Mule deer opportunity?

[Randy11]

I brought up B&C score because I couldn’t think of a better quantifiable metric to use (was looking into something totally unrelated, but when I saw the actual numbers they surprised me a bit). What else is out there, somewhat readily available, covers a large area, and is standardized? I 100% agree it’s not the gold standard and far from the only standard of what makes a big buck or good buck in the eye of the beholder, much less a quality hunt.

Mature buck ratio on winter surveys is what I would be most interested in.

Just my opinion, bit I don't think as many "trophy" bucks would have been killed in the Bitterroot the last 25 years had it stayed general.

I personally wouldn't put any weight on that small of a sample size using that quirky of an algorithm (B&C).

 

[WanderWoman]

Mature buck ratio on winter surveys is what I would be most interested in.

Just my opinion, bit I don't think as many "trophy" bucks would have been killed in the Bitterroot the last 25 years had it stayed general.

I personally wouldn't put any weight on that small of a sample size using that quirky of an algorithm (B&C).

If mature was standardized (what is mature; can it be consistently determined by various observers?), the data was readily available (database anyone can search), didn’t have to worry about big swings in temporal variation, and covered a large area (state/multiple states or counties vs. trend area), I’d agree.

I think your opinion is spot on. Not just because of season structure but habitat as well.

And yes, after seeing how few entries there actually are, it doesn’t lend for any sort of robust analysis. Still interesting/surprising though at face value what it shows (or doesn’t show).