Big Buck Contest in the 60s & 70s

I did learn something from you though, I looked up the word Aeropostale, I’ve never heard that before. I didn’t realize you were a teenage yuppie. I thought you were an older man. Anyways, I’m glad to see the youth engaged in the hunting debate.
 
I did learn something from you though, I looked up the word Aeropostale, I’ve never heard that before. I didn’t realize you were a teenage yuppie. I thought you were an older man. Anyways, I’m glad to see the youth engaged in the hunting debate.
woah calm down. It’s ok if you want to wear a teenage yuppie shirt. who am I to judge? I like to watch old people falling YouTube videos.

Have a great day old man. Nice buck btw!
 
woah calm down. It’s ok if you want to wear a teenage yuppie shirt. who am I to judge? I like to watch old people falling YouTube videos.

Have a great day old man. Nice buck btw!
Wow, you seem to get triggered like a modern snowflake. Just wait until you get out in the real world on your own little fellow. Life is going to be a lot harder on you than what You’ve experienced with mommy and daddy so far, people won’t coddle you like you’re used to. Anyways good luck.
 
Wow, you seem to get triggered like a modern snowflake. Just wait until you get out in the real world on your own little fellow. Life is going to be a lot harder on you than what You’ve experienced with mommy and daddy so far, people won’t coddle you like you’re used to. Anyways good luck.
Thanks for the advice! Btw when you retire that Chevy hat you should get a Hurley hat.
 
Thanks for the advice! Btw when you retire that Chevy hat you should get a Hurley hat.
Pleas explain Hurley to me. I know what Harley is, like in Harley Davidson, it’s a motorcycle. I bet you didn’t know that. You probably ride one of those Yuppie electric scooters. How should I address you from here on out, what pronoun do you use, he, she, him, her? I want to get it right so you don’t have another meltdown. :LOL:
 
Guys...... chill.
You’re right, I’ve had enough fun with him. I make it a point in life to treat everybody the way I want to be treated. Then eventually to treat them the way they treat me. I’m sure both of us have more in common than we will ever know and could probably tell some pretty good hunting stories over a beer or two. You have a good day unless you made other plans!
 
You’re right, I’ve had enough fun with him. I make it a point in life to treat everybody the way I want to be treated. Then eventually to treat them the way they treat me. I’m sure both of us have more in common than we will ever know and could probably tell some pretty good hunting stories over a beer or two. You have a good day unless you made other plans!
So….Netflix and chill?
 
I just finished the first season of Sopranos last night. I’ve never seen an episode until now. I find it rather amusing.
 
Have you watched breaking bad since you’re in NM you’ll like it.
I have not but it’s on my list. I retired 5 years ago and unfortunately I’ve got more time than I would like to sit around and get fat and watch television. We recently finished the series Narcos and Narcos Colombia. They were fascinating.
 
here’s two 300” bucks killed since 2000 and I know of at least 3 more:

View attachment 72431View attachment 72432

Of course you add up all of time till now you’ll have more 300” bucks.

But lumpy if big bucks were everywhere back then let’s see your pile of big ones.

Looking forward to the pics!
Only the Lopez buck is listed in the thirteenth edition, maybe there is another one in the most resent edition, but I haven't seen it in Fair Chase. Some people use a different tape than OM's
 
?

CB8EB0A6-E23C-426A-A60D-EE2395D07ADE.jpeg
 
You’d have to be an idiot to not believe big bucks are disappearing at a faster rate with increasing speaks than anytime in the last 100 years.
 
Got that deer in a suit and tie, snuck right up on him, deer never knew what hit him, didn’t need any camouflage!
Not sure about the tie…….. the rest, could well be the truth…..….:D

Camo clothes was still mostly military only until the late 1970s and early 1980s…….

That buck was killed in 1968 and never mounted until 2015 by his son in law, as a birthday gift.
 
