2lumpy
Long Time Member
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LAST EDITED ON Jun-08-14 AT 09:42PM (MST)[p]?Utah Mule Deer Hunters? or ?Those Interested In Hunting Mule Deer? in Utah
My Name is DeLoss Christensen
My email address is: [email protected]
My personal phone number is 435-979-5521
Currently I am a member of the Utah Mule Deer Committee, engaged in assisting the development of Utah Division of Wildlife Resource?s next Five Year Mule Deer Management Plan.
Many months ago I asked to be consider for the committee and was appointed by whom ever at the UDWR makes these appointments, to serve on the committee. I am a paying member to a number of different wildlife conservation and hunting organizations. I am a committee member of the Sevier Chapter of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. I am not presently an officer in any of these organizations however I have been an officer, for a number different groups, over the years, both locally and on the State level.
I love the outdoor life style, all aspects of it. I'm 67 years old. I have three sons, two daughters, eleven grandchildren, all of which love the outdoors as well. Born and raised in Southern Alberta, Canada, lived in the US for 46 year lived in Utah for 42 years.
I hear from a lot of different sportsmen, landowners and State and Federal Agents regarding hunting and fishing issues, I guess because they know I like to talk about it. There is diversity of wants, needs and opinions, that I can say for certain.
I have wants, needs and opinions mine as well, one of them is my passion for mule deer and what deer hunting, in general, brings to the table to the outdoor life style. Like the horse to the cowboy, the snow to the skier and the water the fisherman, the deer and particularly the mule deer, so far as the State of Utah is concerned, is the lynch pin to the future of hunting. For many, many reasons, the conservation, propagation and the proliferation of mule deer are the glue that will preserver and protect the Utah outdoor life style into the future and without a viable mule deer population, the lifestyle could and would most likely slowly slip away, like so many of our valued traditions have all ready done.
Serving on the Mule Deer Committee I have five goals, really just three, in that number 4 and 5 relate back to what happens with the first three.
I will not respond to questions on this post or any other public internet forum because these forums while these forums have significant value generally they too often end up turning negative rather than productive. Of course, I have no objections to your discussing anything I've written here on Monster Muley, I just won't be responding to you this way. I will however be more than happy to respond to any e-mails you may care to forward to me or take any phone calls you may wish to make. I'm willing to change my mind or my opinion, if you can help me see things differently,
I will be tied up and non-responsive until Monday, June 9th. You?re free to e-mail me any anytime but I won't be able to talk via phone prior to then.
This is where I'm coming from, on the Mule Deer Committee
Goals I believe we should attempt to achieve in the 5 year plan, amongst others.
1. Increase to total population of healthy deer on every unit that is under carrying capacity.
(Large, healthy populations of mule deer will provide more opportunity to hunt without having to over harvesting the population, that is, create more surplus. A healthy deer herd presumes the herd is being managed according to sound/proven scientific methodologies. Large mule deer populations must also be managed within the constrains of social, political, private and public land restraints and realties.)
2. Unite archery, muzzleloader, rifle hunters who are made up of two primary groups, those that wish to hunt and harvest any deer and those that wish to hunt and harvest more mature deer.
(To best grow, conserve and hunt surplus mule deer in the State of Utah, next to increasing the (State wide and unit by unit) mule deer population, the most important work the committee faces is uniting the archery, muzzleloader, rifle hunting groups, which are made up of hunters that wish to maximize opportunity (meaning they wish to hunt as much and as often as the resource can support and mature deer hunters who seem to be willing to spend less days a-field if it means they'll be seeing and harvesting more mature deer) behind a mutually agreeable distribution of our limited hunting opportunities.
Recognizing, the State has (and will most likely always have) fewer deer than there are people that want a deer hunting permit. Further, I understand the plan will never ( can never, due to our diversity) make everyone happy but we must seek to create an ?agreed to equity? amongst the different groups represented by the committee, then the best we can hope to do is spread the resource as widely as we can, within each group?s equitable share of the resource.
We must attempt to bring sportsmen together, with the UDWR (?our? State Wildlife Agency).
The current and past quarrels between hunting groups have been harmful to all sportsmen, and ?to the best of our ability? mule deer management to should be negotiated until all consumptive parties come to an ?agreed to equity?.)
