I have the privilege of bow hunting a piece of private land in the Southern Interior of BC. Have been hunting the same land for several years and I definitely notice that there are less deer and far less big deer around.
I have not seen anything in person or on camera more than a couple of years old and there seems to be far less deer around.Has anyone else noticed this?
Hmm as said in a previous thread started I have seen a lot more animals than last year with upwards of 30 in an evening . Maybe I just found the pockets the deer have moved to from the firea pushing them around . We had 2 bucks down for youth/biw season by sept 7th ome of each and I could have taken a couple more bucks with the bow whitey and muley.
I did have to move on from an area I hunted for 25 years because I noticed a drop in that specific area with numbers down on my cams last year but this year seems a lot better
I spent a couple of days each two weeks apart in an area that used to hold high numbers
of mule deer and even though I did a lot of walking around logging slashes, I saw very little
sign of numbers like years past. This area has been hit very hard by more than one large
pack of wolves for the last few years. They seem to have moved on because I didn't notice
any fresh tracks or droppings as I've seen the last 3 years. What was encouraging is the
sighting of a few does, all with twins, so maybe their cycle will build up again until the wolves
notice.
I noticed it opening day/weekend of bow season - went to my area and where I usually saw 20-30 deer a day, I saw one the whole long weekend.
Hate to say it but limiting mulies to 1 in MU 3-8 might be smart
Seeing at least as many as in in previous years. But we noticed fewer large, old bucks in an area we have hunted in the past. Lots of 2pt and 3pt bucks, does and fawns.
So, are you folks taking in some considerations for thought on what you are experiencing????
What I mean is:
Are you seeing reasonably current wolf sign around "your area"?
Are you close to, or in an area that may have been impacted by wildfire?
Only saying this because those 2 things seem to alter one's own personal experiences.
Lots of folks said deer were down, all while I seen more then ever before in 30 years.