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Thread: Mulw deer population????

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
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    Toon town
    Posts
    13,138

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    Buddy was seeing 50+ mule deer every day - 7-12 bucks/day. One of our spots has gotten pretty quiet over the past 4 years which seems fo coincide with wolves moving in.

    Biggest problem in the ek is habitat. Look atthe pics from the 40s50s or even the 80s and the effect of fire suppression becomes very apparent.
    Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

    Mandela

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    1,453

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    same with elk......all year we have been hearing about how few elk were around yadayada...........now, they are standing in the winter range IN FORCE. I've seen more elk this year post season than any time I can remember so what now?

    So who knows......I'd like to wait until the mule deer flight is completed this year before I get excited about what is missing from 2011.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Golden BC
    Posts
    4,365

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    Quote Originally Posted by GoatGuy View Post
    Biggest problem in the ek is habitat. Look at the pics from the 40s50s or even the 80s and the effect of fire suppression becomes very apparent.
    I have been hunting mule deer in the EK for nearly 60 years, and I can say without any thread of doubt that dozens and dozens of the best mid-elevation transitional ranges I used to hunt which were literally crawling with mule deer 25 years ago are now thick stands of timber in some places with over 10,000 stems per Ha (what we call dog hair in the eco-system restoration world). These used to be semi-open stands of mixed conifer and deciduous with lots of browse species present. No mulies there now, the reason is obvious.

    2005 aerial photo of old Kimberley airport:
    http://www.trenchsociety.com/setup/c...rport_2005.jpg

    1951 photo of old Kimberley airport:
    http://www.trenchsociety.com/setup/c...rport_1951.jpg

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Behind your trailcam
    Posts
    490

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    I have lurked and participated in discussions on various hunting websites for the better part of a decade. The single most evident pattern I have noticed is when people fail to have good hunting success they jump on the “too many predators” train.

    I am not suggesting that some areas are not experiencing high predator numbers, but just considering a few things:
    1) predator/prey oscillations are normal and that even though we may be at a high point in the predator cycle does not mean the numbers are out of the ordinary
    2) There are various reasons why hunters are not successful, and they are not always related to depressed populations

    I cannot say that the east Koots is not experiencing high predation, but because we hear it all the time it’s beginning to sound like a scapegoat for our inability to adjust for the current conditions, regardless of where we’re hunting.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    4,061

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    Too much of this mentality as well didn't help either.....:




  6. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    EK BC
    Posts
    3,571

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    Well I didn't shoot a MD this year only saw two 4 points but to be honest I didn't try very hard (full freezer) was out with a couple rookies on the 14th and we saw upwards of 80 MD does between us and about 10 dink bucks. From what I can see the deer stayed tight in the timber this year as there was lots of feed for them there. Lots of big deer rolling into town today with the snow saw two pigs this afternoon.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Kelowna, BC.
    Posts
    21

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    I can tell you for sure that Region 8 has a healthy mule deer population. I'm really beginning to wonder about the whitetail population here though. I see on average ten times more MD's than WT's.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    In my traditional territory
    Posts
    19,424

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    Quote Originally Posted by bigben View Post
    Exactly what he said FISHER DUDE I don t understand your ability to not understand what a hunter sees and experience in the woods ....you have a theory that paper trail is the gospel of all things that is know to man in this case being the hunting scenario ,,,,,,,,I have many friends in the business being trappers and hunter s,,,,houndsman and all round good friends that have been hunting this valley for years and have experienced decline in the mule populations and in some cases are not finding the animals as they once where in the earlier years ................. I would like to base my theory on hands on experience and not on scientific data that always skews the facts that it goes on probability and average standard deviation ......its funny that where I work the computer is always different then the hand held meter and when it goes to be processed that 90 per cent of the time the hand held meter is right .....so with this in mind I am saying that our mule deer population has declined and it is not where it used to be I am genuinely concerned about it and trying to shed some light on it and it obvious because I am hearing the same thing in the circle of hunters that a hunt with ........... just my two cents worth

    How can you say we're shooting them all if there are none to shoot? You've got to form your hypothesis then be consistent in your argument, Ben.

    Listen to what 6616 and BCRams and Goat Guy are telling you. They work closely with mule deer experts and have the facts. Listening to folklore will not give you the solution to what you perceive as a problem. Just stick to the facts, and ignore the boys at Tim Hortons.

    I have hunted the EK for over 35 years now. I have never seen the densities of whitetails that we now have. The landscape has changed and it favours whitetails moreso than mulies.

    We need to do habitat work, that's a given. But as soon as I suggest that we knock back the WT or elk populations, the same guys on here that scream about mule deer seasons also scream about our proposals to open access and liberalize WT and elk seasons. I know you "want it all", but you can't have it all. You've got to make choices, and some of them are mutually exclusive. You can't expect to see fields with 200 elk, 200 WT, and 200 MD co-existing when the carrying capacity of that field is half that.

    Something's gotta give. Make your choices.
    Quote Originally Posted by chevy
    Sorry!!!! but in all honesty, i could care less,, what todbartell! actually thinks
    Quote Originally Posted by Will View Post
    but man how much pepporoni can your arshole take anyways !

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    The mighty peace
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    7,182

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    MULE DEER DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS.
    What you are seeing is the effects from years and years of long liberal seasons. When it was 4 point only literally 80-90% of the legal bucks where harvested every year. Now that there is an any buck season the harvest is more spread out but I would put money down the harvest has increased. In Unit 4-3 last year the buck to doe ratio was 5 bucks/ hundred does. THAT'S A PROBLEM!!!!! Its a little misleading talking about bucks and bulls per hundred does/ cows. People are lead to believe they actually counted hundreds of deer, and moose for that matter. Only the elk are counted in hundred and hundreds
    Heres a fact. Mule deer and WT and elk dont compete for the same food. They are mostly interested in different feed. Mule deer also can winter considerably high than elk or WT. I scout year round and some mulies winter up near the goats. What is with all this BS about not enough habit for all three. The forest and grass lands are littered with feed right from the bottom of the valleys to the rocks. Deer even eat conifers. Feed is everywhere. You dont need open grass lands and sage brush to winter mule deer.
    The problem is predation!!!! By man and wolves and cougars ect..... Literally thousand of hunters are pounding the kootenays every hunting season looking for an elk to bring home and the deer, especially the mule deer pay the price for the lack of many hunters success at elk. Elk respond very well to presure, mule deer bucks dont live long enough to. There simply is not enough mule deer buck to go around for the amount of hunters that actually hunt here. It starts on sept 1 when any one under 17 with a gun and anyone with a bow or cross bow can shoot any buck they like, the weather nice and the deer just stand there in the cuts, even some decent 4 points. Easy, too easy. Thats what people want right "opportunity". Then it increases as elk season gets into full swing and it doesnt end until half way though the rut when the snow pushes the last few out of the limited acces areas. Literally 1000's of hunters hammering on a few 100 bucks. Ya thats right a few 100 bucks!!
    Add a pack of wolves to every valley and half a dozen cougars. Bingo bango mule deer are not going anywhere, but slowly down. Thats a fact. You will all see the changes will come. Many hunters would shoot the last deer on the mountain just to have something to show for there efforts. This has to stop. The changes will come or the Mulies in the EK will go the way of the caribou. Mule deer death by a thousand cuts. SO STOP CUTTING THEM! Be a responsible hunter and demand a change. The mule deer pays the price for the liberal seasons of the EK.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    1,070

    Re: Mulw deer population????

    Oh my god.Sit back crack a cold one and enjoy the show.

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