I agree I just wonder if it wouldn’t be more acceptable for the state to continue letting people hunt the entire state instead of just a region and making the last 2 weeks draw a very controlled draw. It may help to spread the pressure out that way instead of people just driving over to one area and hammering deer because they don’t wanna travel back over to their region again.
Every mature buck mule deer I have ever harvested except one has been killed in the first two weeks in November. By the last two weeks on public land you are generally hunting gut piles and immature bucks
Draw if I have those two choices.
Feel like it’s all baby steps and what needs to happen won’t but at least they are open to doing something now the question is what can they do that will help and cause the least amount of complications
I’ve seen a lot of those claims over the years accompanied with pictures of nice up and comer 2 year old bucks.Anyone using terminology such as “decent” or “good” in reference to a Montana mule deer is required to include defining picture of such buck.
Exactly. Compared to an Indiana mule deer (none) or whitetail? Perspective and baseline is everything. I am guessing you were seeing exactly what huntin24/7 says, 120-130 inch deer that a lot of people who know the real baseline for Montana don't even blink at.
If there were great management there would be world class mule deer hunting similar to what you see north of Montana.
MT has the genetics to produce great bucks. Everyone has different opinions as far as what good management looks like. I think if properly managed, MT is capable of providing a hunting experience where a good hunter who works hard averages seeing a 150+ buck/day of hunting with a reasonable chance at seeing a 170+ in a week of hunting on public land. Hunters have to be willing to make sacrifices to get to that point though, whether it’s earlier seasons, shortened seasons, or more permit areas, etc. But anyone who tells you we don’t have the genetics in MT for big mule deer is full of
.It’s well known Montana doesn’t manage for buck size I’m not sure that would be my gauge. I would like to see the population comeback specifically on public land. I started hunting in the mid 90’s, people that have been at it longer have told me I never even got to see it when it was good. Throughout my life I have seen a steady decline of mule deer, quality of hunt, and yes buck size as well. Mule deer hunting is a shell of what it used to be, sounds like you did pretty well. Be interesting if most of these sighting were on lands you could hunt?
Thanks for the perspective. Id say 60% of what we saw was on public, but we also didn’t do much looking in areas that weren’t mostly public or block management.
I didn’t see a legit 150+ the whole season last year while hunting public land. (Not counting driving roads looking out on private) That equates to about 40 plus days. Now of course that means nothing as I’m sure many did much better than me or your overestimating what you saw but the point is it’s as bad as I have ever seen it. I’m one of the guys in before light and out after. I expect to see mature deer
To add to this many sportsmen have brought these issues up with the local office. Some with a lot of history and experience landowners, outfitters and hunters. The local office is telling us this is as good as it gets. We are in our glory days. Numbers are great age class is great, we are knocking it out of the park. “You just aren’t remembering correctly”, “the animals didn’t die they just migrated” Every year there is an influx of newbies that think it’s the best thing they have ever seen and validate exactly what they are telling the public. Even though it couldn’t be further from the truth. People can see it, and are telling them, FWP is ignoring them and that is the mismanagement of Montana’s mule deer.
Deer are just like people the average buck will probably only reach 160” just like the average person won’t look like a nfl linebacker. It’s just the way it is I realize the bucks I wanna kill are way above average and even if things change I may not find one. 8 years ago I could usually kick up about 10-20 bucks in the 150 range on a 3 day weekend over east now it’s very hard to find a buck where I hike
I appreciate that explanation. It is unfortunate to hear from everybody how good it used to be and that FWP doesn't seem to care to listen to the people. What are the major changes that were made years ago that started to make things go down hill? More tags and longer seasons?
Let’s see the picture of the good buck you shot and I will proceed.
I haven't shot a mule deer buck yet, much less a good one. Guess it kinda proves your point even further.