Do you realize most guys didn’t even have cameras in the 50s,60s. And most of the 70s.
When Kodak came out with the disposable it was a game changer.All those instant pictures posted at every sporting good store was how you found out about how many huge deer were being taken.
In just a few years word was out about all the famous places.In fact you put your name and the closed town on the picture.LOL
That’s how guys figured out were the big buck areas were.
We had no social media,no internet and very little information on hunting other states.
Looking back every Deer wall in any store had hundreds of monster deer on them.
With the huge winter kill in 82-83 across the west,and the addition of a lie detector test to
Determine winners.
It has never been the same.
 
Do you realize most guys didn’t even have cameras in the 50s,60s. And most of the 70s.
When Kodak came out with the disposable it was a game changer.All those instant pictures posted at every sporting good store was how you found out about how many huge deer were being taken.
In just a few years word was out about all the famous places.In fact you put your name and the closed town on the picture.LOL
That’s how guys figured out were the big buck areas were.
We had no social media,no internet and very little information on hunting other states.
Looking back every Deer wall in any store had hundreds of monster deer on them.
With the huge winter kill in 82-83 across the west,and the addition of a lie detector test to
Determine winners.
It has never been the same.
Your right fullcry, 95% of people that did have a camera had one of these, 12 pictures per roll of film. Take it into the drug store, they sent it away to get it developed and it would come back in a few weeks. Pictures were more trouble than they were worth for most of us.

D3D30EE6-F126-4CE0-974F-43F2C8BBEC20.jpeg


68A5FF0E-ABD8-4CF8-85CB-B863261ADD6D.jpeg
 
Funny our camera wasn’t quite that bad.Lol
I have a bag of them rolls of film undeveloped that my family took 40 plus years ago.
Never got them developed.I don’t even know if they can anymore.
Lately I been wondering what’s on them.
 
Funny our camera wasn’t quite that bad.Lol
I have a bag of them rolls of film undeveloped that my family took 40 plus years ago.
Never got them developed.I don’t even know if they can anymore.
Lately I been wondering what’s on them.
25 years ago I had some like that too, maybe about 15 years since the pictures had been taken. I took about 4 rolls in to see if they could develop them. As I recall, I got about 10 of the 48 frames back and the quality, which never great to begin with, was not very good at all. But, what would it hurt to send one of then in and give it a try? Might be some family treasures on there…… or……… better than a family treasure, a 150” monster muley buck.

You could post it up for SS!.
 
I’m gonna make that a goal this week to find out if anyone can develop them.
Funny a 180 deer is top end now.
I doubt Super Spreader would believe us any way.
Being born in 99 don’t make you a expert.
Kids these days.?
 
Ha, oh I’m not sure we were much different in our time fullcry. The real truth is the joke’s on them, they’ll be old faster than they realize……… and the next generation will do for them, what their doing for us.

I did a little google search on getting old film developed: this might be a place to start.

8FC59487-AA09-42AA-98CF-C171FAB7EECD.jpeg
 
Your right fullcry, 95% of people that did have a camera had one of these, 12 pictures per roll of film. Take it into the drug store, they sent it away to get it developed and it would come back in a few weeks. Pictures were more trouble than they were worth for most of us.

View attachment 72582

View attachment 72583
Speaking of camo & cameras...

This photo was taken in the early '60s with the camera shown below it. I believe the film size was called "620" & the print size was about 2"x3" or so.

MyKaibabmulie.jpg


1648387227739.png
 
I don't why Im posting! But if you people think that a truck load of
170 inch bucks I is not what we should be trying to a achiever fro are further generations You are Crazy
 
I don't why Im posting! But if you people think that a truck load of
170 inch bucks I is not what we should be trying to a achiever fro are further generations You are Crazy
If there’s ever a time when there’s a truck load or State wide truck loads of 170” bucks, you can bet your sweet little 6.5 Creedmoor and your 1,500 yard rangefinder there’s a bunch of backpacks full of 180” too. I’m not the least bit worried you need to worry about either.
 
