See the article: The Kings Deer
- Over 55,000 mule deer roam BLM public lands in the Rock Springs District.
- Mule deer inhabit every major vegetation type in western North America and every climate zone except arctic and tropics. Mule deer in high elevation ranges may migrate up to 50 miles between summer and winter range. Snow depth and forage availability is considered to be the dominant factor in population control by many.
- Mule deer occupy a wide range of habitats. Food, cover, arid water requirements change with the seasons. Mule deer often must compete with livestock grazing practices and other human-caused disturbances. Proper land management can benefit deer.
- Mule deer gain weight during spring, summer, and fall. Deer must be in excellent condition in the fall of each year to survive the harsh winter weather.
- Deer eat a wide variety of foods. The major foods eaten by mule deer include sagebrush, serviceberry, snowberry, rabbitbrush, aspen, bitterbrush, juniper, willow, mountain mahogany, grasses, and forbs. In winter, more shrubs are eaten than dead forbs and grasses. Shrubs are alive and provide more protein and carbohydrates. Mule deer in North America have adapted to these long periods of nutritional stress caused by winter. Protection from human disturbance helps mule deer survive winter stress periods.
- Males gain and lose weight more rapidly than females.
- Both sexes essentially starve a little each day during severe winters because they can’t eat enough forage to maintain their body weight.
- Good quality habitat may keep them from starving to death except in the very worst of winters.
- Antler growth in males begins in the spring. As fall and the rut approaches, the males’ necks and shoulders swell, they become hyperactive and aggressive and begin to eat less food.
- Mule deer have their young in riparian areas and aspen stands when they are available.
- Under good conditions, most mule deer does have twins. Fawns average 7-8 pounds at birth.
- Mule deer nearly disappeared from the plains by the late 1930s, probably due to the combination of excessive hunting, several periods of severe drought, complicated by over-grazing by domestic livestock and several extremely severe winters. Mule deer populations have rebounded in most of their range.
Source: Bureau of Land Management Rock Springs District
It has been said that “In England, only the kings men hunt the kings deer”
What do you think of this scheme? Are we heading this direction in the good ol’ US ?
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Devon project to promote wild venison
Posted: 23 Mar 2008 04:40 PM CDT
Deer Management in the UK (United Kingdom) may not be all that different than the way we do it. Ever body has their own way of doing things but the end result can be more closer than you think.
A pioneering project has been launched to promote wild venison and other deer-related products and activities in the region.
The South West Forest Deer Management Programme aims to get wild venison into the local food chain, and also to encourage tourism by offering deer-related activities such as photography and tracking.
The first stage of the project focuses on forecast target areas around Holsworthy, Rackenford and North of Barnstaple. The project aims to encourage retailers, restaurants and hotels to serve venison as a high-quality, locally-sourced meat.
But the project is not just about the consumption of venison, as Mick Bracken, Rural Development Forestry Adviser from South West Forest (SWF) is keen to point out. He says: “We will focus on raising awareness of the need for deer population control for environmental and economic reasons as well as for the health of the herds.”
Mick also says that the project has long term benefits: “There will be an accreditation and tagging system to assure customers of the high levels of food hygiene for the scheme, and the project will be monitored by Deer Management Groups set up by SWF in each of the targeted areas with managed plans for deer culling in order to supply the scheme.
“In this way we hope to create a model which, over a longer timescale, will be rolled out to the whole of the South West Forest area and eventually other parts of the region.”
Over half of the £100,000 project cost has been met by Devon Renaissance, the rural regeneration programme for the county. Simon Mallett from Devon Renaissance says that the project will be a welcome boost to the region’s rural economy. “The project will supplement rural incomes within the region, as well as providing accredited training opportunities for those seeking a career within the deer trade.
“The increased tourism opportunities and the potential to distribute venison to outlets within and outside the region will also have a positive impact on the economy.”
