of the others I don’t. I don’t see a good path forward without nonresident caps, maybe even resident caps no matter what date the season falls on.

Anything at this point is gonna be a step
In the right direction. I also think by making even the tiniest of change it we’ll help to break the mold that is the Montana season structure from the 50s.

 

[antlerradar]

Who says I'm not day drinking...

From my experience, there are plenty of bucks on public in October. The rut displaces more bucks onto private than anything else.

I agree, two track road going from Private to Public, Two lane highway going from Public to Private. The number of nice bucks the outfitter has shot out of our neighbors hay fields is staggering. Some of those bucks I located during the summer as much as five miles away deep into public during the summer.
On the other hand an outfitter that wants to manage will benefit. The biggest threat to him is not the low deer density public land, but the neighbor with a bunch of does and a business model of shooting every nice four point that shows up.
The biggest mule deer I have seen in recent years, perhaps ever. likely survived by living on property with zero hunting during the season.

 

[huntin24/7]

Regardless of whether the bucks spend more time on private or public during the rut, if rifle season is closed during the rut, those bucks are less vulnerable. A pre rut rifle hunt still gives ample opportunity for guys willing to put in some effort, but it doesn’t make it so easy for everyone driving around in the last few weeks of November to blast every dumb muley buck with his nose up a does ass 200 yards off the road. Nothings perfect but I like the compromise these guys came up with.

 

[Forkyfinder]

@Shed God can you send this as your official comment?

Who knew jimbo kern was in charge of fwp

 

[brockel]

Nice to see this starting to gain some traction locally. A little snip from our Region 7 wildlife manager. His observations sure don’t line up with mine or anyone I know

 

[huntin24/7]

Nice to see this starting to gain some traction locally. A little snip from our Region 7 wildlife manager. His observations sure don’t line up with mine or anyone I know
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I’d be curious to know at what point the mule deer population trajectory gets as much consideration as the deer hunter surveys that show hunters wanting opportunity at all cost.

 

[8andcounting]

The main thing fwp doesn’t seem to understand is that ok , maybe the harvest and numbers of deer are about the same , but the harvest amount in certain areas , public , is much higher

 

[Gerald Martin]

How many deer get killed is a terrible way to gauge herd health. It doesn’t factor in the reality that it now takes more days with much better technology and mobility to kill the same amount of deer as back in the ‘80’s when blue jeans, 200 yard rifles, paper maps and easy hunting access were the norm.

Put 250,000 hunters in the field for five weeks and the folks who want to kill a deer are going to kill one, whether the population of deer is 300,000 or 3 million.

 

[8andcounting]

How many deer get killed is a terrible way to gauge herd health. It doesn’t factor in the reality that it now takes more days with much better technology and mobility to kill the same amount of deer as back in the ‘80’s when blue jeans, 200 yard rifles, paper maps and easy hunting access were the norm.

Put 250,000 hunters in the field for five weeks and the folks who want to kill a deer are going to kill one, whether the population of deer is 300,000 or 3 million.

Right , where is more of a concern

 

[antlerradar]

as back in the ‘80’s when blue jeans, 200 yard rifles, paper maps and easy hunting access were the norm.

Those of us that hunted the 80's were not that primitive. My rifle was more than capable of shooting well beyond two hundred yards if I guessed the range correctly. Everything else is spot on.

From a guy that has yet to update his set up since the late 80's.

 

[8andcounting]

Best thing that could happen is the worst winter ever and kill all the deer and start over

 

[mtmiller]

Best thing that could happen is the worst winter ever and kill all the deer and start over

...or....

 

[Muleyassassin406]

...or....

Do what Saskatchewan does and not allow any non res to hunt mule deer!!!!! That’s the best idea yet

 

[Gerald Martin]

Do what Saskatchewan does and not allow any non res to hunt mule deer!!!!! That’s the best idea yet

How does Saskatchewan fund its Fish and Game department?

 

[Muleyassassin406]

I’d be willing to bet Google will give you that answer! My first guess is that they are probably not completely money hungry… non res will still buy elk bear and whitetail tags by the thousands I’d doubt it would generate that much of a revenue loss and if it does raise resident mule deer licenses to 50 bucks a person and it would probably cover the loss

 

[Carnage2011]

I’d be willing to bet Google will give you that answer! My first guess is that they are probably not completely money hungry… non res will still buy elk bear and whitetail tags by the thousands I’d doubt it would generate that much of a revenue loss and if it does raise resident mule deer licenses to 50 bucks a person and it would probably cover the loss

That’s some interesting back of the napkin math right there!

 

[Muleyassassin406]

That’s some interesting back of the napkin math right there!

I know right! had some ketchup on it too