The mule deer in Utah, especially in South Central Utah, took a huge hit from what the meteorologists called a “once in a century” flood in the late spring of 1983. Cased by extremely heavy snow, that stayed on both the summer range as well as the winter range, until nearly the first week of June. By the last week of June, Salt Lake City’s State Street and Main Streets were literally sandbagged three feet high and ranging rivers. Sevier County was a 7’ deep lake that was 6 miles wide and 21 miles long, from the town of Monroe to Salina. It took a month to empty. Over the next six years the South Central Utah sportsmen were screaming, day and night, over the loss of our mule deer. It was bad enough that we pushed the Fish & Game into hunting only three point or better bucks, to improve buck to doe ratios which were as low as two buck per hundred doe, on some ranges. They granted the antler restrictions and told sportsmen “there is more than one way to change the buck/doe ratio and they started killing does, at a rate of 6,000/8,000 per year, in South Central Utah per, until 1994.

In 1992/1993 another harsh winter hit Utah. The depth of snow wasn’t as deep nor did the melt come as late in the year but that year there was decent snow pack on the winter range which warmed up early in January and then Utah encounter 3 months of consistent bitter cold weather, that crusted the snow on the winter range over 6 to 8” deep. It stayed hard crusted over until last April. (By comparison we usually start greening up in early March). All over Utah, hundred/thousands of mule deer were dying in peoples yards, trying to find something to eat. Most, but not all hunters immediately recognized the loss. However thousands of young hunters, who weren’t as familiar with traditional mule deer populations….. as some of older guys where didn’t have the back ground to notice the loss and put up a tremendous out cry whenever reducing hunting tags was even considered. Some still are but, as I’ve watch their behavior the last year or two it seems as some of the more vocal, younger hunter, from say 10/12 years ago seem to be starting to worry, like we were 40 years ago. Funny what a little time and experience does to a person I guess.

My belief, for what that’s worth, is this, the loss of the predator poison 1080 in the 1950/1960 caused the coyote, cougar, bear, and eagle populations to slowly but surely increase. While the predator population may not have reached their range’s carrying capacity for coyote, cougar, bear, and eagle by 1982/83 it was getting close. It certain is at it’s carrying capacity now. Combine the increasing loss to predators, the unnoticed loss of mule deer to loss to the unrecognized winter kill in the spring of 1983, and the 6,000/8,000 antlerless doe tags, every year between 1985 and 1993, WE put the Utah mule deer population at “a tipping point”.

The bitter cold snow crusted winter in 1992/93 was the push that tipped it over, and forced the mule deer population to fall below its ability out produce it’s mortality rates.

Prior to 1993, Fish and Game data reports show fawn survival rates were consistently above 75 per 100 doe, spring count, in most units. They are rarely over 50/60 per 100 now and they have been that low for nearly 30 years. (A 50/60% fawn survival rate will never, under current environment/social conditions to create a surplus population.). And they have and will continue to stay that way because of the 50 plus reason that elkassassin is constantly referring to. And it’s those 50 plus reasons that elkassassin claims have to be changed “simultaneously” or nothing will change for our mule deer populations. I have come to believe he is absolutely correct and I can not see any possible way it can or will ever happen simultaneously.

Once it tipped, there is no way it can tip back.

I hope I’m wrong……. If anyone thinks it can, I would be delighted to hear their rational for thinking it can or will.
?
 
The mule deer in Utah, especially in South Central Utah, took a huge hit from what the meteorologists called a “once in a century” flood in the late spring of 1983. Cased by extremely heavy snow, that stayed on both the summer range as well as the winter range, until nearly the first week of June. By the last week of June, Salt Lake City’s State Street and Main Streets were literally sandbagged three feet high and ranging rivers. Sevier County was a 7’ deep lake that was 6 miles wide and 21 miles long, from the town of Monroe to Salina. It took a month to empty. Over the next six years the South Central Utah sportsmen were screaming, day and night, over the loss of our mule deer. It was bad enough that we pushed the Fish & Game into hunting only three point or better bucks, to improve buck to doe ratios which were as low as two buck per hundred doe, on some ranges. They granted the antler restrictions and told sportsmen “there is more than one way to change the buck/doe ratio and they started killing does, at a rate of 6,000/8,000 per year, in South Central Utah per, until 1994.

