There is an undercurrent, cutting across state boundaries, to sell hunting tags while discouraging or eliminating any harvest. Taking this notion to an extreme, 
here is a comment made by a DWR representative at a Utah Dedicated Hunter meeting in Ogden, Utah – regarding hunter ethics: “if you go into the field expecting to harvest an animal, you are unethical“.
Not long ago, I attended an Arizona Game and Fish meeting, where it was announced that the Department was seeking to issue more tags while moving hunting season dates to low success time periods. This proposed action was flaunted as an effort to recruit new hunters. I am aware of other organizations who collect donations and then use the money collected against the very persons who donated it. Could our game agencies be up to similar tactics?
You have probably had experience with politicians who add new taxes or who increase taxes for some special purpose and then, when such purpose goes away, the taxes stay…. it only gets worse – never better. Well, with game agencies, once they take something away, they almost never give it back. If Arizona takes away over-the-counter archery tags for mule deer, you will probably never see it offered again.
Since this site is about mule deer, not coyotes, it is a stretch to quote coyote stories. Nevertheless, I have to do this because anyone who kills coyotes not only saves mule deer, but also deserves respect. I think you will enjoy the stories.
These stories come from arizonahuntingtoday.com: 
A recent blog by Desert Rat “Predators Killing Pets” reminded me of an incident I had a couple of years ago.
I was sitting out on the patio cleaning my Ruger 1B (http://www.rugerfirearms.com/index.html) when I heard all this screaming and yelling coming from the neighbors backyard. They are good neighbors, mind their own business, and are just very nice people. The only drawback is that she is kinda opposed to hunting, not a bleeding heart type and not vocal about it, but she is opposed to it. She also raises chickens, ducks, and has three little dogs, very little dogs. I joke with her all the time that I would like to use them for catfish bait, she doesn’t think it’s funny. Anyhow I look over to see what all the screaming is about and to my surprise I see a coyote trotting out of her backyard headed in my general direction but going up the hillside, not running hard, just kind of an easy trot. Now I’m not surprised to see a coyote as they visit our place on a fairly regular basis, but what surprised me was this this one had a little white mutt clamped firmly in his jaws. I quickly slapped a 117 grain 25.06 Sierra Game King BTSP (http://sierrabullets.com) round into the chamber and placed the crosshair of my Weaver GrandSlam 6-20×40 (http://weaveroptics.com) on an opening I thought he would be coming through. As he came through I touched off a round thinking that if nothing else it would cause him to drop the dog and run off. Much to my surprise he did drop the dog as he tumbled ass over teakettle dead as a doornail. When I finally got to the dog he was covered in blood and had several deep puncture wounds and I’m thinking he isn’t going to make it, should I just him out of his misery. I look back down the hillside and see our neighbor running up toward us, stumbling and crying for her little dog. She is in a real frenzy by the time she reaches us and wants to get the dog to the vet in a hurry. I was going to tell her that the poor thing didn’t have a snowballs chance in hell but thought better of it. We picked up the poor ragged, bloody little thing and headed to the vets office. Well that was about two years ago and that pesky little mutt is still around, much to my surprise. She still thanks me every chance she gets and has told me on several times how much she appreciated me saving her dogs life – then she added “Did you really have to kill the coyote, couldn’t you just have scared him into dropping my dog.” Some people just don’t get it.
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As some of you know we live in the SE Corner of Arizona and within spitting distance of the US/Mexican border. We all are affected by the masses of illegals coming through our pourous border and with the US governments refusal to do anything substanial about it. It has had a dramatic effect on all of us here on the border and although you don’t probably see it on a daily basis it has had an effect on all the tax paying citizens of America. However now it is really getting personal, and I don’t mean them turning on our water and letting it run all night, or cutting our fences, or even using our backyard as a bathroom. One highlighted sentence in the Arizona Hunting Regulations states: “Homeland security issues along the international border may affect the quality of a person’s hunt.” I recently purchased a new AR, developed some loads for it and got it shooting -1″ MOA at 100 yards. Decided that this morning it would get it’s baptism under fire. Loaded up the truck before daylight and set out for one of my favorite spots. Pulled into the wash, hid the truck best I could and hiked a short way up a little knoll. Set my “improvised” Whirling Woodpecker (www.outfoxedproducts.com) out about 30 yards hurried back up the knoll and turned on the FoxPro. I couldn’t have been there for more than 5 minutes when two Border Patrol Agents came tiptoeing up the dry wash. I stood up and wavd then started walking down to them. They wanted to know what I was doing in the area, don’t know why I said what I did but I was kinda pissed-off that we now have to explain what we (US Citizens) are doing on the border. I told them that as far as I was aware we still lived in a free country and I could do as I well pleased as long as I wasn’t breaking any laws, which I wasn’t. We had a bit of a stare down and they then told me that this was a favorite passage way for illegals and I might be considered in the obstruction of them (Border Patrol) doing their duties. I gave them a smirk and walked back to the truck and left the area. On my next stand, about 5 miles away, I set up same as I had before. After about 10 minutes I spotted a coyote about 500 yards out coming straight into the call. Put the AR up and got ready, at about 300 yards he stopped and sat down. I knew he didn’t smell me as the breeze was coming from him to me. After a minute or two he got up and trotted back the same way he came. It was then that I heard some sounds in the canyon below me, you guessed it — about 6 or 7 illegals making their way down the canyon. I packed everything up and headed home. “Homeland security issues along the international border may affect the quality of a person’s hunt.”
