Mule Deer Fanatic

Bruce Stillings, big game biologist, Dickinson, said biologists counted 2,649 mule deer in 291 square miles. Mule deer density per square mile was 9.1, a slight decrease from 9.6 in 2007, but significantly higher than the long-term average of 6.6 mule deer per square mile.

Biologists have completed aerial surveys of the same 24 study areas since the 1950s. The survey assists the department in obtaining solid mule deer population data for the badlands, such as demographic trends and production ratios (buck-to-doe and fawn-to-doe). 

Mild winters, good production, and a conservative and responsible harvest strategy have provided above-average mule deer density in the badlands.

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North Dakota’s 2008 deer season will offer 149,400 licenses to hunters this fall, an increase of 850 from last year. Mule deer licenses will increase in the Badlands because surveys showed a stable to increasing number of deer. The number of mule deer licenses available for 2008 is 8,600, an increase of 250 from last year.For muzzleloaders, 2,816 licenses, 12 more than last year, are available, and there will be 345 restricted youth antlered mule deer, up five from last year.The fall also will include a seven-day experimental antlerless-only season in northeastern North Dakota that will run from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2 only for hunters with 2C and 2D antlerless, or doe, deer licenses.

Mild winters and a corresponding increase in reproductive success helped white-tailed deer populations climb above management objectives in many units in northeastern, north-central and parts of southwestern North Dakota, said Randy Kreil, NDGFD wildlife chief.

“We will continue to be aggressive in units where deer numbers are above management goals,” Kreil said.

Units with deer numbers closer to management objectives are in the northwest and southeast.

Another consideration for the special season in the northeast is the bovine tuberculosis outbreak in neighboring northwestern Minnesota.

“We believe it would be prudent to reduce deer numbers in this area ahead of an unlikely but not improbable movement of this disease into North Dakota,” said Kreil.

The 2008 deer gun season opens at noon Nov. 7 and continues through Nov. 23. Online applications for the regular deer gun, youth and muzzleloader seasons are available through the NDGFD’s Web site, http://gf.nd.gov. Paper applications will be available at vendors throughout the state by mid-May. The deadline for applying is June 4.