What hunts are better today than 10 years ago?

[Cheesehead]

Feral cats (cough... and horses)

 

[Dave N]

Obviously not my whitetail hunting. Never, ever saw it as slow as this year.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Duh Eastern Montana deer..... ders tirdy inches out der

 

[Gellar]

Urban hunts. 20 years ago you couldn’t in urban areas now there are bruisers killed every year in urban areas.

 

[Panda Bear]

Polar Bear, Whale, Muskox have increased their numbers

We also have more hunters with nearly 6100 applying this year compared to 4750 last year. These applications were for elk, sheep, moose, deer, goat and caribou. Some caribou herds have increased in numbers and some have decreased depending on the herd location and breed of

Some feel the grizzly has increased in numbers also, but I dont see anymore now than in the past. Black Bears are a pain the butt, and although I am not sure they have increased in numbers, there might be two less of them by this time tomorrow

 

[Dave N]

Obviously not my whitetail hunting. Never, ever saw it as slow as this year.

Scratch that. Buck down!

 

[KB_]

Three or 4 years ago Michigan implemented a point restriction on deer in Montcalm and Newago county according to my dad. Hunting was difficult the first 2 years. but the last two years my dad was telling me the majority of bucks on his hunting property are all 4x4 or bigger, and lots of them. Said the hunting has been better the last two years then it was the last 30 years before then. Also seeing more 200lbs + deer then he has ever seen.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Iowa: ducks, geese, dove, coyote, turkey, squirrel, pheasant, quail, bobcat

 

[MO Betta]

Speaking strictly of areas I frequent, predators and some small game have been booming. Raccoons, opossum, red fox, bobcat, coyotes and squirrels especially. Be a great time for a trapper or houndsman if the money was better on fur. Rabbits don't seem to be doing as well, it's probably about the same as 20 years ago.

Bobwhites were heavily on the downhill slope when I started hunting 25+ years ago, wish I could wave a wand and experience the heyday my father and uncles speak of.

 

[JLS]

Bobwhites were heavily on the downhill slope when I started hunting 25+ years ago, wish I could wave a wand and experience the heyday my father and uncles speak of.

We've seen the same thing with pheasants. Current numbers pale in comparison to what they were 30-35 years ago.

 

[JLS]

This is an interesting question. What parameters are we using to measure better? If availability/ease of getting tags is part of the equation, I'd answer not many are better. Are we talking trophy size? Overall numbers?

I think pretty much ANY unit that is not limited quota has very likely deteriorated in quality over the last 10 years. The competition for a finite resource continues to grow. Public land isn't increasing fast enough to offset the demand, so the end result is not difficult to figure out.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I've been here 8 not 10, but opportunity (not bull quality) is maybe a notch better in the WY general units I'm familiar with from when I got here. A serious confounding variable is that I've gotten better at finding elk over the last decade as well.

 

[rjthehunter]

Speaking strictly of areas I frequent, predators and some small game have been booming. Raccoons, opossum, red fox, bobcat, coyotes and squirrels especially. Be a great time for a trapper or houndsman if the money was better on fur. Rabbits don't seem to be doing as well, it's probably about the same as 20 years ago.

Bobwhites were heavily on the downhill slope when I started hunting 25+ years ago, wish I could wave a wand and experience the heyday my father and uncles speak of.

I think the predators are becoming more and more aparent in certain areas because trappers aren't trapping them anymore. No sense in spending time and money trapping when prices are at record lows. Might as well let populations climb until they're worth some money again!

 

[rjthehunter]

I hear the opportunity for wolf hunting in Colorado is going to start getting better...

 

[Bambistew]

I'm not sure I'd say the hunting conditions have improved, but Colorado bighorn sheep licenses have increased from 246 in 2011 to 319 in 2020, a nearly 30% increase. Those licenses are much more difficult to draw now, though.

Amazing in these times considering that places like MT have probably had similar percentage of decline in tags.

Are they killing 30% more sheep than 10 years ago, or just issuing more tags in harder to hunt time slots?

 

[Bambistew]

In 2011 there was not an open season for mule deer or whitetail deer in Lubbock county.

7 years ago they implemented the first ever mule deer season and 5 years ago they started a whitetail deer season.

I would say that is an improvement. I still can't seem to ever shoot a mule deer on my property, but my neighbor has shot one every year since they have had a season with a couple of them being pretty nice. I have shot 3 whitetails and my son has shot 1.

Seems like there are more deer each year until this year it seemed to drop off but that could be because of our drought.

Hard to believe there are still places in the U.S. where deer are still expanding their range but that is the case in our county.

Is this on public land or is it spite of landowners having some control over the hunting. I suppose it would be difficult for LO to manage a large area.

Cool that mule deer are expanding there. Sadly it seems that they are declining everywhere else.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

I've been here 8 not 10, but opportunity (not bull quality) is maybe a notch better in the WY general units I'm familiar with from when I got here. A serious confounding variable is that I've gotten better at finding elk over the last decade as well.

I'm about at the same place you are with my experience in the Wyo gen units I hunt. I might lean a bit more to quality being a notch better than it was 10 years ago but its not a step change. Ease of finding them appears to have improved and for me its easy to say it has nothing to do with me getting better at finding them. I'm just as crappy a hunter today as I was 10 years ago.

Number of other hunters in the field has also decreased in my experience. This year was very noticeable. I think everyone in Wyo blew their vacation during the deer season.

 

[Bullshot]

Eastern elk (PA & KY) and other states where herds are beginning to increase. We may see some interesting things in NC, VA, WV, TN, AR etc in next few decades.

 

[Oak]

Amazing in these times considering that places like MT have probably had similar percentage of decline in tags.

Are they killing 30% more sheep than 10 years ago, or just issuing more tags in harder to hunt time slots?

131 sheep harvested in 2011, 192 in 2019 (309 licenses). The 2020 seasons are not complete yet.

 

[johnp]

Cross bow hunting in Wisconsin couldn't get any better. Blowing away the vertical archery deer kill. Bow hunting as we knew it is slipping away.