MT Mule Deer Hunting Reg Change HDs 400, 401, 403 404 and 406.

[joelweb]

For folks who haven't seen this...

I know a lot of people are questioning FWP's decision to continue allowing doe hunting in HDs with mule deer populations that are below objective. While for a different reason, here is a change that is a step in the right direction.


October 11, 2013

EHD OUTBREAK

Fish & Wildlife Commission Adopts Emergency Deer Hunting Rule Change in Region 4
Deer hunters this fall will not be allowed to use their general deer license to take antlerless mule deer in five northcentral Montana hunting districts, the Fish and Commission decided at its October meeting.

The change will take place in HDs 400, 401, 403 404 and 406.

The emergency change is due to a disease hitting white-tailed deer. Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, EHD, is currently widespread in Montana, including FWP Region 4. EHD primarily affects whitetails.

Because of EHD, there was a concern that hunters in those five districts will find fewer whitetails and shift to hunting antlerless mule deer, which were legal with a deer A license.
Landowners and sportsman have reported finding dead white-tailed deer throughout the districts since late July.

 

[Nameless Range]

That's good to hear.

I keep waiting for them to change the limits on whitetail in HD 260 due to the recent EHD outbreak that killed a couple hundred just west of Missoula. In 260, Hunters can shoot up to five Whitetail does with archery gear using over the counter tags. When I was a student at UM I used to love this season. Where else in Montana can you hunt deer with a bow in January? But I now wonder how they could still allow so many tags on such a small HD, with so few places to hunt after an outbreak as bad as that.

I would be curious as to how many hunters they run into in those HDs that don't keep up on the rules changes and still end up harvesting muley does. I know quite a few hunters who memorize the regs that apply to them in June and then never give them another thought.

 

[----]

That's good to hear.

I keep waiting for them to change the limits on whitetail in HD 260 due to the recent EHD outbreak that killed a couple hundred just west of Missoula. In 260, Hunters can shoot up to five Whitetail does with archery gear using over the counter tags. When I was a student at UM I used to love this season. Where else in Montana can you hunt deer with a bow in January? But I now wonder how they could still allow so many tags on such a small HD, with so few places to hunt after an outbreak as bad as that.

For the most part, the deer that died oh EHD weren't hunted. The vast majority of those deer lived on five acre ranchettes. Six mile took their river bottom section out of block management, so other than the fishing accesses there was no public access to hunt these deer. The vast majority of the harvest in 260 is in the Bitterroot, which is still crawling with deer.

 

[Nameless Range]

Good to know Randy11, it's been a long time since I hunted that district. I figured that the Bitterroot would still be loaded. I remember Kelly Island and Council Grove getting absolutely hammered around Christmas and New Years when everybody was off school/work.

 

[----]

I'm not positive, but I think it stayed downstream from Council Grove, and definitely Kelly island. Everything I've heard is it stayed pretty well confined between Harper's bridge and Huson.

 

[Big Sky]

Okay, maybe I'm out of touch or I run with the wrong circle of friends, but who in the heck is going to waste their A tag on a mule deer doe? I live in the middle of the closed 400 districts. I'm having a hard time making sense out of their rational. Okay, here is how I understand it. EHD has killed a high percentage of the whitetail deer in many of the 400 district units. I can attest to this as there are darn few around. So instead of limiting the number of whitetails killed, in an already depleted whitetail population, we leave the season wide open on them, even offering an extra B tag for whitetail does. That part makes no sense at all, but then to cap off in those units with already hurting whitetail herds, MT FWP wants to ban shooting mule deer does and limit it only to mule deer bucks and all whitetails. Sorry but that is some pretty backwards thinking. Again, seriously how many people would actually give up their A tag for a mule doe instead of killing a buck just about anywhere they want to hunt? I'd have less trouble with this if they just came out and said no doe hunting for whitetail and mule deer.

 

[mtmuley]

Unless I understand it incorrectly, ALL antlerless hunting of either mule deer or whitetails is closed in the affected 400 areas. mtmuley