Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement

[Forkyfinder]

@Forkyfinder i can’t remember the years exactly but it was between 2010-2012 we had back to back bad winters. The better bucks were already gone by then but we had deer still before that point, from my perspective. That is around the time that Newburg came in as well, this had a big impact. There was an incredible antelope herd that was on the forest and they got hit hard with winter. The wildlife manager claims they migrated but most likely they died imo. I got out a fair amount back then and there were dead deer everywhere. I went to the meetings and was told things were looking good and they aren’t into knee jerk reactions. 40:100 buck to doe ratio for mule deer. The public was asking them to do something. They didn’t. Several years later they made it mule deer buck only for the A tag. A miraculous comeback was made I think in 2015 maybe 2016 (I didn’t see it) and 11k doe tags were offered with 7 tags per person if they wanted them. One of the areas I liked to hunt had a group of North Dakotans that liked to use them. Those deer are gone. It’s a shell of what it used to be. People out here are pissed and MTFWP is getting the blame for it, rightfully so. The only positive change I’ve seen for mule deer in my lifetime is the commission overriding what the biologists suggested with private land only mule deer doe tags. It’s sad how we treat our mule deer in region 7.

Doesnt it seem like the population and harvest parallel?

I have a difficult time throwing the numbers out totally if the harvest tracks well with population numberw.