In 1992/1993 another harsh winter hit Utah. The depth of snow wasn’t as deep nor did the melt come as late in the year but that year there was decent snow pack on the winter range which warmed up early in January and then Utah encounter 3 months of consistent bitter cold weather, that crusted the snow on the winter range over 6 to 8” deep. It stayed hard crusted over until last April. (By comparison we usually start greening up in early March). All over Utah, hundred/thousands of mule deer were dying in peoples yards, trying to find something to eat. Most, but not all hunters immediately recognized the loss. However thousands of young hunters, who weren’t as familiar with traditional mule deer populations….. as some of older guys where didn’t have the back ground to notice the loss and put up a tremendous out cry whenever reducing hunting tags was even considered. Some still are but, as I’ve watch their behavior the last year or two it seems as some of the more vocal, younger hunter, from say 10/12 years ago seem to be starting to worry, like we were 40 years ago. Funny what a little time and experience does to a person I guess.

My belief, for what that’s worth, is this, the loss of the predator poison 1080 in the 1950/1960 caused the coyote, cougar, bear, and eagle populations to slowly but surely increase. While the predator population may not have reached their range’s carrying capacity for coyote, cougar, bear, and eagle by 1982/83 it was getting close. It certain is at it’s carrying capacity now. Combine the increasing loss to predators, the unnoticed loss of mule deer to loss to the unrecognized winter kill in the spring of 1983, and the 6,000/8,000 antlerless doe tags, every year between 1985 and 1993, WE put the Utah mule deer population at “a tipping point”.

The bitter cold snow crusted winter in 1992/93 was the push that tipped it over, and forced the mule deer population to fall below its ability out produce it’s mortality rates.

Prior to 1993, Fish and Game data reports show fawn survival rates were consistently above 75 per 100 doe, spring count, in most units. They are rarely over 50/60 per 100 now and they have been that low for nearly 30 years. (A 50/60% fawn survival rate will never, under current environment/social conditions to create a surplus population.). And they have and will continue to stay that way because of the 50 plus reason that elkassassin is constantly referring to. And it’s those 50 plus reasons that elkassassin claims have to be changed “simultaneously” or nothing will change for our mule deer populations. I have come to believe he is absolutely correct and I can not see any possible way it can or will ever happen simultaneously.

Once it tipped, there is no way it can tip back.

I hope I’m wrong……. If anyone thinks it can, I would be delighted to hear their rational for thinking it can or will.
?
 
2Lumpy
You're spot on with all that happened in 83 and then in the early 90's. A few things engrained in my memory was the slaughter of does in 87-89, I can still hear my dad talking about how the deer would never recover. The years following the slaughters it was evident the destruction was done.. I remember seeing hundreds of dead deer along the highways in '94, hanging from partially buried fences, laying in melted out areas around trees. Definitely been a downward spiral since.
 
Your father was a rare sportsman OneRidge. Clearly a man with common sense and wisdom. A downward spiral every since is exactly what it’s been. And as Slamdunk just stated about recent changes:

“Managing buck harvest is the goal behind restrictions, it has nothing to do with "herds" in general.

Two completely separate issues and statagies.”

Clearly, after over thirty years, there’s still no successful prescription/strategy to regrow a declining mule deer population on public land. If it’s not too much snow, it’s too little snow……….

I know most of the MM folks believe Slamdunk and others, who spend time with us here, in virtual reality, regarding my assessments:

“I appreciate your thoughts on the subject but again and just like the previous post, these are speculative assumptions and just a plain and poor assessment of "how and why".

“I also think we look at the same units and datasets and see different things.”

