Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement

[Forkyfinder]

I think the incidental take of mule deer by antelope hunters would pale in comparison to the incidental take of rutting mule deer alongside the road while people are elk hunting in November.

I think what you are saying is at least 4/7ths true.

But its not just lazy people road hunters who harvest.

 

[cgasner1]

I think what you are saying is at least 4/7ths true.

But its not just lazy people road hunters who harvest.

The goal was never to stop harvest. That can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow with this. Deer will be killed that’s the fact. The best we can hope for is they don’t get killed during the rut

 

[Gerald Martin]

The goal was never to stop harvest. That can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow with this. Deer will be killed that’s the fact. The best we can hope for is they don’t get killed during the rut

I think we can and are hoping for less mule deer bucks getting killed overall. Otherwise, it doesn’t really matter when they get killed.

 

[cgasner1]

I think we can and are hoping for less mule deer bucks getting killed overall. Otherwise, it doesn’t really matter when they get killed.

I won’t argue that less deer will be harmed because that is the intent. But we also realized a shooters gonna shoot

 

[Gulf of America]

I think one of the things going for mule deer if the season were concurrent with antelope is that antelope hunting is tons of fun. I don't know many people that would ditch chasing after speed goats to go put a stalk on deer unless it's an impressive deer and they're less likely to see one as they're driving around looking for antelope. Whereas elk hunting, especially when you're bad at it, is often not that fun, and I've been guilty of whacking a deer I spotted from a road after hiking 10 miles in the snow without cutting an elk track.

 

[bigsky2]

I think one of the things going for mule deer if the season were concurrent with antelope is that antelope hunting is tons of fun. I don't know many people that would ditch chasing after speed goats to go put a stalk on deer unless it's an impressive deer and they're less likely to see one as they're driving around looking for antelope. Whereas elk hunting, especially when you're bad at it, is often not that fun, and I've been guilty of whacking a deer I spotted from a road after hiking 10 miles in the snow without cutting an elk track.

A consolation prize

 

[antlerradar]

I think @Gulf of America has it nailed. While you can find mule deer in the best pronghorn habitat, it is far from the best place to find mule deer in seven. Not so much with elk. Having mule deer run with pronghorn will spread hunters out in region 7 instead of concentrating people in the better deer and elk habitat.

 

[antlerradar]

Were your concerns relieved?

I see pros and cons in that regard.
No - theres no way at all to show that. Everything is hypothetical right? Theres very little data to work off of without a lot of assumptions. Like i said - im not sure how effective a mule deer hunter is in october vs november. I could have killed plenty opening weekend in october over the years. If its twice as hard to do, but 4 times as many people are doing it (antelope vs rifle elk permits), id imagine theres more deer dead.

I don't think you can say that there are 4 times as many people targeting antelope as there are elk in Seven. There are plenty of cow tags, and your general elk license is good for a spike or Cow. Also almost no one that draws a bull tag in 799 hunts by themselves. Some will have four or more friends to help out and they all have a deer tag in their pocket. Add in that the majority of antelope hunters are hunting opening weekend and they are gone leads me to believe that mule deer will be better off coupled with antelope then elk.