MT Mule Deer in Big Trouble...

[belly-deep]

It looks like our mule deer herds aren't doing very well. That weather we had the last week of season brought the elk harvest numbers up, but MD harvest was still down. When you get that kind of weather and a resulting low harvest...bad news....even if the population is down a bit, the weather should have still made for a good harvest #.

All of these articles were written after the season had closed


R1: "The regional deer harvest has been low the last few years and based on the check station sample this year it will be similar."

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article.html?action=getArticle&id=9838


R2: "White-tailed deer harvest finished 30 percent ahead of last year, while mule deer numbers were down 22 percent."

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article.html?action=getArticle&id=9830

R3: "Mule and white-tailed deer harvest were lower than 2009 and six-year average harvest levels."

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article.html?action=getArticle&id=9835

R4: "The mule deer harvest was down slightly at 331 animals. That’s a 16 percent decrease from the five-year average of 391. "

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article.html?action=getArticle&id=9834

R5: "The number of hunters who stopped at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ south central Montana check stations over the weekend was well below last year, as was the mule deer harvest."

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article.html?action=getArticle&id=9836

 

[wingman1]

That sucks! You will be posting similar results for elk in two years

 

[----]

I can only speak for my little corner of the world here in Region 2, but I wonder how much of that is related to road closures? In my area, you can probably drive 50% as many roads as you could even five or six years ago, most of which heads in to the higher country where guys would normally kill muleys from the truck. Now that it's a three or four mile hump in to the areas, the whitetail along the main roads and creek bottoms might be looking a lot more tempting.

I know the permit area I often hunt in just had their highest winter count in the last five years...
I had an interesting conversation with the biologist about this, in which it was suggested the lack of elk via wolf predation has opened up a lot of resources to mule deer.

Not saying the numbers aren't down, as I'm sure they are overall, but I don't think it's ALL bad.

 

[belly-deep]

Yes but with the roads closed, the heavy snow should have forced deer down low and into the freezer...but it didn't. Something is wrong here.

Had it been last year, I would have agreed with you, but with the snow I can't. Not to mention the fact that some places have had no change in access.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Riddle me this. The first calm and clear day after a heavy snow I drove a local section of road, 50 miles worth at dawn. There were 3 vehicles parked that appeared to be hunters. 15 years ago there would have been 25 vehicles. My thoughts are hunters are WAY lazier than they used to be. I saw a ton of mule deer this year, way more than most years.. and in several different hunting districts. Not buying that deer are in any trouble at all.

 

[thecrittergitter]

I know one mule deer thats in trouble..............only it will be about a year now before he is in too much of it

 

[Drake4]

I don't put much stock into check station numbers.

 

[drahthaar]

I think "in trouble" is a relative term and will vary in what we see in each of our own little corners of this giant state too.

 

[belly-deep]

Riddle me this. The first calm and clear day after a heavy snow I drove a local section of road, 50 miles worth at dawn. There were 3 vehicles parked that appeared to be hunters. 15 years ago there would have been 25 vehicles. My thoughts are hunters are WAY lazier than they used to be. I saw a ton of mule deer this year, way more than most years.. and in several different hunting districts. Not buying that deer are in any trouble at all.

You do have a point there and I will agree with you that hunters have gotten lazier.

But the FWP analysis rests on 5 and 6 year averages, not 15 year averages.

You could also say that the adverse weather kept many people indoors, and that could be true too.

But, somebody was out there shooting all of the elk that were taken.

My point is, given the weather we had, MD harvest should have been above the 5/6 year average, not well below it...if our herds are healthy.

 

[belly-deep]

I don't put much stock into check station numbers.

I don't either when it comes to estimating the game taken as a whole, but they are at least useful for comparing check station numbers relative to each other.

 

[mdunc8]

This idiot saw plenty of muleys this year all throughout the southern half of the state.

 

[wingman1]

For what it is worth, I live on the eastside of the root in the heart of trophy mule deer habitat and in years past have had up to fifty deer on my place by this time of year. I have had four hanging around right now. This year is also the first time I have seen wolves from the house also. It correlates with fwp data.

 

[belly-deep]

Hey and I'm not saying I'm 100% right, in fact I hope I'm not. But I just can't see a reasonable explaination for a low mule deer harvest with all of the weather we had.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Hunters are lazier than ever. Check station data is only slightly more valuable than used toilet paper and road-hunting elk-fests don't have to mesh with record harvests of deer. I saw a shitpiles of deer in multiple FWP regions, more than usual. What data from the FWP is alarming? I didn't see any above.

 

[belly-deep]

Hunters are lazier than ever. Check station data is only slightly more valuable than used toilet paper and road-hunting elk-fests don't have to mesh with record harvests of deer. I saw a shitpiles of deer in multiple FWP regions, more than usual. What data from the FWP is alarming? I didn't see any above.

Like I said, I can't see a reasonable explaination--other than poor herd condition--that would explain why we had a below-average harvest for MD with all of the snow and cold.

 

[Breaks Runner]

I agree on the lazy hunter deal....people dont get out and hunt near as hard as they used to. Just go to a public event where there are several hundred people gathered and glance the crowd. You'll see about 80% of the people are big and overweight. Fat hurts when you're trying to walk up a mountain day after day.

Most of the state had way above normal rainfall causing more dispersion than average due to better feed availablity. I wont be surprised to see good numbers of mule deer when I start aerial hunting here in the next few weeks.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Fat hurts when you're trying to walk up a mountain day after day.

I thought love hurts?

 

[shoots-straight]

I think hunters are lazier than ever, but the poachers that live here aren't. Poaching in Montana has reached a crescendo. Lions, are at high numbers, as are wolves. The native brothers from up north have got wheels and travel. Antlerless tags were cut "WAY" back in most areas, and I think that accounts for a lot of the decline in harvest. In March, when the aerial survey takes place we'll know.

 

[elk_hunter]

Regarding poaching...is it a real problem in MT? I honestly don't know how bad it is up there which is why I ask. Is poaching particularly bad in other western states? Some NV LEOs have said it wasn't too bad this year.

 

[drahthaar]

Poaching is a huge problem here. Not so much the giant poaching rings, but the "little" stuff that people seem to do on quite a regular basis. Shooting deer for their wives, kids, etc, party hunting. Stuff like that. The "youth" hunt for cow elk, is a major joke. It all adds up.