Let's Look at History

wimpy

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Here in southeastern Utah, when the white settlers came, there were very few deer and no elk. The grass was documented to be belly-deep to the horses. At the turn of the century, the cattle were brought in to eat all the old grass, and all the predators were managed as predators and shot on sight. Then a lot of the land was cleared of pinon and junipers and more grass was grown. In about the 1950's, the government started to lay down poison to further control the predators; at the same time, there were also paid government trappers in San Juan and Grand counties. Then from the 1950's to the 1970's, the deer herd just exploded. There were so many deer that there were periods when there were over 300,000 deer tags issued (along with all the poaching that was going on at this time, which is 100 times what happens now). Then in the 1980's, the division started the doe hunts to cut down the number of deer. And they also took the lions and bears off a shoot-on-sight to managing them..that was when our deer herd started to fall.

I read on this site where people state: look at the limited entries and how well they work. Show me a limited entry that is producing the deer numbers, and the top end deer, that were produced in the 70's, when we really managed predators. Look at the San Juan-Elk -Ridge unit; it is at 37% of the division objective, with only 50 hunters, so how in the world can you blame the deer herd on the hunters?

As I see it, the problems with the deer herd is the lack of habitat, and more importantly, the fawns survival rate. If you can't raise a fawn, you won't have a deer. This goes back to predators, which needs to include all predators. There has been a lot of talk about lions and coyotes, which is needed. Coyotes are one of the worst, but the state is putting lots of money into the management of them and anybody that wants to can shoot them on sight to help. As far as the lions, right now every doe is important to the herds growing to objective. Now let's talk about the bears, which in my belief, are the hardest predators on the fawns right now, and there is very little talk about what they are doing to the deer herds.

Just look back to the 1950's through the 1980's, when the predators were managed as predators, and kept way in control and the deer in the state of Utah were like none other. When the division started to manage lion and bears as sport hunting, our deer numbers went down accordingly.
 
Great post!
Predators are very hard to control without cooperation from everyone though, and the use of trapping and poison. They are smart and keep getting smarter, if we want to knock numbers down we need to change the game.

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-21-10 AT 03:12PM (MST)[p]First hunting license in Utah was issued in 1907. In 1908 to 1912 the legislature closed the season. It was opened again in 1913 and it was "buck only" and an amazing 500 bucks were taken by hunters, many more than expected. Estimated deer population in 1916 was a mere 8500. The deer population began to explode and by 1930 there was an estimated 55,000 deer. In 1934 first antlerless deer hunt and 1600 doe permits were issued, but most hunters would not buy them.

Number of deer taken by hunters?

1945---49,890
1946---53,309
1947---60,813
1948---68,895
1949---60,478
1950---73,419
1951---101,494
1952---90,161
1953---95,003
1954---107,896
1955---111,917
1956---122,585
1957---105,599
1958---117,241
1959---126,315

TOTAL DEER POPULATION: 500,000
 
The mindset of the UDWR must be changed in regards to
how predators are classified. I believe that they are
protected because they are another source of income.
I am old school and I want to see a return to a more
open policy when it comes to all predator control and
that includes lions and bears.
The seasons should be longer with many more tags and
bounties should be increased and again made profitable.
Predation IMO is a major cause of fawn mortality and in
the end does impact deer numbers.
So, yes to greater hunting opportunities for all pred-
ators and no to their endless and continued protection.

ELDORADO
 

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