Reduction in number of NR deer licenses

[Forkyfinder]

Just makes me think that any improvement gained buy getting rid of NR will be quickly squashed by R getting back in the game as soon a things improve.

Who's resource is it again?

 

[huntin24/7]

Just makes me think that any improvement gained buy getting rid of NR will be quickly squashed by R getting back in the game as soon a things improve.

That could be true, although I’m not sure anything will be improving enough any time soon to cause that. I think this is why it’s important to come at this from different angles such as reduction of non res(as was done), more restrictive seasons for res and non res alike, and spreading out pressure by various means.

 

[mtmuley]

Just makes me think that any improvement gained buy getting rid of NR will be quickly squashed by R getting back in the game as soon a things improve.

It's interesting to me that hunters will drive 8 hours across the state to hunt deer in the Eastern part of Montana. I've never killed one out of Ravalli county in 40 years. Mule deer or whitetail. mtmuley

 

[MTTW]

I hunted 12 days in sw MT this rifle season. I generally cover 5 to 7 miles a day in the mountains. It is not unusual for me to pass small bull elk in rifle season at less than 100 yards and have done it with a muzzleloader in rifle season. Not to brag just to show that I am not a total bitch at hunting.

I saw 7 mule deer in the mountains this season, 2 bucks and 5 does. My son put 70 miles on a horse the last 2 weeks of season before he saw a mule deer, then saw 2.

I went east for 3 days middle of season with warm dry weather and saw over 100 mule deer with very little truck time and 5 miles aprox. a day on foot.
It is no mystery to me why people drive east to hunt deer.

 

[SAJ-99]

There are more and more residents I know of every year choosing to not fill their tags because of what’s left out there to hunt. Theres so much pressure on accessible land that it unfortunately makes little if any difference.

Do they buy one or eight?

"In another amendment from Robinson, the commission reduced the number of general deer tags a resident hunter can hold from 8 to 3."

 

[huntin24/7]

Do they buy one or eight?

"In another amendment from Robinson, the commission reduced the number of general deer tags a resident hunter can hold from 8 to 3."

haha! Most of these guys just get their general. I can’t believe we’re still giving out whitetail doe tags valid for a whole region when they’re really struggling in most of region 6. I have to give them credit for stopping those tag sales after ehd came through though.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Do they buy one or eight?

"In another amendment from Robinson, the commission reduced the number of general deer tags a resident hunter can hold from 8 to 3."

Commissioner Robinson commented on this amendment that it’s as much about the optics of allowing hunters to shoot up to 8 deer when deer populations are down across the state as a whole as it is about biology.

I tend to agree that three deer is more than enough for hunters to shoot, but I don’t think the 8 to 3 reduction really affects public pressure that much. That’s my uneducated opinion. It would be really nice to have mandatory harvest reporting to verify and understand who is killing what and where it’s getting killed in regards to unit and private or public land.

 

[SAJ-99]

Commissioner Robinson commented on this amendment that it’s as much about the optics of allowing hunters to shoot up to 8 deer when deer populations are down across the state as a whole as it is about biology.

I tend to agree that three deer is more than enough for hunters to shoot, but I don’t think the 8 to 3 reduction really affects public pressure that much. That’s my uneducated opinion. It would be really nice to have mandatory harvest reporting to verify and understand who is killing what and where it’s getting killed in regards to unit and private or public land.

Agree. I laughed because the optics are so messed up. People don't need 8 deer tags (or 3 for that matter) or more than one elk tag. Mandatory harvest would be great but the large Res conspiracy crowd is worried about government overreach. If you agree with the general idea that the average NR hunts about 6.5 days and an average R hunts about 8 days, you can back into the numbers and see this won't do much, but yes, its a step in the right direction. I don't think the harvest data is necessary to claim pressure needs to be distributed by time or across space. Hunting might not get better, but the "feeling" might.

 

[cgasner1]

Commissioner Robinson commented on this amendment that it’s as much about the optics of allowing hunters to shoot up to 8 deer when deer populations are down across the state as a whole as it is about biology.

I tend to agree that three deer is more than enough for hunters to shoot, but I don’t think the 8 to 3 reduction really affects public pressure that much. That’s my uneducated opinion. It would be really nice to have mandatory harvest reporting to verify and understand who is killing what and where it’s getting killed in regards to unit and private or public land.

I known you have seen this Gerald but it seems interesting to me. I’ll be curious to see going forward how these numbers change. Tags won’t go unsold so now will people actually kill more deer with the tags spread thinner? This didn’t stop the tags but made 4106 tags available to someone else.

 

[Muleyassassin406]

Agree. I laughed because the optics are so messed up. People don't need 8 deer tags (or 3 for that matter) or more than one elk tag. Mandatory harvest would be great but the large Res conspiracy crowd is worried about government overreach. If you agree with the general idea that the average NR hunts about 6.5 days and an average R hunts about 8 days, you can back into the numbers and see this won't do much, but yes, its a step in the right direction. I don't think the harvest data is necessary to claim pressure needs to be distributed by time or across space. Hunting might not get better, but the "feeling" might.

Non residents used to be able to have the general deer tag and buy an abundance of muley doe tags in region 6 for many years so saying it was just residents is a fallacy

 

[mtmuley]

View attachment 395117

I known you have seen this Gerald but it seems interesting to me. I’ll be curious to see going forward how these numbers change. Tags won’t go unsold so now will people actually kill more deer with the tags spread thinner? This didn’t stop the tags but made 4106 tags available to someone else.

You believe those numbers? Where did they come from? mtmuley

 

[cgasner1]

You believe those numbers? Where did they come from? mtmuley

Sales don’t seem like it would be that hard to track. Have no reason to not trust those

 

[mtmuley]

Sales don’t seem like it would be that hard to track. Have no reason to not trust those

Kill numbers would be good. Location also. mtmuley

 

[Gerald Martin]

You believe those numbers? Where did they come from? mtmuley

That was a FWP handout given out at the Commission meeting