Welcome to the peace

[dino]

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee306/heydino/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_2785_zpsjjatherp.jpg (http://s233.photobucket.com/user/heydino/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_2785_zpsjjatherp.jpg.html)
Welcome to the peace

[Bugle M In]

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee306/heydino/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_2785_zpsjjatherp.jpg (http://s233.photobucket.com/user/heydino/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_2785_zpsjjatherp.jpg.html)
Welcome to the peace

nice.........

[Bear Chaser]

Not to brag but that scene is a poor example of what it used to be like around here. Looks like a group of three year old deer. Mule deer numbers are way down and mature bucks are very few and far between.

[dino]

I hear ya but compared to down here it looks good.

[Bear Chaser]

Late August it used to be common to see up to forty similar sized bucks in a group in certain agricultural areas.
Sad to see how much we have lost from a hunters perspective.
However coming from a grain farming family it was frustrating to know we were suffering crop losses of similar value to what cattlemen such as in Bear Valleys wolf thread are losing now. Probably more once all factors are considered.

[Arctic Lake]

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee306/heydino/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_2785_zpsjjatherp.jpg (http://s233.photobucket.com/user/heydino/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_2785_zpsjjatherp.jpg.html)
Welcome to the peace

Okay, those are just great !
Arctic Lake

[Ferenc]

The winter of 2006 I think was a bad one... Prior to that the quality of good deer sightings was way up there...Nice pic dino !!

[hoochie]

I want to try 7-35. Never been there before. any pointers of where to go or not to go?

[HarryToolips]

Very nice.....

[CraigOC]

I want to try 7-35. Never been there before. any pointers of where to go or not to go?

I'm heading up to Hudson's Hope for my hunt this year for about 8 days in early October, I'll be sure to post results.....

[Cyrus]

they always seem to be in a farmers field....nice bucks.

[Boner]

The winter of 2006 I think was a bad one... Prior to that the quality of good deer sightings was way up there...Nice pic dino !!

Indeed. I was working on a project along the Braden Rd. The snow was too deep for the deer to eat enough. I talked to a CO a few years after that about that winter, and he told me a farmer got him to come out and look at close to 150 dead deer around one of those tall hay fence enclosures.

That winter was probably the catalyst that got the ball rolling for the upswing in wolf numbers in the Peace region.

[bridger]

The fish & wildlife branch announced in 2006 they were going to reduce the mule deer population by 50% by liberalizing antlerless seasons beginning in 2007. The winter of 06/07 was one of the worse on record up here and by spring we had lost 50% of the population. The government went ahead with its plan in spite of the natural reduction and reduced he population by another 50% and mule deer have never recovered.

[eric]

^^^^^ Governments,and wisdom, have never been used in the same sentence..

[hoochie]

I'm heading up to Hudson's Hope for my hunt this year for about 8 days in early October, I'll be sure to post results.....

work was going to send me there in Sept, I was really hoping to get an Elk. Ive never hunted the Peace. But an Elk or moose would be my first. Ive only hunted deer thus far.

[whitetailsheds]

The fish & wildlife branch announced in 2006 they were going to reduce the mule deer population by 50% by liberalizing antlerless seasons beginning in 2007. The winter of 06/07 was one of the worse on record up here and by spring we had lost 50% of the population. The government went ahead with its plan in spite of the natural reduction and reduced he population by another 50% and mule deer have never recovered.

Things that make you go "hmmmmm"!!!! One really has to wonder about these decisions!!
Writing for Big Buck as I have since 1990, and being "in the right circles" in terms of knowing and talking to ALOT of hunters......concensus amongst deer hunters was close to 100% that should have never happened!!!!
But......it did!!
If there was ever a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel, many of my hard core deer hunting aquaintances stopped hunting mulies!! And quite proud to say....in terms of conservation!!
And, as Bridger has already mentioned, things are still recovering!!
Long gone are the days of seeing large herds of mulies, every few miles!!

[Husky7mm]

It happened just like bridger said. Been a few long , deep snowed winters since then also. The lastest being 2013-2014. Found deer lying dead on top of the snow in april that winter. They are slowing coming back. Habitat is not the factor in the peace, for the most part its winter. Those there bucks are not really big bucks either, more just average mature 3-4 year old mule deer. Its likely around 2006 and prior that they were past carrying capacity.

[BCHunterFSJ]

It was not un-common to count over 300 mule deer driving from FSJ to Hudson's Hope!
In the last few years you sometimes would not see a single deer in the same drive...
Some very poor decisions indeed.

[Jrax]

I remember how pumped I would get driving that section on my way further north. I would stop, pull out the binos and drool over the numbers and size of mulie bucks I would see. Over last few years I have driven 2x and was very disappointed to see only a few deer.

[meat hunter]

I shot a deuce mulie last year around horse fly never eaten such a tasty deer. Ill take the little ones

[Linksman313]

Nice pics, couple of 3 year old crankers if that's what age they really are.

[Husky7mm]

I shot a deuce mulie last year around horse fly never eaten such a tasty deer. Ill take the little ones
Different area, different management. Small deer do taste great, early season deer do also.

[Xenomorph]

Let's just hope we won't "manage them" into extinction. Awesome pic.

[elknut]

I think there is more politics to the decision to reduce the herd in 2006-2007 ..Once the govt seen that the herd was down they decided to chop it more through their management decision..Having the farmers bitch about the damage to their hay bales was becoming a broken record for the govt...Wildlife has never been managed properly in BC for many ..many years...Hunter numbers had been on the decline in BC for many years due to gun control regs that turned many hunters away from the sport ...Then a turn around and today its on the upswing and therefore has more political clout ...Site C might have also been a small influence also on their decisions...Less habitat ....less carrying capacity...If these wildlife managers call this managing then they should quit...Because they are corrupt...That's my opinion on the Fish and Wildlife Branch ....Dennis

[digger dogger]

Nice pics, couple of 3 year old crankers if that's what age they really are.
All these bucks are dead!!!
I believe this is from a video, on YouTube called, peace bucks, or something to that effect.
It's 10+ years old. Some hard winters changed this drastically in the peace.
In 2000-2002ish, these caliber of bucks, were easier to find, than now.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Very nice image! It'd make a great wall hanger in its own right, as a framed print.

As per Deer numbers, I have typed this out before and will do so again -

Nobody knows how many animals of any given species there are. Mule Deer are behaving differently these days, it seems. For instance I have found many Deer in places where old timers experience and /or traditional wisdom (whatever your preferred term is) states that Deer will NOT be... Yet there they were! Could be weather/environment, could be the Muleys are learning from Whitetails and altering their behaviors to become more reclusive. In agricultural areas it could be hazing/deterrent methods succeeding.
I figure the Deer are patterning Hunters. Here in the Koots I have spoken with many folks who, for decades now have been doing the exact same things in the exact same places over and over and over and over and over.... Over and over and over again. The animals get wise and utilize different areas.
Meanwhile MFLNROD and BCWF make terrible decisions (as noted above in some very astute posts). Including reducing opportunities for BCRH in Region 4 to the current times. I despise how the regs made me have to pass up a shot that I worked hard to get on an awesome Muley for it being a typical 3x3. Amazing huge bodied Deer. Would've been great eating!

Anyhow, that's my couple shekels. Great pic!

[dino]

All these bucks are dead!!!
I believe this is from a video, on YouTube called, peace bucks, or something to that effect.
It's 10+ years old. Some hard winters changed this drastically in the peace.
In 2000-2002ish, these caliber of bucks, were easier to find, than now.

Fail! These are 2016 bucks.

[northernbc]

is that the three up montney I have noticed 3 likewise up there.