Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement

[antlerradar]

I've hunted R7 since 1998.

It's hard for me to draw good parallels between the late 90's early 2000's because we hunted on horses and could cover an unreal amount of country and spooked a lot more deer, which I think caused us to see a lot more deer. We saw a lot of deer in the early/mid 2000's hunting from horses.

The early 2000's were some of the best years I ever saw for numbers. Since 2012 numbers have been in the crapper for the most part. Good numbers in 2018, but it was mostly confined to private land.

 

[antlerradar]

The biggest issue we have in 6&7 is the deer hunting in the rest of the state has gone to hell. There is a reason all those Washington and Oregon hunters travel an extra 1000 miles to shoot a two year old four point. The rest of the state must really suck and it will not be long and 6&7 will also suck just as bad.

 

[TheTone]

The biggest issue we have in 6&7 is the deer hunting in the rest of the state has gone to hell. There is a reason all those Washington and Oregon hunters travel an extra 1000 miles to shoot a two year old four point. The rest of the state must really suck and it will not be long and 6&7 will also suck just as bad.

And if Oregon and Washington had better opportunities would it lead to a decrease of people coming to montana? Where I am in Idaho we get a lot of Washington hunters, easy to see why when the season is around 50 days longer, includes the whitetail rut and is a short drive

 

[huntin24/7]

The biggest issue we have in 6&7 is the deer hunting in the rest of the state has gone to hell. There is a reason all those Washington and Oregon hunters travel an extra 1000 miles to shoot a two year old four point. The rest of the state must really suck and it will not be long and 6&7 will also suck just as bad.

I’m really noticing the gap between numbers and quality of deer on public/bma and private getting much larger every year. A lot of the public in region 6 is very bad from the huge increase in pressure and all of it is getting worse.

 

[cgasner1]

And if Oregon and Washington had better opportunities would it lead to a decrease of people coming to montana? Where I am in Idaho we get a lot of Washington hunters, easy to see why when the season is around 50 days longer, includes the whitetail rut and is a short drive

Na people still wanna go out of state and hunt it’s cool right now I miss the days I was a weirdo for hunting another state

 

[Irrelevant]

And if Oregon and Washington had better opportunities would it lead to a decrease of people coming to montana? Where I am in Idaho we get a lot of Washington hunters, easy to see why when the season is around 50 days longer, includes the whitetail rut and is a short drive

So much truth to that.

I would have given up hunting by now had I not discovered out-of-state hunting. The idea of not shooting something legal had never crossed my mind until I began spending time on HT. It is unheard of in WA.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

So much truth to that.

I would have given up hunting by now had I not discovered out-of-state hunting. The idea of not shooting something legal had never crossed my mind until I began spending time on HT. It is unheard of in WA.

You can never get too far away from Jay Inslee

Don't forget to bag on all the guys from MN that roll into region 7 and blaze away.

 

[DFS]

The buck harvest by NR vs R chart is pretty telling....57% of buck harvest in R7 is by NR in 2022. I think that is pretty good evidence to put NR quota per region so they are not absolutely pummeling the deer in one region. It's also interesting that total harvest of bucks has gone up ~37% for NR since 2004 without supposedly increasing tags.....I'm sure those come home to hunt and other tags are making a big difference.

It also supports my observations of license plates from my 7 days out there this fall, I had about a 50-50 split of NR plates to R plates.

This is a very interesting statistic. In my days in the field western Montana hunters and nonresidents out number locals by 4:1 I bet maybe more.

 

[Schism]

The buck harvest by NR vs R chart is pretty telling....57% of buck harvest in R7 is by NR in 2022. I think that is pretty good evidence to put NR quota per region so they are not absolutely pummeling the deer in one region. It's also interesting that total harvest of bucks has gone up ~37% for NR since 2004 without supposedly increasing tags.....I'm sure those come home to hunt and other tags are making a big difference.

It also supports my observations of license plates from my 7 days out there this fall, I had about a 50-50 split of NR plates to R plates.

I was born and raised in R7 and still spend lots of time there. For many decades there have been lots of out of state plates. I don't think that is anything new. What I never saw 30 years ago were loads of 7, 6, 4 and 2 license plates in R7.

As far as more NR harvesting bucks I think a lot of that is due to dollars invested. My friends and family that reside and hunt in R7 don't really care if they punch their $16 tag. They are looking for something big and are willing to eat the tag if they don't find what they want. Nonresidents I know are much more likely to shoot something to take home for their $1100 or $700 investment. As license prices increase many NR hunters feel they need to bring something home to justify the cost.

