Hunting season lengths

[Salty]

With the present seasons and the steady decline in wildlife, sustainability is always in question.

Steady decline in wildlife? I'm not seeing that. Since the late 90s killer winters and resulting big drop in deer populations there's been a lot of growth, some dips, some flat years but over all there's a hell of a lot more deer than there was about 18 years ago. There's problems with certain animals in areas of the province for sure but I don't think we're seeing a steady decline in wildlife other than on the internet.

[bownut]

Steady decline in wildlife? I'm not seeing that. Since the late 90s killer winters and resulting big drop in deer populations there's been a lot of growth, some dips, some flat years but over all there's a hell of a lot more deer than there was about 18 years ago. There's problems with certain animals in areas of the province for sure but I don't think we're seeing a steady decline in wildlife other than on the internet.

Ok then, I wonder what they success rate vs number of days hunting? Asking around and you get the same story, "It Sucks!" But hey keep on believing it's all good>

[limit time]

If you can,t kill a deer in 3 months of open season, maybe we don't have enough deer.

Or you suck at hunting...

[Bugle M In]

Well, hunter success rate to days hunted isn't always the "best question".
If that's the case, then I don't help when filling out those harvest sheets.
Meaning, I may hunt x amount of days for Mulies, but then I write down success as "0".
Which is true...and it's not....
Yes, I hunted x amount of days...that's true...
But, I may have had "success"... IF ....I had pulled the pin...
Meaning, I had "opportunities" to harvest a "legal mule deer" (in my case, 4pt)....
But, I chose to "Pass up".
That's where the "hunter days to success ratio" is not telling the full story....IMO.

[HarryToolips]

Because winter is a tough and stressful time for wildlife

Added pressure causing ungulates to burn reserves they need to make it through winter is not a good idea in my opinion

Winter can cause abrupt drops in population beyond any other factor I can think of.

This I do agree with...and sure, hunting whitetails even later sounds like a good idea, but both WT and MD are for the most part in winter range in January, and hunting whitetails then will push MD more as well, burning more of their fat reserves as well..

[HarryToolips]

Ok then, I wonder what they success rate vs number of days hunting? Asking around and you get the same story, "It Sucks!" But hey keep on believing it's all good>

So your saying the hunter days have increased per kill?? Not what I believe I saw, do you mind posting this data??

[Whonnock Boy]

Ever since I don't know how long ago, seasons have been getting shorter and shorter, and it has never stopped the continued decrease in wildlife population and viable habitat. Does anyone else see the problem here? Does anyone see that the reduction of seasons and length has not stopped the trend? I honestly do not know why this is even being discussed.

[Bugle M In]

Ever since I don't know how long ago, seasons have been getting shorter and shorter, and it has never stopped the continued decrease in wildlife population and viable habitat. Does anyone else see the problem here? Does anyone see that the reduction of seasons and length has not stopped the trend? I honestly do not know why this is even being discussed.

I agree with you...100%.
Hunting seasons have decreased.
LEH all over the place now.
Bag Limits lowered much of the time.
Yet, like you say....wildlife is not coming back.
Also agree with the "amount of discussion" to "reduce hunting chances even further", just boggles my mind.??!!

Maybe I am missing something here?...but...is it an "Age" issue that keeps driving these type of threads???

I am 50, hunted with my dad when I was like 3 years old...really!
I have seen the seasons be reduced, or eliminated, or road closures, or LEH implementation...so on and so forth.
To me at the time (when I was young)...."I thought it sucked" originally.
Then I thought...."well maybe with all of this, hunting will once again be like the old days...game everywhere",
all I have to do differently, is just put in more effort "physically", on foot more, and go further back etc.

But, that was all back when I was 20.......
Now, being 50.....30 years later....guess what???
Still no more game, and if anything.....LESS!!
?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????

Now I am starting to get the feeling that many.. (not all)... that feel that more "restrictions and closures are needed",
is coming from the younger generation...who also hear the stories of the "good old days".. like Gang Ranch,
or the Bull River for elk,....will come back...if only we limit hunter opportunity, which will then equate to
"less hunter success", which will equate to "more game"........NOT!!

The only difference now from back then, is the lack of snow (warm seasons), which drove the game down, and more together (not as dispersed), and would lead to hunters seeing more game, in the right areas at the right time.
Now the game doesn't migrate as soon, or less so, cause of the lack of high snow levels.

Other then that, hunters have way less opportunity then back then.
Yes, one could say that maybe there was "too much opportunity Back Then"....
But for all these years, we all continue to see that certain species, in certain areas, are way down.

The only other real change.. wolves....they are everywhere now....everywhere, as well as the rest of Preds.

I just want to say to the younger generation.....
Be careful "what you ask for"....
Right now hunting is "not so socially accepted" anymore, and with the "cyber world", it is getting a lot easier for the
Anti's to be organized.....and way more efficient.
If you had asked anybody in the 70's or 80's if "smoking would be completely banned from ferries or airports", and to
not even have "designated smoking areas"....people would have said "your out of your mind"....well?????

The issue I see has to do with "expansion of human development", and the lack of "habitat restoration" and even
"habitat protection", which is the main culprit in the problem we are all seeing.

I don't want to come across as a "know it all"....I just want to inform the younger folks here that I have seen the
"lack of success" even with all the restrictions that have been dumped on us over the years.
Don't believe me.....look at hunting regs from the late 60's or early 70's and compare it to now.
Maybe there has also been a change in "how some user groups" are achieving success now???
Maybe more harvesting by some is way higher then back then???
But, we have "no data" on that!!.....so I can't answer that...only speculate and question that issue.

More effort is needed in 2 areas of this hunting community....
To protect "Hunting" as a way of life, and ensure it's future...to not be banned one day altogether.
The other is to get money sunk back into those forests out there, and to get all people responsible for it's demise to
"buck up".

For you young folks.....that is my advice, and it only comes from the fact that I have seen all these changes not make one bit of difference in the end....yet, I keep waiting, and keep getting "shoved into smaller and smaller" arenas to hunt, to the point where we are stumbling into each other.
Don't go and throw "more bad into the pot"...you will only being shooting yourself in the foot.
Push for the government to go in a different direction....get them to develop funding and implementation for restoring the habitat.
Ensure that Hunting will remain a "Right" for those who wish to lead that lifestyle....don't let it become "extinct" from
a way of life for yourselves.

I only say it...because I care, and want to see future generations have "what I never got to experience".

[boxhitch]

BMI your message is no different than the one from the BCWF town hall meetings , good to hear but tough to convey

[HarryToolips]

I agree with everything you say BMI, well said....as much as I don't think liberal hunting regs are for the most part, the cause of our current 'reported' decreases in ungulate populations, as loss of quality habitat and increases in predator numbers are the primary causes, I believe a big reason why our hunting seasons have to be so much more restrictive now vs. then is we have so much more FSR access in the bush now, so they have to be...and of course, preds such as wolves are using these roads as highways..