S
SMELLYBUCK
Guest
I've got to say I feel sorry for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as I've read the posts on this site. I am shocked at the ignorance and the inconsistant stances of hunters. Over the past few years I've heard complaints like:
1) The 2004 hunt wiped out the herd.
2) There aren't enought deer and its the DWR's fault (too many tags, too many hunts, blah blah blah.)
Then the snows came and the complaints poured in that the DWR should be feeding the deer. Guys who previously said there wasn't a deer herd seemed to think the DWR should be feeding all these "nonexistant" deer that were starving.
Did anyone pay attention in their hunter safety classes on a really simple concept called carrying capacity? As much as we complained last year that there weren't enough deer, its pretty obvious now that the herd was at carrying capacity.
I'm convinced that if we want more deer in this state we are going to have to improve winter ranges. Utah doesn't have near the winters of Wyoming, however, Wyoming deer seem to make it through the winters far better. I've observed that the places that are seeing the worst winter kill are light on sage brush. Its wiped out by farms or houses or fires. If we want more deer in this state, we would be far better off focusing our efforts on improving winter range instead of fighting about making more units or cutting tags. Improve the winter habitat and we'll have more deer to hunt - period. We should be working with the DWR to improve the winter range instead of talking about how stupid they are.
1) The 2004 hunt wiped out the herd.
2) There aren't enought deer and its the DWR's fault (too many tags, too many hunts, blah blah blah.)
Then the snows came and the complaints poured in that the DWR should be feeding the deer. Guys who previously said there wasn't a deer herd seemed to think the DWR should be feeding all these "nonexistant" deer that were starving.
Did anyone pay attention in their hunter safety classes on a really simple concept called carrying capacity? As much as we complained last year that there weren't enough deer, its pretty obvious now that the herd was at carrying capacity.
I'm convinced that if we want more deer in this state we are going to have to improve winter ranges. Utah doesn't have near the winters of Wyoming, however, Wyoming deer seem to make it through the winters far better. I've observed that the places that are seeing the worst winter kill are light on sage brush. Its wiped out by farms or houses or fires. If we want more deer in this state, we would be far better off focusing our efforts on improving winter range instead of fighting about making more units or cutting tags. Improve the winter habitat and we'll have more deer to hunt - period. We should be working with the DWR to improve the winter range instead of talking about how stupid they are.