Mule Deer Fanatic

Muley Madness South Dakota Style

Bob’s buck scored 205 Gross

This story just in from the Rapid City Journal:

“Bob Healey of Box Elder hunted for many years to finally shoot a buck big enough to put on the wall. He dropped it opening day of the West River rifle deer season on public land “in northwest South Dakota.” 

By Kevin Woster

“Kansas deer hunters boast about having record numbers of “Huge Bucks.” It certainly cannot be denied, but there could be an underlying reason — for years, non-residents were not allowed to deer hunt in Kansas! Now that the state has allowed non-residents in on a drawing basis, those that received the lucky draw, can attest to that fact — Kansas has an abundant number of huge bucks.

When I was a teenager, the annual deer hunt was virtually a state holiday. Schools closed down on Friday, and all the businesses had deer hunter sales. We all hunted as families. Deer hunters happily displayed their bucks for all to see, and everyone was interested in seeing them. High schoolers talked about the hunt for days afterward. I miss those days. So, I was delighted to find this article published in the Missoulian (Montana) showing that somewhere out there you may still find some old-fashioned values.

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Fierce competition closes in Alberton
By ROB CHANEY

Montana’s general hunting season ended Sunday. Alberton High School’s bragging season started Monday morning.

Actually, bragging about bagging game has been an intramural sport at Alberton High for years. But it took on a battle-of-the-sexes vibe this year among members of the school newspaper staff. The weekly “Hunter’s Corner” column in the Panther Press alternated between male and female writers, who took aim at each other’s egos with gusto.

“We have a good hunting tradition at the school, and our girls are very successful hunters,” said Kent Haab, who teaches computer and business classes when not supervising the Panther Press. “Last year, the girls bagged some big animals and the boys didn’t do so well. They kind of take jabs at each other, but it’s all in good fun.”

Senior Jordan Johnson figured about two-thirds of Alberton High’s 70 students chase big game every fall. He added a 3-by-4 whitetail buck to the boys’ total

“Everybody in the school is pretty big on hunting,” Johnson said. “And a lot of our teachers are into hunting, so it’s nice to talk about it with them. This year, everybody that had a tag pretty much got an animal. Most everybody got something toward the end.”

“We’re always competitive and the girls usually beat the guys – not really, but we like to say that,” said senior Becca Petersen, who credited her gender with a 5-by-5 mule deer buck and a cow elk this year. “There’s way more guys hunting than girls. But we haven’t really ever kept track before.”

Petersen said the competition kept many student hunters in the field more this year than in past hunting seasons. Everyone struggled with the dry weather early in the season, with most kills coming around the last week. Petersen dropped her muley shortly before Thanksgiving dinner.

“Everyone in this class keeps track of who’s got what,” said Lyndi Ishler, whose mountain goat last year helped trigger the competition this year. She logged a 4-by-6 whitetail buck this year, and brought it to the school parking lot to make sure it was accounted for. She said most of her hunting classmates worked the mountains around Alberton and the Interstate 90 corridor.

Panther Press writer Cody Hoose reported a final tally of 32 tags: 10 from eight girls and 22 from 15 boys. The ladies brought home one mule deer, seven whitetails and two elk. The gents delivered five muleys, 12 whitetail and five elk. The rules specified number of tags, so by the rules, the boys won.

“That’s usually how it goes – the girls jab their jaws and the guys go out and hunt,” said Hoose, who scored a fork-horn mule deer buck. “But I know a lot of people failed elkwise, including me and my cousins.”

This being the first year of publishing the bragging contest, no one’s sure what the future will hold.

“I’m not sure what we’ve got in store for next year,” Hoose said. “I just hope there’s a competition.”

Idaho has published a Mule Deer Management plan that will be in force for the next decade. If you want your voice to be heard, here is the link: COMMENTS.

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My comments to Idaho: “None of Idaho’s units have anywhere near the mule deer they should have. Every single one of the units should be marked “increase”. Overall, mule deer numbers are at about 1/3 of what they once were. That is pretty sad for a state with so much potential. Stop killing does and fawns until the REAL carrying capacity is reached.

I estimate that predators are killing 150,000 (or more) mule deer in Idaho each year. There is nothing more important to managing mule deer than predator control, and yet it is almost totally ignored. Why do you bury your heads in the sand about this issue when no other problem comes anywhere close in its severity? All the rest of your goals are fluff, and expensive fluff at that, if you do not address the predator problem.

Suppose I was in business having old customers that were leaving me, and that my products and service were so bad that I could not obtain any new customers. How do you think it would work if I then paid good money to recruit new customers while collecting that money from the old customers and while giving the old customers even less product/service? That is exactly what you are doing.”

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Some of my observations about the plan:

1) The plan will spend a lot of money and accomplish very little

2) Money will be spent to recruit new hunters (while old hunters have been severely restricted) instead of spending money to have more deer

3) In 12 goals, only one mentions predator control, and it is only short-term control at that.

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HERE ARE THE “GOALS”

Goal #1: Provide mule deer hunting opportunities that reflect the preferences and desires of hunters, including maintaining annual hunting opportunity and increasing opportunity for mature buck hunting experiences.

