Quote Originally Posted by twoSevenO View Post
agreed - And people are hunting more and more off the beaten path nowdays. Everyone is into the backcountry style of hunting now it seems.
Agree on the doe/cow draws as well ... i do not support that one bit. I'd rather pay twice as much for my deer tag if it meant no doe tags were allocated, if they are doing it from the generating of revenue point of view.
I don't know if I agree wit the cancelling of doe/cow.
Certainly if a population tanks, then yes, to help it recover.
Example, a bad winter kill that we have no control of.
But, if a population is slowly decreasing, then I believe the "causes" to that have to be figured out, and then see what
route to go (still might include a doe closure for a time, but certainly not permanently if they do recover)
There is too many studies on that that confirm that you need a proportional amount of all as Warnniklz describes.

And the only time a see a point restriction really help create big antlered game (genetics permitting) is when you have a
point restriction and a full on LEH hunt to limit hunters.
I am not prepared to sit at home for several years and hope i get drawn.
Besides, out leh system might mean some win yearly and some could sit at home for the next 20 years.
Certainly not a way to create hunter recruitment and if we dont, its as good as saying good bye to the hunting heritage in
short order if the province actually only had a handful of hunters anymore.
(ie, look at the gun laws and would some of these new bills become passed if over 50% of Canadians owned guns?)

What I will fully agree with is, todays hunter is certainly getting out of their vehicles more.
They are hiking in.
And they have become certainly more efficient!
Example, I was looking up an elk study from the past, and i was amazed that virtually every bull that was tagged,
did hit the dirt by hunters, not preds.

We are certainly more efficient, but I am fairly certain we are not the main cause of declines.
However, as in my OP, if an area does become over saturated by hunters, can it effect the area, its numbers and its quality?
I am starting to think it certainly can.
Sort of why I asked if R5 will open again to open up some room for hunters to expand, not crowd up and actually create an
impact!!

I will say it one more time, did they consider the impacts to surrounding MU's in R3 when they closed R5.
Did they ever consider that it could have a negative impact on some of these MU's?
I can certainly see why some groups do think that it has!