Every year there is going to be a few guys that kill deer and are going to be generally happy with the way the hunt went. However, I have hunted from South Wyoming to the North Western part of the state to Area 87 to help a buddy out, which hasn't opened yet but been scouting......all I can say is WOW!! We saw some bucks...nothing worth a darn. One thing we didn't see was number of deer. I don't have the answers but one thing is certain something needs to be done, its alarming the lack of deer in this state, almost scary. I lived in the Jackson Hole area for 7 years and went back up to the Greys River area with two buddies and did a 7 day pack hunt and saw maybe a total of 20 deer, two being pretty good bucks. In the southern area I went for four days and saw maybe 15 deer with the best being a forkie. If anyone claims that there is nothing wrong with the deer herds, they need to have there head examined or they didn't hunt in wyoming 10-15 years ago. It is certainly not looking good for the years to come, espically when the G and F continue to issue unlimited general tags. I went to the taxidermist yesterday, which is also the meat processor in Rawlins and all a guy has to do is look at the lack of animals in his shop. The local meat processor has already layed 75% of his meat cutters off due to lack of business. I love to hunt mule deer just as much as the next guy, big deer are my passion, but I will be doing my part the next few seasons. I will not be purchasing a deer tag until something changes. Earlier in the year I posted a link to a article that ran in the local newspaper in Rawlins about the mule deer and antelope herds, a couple weeks later the G and F ran another article claiming that they miss-counted the winter range deer and stated that the mule deer herd was in fact suffering and yet they did nothing "business as usual". I guess in the next three to five years we will all be paying for the over-hunting of wyoming's mule deer. I hope to god I am wrong but based on not only what I am seeing but 95% of everyone else is seeing the same thing. Please Wyoming G and F for the love of god...do something, try something at least. Like everyone else, just being out in the mountains is what its all about, and I have no problem not tagging a deer, but to me another big part of it is at least having the opportunity to see a good deer. Regardless of harvesting, shooting, or anything else I just want to see some bucks...... Its only going to get worse!!!! As long as WE stay "business as usual"!!!!!!!!
