Oh, how things have changed!

Founder · 2024-08-10T14:18:48-0600

Just got back from a Wyoming scouting trip, in which I looked at 24 bucks. I did the same scouting trip 2 years ago and looked at 84 bucks. After scouting last year I was thinking buck numbers were off 50% or so. Now after last years hunts, I think buck numbers are off by 70% compared to 2 years ago. Not many yearlings or 2 year old type bucks.

It’s strange to look at hillsides where I always saw bucks, and now none. Lots of hillsides and basins like that. Such a huge change. I’ve never seen anything like it in such a short period of time.

Couple of the best bucks found this year.

LIK2HNT · 2024-08-10T15:30:18-0600

To bad things are down that much. But you still find better bucks than most.

Wyo_Roadhunter · 2024-08-10T16:08:22-0600

Desert is the same. I went from 15+ bucks on a water hole camera before the bad winter, last year I had 2 tiney 2 points is all and this year I'm up to 4 bucks haha. Pretty crazy.

Triple7 · 2024-08-10T16:51:21-0600

I remember a wildlife biologist years ago in a meeting saying, one real bad winter kill can take a decade to get over.

kickerbuck · 2024-08-10T17:33:11-0600

Sad deal, welcome to Oregon Wyoming! Hopefully they can figure something out with the OTC tags and limit more Non-Res tags soon.

yoteduster · 2024-08-10T17:35:38-0600

The winter of 22-23 was a real killer on our big game especially the deer in Ut, Wyo and Colo... but apparently the game Commissions don't think much about it as they didn't make any changes to the seasons or number of tags..go figure

muleyslayerwa · 2024-08-10T17:57:15-0600

It’s been said before, and it’s unfortunately true. Until fish and game figures out how to control Mother Nature (droughts/bad winters) the big die offs will continue to happen. They can cut as many tags as they want, after a bad winter the population will still take a few years to bounce back.

Tristate · 2024-08-10T18:53:07-0600

Not very exciting

goforbroke · 2024-08-11T01:51:28-0600

Founder - love your yearly reports. Did you get a tag this year or going out of love of the deer/future hunt?

hawkbill · 2024-08-11T06:13:40-0600

When you have a winter kill like that , from my research over the years with other areas , you are looking at a 20 year plus cycle when hunting is still allowed. We’ve got the same problem going on in some of Idahos better units. That’s a big process to bring trophy Mule Deer back when you’re always taking the cream of the crop. Thanks for sharing your info

Founder · 2024-08-11T07:21:24-0600

goforbroke said:
Founder - love your yearly reports. Did you get a tag this year or going out of love of the deer/future hunt?

We have tags. The expensive ones too!

Founder · 2024-08-11T07:23:39-0600

hawkbill said:
When you have a winter kill like that , from my research over the years with other areas , you are looking at a 20 year plus cycle when hunting is still allowed. We’ve got the same problem going on in some of Idahos better units. That’s a big process to bring trophy Mule Deer back when you’re always taking the cream of the crop. Thanks for sharing your info

Hopefully it recovers some day, but based on what I’ve seen almost everywhere else, probably not.

Justhunt14 · 2024-08-11T09:27:24-0600

A good friend of mine guides on the east side of Nevada, 90% of my hunting takes place in southern Utah, and we were comparing quality and quantity one day, his observation was numbers were down crazy low, without any young bucks, my observation was numbers were way down and no mature bucks mostly everything I have been seeing was 3 yrs old and younger.

yoteduster · 2024-08-11T10:14:29-0600

Justhunt14 said:
A good friend of mine guides on the east side of Nevada, 90% of my hunting takes place in southern Utah, and we were comparing quality and quantity one day, his observation was numbers were down crazy low, without any young bucks, my observation was numbers were way down and no mature bucks mostly everything I have been seeing was 3 yrs old and younger.

If your talking about a general hunt unit here in Utah you can figure 80% or so of those young bucks will be history when all of the hunts are over this year..its not hard to figure out why mature bucks are so few and far in between

slamdunk · 2024-08-11T11:15:21-0600

That big winter of 22-23 took a massive toll.

On the bright side, everything that survived it in all the states effected, are the fittest of the fittest genetically and that is what our crop is coming from this year.

jims · 2024-08-11T11:35:27-0600

It's sad to see buck numbers drop with little concern in some states about tag quotas. It obviously takes healthy does and fawns to produce bucks! Bad winters and a long list of other factors all add up and take their toll.

grosventrehunter · 2024-08-11T11:37:26-0600

Yet, the outfitters will still be taking hunters and shooting deer. They only care about their pockets, not the deer they use to line them.

elkantlers · 2024-08-11T11:53:53-0600

grosventrehunter said:
Yet, the outfitters will still be taking hunters and shooting deer. They only care about their pockets, not the deer they use to line them.

You're correct. Same as all the others on this thread saying how bad things are.

Justhunt14 · 2024-08-11T13:17:23-0600

yoteduster said:
If your talking about a general hunt unit here in Utah you can figure 80% or so of those young bucks will be history when all of the hunts are over this year..its not hard to figure out why mature bucks are so few and far in between

General and LE units, here on the pauns I've seen a little bit better quality this year, but still far from where it should be for a LE.
your not wrong about the general units, majority of those will be killed off this year.