>Caleb,
>Out of all the bios in
>NV, I am sure
>you get the most phone
>calls. With the number
>of tags issued this year
>you are going to be
>extremely busy! While I've
>got you on the hook
>I would love to hear
>an explanation for the number
>of tags given out this
>year in 10.
>And one other, what
>main factor do you attribute
>the decline in the Ruby
>deer herd too?
>Urban sprawl and winter range
>fires being minimal, is
>it lions, coyotes, or something
>else. I
>can say this, last
>year while hunting 10 in
>October on two different occasions
>I saw packs of coyotes
>chasing deer at or just
>below the crest of the
>range. Some of the
>largest coyotes I've seen and
>they hunted the deer like
>a pack of wolves...relentless,
>it was a sight to
>see!
>Thanks for your time,
>Spear
Flying Spear,
I would love to chat with you on the phone. I don't like to delve into online forums, as I think this is YOUR avenue to express your thoughts and talk amongst other sportsmen and women. As a ourtesy to you I will provide brief explanations to your questions. I only initially posted because I wanted to appologize to you if you hadn't recieved any returned phone calls and don't intend to frequent this forum.
The 2-second summary to your first question is that NDOW manages by buck ratio and we target a post season buck ratio of 30 bucks: 100 does. It is an extremely conservative approach. The post season buck ratio last fall (which drives this year's pre-hunt buck ratio) was 33bucks:100does (derived from a sample size of 6,629 deer), which doesnt include production. Based on our hunter success and othetr factors, we issue tags to bring that buck ratio down to our target of 30. Like I said, feel free to call and I would be happy to explain this to you in more detail.
With regards to your second question, When you refer to a decline, I am assuming you are referring to the published estimate for Area 10 in 1988? There is no doubt in my mind that there were more deer then, than now; however,the area 10 deer herd has been on an upward trend since the winter of 1992-1993. The published estimates for area 10 in much of the 1970's were far less than they are now.
There are alot of factors which influence population dynamics and I am open to investigating and aknowldeging all of them (including predation, hbaitat, disease,fences, mining, urban sprawl, etc.) With regards to predation, NDOW (through cooperation with Wildlife Services)conducted a predator removal project in the East Humboldt Range (unit 101)for five years. The cost was huge. During that project, between 2,500 and 2,750 coyotes were lethally removed and 12 lions were removed as part of this project. The project wasn't perfect, but the bottomline is that a lot of predators were removed. We analyzed fawn recruitment during and after the predator removal and saw no significant inclrease.
I bring this up for two resons:
1. It is not as simple as kill all of the coyotes and lions to increase numbers.
2. Some seem to think that NDOW ignores predation - we don't.
Looking at my notes,I have 26 hunter calls to return since Friday, so I better get after it.
Please call when you have time.
Regards,
Caleb