• Example Strategies:
• Maintain general hunting to allow annual hunting opportunity with family and friends.
• Provide additional mature buck hunting opportunity, equitably distributed throughout the state (e.g. some quality or trophy hunting available in each region).
• Provide for a balance of motorized and non-motorized hunting experiences.

Goal #2: Maintain healthy and productive mule deer populations proportionate to habitat capabilities.

• Example Strategies:
• Manage mule deer populations below carrying capacity to promote healthy populations, including optimal buck recruitment.
• Use antlerless harvest conservatively to achieve population goals.
• Monitor for, and manage against, disease.

Goal #3: Implement predator management actions when and where appropriate to aid in achieving management objectives.

• Example Strategies:
• Increase mountain lion harvest short-term following significant declines in mule deer populations.
• Continue to direct Animal Damage Control Board coyote removal efforts.

Goal #4: Encourage recruitment of new hunters and retention of existing hunters.

• Example Strategies:
• Continue providing either-sex opportunity for youth.
• Develop simple and easily understood hunting regulations.

Goal #5: Fully implement the Mule Deer Initiative Action Plan.

• Example Strategies:
• Continue devoting additional personnel and funding to accomplish on-the-ground projects to benefit mule deer.

Goal #6: Improve and protect habitat.

• Example Strategies:
• Improve or protect more than 50,000 acres of habitat annually.
• Increase Department involvement in landscape scale land-use planning.
• Promote livestock management practices that benefit mule deer habitat.

Goal #7: Evaluate a cost-effective and reliable habitat monitoring program.

• Example Strategies:
• Develop a management tool that can be used to improve habitat and population management efforts.

Goal #8: Reduce illegal harvest.

• Example Strategies:
• Increase targeted enforcement efforts, especially on mule deer winter ranges.
• Provide training and information to other law enforcement agencies to increase awareness of poaching and commercialization.
• Reduce illegal outfitting and guiding for mule deer.
• Promote citizen involvement in enforcement issues.

Goal #9: Improve population monitoring programs.

• Example Strategies:
• Monitor mule deer population size, body condition, age structure, fawn production and survival, adult survival, and buck:doe ratios annually.
• Develop short-term and long-term total population objectives for discrete mule deer populations.

Goal #10: Work with landowners and sportsmen to minimize and mitigate for depredations.

• Example Strategies:
• Increase the use of permanent solutions to address chronic depredation problems.
• Encourage use of youth, seniors, hunters with disabilities, and veterans for harvesting depredating deer.
• Distribute information to agricultural producers on how to minimize depredations.

Goal #11: Implement special investigations to improve population and habitat management capabilities.

• Example Strategies:
• Conduct an in-depth analysis of the impacts of varying season length and timing on buck survival.
• Determine long-term impacts of noxious weeds, fire, and habitat change on mule deer populations.

Goal #12: Provide information and improve public understanding of, and involvement in, mule deer management.

• Example Strategies:
• Increase distribution of mule deer information via newspaper articles, internet, public meetings, radio, television, direct mail, e-mail, and workshops.
• Distribute educational materials promoting the relationship between hunting and wildlife conservation in Idaho.
• Increase opportunities for public involvement including public meetings, internet, conservation organization meetings, and e-mail

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Draft Plan Population Goals

The state has been divided into 15 mule deer population management units (PMUs) consisting of one or more game management units. Population management units were based on seasonal movements of deer, habitat characteristics, and similar management priorities. Short-term population goals are likely to be met within one to three years simply through hunting season structure, assuming normal precipitation and snow conditions. Long-term population goals are designed to be achieved in three to 10 years and are dependent on implementing a number of management strategies within the plan, particularly habitat improvement projects.

From my friend, John Hull:

Stan’s deer was nice but, here’s a picture of the new world record whitetail. It was taken by the
cousin of a co-worker’s sister’s, uncle’s, best friend’s, son-in-law’s cousin.
Reportedly it will score 603 1/8 by B&C standard and was shot in West Texas .
Supposedly, this deer had killed a bull, two landrovers and six hunters in the last two weeks alone. They said he was in a fierce fight with Bigfoot when he was shot.

A person, using the handle gilamonster8, posted this picture in the Monster Muley forum claiming that the buck came from Southern Arizona.

BLM closes lands to protect wildlife. Let the few remaining Mule Deer rest in peace.

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According to a Shoshone area news report, the BLM has been closing land to vehicles in the lower Woodriver Valley for 25 years in order to make a safe haven for wintering wildlife. The closure will start Dec 1 and run through Apr 30.

Areas covered by the closure include: – Martin and Big Dry canyons east of Bellevue.

– A large block of lands extending from Croy Creek to south of Townsend Gulch, with snowmobile and snowshoe use permitted on main roads.

– The Big and Little Beaver drainages northeast of Fairfield.

– The south-facing slopes above the East Fork of the Big Wood River.

– The Elk Mountain area to the north and northwest of Muldoon Creek.

– Portions of the Picabo Hills.

To view a detailed map of the BLM’s Wood River Valley area winter closures, go to www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/shoshone/off-highway_vehicles.html and click on “Seasonal Closure Map.”

This picture came to me via email. It is supposedly a buck that came out of Idaho’s unit 66.

From Idaho Outdoors

Idaho Unit Map