3. The committee must review the current mule deer draw system.
(Now that we have the ability to micro-manage smaller mule deer units, we can and should consider alternatives to the Premium, Limited Entry, and General Season draws. We should explore solutions for Goal #4 (below) with in a different then present deer draw system. The committee should ?explore alternatives? however the committee may learn that leaving it the way it is currently will be the best we can provide, but let's think through some alternatives, before we decide to do that. (Personally I believe if we put our collective heads together, in a positive objective way, we can find way?s to provide more opportunity and move hunters through the preference point system as well.))
4. Goal four should be to make sure Goals 1, 2 and 3 address hunter demand.
(The only reason sportsman want large surplus producing deer herds is to make it possible to hunt and harvest these animals. Zoo?s, wildlife preservers and National Parks, etc. provide ample viewing opportunity to satisfy the demand for the non-hunting public to see these wonderful animals. The kind and size of deer herds this committee should be (and is) concerning it's self with are meeting the demand of the divers hunting public.
In as much as an ?ever increasing? number of sportsmen are applying for Premium and Limited Entry units each year, the time between the opportunities to hunt mature animals becomes longer and longer. (point creep as its now being called) That is not to suggest or infer that the demand to ?just hunt? as often as possible is not growing as well however, if the increase in applications in the number of Limited Entry hunts is not telling us that more and more people, ?every year?, are ?voting with their dollars? (it cost's more to hunt a limited entry unit than a general season unit) to hunt more mature animals or to hunt with less hunter pressure, how can point creep be explained?
If it's possible, we need to try to develop solutions in Goals 1, 2 and 3. that will relieve pressure on the preference point system, even if, 20 years from now it needs to be altered and updated again. (Returning to a 100% random draw does not seem to make a lot of sense to most people but it to should at least be considered, so those that want a random draw can be given a reasonable explanation as to why not.)
5. Develop a new concept in surveying social (family and friends) opportunities associated with Goal 1,2,3,4.
(I'm okay with surveys but there is nagging concern that we're asking the right questions and that we're interpreting the results correctly. I'll like the committee to consider ways to measure hunter choices and hunter demand, not by how hunters respond to a written or verbal set of questions, but I'd like to really look closely at hunters actual behaviors and what hunters actually do or what hunters did, rather than base our decisions on what they "say" they want. If that makes sense.)
I look forward to hearing what your goals would be, and why.
DC
My Name is DeLoss Christensen
My email address is: [email protected]
My personal phone number is 435-979-5521
Currently I am a member of the Utah Mule Deer Committee, engaged in assisting the development of Utah Division of Wildlife Resource?s next Five Year Mule Deer Management Plan.
Many months ago I asked to be consider for the committee and was appointed by whom ever at the UDWR makes these appointments, to serve on the committee. I am a paying member to a number of different wildlife conservation and hunting organizations. I am a committee member of the Sevier Chapter of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. I am not presently an officer in any of these organizations however I have been an officer, for a number different groups, over the years, both locally and on the State level.
I love the outdoor life style, all aspects of it. I'm 67 years old. I have three sons, two daughters, eleven grandchildren, all of which love the outdoors as well. Born and raised in Southern Alberta, Canada, lived in the US for 46 year lived in Utah for 42 years.
I hear from a lot of different sportsmen, landowners and State and Federal Agents regarding hunting and fishing issues, I guess because they know I like to talk about it. There is diversity of wants, needs and opinions, that I can say for certain.
I have wants, needs and opinions mine as well, one of them is my passion for mule deer and what deer hunting, in general, brings to the table to the outdoor life style. Like the horse to the cowboy, the snow to the skier and the water the fisherman, the deer and particularly the mule deer, so far as the State of Utah is concerned, is the lynch pin to the future of hunting. For many, many reasons, the conservation, propagation and the proliferation of mule deer are the glue that will preserver and protect the Utah outdoor life style into the future and without a viable mule deer population, the lifestyle could and would most likely slowly slip away, like so many of our valued traditions have all ready done.
Serving on the Mule Deer Committee I have five goals, really just three, in that number 4 and 5 relate back to what happens with the first three.
I will not respond to questions on this post or any other public internet forum because these forums while these forums have significant value generally they too often end up turning negative rather than productive. Of course, I have no objections to your discussing anything I've written here on Monster Muley, I just won't be responding to you this way. I will however be more than happy to respond to any e-mails you may care to forward to me or take any phone calls you may wish to make. I'm willing to change my mind or my opinion, if you can help me see things differently,
I will be tied up and non-responsive until Monday, June 9th. You?re free to e-mail me any anytime but I won't be able to talk via phone prior to then.
