mightyhunter
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 1,179
I have been asked by some non-resident hunters what they should do if they were contemplating putting in for the Region F deer tag. I was going to wait until the final changes come out in F before suggesting anything. If you have not already put in for this tag, I would advise you not to until you have a clear idea of the changes.
If you have already put in for the F tag or are going to put in for the tag, you need to know what you are looking at. My advice is the same for the DIY or the guided hunter. It has been proposed that the F tags be reduced to 550. That is down some 200 tags. If you want to do the math, you can figure the odds for the special or regular tag drawing.
I will make my comments on my knowledge of units 105,106, 110 and 111. Much of what I say would also to apply to the units on the South Fork of the Shoshone.
105 General Deer: This is the odd man out in all the units. If G&F cuts the antlered deer season an additional 7 days in October, this unit will be the least affected when it comes to the harvest of antlered deer on national forest. Mule deer bucks at this time of the year are mostly resident deer. When it comes to mature bucks, they are really scarce. This is the land of the yearling buck. If you are after meat, you might get lucky. If you are after antlers, well "good luck".
106 General Deer: This is truly a mountain hunt on national forest land. About 15 years ago, this hunt traditionally opened on October 15th and ran through and into the first week of November. The dates basically mirrored the season dates in 110 and 111. This was a hunt for migratory mule deer. For the most part, the mule bucks had migrated "out" of this unit by late July. There are some resident mule deer bucks that summer in the highest elevation fringes of this unit but not all that many. Changes were made in 2005 that dramatically changed the season dates. They opened this unit on October 1 and closed it on the last day of October. Again, because these deer were migratory, this was a dramatic change. The current proposal will allow the season to run from October 1 to October 24th. Two plus weeks of hunter opportunity during the migration have been eliminated.
I can only base my comments on what I have observed over the last 20 years in this unit. The bulk of the bucks in this unit, outside of those mule deer summering in the fringe areas, will be yearlings running with does that migrate out early. If there is some serious weather, this might change a little. For many years, the outfitters in these units would only take guided mule deer hunters starting on the 25th of October. That is problematic now. Many of the outfitters just stopped taking out deer hunters after the change. I personally feel that the chance of harvest of a mature mule deer buck in this unit, with the new changes, will be down in the single digits. I believe that as much as 80% to 90% of the mature bucks harvested in this unit since 2005 were harvested in this unit on the general tag in the last week of October. That week is gone. I don't know if the G&F keeps a statistic on this but you could certainly ask the biologist or the warden at the Regional Office in Cody.
106 Limited Quota Deer Hunt: I believe these tags will be cut in half to a total of 25. I think that means that only a couple of these tags will be available to non-resident hunters.
110 and 111 General Deer Tags: The season in these units used to mirror the seasons in 106 and 105 on National Forest. Traditionally the season in these units ran from October 15th through November 10th. The extensive outfitter and guide presence in these units would usually run from October 25th through the 10th of November. The outfitted hunts were usually 5 day hunts and they could take 3 different groups of hunters within that time period. Now they have 9 days to do the same thing. The DIY hunter will have essentially those same 9 days to hunt. You can hunt before the 25th of October, but I would suggest that your time spent would be akin "to taking your rifle for a walk". I won't speculate as to how many mule deer bucks have been traditionally killed in this unit before the 4th of November. Fortunately, there has been a check station in place in Cody that actually monitors these units and the day of harvest of any mule deer buck during the season. These statistics should be available to the public and you can call the Cody Regional G&F office to find the days when a harvest was made. The check station does close in the evening and many of the outfitted hunters don't always go through it.
On a final note, a limited quota hunt for mule deer has been proposed in the new changes. I believe the total tags will be 25 for the combined area of 110 and 111. I have no idea what the odds would be for drawing this new tag that will run from November 1st through the 15th. My guess is they would be bad once the word gets out about the changes.
