Mule Deer Fanatic

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.

Saturday, Oct 13 begins the Rifle Mule Deer Hunt in Washington state.  Some units end on the 21st and others on the 27th.

 Good luck Washington hunters.

I have, for several years now, heard rumors flying around about Kirt Darner – whom, as a Mule Deer Fanatic, I idolized because of his accomplishments and knowledge.  I recently came acrossed an article written by Rich Lorrocco, a friend, which tells the “rest of the story”.  I believe that Rich does not necessarily want to defame Darner.  There may be, and probably are trophies that Darner has taken legitimately.  Additionally, Darner certainly seems to know the “how to’s” of trophy mule deer hunting.

Here is the link to Rich’s article:  http://www.hunts.net/darner.html
Check out his site while you’re there.

One of the best things the Utah DWR has done for mule deer hunters in recent memory is the creation and management of an on-line forum. Typically, the DWR’s actions impact mule deer hunters only in negative ways.

Among other things, the forum allowed the DWR to maintain a pulse on how the hunting community felt about them. I guess they got too much heat. The DWR decided they had no business having a forum and that it was in competition with other forums, so they cancelled it.

There is a version of that forum still in existence. It is managed by a group that calls themselves Utah Wildlife Network. The DWR archive is here: http://utahwildlife.net/dwr_forum/

Or, better yet – here is a forum exclusively about MULE DEER:

MULE DEER FANATIC FORUM

A fire-by-fire breakdown is provided by Pahrump Valley Times. Nevada Department of Wildlife’s Game Bureau Chief Russ Mason was quoted as saying “These [2006 wildland] fires are an environmental disaster for the state of Nevada.”

Excerpt:

Areas of critically important mule deer transition and winter range and important sage grouse nesting and brood rearing habitat have been lost. In addition, chukar and pronghorn have been affected.

“Historically, fire intervals are between 100 and 150 years in these areas, and for some sagebrush environments in lower elevations, 200 to 300 years,” said Shawn Espinosa, Wildlife Biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife). Biodiversity is affected when these natural cycles are disrupted.

“We are now seeing fire return intervals on the order of 10 to 20 years – so the cheatgrass fire cycle is perpetuating itself,” he said. “More frequent fires preclude sagebrush seedlings that would come back after a fire from ever establishing,” said Espinosa.

One of the factors affecting fire intervals is invasive species.

In particular, non-native cheatgrass seems to have evolved to obliterate Nevada’s native vegetation. Cheatgrass is so named because it matures early and cheats native grasses, which emerge later, out of essential water and nutrients before the heat of summer sets in. It matures early and dries out early, creating fuel for fires. And it carries fire across areas between shrubs that would normally be bare.

“The potential for successful restoration is limited,” said Espinosa. Governmental agencies need to have luck on their side in the form of good precipitation, and the seeding must occur during the first year after a fire in order to out-compete cheat grass. Even then, the odds for sagebrush re-growth are low.” he said.

“We’ve seen sagebrush seed response in certain aspects – such as north facing slopes out of direct, all-day sunlight – and at certain elevations conducive for it to grow,” he said.

“Those are the sites we’re concentrating on. South facing slopes will predominantly convert to a cheatgrass environment,” Espinosa said. He noted that even when sage brush areas are reseeded, the overall germination rate is only about 20%.

With the basic fabric of the habitat changing, this doesn’t bode well for a lot of Nevada’s wildlife species. Sage grouse, a native species whose numbers are threatened, have lost numerous strutting grounds, used for mating.

“Over the past few years their nesting and critical brood-rearing habitat has been lost as well,” said Espinosa. “We’ve effectively lost these habitats for the next 30-50 years – conservatively,” he said.

The loss of critical deer winter range is being assessed, and the outlook is poor there as well. Areas burned were host to a number of species which will all suffer from the loss of habitat, including sage-dependent species like sage thrasher, vesper sparrow, and pygmy rabbit, as well as Lahontan cutthroat trout and a whole host of upland game species.

After last summer’s fires in Elko, the department put satellite tracking collars on 10 mule deer to track their movements. The information will help wildlife biologists learn how burned areas affect the deer’s journeys from summer to winter ranges. The data will also provide information to guide rehabilitation efforts to increase survival rates.

Since the gestation period for mule deer is about 210 days, if you know when the rut occurs, then you will know when to expect baby deer.  Or, in like manner, if you know when the fawns are born, then you know when the rut occurs.  In my home area of North Central Arizona, the first fawns are born about the end of July.  This may be a surprise to some.  It was a surprise to me.  The peak birthing period here is mid August.  That is when the typical Arizona monsoon hits.  This timing is about 2 months later than, say Western Colorado.  If I work backwards, that means our local rut is around mid to late January. 

It just so happens that, here in Arizona, I can buy an over-the-counter archery tag that lets me hunt during the rut in certain areas.

Since I am a Mule Deer Fanatic, and a serious student of the Mule Deer, I watch the mule deer near me with keen interest.  I know that the fawns that are being born are disappearing just about as fast as they hit the ground.  I know that the does separate themselves from the other animals just before fawning.  I know that they typically give birth in the middle of a park, which is what I would expect of an antelope.  I presume this is a predator evasion strategy.  It doesn’t seem to be working too well, however.  There are so many coyotes in our area that the deer, and the small game, for that matter, don’t have much of a chance to survive. I see these deer every day – so I can tell when a doe is pregnant, and I can tell when she has delivered.  If I see fawns with their mother, and then they disappear, I deduce a predator problem.  We do not have a habitat problem per se, and we do not have winter kill. 

Last year, we ended up with about 0.5/1.0 fawns per doe.  That’s pretty sad.  It looks like it is going to be even worse this year.  Have you ever wondered what this ratio should be?  If you were a deer rancher,  you would want to net at least 1.5/1.0 fawns per doe.  Is that possible, you ask.  Why, yes it is.  If our agencies were even half good game managers, that is what we could expect from them.  This type of ratio is essential to a growing herd and to having surplus deer.  That is why we have hunting – because of the capacity of deer herds to produce a surplus.  Today, we are giving the lion’s share of that surplus capacity to predators.

It is “normal” for a “heifer” doe to have a single fawn for her first birthing experience at age 2 1/2.  After that, until she goes through menopause, she will typically have twins, occasionally triplets.  Let’s say that a doe will have seven birthing experiences in her lifetime, then we could expect her to deliver 11-13 fawns.  I should interject here – this is why we don’t kill does.  About 55% of the fawns will be buck fawns, so we could expect something like seven buck fawns and six doe fawns from a single, healthy doe.  By the time a doe expires, let’s say, at age ten, between her and her offspring, there would be approximately 340 fawns delivered, of which about 190 would be bucks.  Thinking about these prospects should make any Mule Deer Fanatic happy.  Then you think about the current state of mule deer mis-management and you get sad. 

So, keep an eye on your own deer herd and see what you can learn.  If you see low fawn/doe ratios, you can start killing coyotes.