Mt.Emily Deer

hello. this is my first time posting although I have read these forums for the last couple years. I live in lagrande and have hunted Mt. Emily since I was a kid, I'm in my 30s now. It seems that the deer on Mt. Emily have been decreasing for a while now, but this year seemed especially bad. Did anyone else notice this? Thanks

I have noticed it all over Eastern Oregon. I haven't been up on Emily much this year but its similar everywhere. Too many predators mainly cats IMO.

Also there is a lot less open country that there was 10-15 years ago due to lack of logging which makes it much harder to see the deer. ODFW has collared 600 deer in the last two years to try to figure out what is happening to all of them.

There are still deer to be had but hunting them is getting pretty tough.

Thank you for the reply. I will look into the study you mentioned.
I like hunting Emily, but this year we just didn't see the big bucks like I have in the past.

It's the same story in all of eastern Oregon. the decline really hit in the winter of 93 and it's been downhill since then. the cat hunting ban started in 94 and no doubt that's a major part of it.

If you hunted Oregon mule deer in the 60's, 70's or even 80's you know just how pathetic it is today. the newbies and transplants will argue because they don't know any better but they're full of crap.

There should be no mule deer hunting in Oregon until herds recover. period. you have to start somewhere and not letting ODFW sell tags for deer that don't exist is where it starts.
















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