Pack Mule
Originally Posted by Darksith
Not necessarily true. Many species, like sheep for example, do better with open sight lines. Fires often create areas of blowdown which benefit mule deer, elk and moose and make it much harder for predators to be successful.
"The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom."
Mule Skinner
That's a generalization but reasonably accurate.
WT and sheep survival from predation relies on early detection more than quick point blank escape like MD.
They don't have the bounding ability of MD so are not as successful escaping preds in thicker timber and blowdown.
They thrive on more open areas that have longer sight lines that their survival strategies have adapted to.
Yes, Md rely more on areas of blowdown, thicker cover and grade to escape predators with their bounding capabilities.
Some interesting reads on this out there.
The collaring data will give up where and when test deer have been killed and by what for the most part.
Going to be very interesting as patterns declare themselves.
I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with keyboards and forums. - F L Wright
Try and be kind to everyone but fear no one. - Ourea
HuntingBC Champ
Have a good gut feeling roadways, poor forestry management, environmental changes and significant lack of fire will be the biggest issue.
HuntingBC Champ
Mix of pred control, road closures, and even area closures to deer if necessary
HuntingBC Champ
That is.
If I lived close by, I would be out there seeing how its going as well, as I know of a few wintering areas.
And if they aren't there, then it is bad.
I wont know til next fall.
Tick Magnet!
"They" were in full denial that there was any problem until just recently....im a very passionate mule deer hunter who spends a lot of time in the field over several regions every year. For the past 10 years ive kept track of the number of bucks id see in a season and that number has been dropping by about 50% annually for the past decade. ive gone from seeing well over 100 legal bucks a season to about 5 the past couple years.(about 50 days a year) I started sounding the alarm about 6-7 years ago, and while all the best hunters I know, guides, taxidermists etc. all agreed with me, the fed guys, who sit behind a computer more than they are in the bush, would show me a graph, or stats, and claimed there was no issue and everything was fine.(heads buried in the sand) In my very experienced opinion, based on what I see out there, we now only have about 10% of deer that we had just 10 years ago, some places id say about 1%. Its only now, just in the past year that everyone seems to agree that we have a problem, and something needs to be done. Better late than never I suppose, but I hope its not too little too late.
Hunt to live-live to hunt!
Tick Magnet!
Waste of gas??? maybe if your after boone cats, but there is no shortage of cats! several houndsman ive spoke to agree, stats show they doing very well. I see tracks all the time. I bagged a lion this year in 1 day of hunting as my houndsman buddy assured would happen.
HuntingBC Champ
You for to mention the uncontrolled 24-7 -365 no bag limit hunters . Big issue in Region 8 .
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero - 55 BC
..... The NDP approach: if the facts don't fit your ideology, just pretend the facts don't exist.......
HuntingBC Champ
Basically exactly how things went with moose as well
HuntingBC Champ
That's the same scenario around the south country with cats. Cats everywhere but no one wants to shoot a male that isn't going to make book and they would get pissed if guys shot females. Our season would be closed after 29 females were shot. With bull river bighorn sheep going on draw last yr lots of guys were pissed and vowed to remove some cats from their winter range. Well this season they removed the female quota for cats and the hounds men pounded the cats in the Pickering hills. A guy I work with has hounds and knows one guy who helped take 10 cats from the sheep wintering grounds and knows other guys who also took cats. Hopefully they keep removing as many cats as possible for the next few yrs. I'm going to get my friend to take me and the kid out next season for 2 cats.
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