“a useful idiot”

They aren’t the only ones who believe that. I spent nine months on a State of Utah DWR mule deer committee, 7 or 8 years ago, there were 15 of us, not including the Big Game biologist/administrators of the Dept. of Wildlife Resources. Many many strategies ( possible approaching a hundred different strategies , it’s a broad and deep process) on how the State will, for a five year period manage its mule deer. As I’ve shared here before, they allowed me all the time I wanted, to present and defend my assessments and propose my strategies. In fact, it added a month or two to the process, because the rest of them allowing me to “fully” speak my piece. On almost all of the votes, on all of the strategies, the votes were almost 10/14 to one against my assessments/proposals. I often challenged them by asked them, “do you want to do this now or wait until the Utah Wildlife Board or the Utah Legislature forces you to”. Remember now, these 14 were big game hunting sportsmen, and the DWR employees. DWR employees had no vote, they were there to answer questions and explain current data sets. The only strategy I proposed that, after 6 weeks of arguing, was to require cougar management objectives by part of mule deer management plan. I won that committee vote to include it in the plan by a reasonable margin. Then, after all that, the DWR, at their discretion, removed it, prior to presenting it to the Wildlife Board for approval.

That’s when I decided, after neatly 40 years of participation in Utah’s wildlife issue, I stopped. Haven’t been back to a single wildlife meeting or any kind, for any purpose since. Why?

If our State’s hunters don’t see or want to act upon the decline population of mule deer, I have nothing of value left to offer.

I will ask this question thought, to my friends here on MM and those committee members………. after all these years of declining populations, how had your assessment and your corresponding strategies worked for you. Regarding the one strategy that the committee agree with me on, the DWR remove, was I right, did the Legislature force you to manage cougars according to mule deer population objectives or not? Rather than removing more cougars did the DWR still propose that some mule deer unit objectives be lowered rather removing more cougars, as per the Legislative Law that was pass.

Why were trail cameras restricted by the Wildlife Board? Nobody remembers it was that forced the Wildlife Board to make that policy……… Oh ya, it was the 2021 Legislature. Oh, that’s right, it was the Legislature, not the DWR. Is it just a coincidence the Wlidlife Board dealt with, a slim second before the 2022 Session closed. Typical. Only when forced by a more powerful entity. Why do think they are looking at other technology issues again now? Oh ya……. Could it be another Legislator? How you betting?

If I gave a crap anymore, like some few like Slamdunk still do, you know what you need to do if you want the decline of mule deer to turn around……. it’s not pray or do a rain dance for moisture…… it’s go to a more powerful entity……… because the bureaucrats holding these assessment meetings, where they allow the public to watch but not participate, are not going to add a fawn to the deer herd. How many more meeting do you need to watch to understand that.

An interesting conversation came up in one of the meetings with the State Committee members, before we started the meeting. He caught me outside. He said,”I’ve been watching you for the last couple months, in these meetings, and you don’t give a damn what the rest of us think of you, do you.”

It kind of caught me off guard, so I had to think for a second. It had never occurred to me to think about what people thought of me personally. I finally said, “I guess I don’t, but I do care what is happening to our mule deer herds and I guess I really don’t give a chit what people think of me.” He was a decent guy but seemed quite confused by my nature. Probably haven’t changed a whole lot over the years since then.
 
Last edited:
Less than 12 I would say around 7.

Our school's FFA club ran a big buck contest for school age kids only ended around 1990 because of lack of big bucks. They judged it on width plus height plus points. You honestly needed a buck over 30" wide good height and extra points.
I believe the last really good year was either 1981 or 82, that year there was a buck that was 36" wide that took second. If I remember right that year there was 4 bucks over 30".
Now that’s how school should be , damn my school didn’t do that, but 81-82 I wasn’t old enough to hunt yet, Now days your more worried about being Shot your self , Man what I would give to go back !! At least to mid 80’s to mid 90’s ?
 
Which 80 to mid 90s

I kinda longed for these, when I was a pup.

View attachment 74046
Haha I’ll stick to the 1980’s-1990’s. Trucks with alpine stereos blasting Hair bands on the drag except during hunting season, then you were out looking for those high wide and heavy bucks only to blow the opportunity with buck fever the racing down to local sporting good stores when you got back to town to see the pics of the bucks that were killed that weekend in the big buck contest, dreading school for another week ?
 
