2011 ODFW Regulations

[silverlake176]

The 2011 ODFW Regulations are now out. Was a little disapointed. The only thing new out is a few late season archery cow hunts. Opening the new regulations is almost better than christmas for me, ie seeing what new hunts are available. A little disapointed this year.

 

[KBKILLER]

been out for a week, but yea- youth hunter orange, couple new awsome hunts, pioneer guys got some good breaks, late western bow guys got a little hosed( as if hunting the "wet"side / thick stuff isn't bad enough) oh- and if you want to, you can use a bow during rifle season...........well that about covers it- unless you really get into how many people put in for different units- but who does that....................................................

 

[Wanted]

New hunts usually come out in April/May for the following year, once the Commission gets together to discuss herd counts. You can usually find this info on the ODFW site.

 

[muleyman]

+1 wanted...

muleyman

 

[440sixpack]

Considering the condition of our herds what new hunts were you expecting? what you should be seeing cuts in tag numbers and units closed.

 

[silverlake176]

Believe me I become excited seeing deer tags cut. I was so excited when I saw the 1,000 doe tags in the Silver Lake Unit cut to 0 in 2006. However I do like seeing a new rut hunt every once in a while. Just my $0.02. I do recomend that ODFW cut the Interstate deer tags to atleast 800 this year. I'm tired of seeing this unit dwindle down. Time to put more game cops in the unit to catch those hunting in the unit that do not have the proper tag.

 

[ruttinbull]

silverlake176...

Thanks for your support on catching those without proper tags. I am considering releasing the info to perhaps MDF or someone who will do an article on what we found in the interstate.

We started running "scruffy" the fake deer in the interstate several years ago. The first year we found that 22% of the people out there did not have tags. The second year it was over 30%. We started getting their attention and by the third year it dropped to 16%. The last year it was down to 9% without tags. The interesting thing is that on year #1 the post season buck to doe ratio was 11/100. ODFW was baffled because no matter what they had done with tag numbers the buck to doe ratio continued to fall or never responded. By the time we were at year #4 of running the decoys, the buck to doe ratio had steadily climbed to 22/100 does!

The other interesting thing is that when I arrived in Klamath Falls, I was excited to work the winter range around Bly to see the big bucks. Well they werent there. I also found that the poaching that occurred in and around the area really was just jerks being jerks. No one was head hunting... because there were no heads to hunt. By the end of the four years of working this, the buck to doe ratio climbed and so did the number of larger animals. The sad news is that we are now finding head hunters working the area over. Just last night I dispatched one of my guys to a hot poaching call just outside of Bly. The reporting party told me that some big bucks had been hanging right where the lights were getting worked.

As the over-seeing supervisor of Law enforcement for Klamath and Lake counties I have to juggle my resources. I shifted from the Interstate to the Keno Unit for a year and we got their attention there. This last year we had a unique set of challenges and tackled it as best as we could. I cannot give the details but two sets of big time problem children got caught. We are meeting soon to discuss law enforcement plans for next year. You may get what you wished for.

If you or anyone want to discuss the details of the "study," feel free to call me at my office. Just ask about the Interstate Action Plan. You may have to leave a message. It is a busy time of year for us. We are working the winter ranges now. THis reminds me. Last week a 177 class four point was killed in the Silver Lake unit. The bad guys were caught red handed. This was a young buck. Had he had another year or two of growth... wow.

Randy
Office phone (541) 883-5713 ext 236

 

[KBKILLER]

great job RUTTINGBULL! keep up the great work!

 

[finnman]

Randy, you just made my day! I am glad to hear there are folks out there doing a good job at restoring that herd and getting rid of the local flim flam!!!
My grand father started hunting the Interstate back in the 50's, my step dad also hunted it up to the early 90's, after the winter of 92-93 they started hunting the Paulina unit, no bucks in the Interstate, any way I hunted there once in '96 didn't do so good so I have not returned. I hope you make a difference in that area! Keep up the good work!
Thanks!

 

[ruttinbull]

Thanks for the support guys.

I can only do so much. I love to hunt deer therfore I have many of the same concern as you guys do. I hate being out on patrol and seeing so few deer.