 

[Pagosa]

The buck harvest by NR vs R chart is pretty telling....57% of buck harvest in R7 is by NR in 2022. I think that is pretty good evidence to put NR quota per region so they are not absolutely pummeling the deer in one region. It's also interesting that total harvest of bucks has gone up ~37% for NR since 2004 without supposedly increasing tags.....I'm sure those come home to hunt and other tags are making a big difference.

It also supports my observations of license plates from my 7 days out there this fall, I had about a 50-50 split of NR plates to R plates.

I have to wondered how many nonresidents are cheating the system and buying resident tags? I had once thought the FWP issued around 5500 deer combos, 17500 elk/deer combos, and x number of elk only. I seen the same thing with the amount of nonresidents in Broadus, Glasgow, and other towns while working/hunting over in region 6/7 as compared to resident hunters. I’ve heard of other states using cell phone pings to detect if someone split time living in another state.

 

[sclancy27]

I have to wondered how many nonresidents are cheating the system and buying resident tags? I had once thought the FWP issued around 5500 deer combos, 17500 elk/deer combos, and x number of elk only. I seen the same thing with the amount of nonresidents in Broadus, Glasgow, and other towns while working/hunting over in region 6/7 as compared to resident hunters. I’ve heard of other states using cell phone pings to detect if someone split time living in another state.

I have no idea how rampant it is, but it definitely happens. Personally, I think it happens WAY more than people, or the department, think.

 

[easternmt]

Giving up, I a have talked to several hunters that are throwing in the towel. With the weather and the deer numbers this year it is tough to stay motivated for many.

Maybe we are close to the bottom of the barrel?

 

[rogerthat]

Maybe we are close to the bottom of the barrel?

I hope so but by the sounds of it the Washington hunters are coming here for a reason and we have much further we can fall. I think it’s going to get a lot worse before anything changes.

 

[Pagosa]

I have no idea how rampant it is, but it definitely happens. Personally, I think it happens WAY more than people, or the department, think.

I bet a few Canadians are hunting down here some, since drawing tags and restrictions are more prevalent in BC, AB, and SK. A lot of them own property in MT, but I don’t know if it’s an issue or not, just a thought. This coming home to hunt, college, military legal licensing methods is adding additional impacts to a limited resource. A lot of those individuals have an abundance of time to hunt.

 

[Irrelevant]

Maybe we are close to the bottom of the barrel?

LOL, you don't even know how much farther you have to fall!

I get it, you MT boys grew up being spoiled, and now think everything has gone to hell in a handbasket, but I can assure you, however bad you think it is, you're still spoiled. You're so far from the bottom you still can't see it.

 

[rogerthat]

I've hunted R7 since 1998.

It's hard for me to draw good parallels between the late 90's early 2000's because we hunted on horses and could cover an unreal amount of country and spooked a lot more deer, which I think caused us to see a lot more deer. We saw a lot of deer in the early/mid 2000's hunting from horses.

There were a lot more deer in the early 2000s. It’s not even close. I remember hunting a public land area that burned 4 or 5 years earlier in November back in 2003. Every north face had a group of 20 or more deer on it mid-day. Walk out on a south face. Glass north face. Rinse and repeat walking along. It was crazy. In a day and a half I bet I saw conservatively 300 deer. I would struggle to see 20 deer in that area now in a day and a half. It’s pretty sad where things are now. I don’t know what the official population numbers say. Frankly don’t care. (I don’t believe they are accurate) the last two years are definitely the lowest numbers I have seen in region 7 in my lifetime unquestionably.

 

[rogerthat]

LOL, you don't even know how much farther you have to fall!

I get it, you MT boys grew up being spoiled, and how think everything has gone to hell in a handbasket, but I can assure you, however bad you think it is, you're still spoiled. You're so far from the bottom you still can't see it.

This is probably the most important post anyone could post right here. I have come to realize this is the case.

 

[TOGIE]

LOL, you don't even know how much farther you have to fall!

I get it, you MT boys grew up being spoiled, and how think everything has gone to hell in a handbasket, but I can assure you, however bad you think it is, you're still spoiled. You're so far from the bottom you still can't see it.

Same is true in colorado.

I can have two tags for both deer and elk and could get a couple bear tags and hunt small game till my nose bleeds and my knees disintegrate every year if I wanted to. With ample enough numbers of everything really.

Gotta keep perspective.

Rinella always says it for a reason: the good ol days are now.

 

[rogerthat]

LOL, you don't even know how much farther you have to fall!

I get it, you MT boys grew up being spoiled, and how think everything has gone to hell in a handbasket, but I can assure you, however bad you think it is, you're still spoiled. You're so far from the bottom you still can't see it.

But even Jason Phelps thinks Montana needs to make some changes now!

Listen to his latest podcast on it!

 

[Irrelevant]

But even Jason Phelps thinks Montana needs to make some changes now!

Listen to his latest podcast on it!

JP should shut his trap and come back to WA.