Pondering on region 7

[Browningmirage]

Alright, heres some interesting things to note, and no if it has been published yet, i havent heard of it

There are no mule deer doe tag draws for region 7 (A or B), just looked through the LEH synopsis, and couldnt find any in there. Could this mean an open season up there this year? bearing in mind the "problems with too many" in 7B this winter...or am i completely off on this

[tuchodi]

I have talked to some friends in 7B and the deer kill this winter was very large. 100's maybe into the 1000's died so there might be no season for any deer. This happened when I lived up there in the 60's and 70's and we had to go without any season for a few years while the heards gained back sustanable numbers. I hope thats not the case but we will find out when the Reg's come out.

[Jagermeister]

Tuchodi, belated birthday greetings! Hope you had a good one.

[bighornbob]

At the wild Sheep society meeting this year the biologist for the area said there would be a regular doe season (cant remember the length) and expanded and earlier buck seasons to help control the huge numbers of deer.

BHB

[dana]

Wonder if he will be rethinking that due to the large die off???

[GoatGuy]

GOS on muley does and antlerless elk - focused on private property. Too many animals.

[hunter1947]

I think that they should give it a break this year and just see how many does are out there ,then decide for the next year what to do. hunter1947.

[dana]

GG,
Do ya think that is wise???? Winter kill is said to be very large this year. They could possibly have acheived the 50% reduction just by Nature. Knock another 50% off of that and you are down to 25%. I wouldn't put it pass them though. No need for science. Just knee jerk reactions right?

[MattB]

Why is there no region 5 sheep LEH :|

[boxhitch]

Why is there no region 5 sheep LEH :|
Probably due to the fact there is not a herd of the size and health to allow a harvest.

[MattB]

LOL, there has been seasons every year since i have hunted....What happened this last year? Or is it all going to full curl rams? 8)

[boxhitch]

GG,
They could possibly have acheived the 50% reduction just by Nature. Knock another 50% off of that and you are down to 25%.
I still don't follow this arguement against the harvest of animals on private land. It would be interesting to know the numbers that never see a farmers field.

[boxhitch]

Matt - there has been a gos, but no leh in the years I looked at. This years gos ? who knows.

[Browningmirage]

I still don't follow this arguement against the harvest of animals on private land. It would be interesting to know the numbers that never see a farmers field.

I dont understand the argument at all, the season isnt opened on just random "hey lets open the season to decimate the remaining stocks". Also, knee jerk openings were what you called the opening in the winter, you recommended an opening in the regular season, and suggested that it would not be "knee jerk" in that instance, well this is a open season within the regular deer season, and now it is knee jerk?

Theres a tonne of "I heard" and "Someone told me" and "possibly" things that come up, but in reality, fact (its the one thing that you keep harping on) is all that matters, the possible reduction by 50% most likely did not occur, because as you stated, "they made it through the harsh part of the winter", and as such, open seasons are needed to keep herds at viable numbers

[dana]

They are reporting a big winter kill in Big Buck Magazine even. I was dead against the late winter opening because you possibly killing those that may have had enough strength to survive. Now, with reports of tons dead, without a proper census, opening a fall GOS on antlerless deer could just be the nail in the coffin couldn't it???? Knee Jerk Reaction because the bio wants to appease the landowners without having the science to back him up. So yes, I am really concerned about the situation up there. I would hope that they would at least try to do a post mortum count to try to get some estimations on how bad the winter kill was, but my gut tells me this bio isn't going to do that. He said he'll have a GOS so he'll stick to his guns and resident hunters could be living with the consquences for years to come.

[Browningmirage]

But to be truly honest, big buck magazine is hardly a scientific journal. I agree that there should be a census done to determine the numbers, but we dont know either way whether or not one is being done already or not. It is not only 7B that has no doe draw this year, but 7A as well (a large portion of what i have seen of 7A is wooded area). Also, it is a fact of biology that when populations are large, the die-offs are also large, this doesnt have to be due to overly large winter kills, it just means that when a population is large, more individuals die than when the population is small, this can be due to disease, lack of feed, etc.

I agree that a census needs to be done, if one isnt being done, i am against the opening as well, however, maybe we should see if a census is being done before condeming the actions, is there a possibility, even a remote one that they have been keeping track of deer numbers in Omnicea and Peace regions? I think we should talk directly to the bio, and maybe see what he has done so far to understand the populations. If he has not been keeping at least a rough idea as to how many deer are around, then i agree, the guys an idiot and needs to lose his job, however if he has an idea as to the population dynamics, then maybe we should try and trust him a little bit.

[willyqbc]

They are reporting a big winter kill in Big Buck Magazine even. I was dead against the late winter opening because you possibly killing those that may have had enough strength to survive. Now, with reports of tons dead, without a proper census, opening a fall GOS on antlerless deer could just be the nail in the coffin couldn't it???? Knee Jerk Reaction because the bio wants to appease the landowners without having the science to back him up. So yes, I am really concerned about the situation up there. I would hope that they would at least try to do a post mortum count to try to get some estimations on how bad the winter kill was, but my gut tells me this bio isn't going to do that. He said he'll have a GOS so he'll stick to his guns and resident hunters could be living with the consquences for years to come.



I agree that the situation needs to be monitored and the full extent of the winters damage needs to be assessed. However I do not share Dana's purely pessimistic view of the bio's of the province....I suspect this situation is being monitored very closely to determine if the seasons are appropriate or not.

Also am I missing something here in the original posting...there has been an open season on does for a while now in 7B, 2 weeks in October if I recall correctly.

Chris

[bigwhiteys]

Talking to a farmer we know last week they dragged 11 dead moose and 58 dead mule deer out of his fields this year. They had starved to death. This was only a few small sections and what was actually dead in his fields.

Carl

[luckynuts]

Hey Carl,

Sounds about right for the moose. Lots of dead ones around due to the ticks. I have seen lots of last years calfs just riddled with them. Last Thursday driving out to the plant, there was one in a field with magpies all over it thinking it was dead and all of a sudden it lifted it's head. I'm hoping they were just feeding on the ticks though I doubt it. On my run I could probably count about 30 dead deer. though it's hard to say what killed them. could have been yotes due to the deep snow as most of them were last years fawns.

Though I due know that the whities died from eating the bales and plugging up. The local farmer was dragging them into a pile up the road from one of my compressor stations. The good news is that snow is almost gone except for in the heavy timber and the deer, elk moose are bunched up pigging out in the local fields. I'm a bit concerned that many of the deer have lost this years fawns, as they all look terribly thin. Hey that's mothernature for you.

Though i think everyone should be more concerned with the new regs and where their heading than the harsh winter.

W.

[bigwhiteys]

LuckyNuts,

That is only from 1 farmer... My dad works in the oil patch and has been seeing dead dear and moose everywhere he goes... he doesn't even count anymore. A few weeks ago a Moose actually layed down and died right in the middle of their rightaway while they were working.

Happy Hunting!
Carl

[30-06]

How Much Snow Is Up There Still??I See In the reg's that Region 4 And 8 Are The Only One's With Whitey Doe Draws Am I Right?