>Now that i'm in front of
>a computer and not my
>phone i'll attempt to explain
>what I think happened in
>some form of a cohesive
>reply.
>
>This whole deal started in January
>2011 when the DNR flew
>the unit. We were
>in the midst of a
>monster winter the likes of
>which hadn't been seen since
>1988. This is at
>the foundation of the problem
>that has escalated since then.
>
>
>#1 Due to the winter elk
>that do not reside on
>the unit were pushed on
>to it. Manti elk
>crossed HWY 6 for the
>south facing slopes of Spanish
>for canyon, and Uinta MTN
>elk were pushed down across
>the N. E. borders of
>the unit. This exaggerated
>the counts.
>
>#2 Sightablitity was at an all
>time high for the same
>reasons. Well above 80%
>IMHO I would venture to
>say they saw around 95%
>of the elk. The
>model said 80% so they
>added over a thousand more
>elk to the total.
>6674x.2=1334.8 Bringing the grand total
>to 7700 head. This
>is 2200 head over objective.
>
>
>Because of these reasons, the initial
>population was grossly overestimated, and
>the models just snowballed it
>from there. In the
>first year the computers said
>issue X amount of antlerless
>to account for the excess.
> Then the success rates
>came back lower than expected.
> This bumped the population
>estimate up even more and
>prompted 'antlerless control permits' as
>a response. Those were
>issued and success rates again
>fell. Now our current
>population estimate is 8900 head,
>4400 head over. More
>and more sportsmen are coming
>forward voicing concern over the
>lack of elk that they
>are seeing. We were
>repeatedly told that they were
>on private ground and there
>was nothing that could be
>done. So we started
>contacting landowners. Over and
>over and over we got
>the same response from CWMU
>to non consumptive, they reported
>less elk then they had
>ever had before. Please
>understand, I'm not attempting to
>say there are no elk.
> There's still ALOT of
>elk on this unit.
>
>The elk that remain, have been
>trained due to the massive
>amount of pressure that they
>have faced the last 3
>years to reside on private
>ground. The ones that
>don't are becoming scarce and
>the success rates reflect that
>story.
>
>My point being that it's not
>anyone's 'fault'. What I
>think happened is merely a
>matter of circumstance. The
>models are numerically sound, but
>can't account for extraordinary events.
> This is one of
>those times.
>
>
https://www.facebook.com/strawberrybayoutfitters
nice explanation berry but it doesn't make sense they are talking one bad winter in 2011.where the elk numbers where way up from surrounding units. wouldn't it throw a red flag if you had that many more elk then 2010 and the number dropped in 2012 fly overs. why would they then throw out a massacre in 2013. if you ask me it was about $$$$$$. kind of a coincidence they put out a whole crap load of elk tags the year they had to cut deer tags.