Make your own decision about hunting Region F this year. I would strongly suggest you wait on that decision until you know if the new proposals have been approved. It is my intent to hunt some of my old mule deer hunts in Wyoming and Idaho. just sayin...mh
If you have already put in for the F tag or are going to put in for the tag, you need to know what you are looking at. My advice is the same for the DIY or the guided hunter. It has been proposed that the F tags be reduced to 550. That is down some 200 tags. If you want to do the math, you can figure the odds for the special or regular tag drawing.
I will make my comments on my knowledge of units 105,106, 110 and 111. Much of what I say would also to apply to the units on the South Fork of the Shoshone.
105 General Deer: This is the odd man out in all the units. If G&F cuts the antlered deer season an additional 7 days in October, this unit will be the least affected when it comes to the harvest of antlered deer on national forest. Mule deer bucks at this time of the year are mostly resident deer. When it comes to mature bucks, they are really scarce. This is the land of the yearling buck. If you are after meat, you might get lucky. If you are after antlers, well "good luck".
106 General Deer: This is truly a mountain hunt on national forest land. About 15 years ago, this hunt traditionally opened on October 15th and ran through and into the first week of November. The dates basically mirrored the season dates in 110 and 111. This was a hunt for migratory mule deer. For the most part, the mule bucks had migrated "out" of this unit by late July. There are some resident mule deer bucks that summer in the highest elevation fringes of this unit but not all that many. Changes were made in 2005 that dramatically changed the season dates. They opened this unit on October 1 and closed it on the last day of October. Again, because these deer were migratory, this was a dramatic change. The current proposal will allow the season to run from October 1 to October 24th. Two plus weeks of hunter opportunity during the migration have been eliminated.
I can only base my comments on what I have observed over the last 20 years in this unit. The bulk of the bucks in this unit, outside of those mule deer summering in the fringe areas, will be yearlings running with does that migrate out early. If there is some serious weather, this might change a little. For many years, the outfitters in these units would only take guided mule deer hunters starting on the 25th of October. That is problematic now. Many of the outfitters just stopped taking out deer hunters after the change. I personally feel that the chance of harvest of a mature mule deer buck in this unit, with the new changes, will be down in the single digits. I believe that as much as 80% to 90% of the mature bucks harvested in this unit since 2005 were harvested in this unit on the general tag in the last week of October. That week is gone. I don't know if the G&F keeps a statistic on this but you could certainly ask the biologist or the warden at the Regional Office in Cody.
106 Limited Quota Deer Hunt: I believe these tags will be cut in half to a total of 25. I think that means that only a couple of these tags will be available to non-resident hunters.
110 and 111 General Deer Tags: The season in these units used to mirror the seasons in 106 and 105 on National Forest. Traditionally the season in these units ran from October 15th through November 10th. The extensive outfitter and guide presence in these units would usually run from October 25th through the 10th of November. The outfitted hunts were usually 5 day hunts and they could take 3 different groups of hunters within that time period. Now they have 9 days to do the same thing. The DIY hunter will have essentially those same 9 days to hunt. You can hunt before the 25th of October, but I would suggest that your time spent would be akin "to taking your rifle for a walk". I won't speculate as to how many mule deer bucks have been traditionally killed in this unit before the 4th of November. Fortunately, there has been a check station in place in Cody that actually monitors these units and the day of harvest of any mule deer buck during the season. These statistics should be available to the public and you can call the Cody Regional G&F office to find the days when a harvest was made. The check station does close in the evening and many of the outfitted hunters don't always go through it.
On a final note, a limited quota hunt for mule deer has been proposed in the new changes. I believe the total tags will be 25 for the combined area of 110 and 111. I have no idea what the odds would be for drawing this new tag that will run from November 1st through the 15th. My guess is they would be bad once the word gets out about the changes.
Make your own decision about hunting Region F this year. I would strongly suggest you wait on that decision until you know if the new proposals have been approved. It is my intent to hunt some of my old mule deer hunts in Wyoming and Idaho. just sayin...mh
