Wyoming Final draft. Mule Deer

[BenHuntn]

Wyoming wins the prize for doing research and creating lots of reading. However nothing will change, they will just keep analyzing the problem. They have ticket writers and researchers but no bodies to put boots on the ground and make changes to habitat and mule deer numbers. One graph shows mule deer harvest at 60,000 during a 5 year period and the very next 5 year period it dropped to 30,000
Where did the deer go?



https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/con...ive/Mule-Deer-Mgmt-Options_07-23-18_FINAL.pdf

 

[TOPGUN]

IMHO the G&F does a very good job with what they have available both money wise and staff wise, especially considering that they have never received much General Fund money and now don't receive any. It appears that I'm in the majority of what others that were surveyed also felt. I guess if one doesn't like the way things are done or are going in Wyoming they can always go to another state to hunt. I'll stay in Wyoming and haven't missed a year with at least a deer tag in my pocket since 1998, but I'm also one that doesn't need to fill a tag to have a great time and others feel they have to kill something or things are terrible! You mentioned 60,00 deer over a five year period went down to 30,000 in the next five year period and asked where did they go. Did you ever hear of winter kill for one thing that can cut a lot of animals out of an area in just one or two bad winters? Do you realize that severe drought can have a great affect on the browse they need to survive and multiply? Two years ago in the southwest part of the state a tough winter took it's toll on the herds. In summation, criticizing is very easy, but solving things is a whole lot tougher!

 

[Geko42]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-18 AT 02:45PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-18 AT 02:42?PM (MST)

LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-18 AT 02:41?PM (MST)

>IMHO the G&F does a very
>good job with what they
>have available both money wise
>and staff wise, especially considering
>that they have never received
>much General Fund money and
>now don't receive any.
>It appears that I'm in
>the majority of what others
>that were surveyed also felt.
> I guess if one
>doesn't like the way things
>are done or are going
>in Wyoming they can always
>go to another state to
>hunt. I'll stay in
>Wyoming and haven't missed a
>year with at least a
>deer tag in my pocket
>since 1998, but I'm also
>one that doesn't need to
>fill a tag to have
>a great time and others
>feel they have to kill
>something or things are terrible!
> You mentioned 60,00 deer
>over a five year period
>went down to 30,000 in
>the next five year period
>and asked where did they
>go. Did you ever
>hear of winter kill for
>one thing that can cut
>a lot of animals out
>of an area in just
>one or two bad winters?
> Do you realize that
>severe drought can have a
>great affect on the browse
>they need to survive and
>multiply? Two years ago
>in the southwest part of
>the state a tough winter
>took it's toll on the
>herds. In summation, criticizing
>is very easy, but solving
>things is a whole lot
>tougher!
??

 

[wytex]

>Wyoming wins the prize for doing
>research and creating lots of
>reading. However nothing will change,
>they will just keep analyzing
>the problem. They have ticket
>writers and researchers but no
>bodies to put boots on
>the ground and make changes
>to habitat and mule deer
>numbers. One graph shows mule
>deer harvest at 60,000 during
>a 5 year period and
>the very next 5 year
>period it dropped to 30,000
>
>Where did the deer go?
>
>
>
>https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/con...ive/Mule-Deer-Mgmt-Options_07-23-18_FINAL.pdf

Couldn't agree less! Boots on the ground is how they do it. Some years the winter counts are far more accurate due to conditions, lots of snow pushes them out into the open for counting.

They have been working hard on that mule deer herd and without good range conditions they just won't rebound. Platte Valley near Saratoga is and has been in bad drought, still very dry over there right now. Try asking some ranchers what they think of the efforts, they are working hard with G&F to rebound they deer herd.
Winterkill is something you can't control, you need to look into all the habitat work that has and is being done all across the state.

 

[BenHuntn]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-26-18 AT 10:15AM (MST)[p]You know not what you speak. How many acres treated vs acres of public land needed to be treated to enhance habitat? Predation is a huge problem. What has Game and fish done to minimize predation. Lions,coyotes, wolves, bears. Quotas still the same. At $4000 to $6000 to hunt lions no wonder outfitters don't fill the quotas. We need State sponsored coyote hunts. Habitat conversion takes thousands of man hours to make a difference. Game and Fish relies on other agencies to use there forces to do the labor intensive work. Wyoming population has not changed much in the last 41 years. I realize they have a small budget. I realize they do not draw from the General Fund. I have made suggestions for them to come up with alternative funding so they don't rely on the sale of licenses to make ends meet. If they did not rely on the sale of license sales they could reduce hunting pressure where it needs to be reduced and not worry about funding. They do not have one truly set aside trophy unit that has truly limited tags (ie, bookcliffs the Henry's, Unit 44 CO) . The problem Wyoming has is way too much hunting pressure on Mule Deer, however Wyoming manages for opportunity not Quality or Quantity. The more Wyoming Game and Fish tries to change the more they stay the same. I worked for a state agency that had thousands of hard working men and women. We used inmate labor to help with our mission. Inmate crews consisted of 18 man crews with a Captain to lead them. You name it we could do it. We are and were the worlds greatest firefighting organization.