Unfortunately I had to ask... what do I have control of? My control as a Fish and Wildlife officer is over the illegal take of critters. I do not issue tags, nor do I work on habitat, nor can I give input on where subdivisions go. I can work on compliance with the law. The sad part is that we lose big deer every year to headhunters out of the season. If you really wanted to tabulate the numbers... I really dont think it is that much. I have years of data to stand behind my claim. We went out into the Interstate to check "tag compliance" and were astounded at how many folks actually hunting did not have a tag. A lot of folks dont think too much if Uncle Harrold fills grandmas tag... that is they dont think it is an issue. Unfortunately if 25% of the people out in the woods are the "Uncle Harrolds" then you can start seeing the trouble. If you wanted to tabulate these numbers, the cases where a person shot a deer and put another persons tag on it, the numbers grossly outnumber the other types of poaching.
In the first year of working the decoy we found folks with Western Oregon tags, Silver Lake tags, Klamath Unit tags, and Sprague unit tags as well as those with no tags. Now you can cut all the tags you want to, but if folks keep cheating like this, the tag reductions will never have an impact. One has to ask, what good is the system if the cheating is this bad?

I am rambling and I hope I am making some sense here. The bottom line is that ignoring the buddy hunting without a tag is like giving a blessing to the guy who shoots a deer out of season. Both types of activities are illegal and both are killing bucks. A very loose estimate calculated that the in-season illegal harvest in the Interstate may have equated to as many as 400 deer. The winter range poaching may be 20 to 25. What I ask is the bigger problem?

The problem was similar in the Keno Unit. The big difference there is that most folks are using Western Oregon tags to cover for their activities. The original estimate for non-compliance was 25-40%! No wonder there is a problem!

I gotta get. If any of you have questions feel free to call me at my office. It is listed in an above post.

Randy

 

[elkliver]

Randy, thanks for what you do.

problem is, too many people don't see anything wrong with Party hunting. They really don't get it. there is a post on Ifish about it and i was really surprised at how many people weighed in with "so what"

Always ticks me off as they are stealing big game opportunities from me. No different than someone shooting a record book animal out of season and stealing a chance at the same animal from me. Killing a buck on their Grandma's tag steals that same animal from my legitimate pursuit. No difference.

And they teach their kids to hunt this way so it propogates

Turn em in when you can and educate whenever you can

 

[ruttinbull]

I saw that I fish thread. I took great interest in it.

We make no bones about what will happen if caught in Klamath County; seizure and ultimate loss of the gun used, about 500 to 1000 in fines and two years of no hunting license. The interesting thing is that the Lake County courts dont want to take second fiddle to Klamath County and have been doing even more to violators.

We seized one gun that had been in the family for over 100 years. That battered piece had seen some action. The guy wasnt worried about the fines (as he had drove down from Seattle to fill tags for his family), he was worried about what his 90 year old Aunt was going to do to him. Thats no joke.

Again fellers, thanks for the support. Remember I am working at this so that there are some decent bucks around when you draw your tag. Speaking of work, I gotta get out the door.
Randy

 

[Oregonbowhunter]

That's a great way of going after the problem. Thanks for doing what you do. We use to hunt the Fort Rock unit straight east of Chemult and part of the northern Silver lake unit (archery) and man we use to see tons of deer. We use to see some really really amazing bucks too. But deer numbers tanked and I haven't been back in quite a few years now but can't imagine it recovering at all. The last time I was there I saw maybe a half a dozen does in a weekend. I do know that party hunting was a problem there. We new rifle hunters that hunted this way and they would all keep hunting until either the season closed or all the tags were filled.

 

[440sixpack]

As it stands right now there is nothing you can do about it, I know guys who get their kids an Ochoco youth cow tag and the whole family goes hunting. this is common place but for gods sake who would want to fill a kids first tag? that shows how bad it is.

I would be in favor of a law that would put a limit on how much hunting gear you could carry before you were considered a hunter, as it is now unless you're standing next to a dead animal you're a hiker with a firearm. I don't know the answer but party hunting has a green light until there is one.

 

[tailchaser]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-20-10 AT 02:16PM (MST)[p]I actually stopped hunting the Beulah unit due to the wolf pack hunting scenario mentioned. Not only does it have a high number of tags, but an absolute TON of people were party hunting or with LOP tags. Heck, the camp about a mile from us had a miniture army with only three people having tags. They were very open about it. With 20 people in camp they could draw tags every year on rotation! I watched in horror as 10 of them did a drive through a canyon I had hiked to (all carrying rifles). Just like locusts they pushed every single deer out of there. Shot a little fork and went to the next place.

I'm glad someone is enforcing it, hang'em high buddy......

tc