Mule deer numbers rebound in southeastern Montana
BILLINGS - Mule deer numbers in southeastern Montana have rebounded after a bleak and steep decline that hit bottom in 2012, prompting Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ staff to recommend increasing the doe harvest this season.
“The populations are currently at 147 percent of the long-term average,” said John Vore, Game Management Bureau chief, said in a Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Dillon on Thursday.
“These actually are the good old days,” echoed Region 7 supervisor Brad Schmitz.
That population increase is based on surveys in 14 trend areas spread across the prairie and rugged breaks of FWP’s Region 7, a management area comprised of Garfield, Rosebud, Custer, Powder, Carter, Fallon, Dawson, Prairie, Wibaux and a portion of Treasure counties.
The decline
In 2012 mule deer numbers had fallen by as much as 55 percent in portions of Montana. By 2014 the Fish and Wildlife Commission had cut all mule deer doe B tags across the state, and prior to that had enacted about a 90 percent reduction in mule deer doe tags.
Biologists began seeing a rebound last year when they counted 91 fawns per 100 does, the long-term average was 73 fawns per 100 does.
“Deer numbers are now higher than they were during years when nearly 11,000 B licenses were sold,” read the commission’s agenda item on the matter. “Now is the time to apply additional antlerless harvest to avoid the unsustainable high numbers and wide population fluctuations of the past.”
Vore said that criticism from some members of the public that the trend areas aren’t representative of the region were disproved when the department examined the movement of 1,100 collared deer across the landscape.
“We know they move on and off those trend areas,” he said. “About two-thirds move up to 60 miles.”
He said the surveys also reflect mule deer populations on habitat open to hunting.
“So we are pretty confident this reflects what’s going on with deer populations there,” Vore added.
Flattening the curve
Mule deer populations are notorious for reaching a peak about every 15 years before declining. Vore and Schmitz said by increasing the doe harvest the department hopes to flatten out the peaks and valleys of those wide population swings.
To do that, the department has proposed increasing doe licenses from 4,500 to 7,500 this season. The agency is also proposing to allow the region to bump up the total harvest to 11,000 without coming back to the commission for approval if deer numbers remain high.
Allowing the region that flexibility provides game managers the ability to increase the harvest if game damage complaints increase, Schmitz said.
“This system is extremely helpful for us biologically and socially,” he said.
The proposal will go out for public comment until June 24 before being considered by the commission at its next meeting on July 14.
Balancing act
Schmitz explained the population decline and revival this way. Prior to 2011 there were a lot of older does on the landscape that aren’t as reproductively proficient but that still eat a lot of browse. When those older deer died off and were replaced by younger, more fertile does, the population began to rebound.
The trick now is to keep the population low enough to ensure there is adequate browse on the landscape, Schmitz explained, while also respecting the tolerance of landowners who have to deal with more deer on their alfalfa fields.