 

[mulecreek]

>LAST EDITED ON Jul-26-18
>AT 10:15?AM (MST)
>
>You know not what you speak.
>How many acres treated vs
>acres of public land needed
>to be treated to enhance
>habitat? Predation is a huge
>problem. What has Game and
>fish done to minimize predation.
>Lions,coyotes, wolves, bears. Quotas still
>the same. At $4000 to
>$6000 to hunt lions no
>wonder outfitters don't fill the
>quotas. We need State sponsored
>coyote hunts. Habitat conversion takes
>thousands of man hours to
>make a difference. Game and
>Fish relies on other agencies
>to use there forces to
>do the labor intensive work.
>Wyoming population has not changed
>much in the last 41
>years. I realize they have
>a small budget. I realize
>they do not draw from
>the General Fund. I have
>made suggestions for them to
>come up with alternative funding
>so they don't rely on
>the sale of licenses to
>make ends meet. If they
>did not rely on the
>sale of license sales they
>could reduce hunting pressure where
>it needs to be reduced
>and not worry about funding.
>They do not have one
>truly set aside trophy unit
>that has truly limited tags
>(ie, bookcliffs the Henry's, Unit
>44 CO) . The problem
>Wyoming has is way too
>much hunting pressure on Mule
>Deer, however Wyoming manages for
>opportunity not Quality or Quantity.
>The more Wyoming Game and
>Fish tries to change the
>more they stay the same.
>I worked for a state
>agency that had thousands of
>hard working men and women.
>We used inmate labor to
>help with our mission. Inmate
>crews consisted of 18 man
>crews with a Captain to
>lead them. You name it
>we could do it. We
>are and were the worlds
>greatest firefighting organization.

It is rare that someone writes a post that I 100% disagree with but you were successful in doing just that.

You might be on to something however. Give the inmate population in Rawlins some guns and have them shoot some predators.

 

[nontypical]

"Boots on the ground" is alive and well here in Wyoming! There are constant projects being done by a myriad source of folks. I was one of them for many years with different organizations. WGFD has limited funding, so many needed projects are not done in a timely manner; they are pushed back in order of perceived priority. Volunteers for these projects can be extremely hard to come by...

Many different projects are being done in the Wyoming Range; this has been ongoing for many years in an attempt to increase muley numbers. These include: burns, mowing, herbicides and pesticides, removing fencing, and fertilizing existing sagebrush stands for increased growth, as mule deer rely heavily on sagebrush for winter survival. Much of this takes many years for fruition. We'll see how all this shakes out in another decade or so( give or take).

Unfortunately, at the present time, none of this is producing more mule deer. But numbers were slightly increasing before the winter of '16-'17; so I'm told...

I find it interesting that all these studies show relatively high mortality due to predation. G&F rarely pursues predator management as an option. Predator reduction has been shown to be an effective method of raising deer numbers in areas of low deer density that have also shown high fawn loss due to predation.

Wyoming's mule deer have never really recovered from the winter of '92-'93. I don't see numbers ever recovering to what they were.

 

[jm77]

I agree with posts 5 & 6

I briefly attended a regional G&F meeting in Casper to make a donation to Access Yes on behalf of Wy BHA. I was able to sit in on a CWD presentation. Something mentioned caught my ear: the number 1 cause of mule deer mortality is the mountain lion.

 

[Triple_BB]

A good friend of mine is doing his part to help with predator control. He's an aerial gunner. They shot 220 some coyotes last winter in central Wyoming. He's also licensed to shoot wolves in the predator zone. They spent a chunk of the winter trying to find a pair of wolves that were being seen by a number of ranchers in the Laramie Range south of Casper and Douglas. Unfortunately they never connected. I took my sled one day and helped them pick up dogs in Shirley Basin. The things were scattered everywhere...

 

[BenHuntn]

Don't get me wrong fellas, I love the great state of Wyoming. I just remember the good old days when there were a ton of Muley's and alot of big bucks. Times have changed and in all the western states with Muley's. I have gone to every meeting they have had with regards to the Wyoming Range Mule Deer Initiative. They said they wish to have a herd objective of 50,000 animals however there count came in at 36,000 animals. So after all there research and studies which took several years to complete they finally said, "we will just lower the herd objective to about 40,000 deer". Now for the good job they have done.

1.) High fences, tunnels and overpasses to minimize vehicle
verses animals during migration. WYDOT did all the work
(contracted out)

2.) Always friendly in the field.

3.) Work hard so everyone has an opportunity to put meat in the
freezer for winter.

4.) Maintain feed lots for elk so they leave the farmers fields
alone.