Haha I’ll stick to the 1980’s-1990’s. Trucks with alpine stereos blasting Hair bands on the drag except during hunting season, then you were out looking for those high wide and heavy bucks only to blow the opportunity with buck fever the racing down to local sporting good stores when you got back to town to see the pics of the bucks that were killed that weekend in the big buck contest, dreading school for another week ?
Well…..I hate to tell ya, it wasn’t all that great…… at the time…….. there was no Flatty Hattie’s nor 6.5 Creedmoors.
 
From what I remember reading years ago. The reason they did away with the big Buck contests and giving away a jeep was illegal activities. The final nail in the coffin from what I hear was a couple of guys hunting the deep creek mountains in western Utah. And they were driving off the mountain with two nice four points in their truck. When an absolute monster ran across the road in front of them. Well the temptation was too great one guy jumped out and shot this buck right off the road. Then they cut the head off of one of the smaller four points they had. Then hurried and ran over and cut the head off this monster and swapped out the heads. Well being right next to the road of course the magpies and crows gathered on the carcass. Somebody walked over to see what was dead. And seeing a great big deer body with a small head cut off laying there. They Called the Fish & Game and they kind of figured what happened. So they took evidence from the carcass mainly the vertebrae and figured the big buck head would probably show up at a big buck contest somewhere. So they waited until somebody turned one in that matched up with the vertebrae of the buck these guys illegally shot and busted them . I tried to archive the story from Salt Lake Tribune but I couldn’t find it but I did find some guy talking about it on a form years ago with a little different story.
#5 · Jul 25, 2008

Yes sir. big buck contests ended when a guy shot a huge buck out in the deep creek mountains. Only through some testing by a forensic team, they found out the buck was shot in late September. So the person had to cough up the winnings. Also when channel 4 hosted the contest. some of the antlers never made it back to their owners, . As for me I'am glad there gone..
 
From what I remember reading years ago. The reason they did away with the big Buck contests and giving away a jeep was illegal activities. The final nail in the coffin from what I hear was a couple of guys hunting the deep creek mountains in western Utah. And they were driving off the mountain with two nice four points in their truck. When an absolute monster ran across the road in front of them. Well the temptation was too great one guy jumped out and shot this buck right off the road. Then they cut the head off of one of the smaller four points they had. Then hurried and ran over and cut the head off this monster and swapped out the heads. Well being right next to the road of course the magpies and crows gathered on the carcass. Somebody walked over to see what was dead. And seeing a great big deer body with a small head cut off laying there. They Called the Fish & Game and they kind of figured what happened. So they took evidence from the carcass mainly the vertebrae and figured the big buck head would probably show up at a big buck contest somewhere. So they waited until somebody turned one in that matched up with the vertebrae of the buck these guys illegally shot and busted them . I tried to archive the story from Salt Lake Tribune but I couldn’t find it but I did find some guy talking about it on a form years ago with a little different story.
#5 · Jul 25, 2008

Yes sir. big buck contests ended when a guy shot a huge buck out in the deep creek mountains. Only through some testing by a forensic team, they found out the buck was shot in late September. So the person had to cough up the winnings. Also when channel 4 hosted the contest. some of the antlers never made it back to their owners, . As for me I'am glad there gone..
You would think they would leave the little deer and throw the big deer in the truck. No need to cut heads off.
 
You would think they would leave the little deer and throw the big deer in the truck. No need to cut heads off.
I think it was Sunday afternoon of the opening weekend. And on the main road out of the east side of the range. I’m sure there was a lot of people around and they panicked and did the quickest thing they thought they could do to get away with it.
 
