Oregon’s Mule Deer – ODFW is Failing – Oregon Outdoor Council
www.oregonoutdoorcouncil.org
Interested to hear some opinions about this from you fellas
Oregon mule deer
- Thread starter JAB85
- Start date
www.oregonoutdoorcouncil.org
Interested to hear some opinions about this from you fellas
belshawelk
Well-known member
Easy answer. Lions. If they want to save deer then allow dogs on cougars. It’s that easy. I can show anyone at anytime 5 or 6 lion kills just on my property alone and 20 or 30 if I add neighboring property. And that is just a few sections of property.
MarvB
Well-known member
^^^this! Preventable shame. Won’t be long until we will be like NorCal and when you hike the rims you’ll see more cat tracks than deer tracks. Getting that way in many of our units already. People will say that at least you can still hunt them here but that’s basically a farce without dogs.
I work in the woods on the west side. Seems the last few years I’ve had just as many lion sightings as I’ve had deer and elk sightings. Just about every unit I’ve cut lately I have found lion kills. Lion population is up everywhere.
belshawelk
Well-known member
You have a better chance at shooting a 350” bull, 180” mule deer and 80” Antelope than ever shooting a lion without dogs. I know lion hunting well and you can’t do it without them.
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MarvB
Well-known member
100% agreed! Had them on my trail cams numerous times but all the calling I’ve ever done had failed to turn a single one up. I always have a tag though in case I get a rando chance while deer/elk hunting, one tag saves about 40-50 deer IMHO and all hunters should be carrying one despite the 2% success rate!
Brittany Chukarman
Well-known member
ODFW's hands are tied in managing predators. Dog's, aerial gunning, wolf season, are all decided by the majority population on the west side of the state. Aerial gunning of coyotes really helps but it has to be on or near private land, it's expensive, and to be effective needs to be done every winter when there's snow on the ground. No doe tags to anyone. How much of the budget now goes to managing the wolf?
FI460
Well-known member
According to OCC the wolf program is about $1 million for personnel, with about half of that being allocated from the general fund.
MarvB
Well-known member
Once mgt of game is done “solely” via politics and public vs science and biology, much hope is lost and sometimes forever.
Take Cali’s stance on lions for example; when the ban was VOTED in by the public it took only a simple majority to pass. Now even though CDFW biologists feel that hunting needs to be reinstated as a mgt tool, it will never happen as it would take a 2/3 majority VOTE of the public to reverse the initial decision. With LA, SF, SAC, etc. that ain’t gonna happen!
Here in Oregon, so much the same; the I5 corridor is the tail that wags the dog!
Take Cali’s stance on lions for example; when the ban was VOTED in by the public it took only a simple majority to pass. Now even though CDFW biologists feel that hunting needs to be reinstated as a mgt tool, it will never happen as it would take a 2/3 majority VOTE of the public to reverse the initial decision. With LA, SF, SAC, etc. that ain’t gonna happen!
Here in Oregon, so much the same; the I5 corridor is the tail that wags the dog!
Would Oregon take a vote to reinstate hound hunting?
ShootsManyBullets
Well-known member
It would lose bc mountain lions are pretty and we shouldn't kill them. And we should all be vegan in Oregon and drive Tesla's bc of climate change. If you argue you're racist.
or something like that
FI460
Well-known member
I think we should. We should run an initiative campaign to try to reinstate a regulated season. I think it's more likely to get support with a permit draw than a quota system, and I think we would get more support than many expect with some education on mule deer herd declines and general predation numbers. Especially with the recent Hart Mountain sheep predation articles.
All that said, I don't know that I think it would pass. But I'm of the opinion that if we don't try we're just whining.
MarvB
Well-known member
Oregon is kind of an oddity; I seriously doubt it will be changed by “popular vote” given where the majority of the voters live in this state.
Unlike some other states there is a caveat that it could be changed/overturned by Legislature (both House and Senate) but a two-thirds vote is needed again in this case because of a separate “tough-on-crime” ballot measure, also passed in 1994, that says the Legislature can only reduce voter imposed crime sentences on a two-thirds vote. The ballot measure regarding cougars made it a “crime” for sport hunters to use dogs in hunting cougars so it falls in the criminal category rather than in with wildlife type measures.
Huntin' Fool
Well-known member
Worked forest survey plots in the Malheur NF for 2 seasons in '94 and '95. The most roaded and overgrazed of any public lands I've worked or hunted in the west. Nearly zero remaining old growth doug firs, only stumps. Many locals hunted big game whether they drew or not.
Joe Hulburt
Well-known member
Oregon has the ability to manage cougars but lacks the desire due to political climate. Granted we will probably never see sport hunting with hounds again but the ODFW has authority to use agents to manage cougars and has done so in several areas with proven results. It just needs to be more of a priority and on a larger scale.
I want to be optimistic that Betsy Johnson has a chance to be elected as our next governor! She is no nonsense and would expect more performance from government administrators. Right now failure is certainly an option and many administrators are taking advantage of that.
I want to be optimistic that Betsy Johnson has a chance to be elected as our next governor! She is no nonsense and would expect more performance from government administrators. Right now failure is certainly an option and many administrators are taking advantage of that.
I had a hound guy from Oregon come over and hunt with me this year. He strictly runs bobcats in Oregon for obvious reasons like that’s all he can legally chase 
. He drew an Idaho hound hunter permit and came over to run lions. I never got into what Oregon could do to legalize dogs for lions with him. He did tell me he cuts 3-4 different lion tracks on some days while bobcat hunting. That’s just ridiculous I hope there is a way you can get dogs back for lions.
. He drew an Idaho hound hunter permit and came over to run lions. I never got into what Oregon could do to legalize dogs for lions with him. He did tell me he cuts 3-4 different lion tracks on some days while bobcat hunting. That’s just ridiculous I hope there is a way you can get dogs back for lions.That’s a great idea. Be a good way to raise funds for the state also. I think a lot of even non resident houndsmen would put in for it as a draw. I would consider it after talking to a hunter from Oregon on the amount of lion tracks he will see in just a day.
MarvB
Well-known member
People (esp non-hunters) just don't think about them or how large our population of them has grown because they don't SEE them. It's like they don't exist, unless you know what to look for. Damn lions are everywhere across the state.
Joe Hulburt
Well-known member
It has been put back on the ballot since the original measure passed. It failed worse than ever last time.
