It is a difficult problem to address. My buddy, for example, would rather have the deer, than a bunch of hunters. He allows me and only a handful of others to take deer off of his place. The bucks are saved for his grand kids. He complains a bit about the deer, but also enjoys them. A friend of mine from Arizona has come up two years in a row and killed mulie does with me. We took 15 off my buddy's place last January and made no difference at all. He is in a wintering area, so there are literally hundreds around. Most are mulies. Game and Parks has made money available to fence out feed piles, etc., and most guys do not even take advantage of it. In the winter, the deer do very little damage, as the crops are done, anyway. Bale piles and distillers piles take the worst whipping.
There were lots of land owners whining about excess numbers, but few experience any real crop damage in the MDCA. The problem is that some land owners see tons of wintering deer, and just assume that they are eating everything in sight. They really do not understand, nor care, what is going on. In the summer, it is mostly irrelevant, as the deer are spread to the winds.
Many land owners south of here will grant permission to hunt during the January doe season. Most places are either leased, or have family hunting them during the regular season.
I don't think that, overall, the western part of the state has the population issues that we have here, but I am not really familiar with it, either. I do know that there are leased areas, where there are tons of deer that never get touched, except a for a few during regular center-fire season. The rest of the time, they are eating the neighbors' crops.
The canyon access program south of me is apparently not too bad for the land owners. The walk-in areas, for the most part, have not had any complaints of damage etc., from hunters-at least not that I have heard. It is a coop between Game and Parks and the Wild Turkey Federation. I think there is something like 12,000 acres total, now, in the hills south of me. I know that people do get some pretty good deer, an occasional elk, and lots of turkeys off of the walk-in. Most of that land is not in an area where depredation is an issue, anyway. It is strictly there for the hunter access.
Some land owners want it both ways. They want the deer controlled, but do not want hunters running around all over their property. That is where a lot of the depredation stuff comes in. My neighbor tries to do it both ways. He has more than enough deer to keep the outfitter happy, has me take does in the summer and then also lets some hunters in for the late doe season. It is helping, but the habitat is so good, that the voids in numbers just fill in every year-at least that is my observation. It is a problem that will never totally go away for him, but can only be slightly mitigated.
Like everything else in life, there is always two sides to the story and you can never please all parties involved.
