Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement

[Hem]

Increasing hunting opportunity in Headwaters is outright dumb...its not safe. No surprise FWP.

Oops wrong thread. Too much cross over. Apply to Upland thread.

 

[mtmuley]

Oops wrong thread. Too much cross over. Apply to Upland thread.

Don't worry Hem, it ain't too hard to get all the dumb stuff in Montana mixed up. mtmuley

 

[Hem]

Don't worry Hem, it ain't too hard to get all the dumb stuff in Montana mixed up. mtmuley

Im not worried.

 

[brockel]

Montana harvest rates. Hilarious. Not one person at FWP in the state of Montana has ANY idea how many mule deer are killed here in any given year. mtmuley

Their cold calling is super accurate. Just ask them

 

[Rack Daniels]

Increasing hunting opportunity in Headwaters is outright dumb...its not safe. No surprise FWP.

can you cite that?? From what I got, it’s going to be much more restricted now….

 

[cgasner1]

Ease of harvest should affect success rate. The total bucks remaining would be a function of the total tags issused or hunters.

Wy manages specifically for those higher ratios by more than just season structure.

Perhaps why 10k nr tags vanished in the last 10 years there.

Most other states treat mule deer hunting like it’s LE so you have less people on the landscape with a higher buck to doe ratio it’s really not a surprise to me that the harvest percentage would be the same on a higher quality hunt.

 

[Hem]

can you cite that?? From what I got, it’s going to be much more restricted now….
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How about the majority of the people that use the Park daily who are local. No mention of how they would know what's going on where. Sky blasting shot can travel .

 

[8andcounting]

Montana harvest rates. Hilarious. Not one person at FWP in the state of Montana has ANY idea how many mule deer are killed here in any given year. mtmuley

I agree which is why I don’t believe it’s a lopsided as it seems in r6 and 7 . Maybe NR are surveyed more ?

 

[8andcounting]

Their cold calling is super accurate. Just ask them

Yeh I got called on elk in late may

 

[mtmuley]

I agree which is why I don’t believe it’s a lopsided as it seems in r6 and 7 . Maybe NR are surveyed more ?

Do you really think the phone surveys are accurate? It might be worse. Might not. A random phone call asking about wolves is pointless. mtmuley

 

[Gerald Martin]

By

Increasing hunting opportunity in Headwaters is outright dumb...its not safe. No surprise FWP.

It’s actually FWP and Headwaters State Park attempt to reduce conflict by restricting the amount of hunters on the Park on a given day.

 

[Hem]

By

It’s actually FWP and Headwaters State Park attempt to reduce conflict by restricting the amount of hunters on the Park on a given day.

Still a bad idea. There isn't THAT much ground. The Park is divided by a waterway. So the pheasant hunters stay on the popular walk path side unless wading the river.

 

[8andcounting]

Do you really think the phone surveys are accurate? It might be worse. Might not. A random phone call asking about wolves is pointless. mtmuley

I do not . Which I why I don’t think it’s as lopsided as it seems

 

[Forkyfinder]

I do not . Which I why I don’t think it’s as lopsided as it seems

Id guess the other way - more NR dont answer an out of state number on a random tuesday the next spring.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Do you really think the phone surveys are accurate? It might be worse. Might not. A random phone call asking about wolves is pointless. mtmuley

I cant figure out why a voluntary survey monkey link as a second data point is so bad as a second data point.

I suggested that and got shot down.

 

[8andcounting]

Id guess the other way - more NR dont answer an out of state number on a random tuesday the next spring.

Ok . Funny when I hunt western mt and head east all I meat is R trucks coming back west with truck loads of mule deer . Sometimes trailer loads . Maybe they don’t get good service in western mt

 

[Gerald Martin]

Still a bad idea. There isn't THAT much ground. The Park is divided by a waterway. So the pheasant hunters stay on the popular walk path side unless wading the river.

Upland bird hunting only on Gallatin River side

 

[antlerradar]

Not from what harvest rates show.

I don't think changing season structure is going change harvest rates. People that want to harvest are going to harvest, unless they are totally incompetent.
Lowering harvest rates is not a high priority of mine for season structure change.I have two main reasons and some lesser reasons for changing season structure. What I want is more of a random harvest and less of a selective harvest. As many have stated, it is not as easy to fill your tag when the bucks are not rutting and concentrated on winter range or hay fields. Hunters will still have their opportunities, but will risk tag soup if they try to be too selective. More young four point live, more older two and three points die. The more random the harvest, the better. Better for the deer herd, better for hunters long term.
Changing season structure, may not change the harvest rate, but it will change where the harvest occurs. Shooting a buck at the base of the mountain on winter range, not going to happen nearly as often. Driving around the river and creek bottoms in Eastern Montana is not going to be nearly as effective in Oct as it is in Nov. Changing where the harvest is the biggest reason why we need to change season structure. Since the farther up the mountain and the farther from the river and creek bottoms, the more likely the land is public, season structure change will result in more harvest on public and less on private. Lowering harvest rates is way down the list and likely will not happen any way.