Mule Deer Fanatic

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.”

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

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.

Nevada plans to reduce mule deer tag numbers for 2008 owing to very low fawn/doe ratios. This points to coyotes, but I doubt DOW personnel are willing to acknowledge it. I think they would rather blame the weather.

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In 2007, there were 18,261 deer tags available to resident and nonresident hunters. If the commission chooses to adopt recommendations from NDOW wildlife biologists there will be 16,242 deer tags available in 2008, a reduction of 2,019 tags. This reduction follows back-to-back deer surveys in which biologists documented very low fawn production.

During fall deer surveys we “classified more than 19,000 deer but documented one of the lowest fawn production values ever observed at 33 fawns per 100 adults. Spring surveys found the statewide average fawn-to-adult ratio to be just 26 fawns to 100 adults. Especially hard hit were the northeast, central and east-central portions of the state,” said Mike Dobel, NDOW supervising game biologist in Reno.

The habitat conditions leading to low fawn production and survival rates this past year are similar to those that lead to low fawn recruitment (birth & survival rate) following the winter of 1992-93. In that circumstance, Dobel said, a drought period was followed by a heavy winter. Likewise, the winter of 2006-07 was very dry but the winter of 2007-08 had average to above average precipitation combined with extremely cold temperatures.

Statewide the estimated mule deer population is 108,000, a five percent decrease from the 2007 estimate. The 2008 tag quota recommendations are available on the NDOW website – www.ndow.org.

Below is an article posted in the Washington Press where hunting and fishing organizations are referred to as swing groups, where there seems to be a race by sportsmen’s organizations to be politically correct, and where mule deer are expected to disappear from the Western US.

I’m afraid that Mule Deer have a lot more to worry about than global warming ( how many Mule Deer have disappeared because of lions and coyotes? ) Check out the article below, then click on this link to see how much you know about Global Warming.

Hunters, anglers worry about global warming, loss of wildlife
WASHINGTON (AP):
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Global warming could force elk and mule deer from much of the western United States. Wild trout could disappear in lower Appalachian streams. Two-thirds of America’s ducks may disappear.

A new U.S. assessment of the threat to fish and wildlife habitat has hunters and anglers calling for action.

Groups representing nine major hunting and fishing organizations planned to meet Thursday with the House committee chairman who hopes to write legislation to curtail greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

“These are the branches of the conservation movement from which I come,” Democratic Rep. John Dingell said in an interview with The Associated Press. Dingell said the groups’ concerns are very important in helping with a measure to address the problem.

Dingell is an avid sportsman whose office is adorned with hunting and fishing trophies. As the leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he has promised action on climate change. He also has issued a series of reports examining legislation that would cap carbon dioxide _ a product of burning fossil fuels _ and other greenhouse gases. The Senate is considering similar legislation.

The alarm sounded by hunting and fishing organizations is significant.

They “are a critical swing constituency in so many states,” said Paul Bledsoe, a spokesman for the National Commission on Energy Policy. The bipartisan group argues for mandatory steps to reduce climate change pollution.

Alan Wentz of Ducks Unlimited Inc., one of the groups meeting with Dingell, noted that scientists are predicting that climate change “will significantly affect almost every aspect of our environment, including North America’s wetlands and waterfowl.”

The others are Trout Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, BAAS/ESPN Outdoors, Izaak Walton League of America, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Coastal Conservation Association, the American Sportsfishing Association, Pheasants Forever and the Wildlife Management Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group for hunters and sportsmen.

“Sportsmen are seeing the effects of climate change and know full well that foresight and proactive management will be necessary to help fish and wildlife adapt,” said George Cooper, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

A report compiled by the Wildlife Management Institute and based on work done by the groups provided a glimpse of their concerns. It says:

_Prairie pothole regions essential for waterfowl could lose 90 percent of their wetlands, causing a 69 percent decline in North America’s breeding ducks.

_About 42 percent of the trout and salmon habitat could be lost by the end of the century, with bull trout virtually disappearing in the high mountain West and wild trout from lower Appalachian streams.

_The number of Pronghorn antelope, elk and mule deer will dwindle as rising temperatures allow trees and shrubs to overwhelm the sagebrush ecosystem in the West.

_Populations of bobwhite quail will shrink in the Deep South as summertime drought and higher temperatures disrupt their breeding cycles. And drier conditions in fall and early spring will threaten quail in the Southwest.

_While an increase in water temperature and other change could benefit some salt water marine species, sea-level rise would destroy thousands of acres of coastal salt marshes and seagrass that are home to larval and juvenile game fish.

“We know now that climate change has the very real potential to affect fish and wildlife resources and activities that hunters and angers hold dear … and on a landscape level scale that is incomparable in modern times,” warned Matt Hogan, executive director of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

Friday, April 11, 2008  Salt Lake City
Planes aid in success of reseeding program
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008 12:08 a.m. MDT

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Last year, wildlife biologists used an old-fashioned but innovative approach to restoring habitat for mule deer and other wildlife at the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area by teaming cattle with airplanes.
Two seasons of intensive grazing by cattle had removed much of the cheatgrass on the south-facing slopes of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Conditions were ideal for reseeding the area with plants that are perfect for the wildlife.

