G&F Commission sets seasons in G & H

jm77

jm77

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LAST EDITED ON Apr-20-17 AT 01:39PM (MST)[p]The Wyo G&F Commission just voted to decrease the NR licenses in regions G & H by 200 tags each. In G there will be a region wide closing date of Oct 7th.

The Game & Fish Dept was told to research regions for resident general licences. That will be interesting.
 
Good start!

Just think if the G&F wasn't so stingy with the money they could have purchased $124,800 worth of feed this winter, saved all those starving deer and no tag cuts would have been needed. But, as I hear the G&F doesn't value the life of a mule deer to the extent they do elk.

I could live with the resident general regions.

Any talk of shutting down the Youth doe slaughter in Western Wyo?
 
>And we have our first person
>on this thread who is
>described in the article below.
> Should be many more
>who fit the same description
>to follow.
>
>http://www.themeateater.com/2017/a-...ackasses-who-dont-even-try-to-listen-to-them/
>
>A guy who can't see the
>difference between an elk and
>a mule deer. Here's your
>sign.

Obviously my sarcasm did not translate. Look at other thread at the top of wyo section to get my attempt at a joke
 
Resident regions is a great idea. It would help make Wyoming a more pleasurable place to hunt for everyone by reducing crowding. It will be interesting to see the results from the proposed pilot program in HA 82 & 100. That is pick a region + pick a period of the season in which to hunt.
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-20-17 AT 09:13PM (MST)[p]Pick your region is a slippery slope. Look at Utah for example. It started with hunting all three season state wide. Then move to choose your weapon, then pick your region and weapon, and then to the current pick your ridge and weapon.

HA 82 & 100 sounds too much like Colorado hunting. The shorter the season gets for hunters the more bucks they will shoot on first sight.

I'd say with those type of changes Wyoming hunting will be as bad as Utah hunting within 10 years. This shoot every deer on sight mentality is a great part of the demise of the mule deer herd. Short season contribute to shooting every buck on sight.
 
I don't think Utah wanted to go down the path we've gone down. We've done so because technology, time and hunter dedication has given us too much of an advantage over the game and in order to reduce (manage) success rates, changes have to happen.
its going to happen everywhere, even in Wyoming. The whole "self regulation" by Wyoming residents is a dream.
Hunters buy tags and rifles because they want to have success. With greater technology, more time and greater dedication and determination, success goes up, even for for Wyoming residents. When success increases overall, it comes at the cost of deer lives. More die, the less that are there going forward.
Something has to give. Sportsmen have to be willing to either give up some of the time or technology to maintain current opportunity.
We're all to blame. From those of us who scout and share the information with clients, to outfitters taking clients to bucks, to the guy shooting bucks at 500+ yards with a $5k rifle, to the guys who hunt numerous opening dates for their best chance of success, to the guy shooting a young buck from the road on the last day to fill the tag.
Part of the problem is that there's a lot of people who want to point their fingers at everyone else, who don't want to acknowledge that they too are apart of it all. I accept the fact that the way I make my living comes at the cost of big deer being hunted and killed. I've been running this site for 17+ years now and since day one my job in part has been to excite people about hunting big bucks, to help them get educated on where to hunt, how to be better and help them network for greater chance of big buck success. In addition to that, now I help a few guys more directly on where to hunt a big buck. So yes, I play my role in the whole thing, but I sure don't think I should be shutting down shop so that a bunch of dudes with 800 yard rifles have a better chance a those bucks.
Change has to happen throughout, not just in little insignificant areas.

That's my take. I don't believe Wyoming wants to limit hunters in any way, but they need to try and maintain opportunity and quality.
You know what I'm saying Roadlesshunter?
More deer is what we all really need, so we can all have plenty of opportunity.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
LIKE MonsterMuleys.com
on Facebook!
 
I took the time to listen to the commissions meeting about deer. It looks like Region G and H are going to three points or better next year. That should help a few little guys survive.

Pick your Region would still work for my hunting style, since I hunt G, H, and K. K is just a throwaway unit I could go without hunting that unit. I haven't ventured too far into H so that unit could go away. That leaves G for my Region.

The biggest problem will be when they start the limited quota in those Regions and a points system.

It looks like the only ones pushing for Resident Regions was the guides.

Founder I agree with what your saying. Everyone is rooting for their dog in the fight, but a balance approach is what's needed from all sides.

I wish everyone that wanted to hunt Wyoming could every year, but we all know that can't happen.
 
There were no resident hunters from G that commented to the Commission. Only outfitters and Josh from Muley Fanatics.The Dept will, at the request of the Commission, begin studying resident general area regions, which, with the public process involved, will take at least two years minimum. There will have to be a clear majority of stake holders in favor before it will be recommended.

