Lots of deer!!

Founder

Founder Since 1999
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I know Utah permit numbers/increases is a hot topic right now. While I don't really want to see increases, I do have to say that I've sure been seeing a lot of deer here along the wasatch front. More than normal I think. I would guess numbers have increased pretty good over the past few years.
Anyone else noticing the same or am I nuts?

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
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We've been lucky with the winters! Nothin' we can do either way about the weather however.

While we hope for a mild winter for the deer, we hope for plenty of snow so we can take a bath in the summer. It's kind of a tight rope walk and we cannot control the outcome.

Mother Nature is awesome but she'll provide what weather she will and it has nothing to do with our wants.

And YES, I've noticed an increasing deer population across the front and some of them grow to be giant bucks. A friend, not on MM sorry to say, shot a real pig on the general rifle in the front and it's not an isolated occurrence.

Zeke
 
Wait a minute, I thought I heard some of the 435 guys saying this last storm killed them all?? Seriously though, I'm pleased with how the deer have looked the last couple years. Even down south.
 
I have a friends whose son lives over by Lumpy. He had the DWR pick up a dead deer on his back lawn a couple of days ago and what I understand they are staying quite busy this year picking up dead deer over there.

We have different challenges with deer than the City People in the northern end of the state have. I'll never forget what an old wise DWR biologist said (he was a good biologist to). He said we just don't understand why so many fawns don't make it through the winters in Southern Utah when they survive in Northern Utah even when we have a harsher winter.

I'll say it again (at least down here) the novice see all of the deer down in the fields and say boy look at all those deer. We really must have a lot more deer, when in reality the darn elk hunters have pushed them clear into the fields. When you hunt elk until the end of January where are the deer going to be?? I didn't hear you??? DWR, I still didn't hear you????
 
I've seen pictures of 7 deer that died in early March. All of them were under a deck at a cabin on the east side of Echo Reservior which is up north. The summer cabin belongs to a co-worker of mine who happened to go check on his property and found them. He contacted the DWR to investigate it. I never followed up with him to get an update. To me, it looked like the weather and lack of food was the culprit. One of the deer was all bundled up under a plastic kiddie swimming pool.


"Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So
we must and we will."
Theadore Roosevelt
 
I've seen Deer that just 'Gave up' layed up under a Tree & died!

No Rhyme or Reason?










[font color="blue"]They Shot Him in the Back AKA 'LaVoyed Him'!
[/font]
 
I just returned from a 2 hour hike above Pleasant Grove (which means I only went a half mile. Haha)
My brother and I saw a couple dozen deer and they look really good to me.
We did find one dead deer and it looked a month or two old. I didn't investigate or get too close. It was hot and the flies were out in force on the doe.
I'll still stand by my observation about lots of deer and they look quite healthy but I'm no biologist. I only play one on MM. Lol
Zeke
 
""He said we just don't understand why so many fawns don't make it through the winters in Southern Utah when they survive in Northern Utah even when we have a harsher winter.""


Probably not enough bucks to breed the does the first estrus, or second for that matter. So you have all these does getting breed way late, which results in a late fawn drop, which results in smaller fawns going into winter. They just ain't big enough or have enough fat to make it through winter.

and thats' my lawn chair biologist report for the day!!
 
>I just returned from a 2
>hour hike above Pleasant Grove
>(which means I only went
>a half mile. Haha)
>My brother and I saw a
>couple dozen deer and they
>look really good to me.
>
>We did find one dead deer
>and it looked a month
>or two old. I didn't
>investigate or get too close.
>It was hot and the
>flies were out in force
>on the doe.
>I'll still stand by my observation
>about lots of deer and
>they look quite healthy but
>I'm no biologist. I only
>play one on MM. Lol
>
>Zeke

As compared to??????
 
....As compared to NOT lots of deer! LOL

I didn't ever say there were any more or less deer since I'm not equipped to make that statement.

There ya go.

Zeke
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-13-16 AT 12:32PM (MST)[p]Cannonball,
I actually did make the statement previously that there was as increase of deer along the front. I'm not sure if my hard and fast statement has any merit since my observation is so limited.
This would also indicate that anyone's observation is very limited and may have no merit on it's own.
Overall, a cumulative compilation of individual obsevations might begin to have merit.
Zeke
 
Trouble is most of you, including the DWR Employees, compare everything to the low's of our deer herds and think everything is hunk-a-dore when you see a small increase. With the lack of poisons for predators which we will no longer see, we need much larger base herds to feed the predators. The Friends of the Wild Animals are now employed by the Division of Wildlife Resources thus the increase in cougars and bears and one of the reasons for the pitiful number of deer in Utah.
 
Zeke, I spent time on the Front back in the middle to late 60's and there is night and day difference between the populated areas and the remainder of the State. Trouble is most of readers of the MM realm forget that difference or really just don't understand.
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-14-16 AT 06:28PM (MST)[p]What you say certainly makes sense.
I didn't just visit the front in the 60's, I've LIVED here for over 6 decades and we do have fewer deer but I've never been impressed by huge front numbers, ever.
So yes, there are more deer from the low and I have no doubt that we have fewer than in the 60's.
That was then, this is now.
I also appreciate and respect your views.
Zeke
 
No doubt there are fewer deer now than in the 60s, but that period of time was a perfect storm for great deer numbers and the DWR had little if anything to do with it. I also lived here and hunted deer during that era.
Great winters, the ability to poison predators, much better habitat and winter range, open sighted rifles that weren't worth much beyond a couple hundred yards, limited vehicle access because there were few 4 wheel drives, Numbers had exploded because they had not been hunted during the War years, etc. etc.
By the 70s, deer numbers were on a steady decline and they bottomed out in the 90s. I think it's great that some of us are noticing modest increases in numbers, but the reality is, "good ol days" are a thing of the past.
 
I think littlebighorn summed it up perfectly. The stories my dad tells about throwing away 30" racks because they couldn't eat em, and the places they could only get to because of a Willy's and being the only hunters around during the war. Those good old days aren't coming back, but I do think the deer are headed in a positive direction, atleast until the next bad winter.
 
You are right on the populated northern end of the state, but on the remainder of the state, it appears to me most of you are setting your sights way to low.
 
The Deer Herd here still SUCKS!

Ya!

The DWR Issued 2,000 extra Tags last Fall!

Based on a Buck to Doe Ratio!

JFP!

If Good things were gonna Happen,We shoulda seen something by now!

Numbers are STILL Low!

Numbers of Mature Bucks are STILL Low!

And when I say Low,I'm Talkin Bucks Older than 3 GAWD-DAMNED years Old!

Another Thing We've seen here is:

There's alot of Hunters that won't Draw a Deer Tag!

Them Guys still wanna Hunt, Right?

Elk Hunter Numbers Here the last Few Years have been Rediculous & The Elk Huntin Ain't all that Great!

But People still wanna Hunt & You can't Blame them!













[font color="blue"]They Shot Him in the Back AKA 'LaVoyed Him'!
[/font]
 
there numbers are not there on the Yellowstone for deer or elk cant believe giving out more tags ,I spend more than 100 days a year on this unit on horses . there numbers are not there.
 
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