SE Montana winter kill

[mdunc8]

I was told they had a buck:doe of 44:100 post season this year with a 30-year average over 30:100. I was told last fall’s ratio was “phenomenal.”

I can’t find the fawn:doe ratios but I was told they’ve experienced “rapid exponential growth” in Region 7 since 2012.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Where are they counting that at?

 

[EYJONAS!]

I've backpacked into a couple areas In region 7 spent the night or multiple nights and ill be damned if I saw 44 bucks to 100 does. I'm thinking like 10 bucks maybe. Hunted elk last year in district 700 north of sand springs and Jordan we clocked 8 days on horse early season and another 4 towards the end on foot saw tons of deer the entire time. Not a lot of bucks also I spent 3 days in 630 hiked all over the place saw easily the most deer I've ever seen on a single hunt. I was pleasantly surprised to see what i saw with numbers but the buck to doe ratio was waaaay outta whack. I bet I saw 400 deer one afternoon and I bet outta those 400 deer maybe and I mean maybe 50 bucks. Not one of those deer could've been over 3 maybe 4. I'm not a expert but I can cover some country and I can't believe to agree with that.

 

[mdunc8]

I have no idea where they do their flights. I'm guessing they're scattered across the entire region.

After looking over my notes, my overall deer sightings have increased every year the past few years. I'm averaging about 30 deer/day. Of those deer, between 8-9 are bucks. Just over two of those bucks are four points. Although I've been happy with the bucks I've shot, I haven't seen any "big" bucks in the last few years. I also haven't seen another hunter in three years. I tend to stick to an isolated spot in Region 7 and have had a pretty itchy trigger finger, so this is a relatively small sample size. Also, I don't tend to move much after the four mile hike in before daylight, so I would expect that other folks who cover a lot more ground would see a lot more deer than I do.

Regardless of what happened this winter, I will happily be back on my perch in November especially now that I've got plenty of time to hunt.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Good notes, thanks for sharing that and good luck this year I hope you find a bruiser!

 

[mdunc8]

Until I find someone to entrust my bullets with, I doubt I'll be able to sort through all the little bucks before I find him...

 

[antlerradar]

FWP does not have to fly private land. They fly winter range and often the winter range contains deer were on private during the fall and then moved to public after the season.

 

[Hunting Wife]

They fly the same survey blocks every year. The blocks include both public and private. There’s a map depicting those areas in this 2016 article about mule deer management from Montana Outdoors.

http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2016/muledeer.htm#.WsDQ1CJOmEc

 

[Hunting Wife]

You know, Region 6 always puts out a press release of their survey results and emails their data out to partner agencies. I have not seen anything similar from other regions....don’t know why. If you google for Montana deer survey results, you’ll find their info.

For the eastern part of region 6, I have to say my observations this year jive with the trend they reported. There were more mulies than white tails almost everywhere I went, and certainly many more than were around in 2012. I attended a meeting with ND Game and Fish and their surveys have showed the same...very rapid growth in mule deer numbers over the past couple of years in western ND. I thought that was interesting.

 

[brockel]

Another 4”-8” of snow Monday for us

 

[EYJONAS!]

Until I find someone to entrust my bullets with, I doubt I'll be able to sort through all the little bucks before I find him...

I'll pack the rifle and shells and will only hand over when deemed worthy! We could have a group vote.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Oh for Christ sake man ..... there'll be plenty of deer around . Sure some will not make the winter but things will work out

Came over a hill yesterday in the Custer and found him - a nice 2018 eastern MT buck.

The hunt of your lifetime awaits you this fall in SE MT.

 

[EYJONAS!]

I bet it's like a Easter egg hunt out there. Better have a big basket.

 

[8andcounting]

You know, Region 6 always puts out a press release of their survey results and emails their data out to partner agencies. I have not seen anything similar from other regions....don’t know why. If you google for Montana deer survey results, you’ll find their info.

For the eastern part of region 6, I have to say my observations this year jive with the trend they reported. There were more mulies than white tails almost everywhere I went, and certainly many more than were around in 2012. I attended a meeting with ND Game and Fish and their surveys have showed the same...very rapid growth in mule deer numbers over the past couple of years in western ND. I thought that was interesting.

The rapid growth in nd is cuz they quit selling any mule doe tags for 4-5 years . Now they started again . Stupid

 

[teamhoyt]

The rapid growth in nd is cuz they quit selling any mule doe tags for 4-5 years . Now they started again . Stupid

Curious why this is stupid?

 

[8andcounting]

Curious why this is stupid?

The herd was very low - so they didn't sell a doe tag for several years then in 2016 they sold for tags again and last year were wondering why the count was down a little bit , and yet still sold doe tags in 2017! You shoot does your gonna have less deer doesn't take a f'n rocket scientist

 

[8andcounting]

There shouldn't be a mule doe tag sold in ND ever . Ever. We don't have the mule deer montana does

 

[EYJONAS!]

So you come over to your neighbors and bring 4 people and each have 2 tags? Now I know where your name comes from.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Colorado here I come...

 

[8andcounting]

So you come over to your neighbors and bring 4 people and each have 2 tags? Now I know where your name comes from.

I come and hunt deer on a private ranch , good friends who invite us , and I have never shot a muley doe there , I have had a few R7 b tags but haven't filled one. Nobody in my group has killed a doe in years . But if I decided to load up on tags and shoot fill them all I'll ask your permission First . I get a kick out of guys that think they own the animals . Funny stuff