The reseeding effort was part of a long-range Division of Wildlife Resources’ plan to restore critical big game winter habitats at Hardware Ranch, which is 15 miles east of Hyrum.

Park of the plan involved airplanes dropping nearly $30,000 worth of seed on the ground.

The seed mixture the planes dropped was a special blend of forbs and shrubs. The plants are designed to give wildlife the nutrition and energy they need to survive harsh winters. These plants are also designed to help wildlife transition from their winter diet to spring and summer diets.

Because of the terrain, using heavy equipment to resort hillsides was impossible.

Instead, livestock were put into the area to graze. This was followed up by reseeding the mountainside by airplane.

Utah’s 805 wildland fires have scorched more than 689,495 acres as of Aug. 6, according to the Boise, Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center.

In an attempt to help Mother Nature rehabilitate the landscape wildlife depend on for food, shelter and protection, local, state and federal officials will plow charred soils and begin reseeding the area by hand and aircraft.

The Bureau of Land Management requested $30 million in seed to help rehabilitate federal property damaged by the Milford Flat fire. State officials will spend about $3 million on reseeding efforts, said Tyler Thompson, a statewide habitat conservation coordinator for DWR. “The challenge will be getting enough seed,” he said. “The next biggest hurdle is going to be the vast size of the burned area, and getting that seed on the ground.”

When crews begin seeding this fall, they will use a chemical called “Plateau” to target the highly flammable cheatgrass, an invasive species that fuels wildfires.

Habitat charred by big wildfires

* Milford Flat: More than 363,052 acres
* Salt Creek: 25,456 acres
* Neola North: More than 44,000 acres

By Nathan C. Gonzalez

DWR Planting Bitterbrush on Wildlife Winter Range
Apr 10, 2008 by Eric Ray

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Division is Asking for Help From Volunteers
(KCPW News) This winter’s heavy snowfall isn’t just causing problems for humans, it’s also making life difficult for some of the state’s wildlife. The Division of Wildlife Resources is trying to make living through future winters easier for animals by planting bitterbrush on winter range areas.
“Bitterbrush are an extremely important winter food for big game animals, especially deer, because deer have a harder time getting to the food supply when the snows are particularly deep like they were this year,” says Phil Douglass, Conservation Outreach Manager for the DWR’s Northern Region. “The accessibility that bitterbrush provides is really important.”

Douglass says about 40 volunteers helped plant 2,000 bitterbrush plants at the Millville Face Wildlife Management Area near Hyrum last weekend. There are still 8,000 more to go. While the DWR consistently works statewide to improve habitat for wildlife, Douglass says the plants are particularly important for the Cache deer herd.

“To give an example, the Blacksmith Fork Canyon has a carrying capacity of about 3,000 mule deer. In the past 10 years, that has declined to about 1,000. So we’re 30% of what we could be. A lot of that has been attributed to habitat degradation,” says Douglass.

Mature bitterbrush plants are being used for this project adds Douglass. That will give the plants a year to take root and therefore they’ll be less susceptible to ruin by animals. Another round of planting is set for Saturday at the Millville Face WMA.

Volunteer information:

According to Darren DeBloois, DWR Wildlife Biologist, volunteer planting will take place Saturday, April 12th at 8am. DeBloois recommends volunteers gather at the north end of the Millville Face WMA at the mouth of the canyon in Cache Valley.

For other volunteer dates, please call Jodie Andersen at (435) 791-8589.

Story from Tails and Trails:

Dear kicks Man in Head

Posted: 15 Apr 2008 12:47 AM CDT

Now this is something you just don’t hear about everyday.

Of all the freaky things that could happen during evening rush hour traffic, getting headbutted in the face by a deer that jumped through your driver’s side window might just take the cake.

Andy Cairns of Haslett says a deer crashed right through his car window on Marsh Road in Okemos. The deer jumped around the vehicle, then exited through the back window, leaving Cairns knocked out and with a mouthful of deer fur and glass.

“I had hair in my mouth right away, hair everywhere. Glass pieces everywhere too,” Cairns says.

Even the day after the accident, there’s still fur and glass everywhere– even the cup holders in Cairn’s Ford Taurus are full of deer fur and tiny glass bits from the windows.

The backseat is the worst; it looks like the deer lost half its fur here in there. Huge clumps of the fur are all over the seats and floor. There’s even deer blood on a tissue box.

Deer-car accidents are typical– but this one is a whole other ball game.

“An animal, basically 150-200 pounds, flailing in your car and getting out with reckless abandon is never good,” says Jim Rossman, who works at Vision Collision, the body shop that will repair Cairns’ car.

Miraculously, Cairns is just sore, with no major cuts– can’t say the same for the deer.

Fortunately, the deer was the only fatality of the freak face-to-face encounter.

Reporter: Lauren Zakalik at WILX.com