This is where I'm coming from, on the Mule Deer Committee
Goals I believe we should attempt to achieve in the 5 year plan, amongst others.
1. Increase to total population of healthy deer on every unit that is under carrying capacity.
(Large, healthy populations of mule deer will provide more opportunity to hunt without having to over harvesting the population, that is, create more surplus. A healthy deer herd presumes the herd is being managed according to sound/proven scientific methodologies. Large mule deer populations must also be managed within the constrains of social, political, private and public land restraints and realties.)
2. Unite archery, muzzleloader, rifle hunters who are made up of two primary groups, those that wish to hunt and harvest any deer and those that wish to hunt and harvest more mature deer.
(To best grow, conserve and hunt surplus mule deer in the State of Utah, next to increasing the (State wide and unit by unit) mule deer population, the most important work the committee faces is uniting the archery, muzzleloader, rifle hunting groups, which are made up of hunters that wish to maximize opportunity (meaning they wish to hunt as much and as often as the resource can support and mature deer hunters who seem to be willing to spend less days a-field if it means they'll be seeing and harvesting more mature deer) behind a mutually agreeable distribution of our limited hunting opportunities.
Recognizing, the State has (and will most likely always have) fewer deer than there are people that want a deer hunting permit. Further, I understand the plan will never ( can never, due to our diversity) make everyone happy but we must seek to create an ?agreed to equity? amongst the different groups represented by the committee, then the best we can hope to do is spread the resource as widely as we can, within each group?s equitable share of the resource.
We must attempt to bring sportsmen together, with the UDWR (?our? State Wildlife Agency).
The current and past quarrels between hunting groups have been harmful to all sportsmen, and ?to the best of our ability? mule deer management to should be negotiated until all consumptive parties come to an ?agreed to equity?.)
3. The committee must review the current mule deer draw system.
(Now that we have the ability to micro-manage smaller mule deer units, we can and should consider alternatives to the Premium, Limited Entry, and General Season draws. We should explore solutions for Goal #4 (below) with in a different then present deer draw system. The committee should ?explore alternatives? however the committee may learn that leaving it the way it is currently will be the best we can provide, but let's think through some alternatives, before we decide to do that. (Personally I believe if we put our collective heads together, in a positive objective way, we can find way?s to provide more opportunity and move hunters through the preference point system as well.))
4. Goal four should be to make sure Goals 1, 2 and 3 address hunter demand.
(The only reason sportsman want large surplus producing deer herds is to make it possible to hunt and harvest these animals. Zoo?s, wildlife preservers and National Parks, etc. provide ample viewing opportunity to satisfy the demand for the non-hunting public to see these wonderful animals. The kind and size of deer herds this committee should be (and is) concerning it's self with are meeting the demand of the divers hunting public.
In as much as an ?ever increasing? number of sportsmen are applying for Premium and Limited Entry units each year, the time between the opportunities to hunt mature animals becomes longer and longer. (point creep as its now being called) That is not to suggest or infer that the demand to ?just hunt? as often as possible is not growing as well however, if the increase in applications in the number of Limited Entry hunts is not telling us that more and more people, ?every year?, are ?voting with their dollars? (it cost's more to hunt a limited entry unit than a general season unit) to hunt more mature animals or to hunt with less hunter pressure, how can point creep be explained?
If it's possible, we need to try to develop solutions in Goals 1, 2 and 3. that will relieve pressure on the preference point system, even if, 20 years from now it needs to be altered and updated again. (Returning to a 100% random draw does not seem to make a lot of sense to most people but it to should at least be considered, so those that want a random draw can be given a reasonable explanation as to why not.)
5. Develop a new concept in surveying social (family and friends) opportunities associated with Goal 1,2,3,4.
(I'm okay with surveys but there is nagging concern that we're asking the right questions and that we're interpreting the results correctly. I'll like the committee to consider ways to measure hunter choices and hunter demand, not by how hunters respond to a written or verbal set of questions, but I'd like to really look closely at hunters actual behaviors and what hunters actually do or what hunters did, rather than base our decisions on what they "say" they want. If that makes sense.)
I look forward to hearing what your goals would be, and why.
DC