South West Forest is a partnership hosted by Devon County Council, which manages forest and woodland in the Culm joint character area bordered by Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor. It seeks to support and boost farm businesses and rural incomes, by helping to establish new areas, and manage existing areas of forest encouraging integrated, sustainable rural development.
From: FarmingUK
Compare the two stories below and see what your conclusions are; mine are at the bottom.
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CASPER, Wyo. – A police officer didn’t think much of a call to shoo off a bothersome “kitty cat” at a home in Casper, Wyo. Then the officer arrived at the home of Beverly Hood. It was no ordinary domestic feline — but a male mountain lion weighing 80 to 90 pounds.
Officer Mike Ableman says he ran for cover inside Hood’s home when he saw the cougar.Hood says she was inside when she first saw the mountain lion lying on her porch Monday. Hood says the lion hissed at her, but she wasn’t scared.
She called 911, animal control and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Hood reported that she had a bothersome “big cat.” A dispatcher told Ableman that it was a house cat.
A game warden tranquilized the mountain lion and the animal was relocated.
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Deer project starts off with 13 caught, killed
Associated Press – September 23, 2008 10:55 AM ET
HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Helena police trapped and killed 13 mule deer in four days last week, as part of a pilot project to reduce the number of deer within city limits.
Chief Troy McGee says the last of the carcasses were taken to a meat processer on Monday.
All of the venison is being given to Helena Food Share for distribution. The food bank is paying for the processing.
The pilot project aims to cut the city’s growing deer herd by 50 animals over the course of several weeks. Officers began the nighttime work last week, baiting a half-dozen box traps with apples and a mix of grains and molasses.
Officers kill the deer with a bolt gun, which uses a blank cartridge to fire a cylinder into the deer’s brain. It does not fire a projectile.
Information from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com
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To me, a hissing male mountain lion on my front porch constitutes a threat – much more so than mule deer eating my shrubs. In my opinion, the mule deer in Helena should be relocated and the mountain lion shot on the spot. Modern-day priorities seem to exibit a love affair between agencies and predators. It is almost as bad to kill a predator as it is to cut down a pine tree.
$$$$$$$ Is it all about money? $$$$$$$
What is being done with the money to benefit the average mule deer hunter?
New Mexico has way less mule deer than habitat for them.
$145k could keep me killing predators night and day for three years. Don’t you think New Mexico should hire me to help the deer herd before they start planting more sage brush for the mule deer that aren’t there?
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Auction nets $568,000 for NM big-game licenses
SANTA FE — New Mexico has gained $568,000 from auctions for special big-game hunting licenses.
The state Department of Game and Fish says that the auctions are an important fundraising tool and that the money is used for big game habitat and conservation.
A hunter from Washington bid $172,000 for a package of hunts – deer, elk, pronghorn, oryx and ibex – at the recent annual Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation National Convention in Reno, Nev. A second package sold for $145,000 to a hunter from California at the Mule Deer Foundation Convention in Salt Lake City.
In addition, a Tennessee hunter bid $90,000 for an elk license, a hunter from Illinois bid $90,000 for a bighorn sheep license, and an Arizona hunter bid $71,000 for a mule deer license, the department said.
Oregon has a hunter access map through google. Here is the link:
More than 50 percent of Oregon’s land is public. Hunters can use the access map to locate private lands where ODFW has established cooperative management agreements with landowners to provide hunting access to the public.
The map provides online links to harvest statistics and regional hunting reports. It provides the size and a description of the area. Special regulations, such as mandatory hunter check-in and check-out, are noted.
This report comes from the chief of Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Quentin Kujala.
The rifle season starts October 26 and about 160,000 hunters are expected. Locals are praying for snow to drive the deer into the low country.
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Region 1 — Northwestern Montana
Near Kalispell and the surrounding area, white-tailed deer herds are stable and experienced a normal winter in the east half of the region and a harder winter along the Idaho border. White-tailed deer are plentiful in the Swan Valley, the Salish Range and the Lower Clark Fork Valley. Hunting access is good but involves stalking game in heavy coniferous habitats. Mule deers populations are slowly increasing with good fawn production. Hot spots for mule deer include the Cabinet and West Cabinet mountains, the high country of the Lower Clark Fork, the Whitefish Range and the subalpine areas of the Mission and Swan mountain ranges. Mule deer hunters typically are more successful at the higher altitudes.
