southern interior mule deer strategy?

[GoatGuy]

How do you know their not? IT'S ALL factored.

Without a proper response from you on why you think the last 10 years are "poor management due to liberal hunting seasons with more pressure" I think we should just tackle the issues. I was hoping you would provide something to justify or rationalize your posts.


1) Hunter Numbers Skyrocketed

There are currently approximately 111,000 hunters in the province. Hunter numbers peaked in the 80s at 176,000. The current number of hunters is about what they were in the mid 90s.

Is that really a meaningful metric though? If you have 200,000 hunters shooting 20,000 bucks is that better than 50,000 hunters shooting 10,000 does and 10,000 bucks? What matters to ungulates/wildlife is what is left standing after that season.


2) Liberal Hunting Seasons

You have implied that liberal hunting seasons are the problem so let's look at the species.

Moose, which were generally general open season, with cow/calf seasons (both GOS and LEH), are now mostly on draw. Moose started to decline in the 80s, early 90s and have continued to slide through stochastic events or generally over time with the exception maybe of Region 8.

Some of the harvest from areas with a lot of moose:

Region 5 moose harvest went from 3000 in 1978 to about 600 in 2014.

Region 6 has gone from about 2250 in 1979 to 1000 in 2014.

Region 7a has gone from about 3500 in 1979 to around 1400 in 2014.

Region 7b has gone from about 3500 in 1982 to 1100 in 2014.


Mule deer used to be buck/doe GOS, then buck GOS doe LEH, now either 4 pts only or a combo of 4 pts and any buck. I looks like that started in the 90s. The interesting thing is the science in BC and across North America tells us buck seasons are not regulating populations - habitat, predation and doe harvest is. Most of the regions in BC haven't had a meaningful antlerless harvest since the 90s, some earlier.

We don't have harvest numbers separated pre-1987 but here's a couple regions.

Region 3 mule deer was at 5000 was 5500 in 2014. Region 3 has the most liberal mule deer seasons in the province.

Region 4 mule deer harvest peaked at over 4500 in 1988 - it is now around 500. Deer haven't rebounded since 1997 and there hasn't been a doe draw in 20 years.

Region 5 mule deer harvest 4600 in 1988 and is now around 3200.

Region 8 went from about 5500 in 1992 to around 3100 in 2014.


Caribou in central southern BC have gone from being GOS in the 90s to pretty much all closed. Caribou continue to decline.

Elk seasons have gone from bull/cow GOS, to 3 pts bull and cow LEH, to 6 pts bull and now there is no LEH on migratory elk in southern BC. Elk in the East Kootenays have dissappeared in a few remote drainages, the non-migratory component has never been higher, hunter harvest and "opportunity" has never been lower but the population continues to decline.

White-tailed deer have gone from buck gos and doe LEH to buck and doe gos.

Black-tailed deer on Vancouver Island have gone from 2 does/1 buck gos to bucks on GOS and next to no doe harvest. The change happened in the 70s and it has not turned around. The deer harvest went from about 13,800 in the late 70s and is now around 4000.

Several goat populations in Region 8 have been closed for decades and have either not recovered or have disappeared. The same applies to Region 3 and 5 where they've experienced some significant declines.

Sheep populations in Region 3,4,5,8 are often also in decline despite limited hunter harvest - there hasn't been any kind of 'ewe' harvest across most of the populations for decades. Those that aren't in decline are often those where there have been fires.....


BC's minimum sex ratios for deer and elk are 20 bulls:100 cows - that is higher than many other jurisdictions where they purposely manage for lower sex ratios than BC (idaho included).

BC's minimum sex ratio for moose is 30 bulls:100 cows. We have studied that and reduced is to 20:100 in one area and it had no effect on pregnancy rate or timing.


On the 'science side' the preponderance of evidence, the researchers, biologists, managers continue to tell us our hunting seasons are not holding these populations back or having a negative effect. They are telling us that we are not, and have not dealt with the issues around habitat and predation since the 70s/80s and that those will all have a positive effect on wildlife populations.

We have forests that are supposed to burn every 10 years that haven't burned in 50. We have increased predator species/abundance on many landscapes. We have people building houses, highways and fences on winter range. We have invasive weeds moving across the landscape.



To sum it up since the 1970s/80s:

1) Hunting seasons are generally more restrictive
2) There are fewer hunters
3) Hunters are shooting far less game
4) The preponderance of evidence indicates the current hunting seasons are not negatively affecting our ungulate populations
5) We haven't done anything meaningful for wildlife for at least 30-40 years.

We won't agree that the problems are from "skyrocketing hunter numbers" or "poor management in the last 10 years". From my perspective these problems started in the 70s/80s and that there has been little to no meaningful wildlife management since then.

While hunters have changed the regulations wildlife populations have continued to decline yet hunters still want to talk about hunting seasons. I personally don't call changing hunting regulations wildlife management. Management implies an action that will result in change.

While we will definitely agree that there is less game then there was we won't agree that the problem was started in the last 10 years due to "poor management" or that changing the hunting regulations will solve the problem.

The decline is real - it has been happening for decades and it won't get turned around until hunters get focused on what will fix it.

Wildlife needs money, science, and people who are willing to look at the big picture and advocate for it.