While hunting in Wyoming this year, we talked to the local warden who informed us that there are now 50 grizzlies and 2 packs of wolves in and around the Green River Basin area in West Central Wyoming.
He said that the wolves were, at first, decimating the antelope herds by hunting them at night when the antelope would not run. Now, he says they are concentrating on the elk. I asked him if the wolves were killing moose and deer. He said they are killing some moose and some deer, but mostly elk. This winter, when the deer are on their winter range, might be another story.
He said the bears and wolves are being good ( just eating everything in sight) so they are leaving them alone to do their thing. He also said it won’t be long before grizzlies and wolves are in Utah’s Uintah mountains if not already there.
Special interest groups are using all kinds of excuses to block oil and gas development in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Some of these groups are masquerading an interest in Mule Deer welfare in order to stop development. I can think of several examples ( see picture below) 
where mule deer have done quite well in the presence of development.
When compared to predation, development is minuscule in its effect on taking the lives of mule deer. In virtually every western state predators are killing hundreds of thousands of mule deer annually. Very few people are crying or complaining about that, and even fewer are doing something about it.
It is futile to be worrying about habitat issues, not that habitat is unimportant, while ignoring the effects of predation. It doesn’t need to be difficult to accommodate oil and gas development and wildlife jointly – particularly in areas where a little water could be provided for wildlife or where some cedar trees could be thinned by developers.
I, for one, am puzzled by all the commotion about blocking fuel oil development by people who both consume fuel daily and who use mule deer as an excuse.
The saddest part of all is that various wildlife associations are participating in these tactics along with the ne’r-do-well hugger organizations. We would all be way ahead if they would just kill a few lions and coyotes.
October 26 marks the beginning of the Arizona Rifle seasons.
If you have a tag, you will see more bucks this year, but let the little ones grow up.
According to Rick Kahn, Colorado’s Big Game Manager, 2007 is going to be a good year for killing a large Mule Deer Buck. He is estimating a deer population of over 600,000 in 55 separate herds. I think he must be counting whitetails as well as mule deer, since he says there are 70,000 more deer than ten years ago.
Kahn estimates that the buck/doe ratio is 31/100. He says that hunter success for 2006 was 46% and that 33,885 bucks were harvested. The number of hunters has dropped by two thirds since the early 1990’s The number of deer hunters went from 250,000 in 1993 to 160,000 in 1997 to 90,000 from 1999 forward.
Kahn says the DOW is having a hard time recruiting doe hunters ( and that is good – I hope no one is killing does ), and that there are still 15,000 unfilled doe tags available.
Kahn cannot figure out why Mule Deer Hunters are after trophy racks instead of just venison. He doesn’t realize that the scarcity created by the DOW causes trophy Mule Deer to be in much higher demand, relatively speaking.
So, if you are fortunate enough to have drawn a Mule Deer tag in Colorado, get out there and see for yourself.
According to a recent Denver Post article, Colorado Mule Deer are on the rebound. Some sources are saying that the Colorado mule deer population is up to 650,000 animals. Other sources say that Colorado once boasted 1.2 million mule deer. In 1988, Colorado claimed 750,000 mulies.
The Mule Deer Foundation was right there claiming credit for the increase in animals, with minor projects to their credit, such as fencing out cows, chopping down trees, and blocking oil and gas development. I did not notice any predator elimination projects, which could have really made a difference.
According to Colorado DOW representatives, the drastic decrease in hunting pressure since 1999 and a series of mild winters are the main factors in increased mule deer numbers in the state. What do you think the chances are that Colorado will go back to over-the-counter tags?
I’m sorry, but I have a problem with animals being taken out of or put into the record books based on something done or not done by the hunter/owner. As far as I am concerned, record books are about animals, not about people. If the animal was taken illegally (or whatever), then, in my opinion, the record book can say so, but I am interested in seeing trophy animals regardless of how they were obtained.
Some will probably say that using this approach would encourage illegal activity, but I don’t think so. Besides the negative publicity that a person would receive, there is the legal system to deal with. I don’t think too many hunters are willing to be fined and/or have their hunting priviledges taken away just to have a mule deer in the record books.
The situation with Kirt Darner is a good example. His record book animals were already in the books, very good animals at that, and now they have been removed because of something questionable about the man who entered them.
I’m going to start a new record book. It will be called the “Carter and Baxter Record book of Mule Deer”, and will include all those “iffers” that Mike Eastman has been talking about for years. We won’t care much about the person, but we will care about where the deer was taken.
As far as scoring is concerned, we will double the points for width and will count outside spread. We will measure largest circumference instead of smallest, and will not subtract for lack of symmetry.
Who wants to submit the first entry?
According to the LA Times, there is a Mule Deer explosion on Coney Island, which shows what deer populations are capable of in the absence of predators. Someone(s) is apparently out to stir up some controversy, however, and is beheading deer with a knife.
The California Game and Fish is being accused of not properly managing the deer population. It looks like they need to open up a knife season. The annual deer hunt is actually managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy.
The deer are now attacking pets, eating gardens, and taking over the beach front.
You Californians better get signed up for a hunt.
Saturday, October 20, begins the Utah Rifle season for mule Deer.
Good luck Utah hunters – you’ll need it.