Region 2 — Western Montana
Near Missoula and the surrounding area, mule and white-tailed deer numbers are trending upward. Mule deer are being seen at lower elevations in numbers not seen in the past 30 years. Hunters can take advantage of additional whitetail permits, and if the weather cooperates, the season has the potential to be very good.
Region 3 — Southwestern Montana
In the areas near Bozeman and north of Yellowstone National Park, mule deer recruitment in general was moderate to good. In some cases, numbers are healthy but remain below historic highs.
Region 4 — Central Montana
Hunting near Great Falls and the surrounding area reflect ample opportunities for both white-tailed deer and mule deer. Mule deer populations are stable and reflect strong overwinter adult survival but declining fawn production and survival. White-tailed deer and mule deer are present on both private and public lands. Signs are pointing toward a good deer hunting season this year but somewhat diminished opportunities in the succeeding year owing to poor fawn survival.
Region 5 — Southcentral Montana
In Billings and the surrounding area, deer populations remain high, with a good distribution of older age bucks available. Mule deer numbers are higher than last year in many hunting districts. Hunters can expect significantly reduced white-tailed deer numbers along the Musselshell River between Melstone and Roundup and adjacent areas due to a blue tongue outbreak in August and September of 2007. White-tailed deer numbers continue to grow in most other areas of Region 5. Hunters are encouraged to enquire about surplus whitetail “B” licenses and access opportunities at FWP’s Region 5 office in Billings.
Region 6 — Northeastern Montana
Mule deer and white-tailed deer numbers are very high in Glasgow and the surrounding area. Mule deer populations have mostly recovered from the low levels earlier in the decade and are exceeding population objectives in many hunting districts. General-tag deer hunters on public land should see plenty of bucks and does in habitats as geographically disparate as the Bears Paw Mountains and the Richland County breaks. White-tailed deer numbers are also quite high, and where access is secured through Block Management, hunting on private land should be very good.
Region 7 — Eastern Montana
In Miles City and the surrounding area, both species of deer wintered well and benefitted from abundant spring forage. Populations along the Yellowstone River, between Glendive and Sidney, are 20-30 percent above the long-term average. The ratio of white-tailed deer bucks to does is 40 bucks per 100 does. White-tailed populations along the Yellowstone River between Miles City and Hysham showed some mortality due to last fall’s, blue tonguee disease. Mule deer populations are about 17 percent above the long-term average, with a good percentage of mature adults. Hunters should find ample opportunity to harvest mule deer.
Are you just itching to get out there and do some deer hunting? October 11 marks the begining of the Washington State rifle deer hunt. According to reports, the bowhunters have had a good time of it. You rifle hunters get out there and find us a big buck. We always appreciate stories and pictures to go with them. Go to our contact page or send your stories and pictures to: foremleader@muledeerfantic.com
CLICK: WASHINTON REGS for Washington State hunting Regs.
Saturday, September 27, marks the opening assault on Texas Mule Deer as bowhunters take to the woods and hills. Mule Deer numbers are up according to some reports. I’m not sure there is any state that can match Texas in terms of the number of bowhunters, so get out there early and shoot a big buck. You’ll likely be competing with 99,999 other hunters, but then Texas is a big place.
Happy Hunting and May the Force be with You.
What is the world coming to? What direction are we headed? Anti-hunters need only wait a few more years and the state wildlife agencies will have taken away all hunting privileges and confiscated all weapons.
Antlers confiscated by Utah DWR:
A Utah man picked up a set of trophy antlers in Colorado and was prosecuted in Utah because it is illegal in Utah to possess antlers naturally attached to a skull unless those antlers were legally harvested. The antlers were confiscated through court action and the man was fined $217.00.
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