I don’t see this moving the needle for mule deer hunting pressure in eastern Montana. Still better than what we have now with the rut hunt I guess though.
Podcast on Montana Mule Deer ideas
- Thread starter Big Fin
- Start date
The data that the group looked at suggests that the split in seasons, coupled with the move to Oct for MD and Nov for WT means that more NR's will choose Whitetail than they currently do. FWP data suggests that residents favor whitetail over MD, so if anything I'd expect to see a leveling out in terms of choice, and more self-selection in where people hunt.
Region 7 could still utilize limited entry districts under this proposal, or they could have choose your region for R's 6 & 7. Keeping broad commission authority to enact regional and location specific management is a cornerstone of the group's ethic. The proposal should not be viewed as a 1 size fits all approach, but rather a foundation that's based more on hunter pressure and wildlife distribution as opposed to only considering hunter opportunity.
Rainer
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This was a great Podcast. Couple things I know that won't happen but would really help.
1. Mandatory Reporting and if you don't report. You don't hunt that species next year (we've been doing that here for the last 3 years and it works)
2. Does Montana allow Hunters feeding the Hungry? Could you not use a program like that to help draw down the Cow Elk numbers? Say some group like BHA or something meets up for a weekend or 2 and tries to partner with landowners to meet some sort of quota? I dunno, just spitballing ideas
1. Mandatory Reporting and if you don't report. You don't hunt that species next year (we've been doing that here for the last 3 years and it works)
2. Does Montana allow Hunters feeding the Hungry? Could you not use a program like that to help draw down the Cow Elk numbers? Say some group like BHA or something meets up for a weekend or 2 and tries to partner with landowners to meet some sort of quota? I dunno, just spitballing ideas
Back to what seemed to be one of the major points, “for the good of the resource “.
This is not really a comment to your comment AR, just perspective after reading a few on this thread.
This made me laugh out loud. That doesn’t have a chance in hell of happening.
D
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In the podcast, it was mentioned that people would flock to Western MT to hunt mountain whitetails in November if allowed to continue to hunt both species. Is this referring to non-residents?
I don’t know a single resident who would leave eastern MT, or would even consider leaving eastern MT, with all the great river and creek bottoms and agriculture, to go hunt “mountain whitetails” in western MT. I get where they were speculating, but seems like a mute point.
Almost like they were making the point that “we at least have better whitetail hunting in the west even though elk and mule deer are better in the east!” I’d respectfully disagree. In fact, I know a lot of western MTers who head east every year to hunt whitetails.
Just looking for more clarity on this point.
I don’t know a single resident who would leave eastern MT, or would even consider leaving eastern MT, with all the great river and creek bottoms and agriculture, to go hunt “mountain whitetails” in western MT. I get where they were speculating, but seems like a mute point.
Almost like they were making the point that “we at least have better whitetail hunting in the west even though elk and mule deer are better in the east!” I’d respectfully disagree. In fact, I know a lot of western MTers who head east every year to hunt whitetails.
Just looking for more clarity on this point.
cgasner1
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Can’t save every deer and we aren’t trying to people are still going to hunt. Sound like the plan gives those hunters plenty of opportunity to do so every year. Do you think they will still travel east when they can only shoot a whitetail? While elk season is going on in the west side. Maybe but I bet a lot more guys hang around local that people think if they live on the west coast
D
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Oh for sure and that’s not what I was saying. They made it sound like everyone was going to flock over there to hunt whitetails and that won’t be the case. Even with general elk, since the pick your region is now taken out, people on the east side are going to shoot their whitey close to home and then maybe go hunt general elk. They aren’t headed there specifically for whitetail. Maybe, just maybe, if it was pick your region, more folks would choose there to hunt elk and whitetail simultaneously, particularly NRs.
If it keeps the western MT folks closer to home, all the better. Only thing better on that side of the state is the wolf hunting, and I’m not sure that is something to brag about.
cgasner1
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THe hope isn’t they flock but more stay put. Not singling you out but a huge pile of the what ifs really are just what if someone goes hunting. That what we all want is someone to go hunting. This keeps people hunting every year. The species split even if it is only 25% whitetail that still takes a lot of pressure off mule deer and coupled with the October hunt I think will be a huge help. Wyoming mule deer season ends in a week and our 6 week season hasn’t even started yet
antlerradar
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Just to clarify, The species split is already around 60/40 mule deer to whitetails. If we could add 25% to whitetails and make it 50/50 it would be a big help to Mule deer. I think that is what @cgasner1 was getting at.
cgasner1
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Exactly what I was getting at. I took that number the other way for the example.
Should also be said that since non-residents have to put in for either species that you likely will see more selecting whitetail over MD in the B10 combo as well, providing some relief for md from the NR aspect. Further additive to the pressure relief valve is the provision that antlerless licenses should be focused on private ground over public land.
smokecreekarcher
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I really enjoyed the podcast so thank you for putting it out there in a formal way so people can hear your ideas, and thank you for being "bold" enough to address some of these problems we are facing. Very easy to sit back and point out the problems, a lot harder to actually sit down and come up with a solution. I should start by saying I live in Region 6 and work in the AG business, so I have the privilege of looking @ 1000's of acres both public and private on a daily/yearly basis. I am an avid bowhunter and I will admit its hard to watch the last few years what was once a landscape that had very good quality mule deer bucks, now has become a very tough place to turn up what I would consider a mature mule deer. The pressure these deer see in the rut is incredible, and I think your proposal would go a long ways to help restore the quality that R6 once had for mature mule deer bucks. As a bowhunter I was somewhat disappointed to see the limitations on the archery season being cut down starting in October. A lot of bowhunters (including myself) enjoy that late September early October late estrus elk hunting. A lot of elk rut in October believe it or not. I think the proposed archery season should be longer. I think there would be a lot of people interested in this proposal if you can show quality AND opportunity improvement, one way to do this is by introducing things like our neighbors ND and SD have. For example, I can put in for a NR any deer archery tag in those states which allows me to deer hunt with a bow only throughout there seasons. The success rates are much lower than rifle hunting, however its an opportunity to have a tag in my pocket, and see some deer in the rut doing rut things up close and personal. Bowhunters are a rowdy bunch and limiting them in what already is a tough endeavor is a tough sell.
D
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Way to practical and articulated post shed god. People fear LE here but reality is it would be the loosest LE system in the west.
Forkyfinder
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Yup
antlerradar
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My biggest fear of LE is that FWP would set the quotas so high that LE would really be just choose your unit.
But wouldn’t from that scenario the product be knowing how many people hunted said unit? Because now you have zero idea and then could start fine tuning from there.
Limited entry may be helpful for one unit, but it does push hunter pressure around & focuses it on general districts with public lands, leading to greater crowding on those accessible lands.
If we are continuing to lose properties in block management, and more limited entry happens rather than thinking more holistically about hunter pressure then you just make those OTC districts more bonkers.
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