I can bet, there will be many residents against this idea, just because of the fact all the outfitters want it and it is rare to see residents and outfitters agree on much of anything. I will admit that it was Nontypical's Rob Wiley that suggested to the Commission to reinstate the decrease of 200 licenses to G & H. There appears to be some disagreement on different issues among WYOGA's ranks these days.
 
>I watched online and was surprised
>and disappointed to see
>Muley Fanatics team up with
>outfitters to oppose the early
>closures.

The opposition is due to the fact that shorter seasons have no measurable effect on harvest %. Colorado, which typically has shorter seasons lengths than Wyo, has an average success rate of around 52%. CO 2nd rifle sits around 48%, 3rd season is 54%, 4th season is 59% and even the high country rifle seasons (comparable to Region G&H) has a success rate of 40%. UT general season buck deer, another short season has success rates between 21 and 71% depending on unit. The average is 42%.

Over the last 5 years success rates in region G&H units has been between 42 and 47%, average of 44%.

None of this points to season length being a good determining factor on harvest %. Shorter seasons are typically used to control hunter over-crowding. States with so many separate licenses for different weapons, CO and UT, and a much higher hunter population than Wyo use them to spread out the hunters and make everyone feel better about their time in the hills.

It also does no show that Wyo residents ability to jump from Unit to Unit with multiple opening days throughout the year has any effect on harvest rates. Requiring residents to pick a region or even going to single units would do nothing to control deer numbers. It would and does control people in the hills numbers. If the Commission is looking for changes to help deer populations they need to focus on the things that will do that. MF's members, I an one, largely support longer seasons and multiple gen unit hunting options.

What will control the harvest rate is the winter kill. The last severe winter in Western Wyo was 2010/2011. The harvest rate in G&H in 2010 was 45%. In 2011 it dropped to 29%. By 2012 it was back up to 44%. Since the data this winter is showing an extremely high fatality rate on fawns I think it is safe to say that a lot of 2 points are shot in G&H.

This winter was worse so I think you can say that 2017 success rate would be even worse.
 
>LAST EDITED ON Apr-20-17
>AT 01:39?PM (MST)
In
>G there will be a
>region wide closing date of
>Oct 7th.
>


This is not correct. The G&F commission came back after their break and corrected what they were trying to do and that is make general areas in Region G & H have the same closing date. Below is the video and the motions come fast in the first couple minutes. All general areas in G & H will close on October 6th. There will also be a 3-point antler restriction in place for all G & H areas. Area 135 will still open on Oct. 1.


Here's the morning discussion with mostly oufitters discussing. Interesting watching. Be set to watch the last 2 1/2 hours of the video.

 
Funny, that's not my experience in Colorado at all. Colorado kicks the *&#% out of Wyoming with the exception of two general regions. I draw late season rifle tags that I can hunt every 2-3 years (as a nonresident) and they are better than the best LQ mule deer hunting in Wyoming. The hunts are more enjoyable due to much less pressure and better season dates. (The exception to this is hunting a 2nd season or a 3rd season with general elk hunters).
There is huge consensus that Utah deer are up in numbers in most areas and many in the know think Utah is on the right track.
Most times when people bash Utah & Colorado the thing they don't take into account is the monstrous resident hunter population base. If UT & CO managed like Wyoming there would not be a mule deer in either state. There are more resident hunters in CO than there is resident population in WY.
Pick a region (or pick a opening season date) is not a slippery slope and it will have little effect on deer population. What it will do is make a more enjoyable, less pressured, & safer hunt experience. I believe it could also increase age class of mule deer. Studies show that hunters success goes up substantially when there are more hunters in the field at a given time. Potentially if we decrease hunter pressure we lower success rates which would increase the age of harvest.
 
I would of voted for a complete closure. Residents and Nonresidents if I was a resident. The revenue loss would be a hit, but hey the herd would recover faster!
 
>I would of voted for a
>complete closure. Residents and Nonresidents
>if I was a resident.
>The revenue loss would be
>a hit, but hey the
>herd would recover faster!

Do you believe there are receptive does that are not getting bred due to lack of bucks? Or are you saying the percentage of B&C class bucks would increase faster?
 
No one knows or isn't talking about the extent of the winter kill. All we know is most fawns and some older class deer died? Obviously it's bad hence the tag cuts, but how bad? What about the road kill?
I just think, no one can accurately say how many tags need to be cut. At least until there is more info, and if you need to make the decision now, I'd vote to close it all.
 

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