Region 7 Montana

[300stw]

blm land an extremely spindly 30in deer 3x4 is not a trophy in my eye,

I bird hunt down there a lot before during and after deer season, even on the private land I have a hard time finding a 170 class buck, my family loves to hunt and harvest those 140-150 class mulies and whitetails instead of does,,,,

 

[520 Road Sow]

R7 does not have many "good" bucks at all, specially public land. "Lots" is laughable, even on the best private ranches. A mule deer doesn't even really fill out until he's 5 or so. Good luck finding lots of those anywhere in MT.

This X2, I think we could have some great mule deer if the entire eastern half of the state was managed different. Any one that says we don't have the genetics or land or whatever factor in this state is full of sh$t! One of the biggest culprits we have is our tags give too much freedom to anyone that has one, whether your resident or NR a tag holder you have 11 weeks to "hunt" deer if you include archery season. If you don't archery hunt then you still have 5 weeks with a rifle which takes you into the peak of the rut. Also you can hunt from the Wyoming boarder to the Canadian Boarder for the majority of the eastern part of the state excluding a few draw areas. It's endless what a guy could cover for hunting Mule Deer in this state. There isn't one person that can change my mind and tell me that if we limited areas like district 700 because its the topic of this thread to lets say 700 tags instead of 4000 people hunting it and have a season from October 15 to November 15 that you wouldn't see the age class come back and better deer.

 

[antlerradar]

Do you know why? Good genetics shot out? Habitat degradation? Overall fewer deer = fewer big bucks? Something else or a combination of factors?

150 looks good to me, but there is a big difference between a 150 and a 170 for sure..

Genetics shot out. I doubt it.
Habitat. Very little change since the 80's and most of the changes have should be positive for deer.
Deer numbers are improving since the tough winter a few years ago but most of the gains have been on private and public numbers are lagging. This winter is likely to knock deer numbers back down again.
The biggest factor is hunters. Today there are more hunters and they are more efficient. This will be my 40th year of hunting hunting SE Montana. Back when I started there were few if any ATV's, rangefinders, GPS and all the other gadgets that help us be successful. A good rain or snow would make a lot of places inaccessible an a 400 yard shot was a long way and few hunters could constantly make shots that far in the the field.
Back in the 80's I seldom saw boot tracks in the road less places and now those places draw good hunters like a moth to a light. When I was young you rarely saw hunters from west of Billings. Now you see hunters with one, five and six licence plates all the time and even some with four and seven plates. My bet is that most of those hunters coming that far are not beer drinking road hunters but hunters that get after it. Says something about the quality of hunting in the western part of the state.
Another factor is the elk and it is not just the elk but the increase in hunters they bring.

 

[LCH]

Genetics shot out. I doubt it.
Habitat. Very little change since the 80's and most of the changes have should be positive for deer.
Deer numbers are improving since the tough winter a few years ago but most of the gains have been on private and public numbers are lagging. This winter is likely to knock deer numbers back down again.
The biggest factor is hunters. Today there are more hunters and they are more efficient. This will be my 40th year of hunting hunting SE Montana. Back when I started there were few if any ATV's, rangefinders, GPS and all the other gadgets that help us be successful. A good rain or snow would make a lot of places inaccessible an a 400 yard shot was a long way and few hunters could constantly make shots that far in the the field.
Back in the 80's I seldom saw boot tracks in the road less places and now those places draw good hunters like a moth to a light. When I was young you rarely saw hunters from west of Billings. Now you see hunters with one, five and six licence plates all the time and even some with four and seven plates. My bet is that most of those hunters coming that far are not beer drinking road hunters but hunters that get after it. Says something about the quality of hunting in the western part of the state.
Another factor is the elk and it is not just the elk but the increase in hunters they bring.

Thanks for replying. I think I understand what you're saying, there may be relatively high numbers of deer, just few in that 5+ age class.

 

[antlerradar]

Thanks for replying. I think I understand what you're saying, there may be relatively high numbers of deer, just few in that 5+ age class.

We get deer into the 5 year old plus class. It is just that the very few of the bucks that live that long have the right combination genetics and early nutrition to become big. If I get more time I will try to expand more.