Mule Deer Fanatic

Reports from Southwestern Wyoming are that there has been a heavy winter mortality ( due to deep snow and extreme cold ) for the mule deer that migrate to the south (Red Desert). In contrast, apparently, deer that wintered in the area of all the oil wells ( Green River Basin ) came through the winter in good shape.

This area is home to Wyoming’s largest Mule Deer herd, and indeed, one of the largest in the world. Some sportsmen organizations are beating up on the WGnF for not feeding the mule deer. Personally, I support the WGnF in not feeding the deer, however, I think late hunts provide an alternative to letting deer starve or die to exposure.

There are now a growing number of wolves in SW Wyoming. So far, wolves have not impacted mule deer significantly on summer range, but unless some action is taken, the big doggies will soon be having a significant impact on the mule deer winter ranges.

Wyoming is now spending some money to create deer underpasses on the highway south of Cokeville, where it is believed that some 15,000 mule deer migrate between summer and winter ranges. This migration, in some cases – as long as 100 miles, may be the longest for mule deer, anywhere.

For the hunter, it is already getting harder to draw a tag in Region G, due to last year’s addition of bonus points. Now, Wyoming will likely reduce the number of tags as well. Preliminary data indicates that the older bucks were not impacted as much as expected. A high percentage of the die-off was fawns, which will impact the number of mature bucks beginning in 2010.

In an effort to help our subscribers, one of our goals, at the beginning of 2008, was to get a good start on a “Directory” of interest to the “Mule Deer Fanatic”. We have been inviting select businesses (sites) to submit their information to this directory. 

If you have, or know of,  links that should be in the directory, let us know by accessing the “Contact” page. We will be happy to consider your request.

Click MULE DEER DIRECTORY, or on the Directory tab above, for access to this resource.

 Happy Hunting

Admin

A recent newspaper article, from the Boise area, stated that the Idaho Game and Fish now estimates state-wide coyote numbers to be around 50,000. Is it any wonder that Idaho has so few mule deer? Idaho mule deer will need to look both ways – twice, before lowering their heads to eat or drink.

Never mind lions, wolves, and bears.

Maybe the wolves will kill the coyotes. I don’t think the mule deer will win, either way.

From North Dakota Game and Fish Department

— North Dakota’s mule deer population remains in good shape, based upon aerial observations during the state Game and Fish Department’s fall reproduction survey.

Bruce Stillings, big game biologist, Dickinson, said two primary indicators – ratio of fawns-per-doe, and bucks-per-doe – were near long-term averages. The fawn-to-doe ratio was .88 fawns per doe, and the buck-to-doe ratio was .42 bucks per doe.

Observers who accompanied pilots in fixed-wing planes counted 2,126 mule deer during the October survey, which encompassed 21 study areas and 265.5 square miles in western North Dakota. Each spring, biologists survey the same study areas to determine a population index.

Surveys continue to indicate a population with stable recruitment and good numbers of adult bucks, Stillings said. “The badlands mule deer population continues to move in the right direction.”

Arizona does not accept online or telephone applications, and you must have a license first – so hurry. June 10 is the deadline.
Link to buy license: Click ARIZONA GAME AND FISHLink to get application: Click ARIZONA HUNT APPLICATION Note: The good archery areas are by draw starting this year.

Buying a License Online or by Telephone

Hunting and fishing licenses are no longer available online or by telephone. The department suspended online and telephone sales on May 21, 2007 because it could not resolve concerns that its online and telephone service provider could adequately perform under its contract. The department apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause to our customers. We hope to offer license sales online and by telephone sometime in the future.

More Info: Click ARIZONA AGENCIES 

This Wyoming Rancher didn’t waste any time dealing with a problem:

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This morning about 7:00 we were eating breakfast and Lora suddenly yelled “There’s a wolf in the yard!” Well, the next few seconds went pretty quick. I grabbed a rifle and cracked the door and stuck the muzzle out the door and bang we had one less wolf. Black male and weighed 93 pounds. Got him skinned and will plan to get the hide tanned. So that was the excitement for today.

Notice the difference in size

We are updating our theme to make things a little cleaner and easier on the eye. Hopefully you will approve. We are open to comments and suggestions.

Admin

Click on the highlighted links for information:

Nevada Management Plan for Mule Deer

Note: In the entire Nevada Mule Deer Management Plan there are only two paragraphs about predator control. This fact should tell you a lot about how (un)successful the plan will be in restoring mule deer to their former glory.

Nevada Predator Management Plan

Note: There are six predator management projects, and there will be plenty of money spent on them. Will they do any good? One is to protect Big Horn Sheep from Mountain Lions. Two others are to protect Mule Deer Fawns from coyotes (While the NDOW acknowledges that coyotes can kill as many as 77% of the fawns, the plan is to only kill enough coyotes to start an increase in deer numbers. Instead of spending little, if any, to have coyotes killed by hunters, NDOW will spend a lot of money using a full-time coyote agent. The coyote projects are in units 231 and 222). Two more projects are to protect Mule Deer from both Lions and Coyotes. These two projects have potential. Another project is to poison ravens to see if the sage grouse will recover. Ravens are protected, so instead of having hunters kill them for free, NDOW will spend money doing this also.

Nevada Mule Deer Harvest and Draw Reports

Nevada 2007 Non-resident Mule DeerBonus Point Report

Nevada Mule Deer Harvest Report

Would you like some Nevada BLM maps?

Click below

Nevada links for BLM maps

Before I started hunting mule deer in Idaho it must have been fabulous. I will tell you how good it was in the early 80’s when I started. If I saw another hunter in the same canyon in which I was hunting, it was rare. And then, they or I would usually leave because it was too crowded. The hunting season ran from early August to mid January depending on where you hunted. Tags were over-the-counter. In some areas, you could kill 2 bucks. Non-resident tags were priced reasonably. Resident tags were a steal. You could hunt where you wanted.  Wardens were seldom seen. Big bucks were common. Seasons were long and you could hunt with multiple weapons in multiple areas. Hunting during the rut was common practice, and deer were two to three times more plentiful than they are today.

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Now Idaho has done a mock-survey to see what is wanted

I cannot take credit for discovering this survey on my own. It was brought to my attention by Don of Buckhuntersblog. Here is the link to an Idaho Mule Deer hunter survey –> IDAHO DEER HUNTER SURVEY.