what do you all think

[wsm]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/925/177/938/stop-the-any-mule-deer-buck-season-in-the-east-kootenay/

[olympia]

im not with or against this petition just yet. My question is, what percent of the mule population is being killed by predators vs hunters? if a very small percent is going to hunters than stopping the any buck hunt will do little, personally I think they need to bring in biologists to figure out just exactly what the cause is. If its determined by "real world" people that its the hunters that are causint the decline than I would gladly forfeit a couple seasons hoping for a bountiful hunt later. But I suspect its the increase in predator numbers and also lack of manpower/political willingness to stop poachers as well. I am by no means an expert so this is my opinion only, feel free to correct me if you think Im wrong.

[KB90]

I think there was already a thread posted with a link to this petition.

And the general consensus was hunting is not the problem.

[palmer]

The main problem with this is, if passed the pressure will go to region 8 and 3...Thats the main problem when we close down a season the hunters move to the open region. i think when we look at closures like this we need to also look at impacts on others regions and have the same closures there. Just look at the impacts on moose in the north after GOS in 8,4,3,5 were closed....Lots of hunters in 7 and 6 now...

[curt]

i agree 100% this has been happening for yrs region 6 as an example is a complete gong show for the any bull season !!!
The main problem with this is, if passed the pressure will go to region 8 and 3...Thats the main problem when we close down a season the hunters move to the open region. i think when we look at closures like this we need to also look at impacts on others regions and have the same closures there. Just look at the impacts on moose in the north after GOS in 8,4,3,5 were closed....Lots of hunters in 7 and 6 now...

[sthdslayer]

I hunt the east kootenays every year and the increase in predators is unreal We have seen packs of 8 coyotes hunting together, there was 4 cougars seen in the area we hunt and bears were everywhere. Restricting hunting without predator control will not fix the problem look at the wolf seasons with a lot of areas open year round and going to nbl. Moose are in the same boat numbers down no money for a study to find out why so lets cut back hunting The approach needs to be balanced with predator hunting encouraged. The problem with wildlife management today is with budget cutbacks reducing the number of biologist and the few we have left trying to save the caribou by increasing leh on moose so the wolves will leave and not eat the caribou its no wonder our game populations are in trouble. The CO's spend more time on environmental issues rather than dealing with poaching and enforcement.

[heyblast]

I've seen enough posts this year to believe there is a big problem with predators in the province, but be careful, what I'm reading from this petition is trophy hunting.Not a any buck season, but number of points. If your going to start a petition to help stop falling deer populations wouldn't it be for predator control?

[goatdancer]

I wonder why the lady from Romania signed the petition.