In reality guys the perceived glory days of our past mule deer populations were not the reality of past populations before the European settlers came to these parts. There were less mule deer here than we think. The pioneers had a few big bucks to shoot at before they really killed off everything including grizzly and bighorn sheep, that were actually more common in the hills than we probably give credit. The perceived mule deer population high was a result of the years of livestock grazing and the resultant shift in favorable forage and browse created by this ecological event with the help of widespread predator control; lot more cows and sheep and trappers back in the day. Population will go down, it may come back.? Probably not in our lifetimes. I remember as a kid in early 80s all the deer heads rotting at the dump, no one cared about the average deer antlers, hunted for the meat! Big buck contests are now a social media event between likes and followers! Still some nice bucks growing out there.
 
In reality guys the perceived glory days of our past mule deer populations were not the reality of past populations before the European settlers came to these parts. There were less mule deer here than we think. The pioneers had a few big bucks to shoot at before they really killed off everything including grizzly and bighorn sheep, that were actually more common in the hills than we probably give credit. The perceived mule deer population high was a result of the years of livestock grazing and the resultant shift in favorable forage and browse created by this ecological event with the help of widespread predator control; lot more cows and sheep and trappers back in the day. Population will go down, it may come back.? Probably not in our lifetimes. I remember as a kid in early 80s all the deer heads rotting at the dump, no one cared about the average deer antlers, hunted for the meat! Big buck contests are now a social media event between likes and followers! Still some nice bucks growing out there.
Good post. Lots of factors involved, I believe the two most important ones involving the reduction of population is drought and predators. I’m no expert on either, it’s just things I’ve noticed since the glory days of the 80’s. I can’t control drought but I can help with the predator problem.
 
In reality guys the perceived glory days of our past mule deer populations were not the reality of past populations before the European settlers came to these parts. There were less mule deer here than we think. The pioneers had a few big bucks to shoot at before they really killed off everything including grizzly and bighorn sheep, that were actually more common in the hills than we probably give credit. The perceived mule deer population high was a result of the years of livestock grazing and the resultant shift in favorable forage and browse created by this ecological event with the help of widespread predator control; lot more cows and sheep and trappers back in the day. Population will go down, it may come back.? Probably not in our lifetimes. I remember as a kid in early 80s all the deer heads rotting at the dump, no one cared about the average deer antlers, hunted for the meat! Big buck contests are now a social media event between likes and followers! Still some nice bucks growing out there.
Lot's of truth here. People also forget the massive fire cycle of the 1920s and 1930s that lead to large increases in forage. This coupled with the extermination of wolves led to a population boom.
 
Anyone familiar with the debacle that occurred on the North Kaibab in the 1920s knows what predator eradication does.
That’s what the 270 was made for…….. so the public could make sure that never happened again.

It’s been a 100 years……….. It hasn’t.

We’re damn damn damn good at killing mule deer.
 
I don't but I can imagine. I lived in TN long enough to see what unchecked deer can do, and that's not in a dessert environment.
I've written several articles about it, but they're all on a broke down computer.

You can read about it here, however.

Heffelfinger, J.R. 2014. Kaibab Plateau: The history of the country's most famous herd (Part 1). Mule Deer Magazine. May/June issue.

Heffelfinger, J.R. 2014. Kaibab Plateau: Transition from quantity to quality (Part 2). Mule Deer Magazine. July/August issue.
 
Last edited:
I've written several articles about it, but they're all on a broke down computer.

You can read about it here, however.

Heffelfinger, J.R. 2014. Kaibab Plateau: The history of the country's most famous herd (Part 1). Mule Deer Magazine. May/June issue.

Heffelfinger, J.R. 2014. Kaibab Plateau: Transition from quantity to quality (Part 2). Mule Deer Magazine. July/August issue.
Read it all, very interesting. Just reaffirms my belief that hunting is a necessity for humans as well as animals.
 
In my effort to get rid of a lot of stuff before I enter the furnace, I recently sold this very rare book that had been published by AGFD in the 1960s. It had oodles of great information in it, including lots of historical photos. Several of them show the trees on the plateau after the disastrous years. They were girdled to the trunks for as high as a deer could reach on its hind legs.


kaibab.jpg
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom