I agree with Conches post. I would like to see the tag numbers cut to reflect the higher success rate on older age bucks . The UDWR believes we are above total deer number objectives so I dont think we will see tag cuts. The following is from
www.llotp.com. I agree with the article.Its 5 years old but still applies IMO.
Some Numbers to Consider
2004
For simplicity lets say there are an estimated 4000 deer on the Paunsaugunt unit right now. (I've heard anything from 3500 - 4500) A 34/100 buck- to-doe ratio suggests that 34 out of 134 deer are bucks. This is 25% or 1000 total bucks on the unit out of 4000 total deer. Setting all other causes of death aside let's look at tag numbers for 2004. This shows how many deer we have scheduled to kill by hunting this year and where they are scheduled to be killed.
If 60% of the herd summers on the CWMU as they say, this suggests 600 bucks will summer on CWMU land and 400 on public. Of the 400 public deer, about 30 are slated to be harvested with archery equipment and 90 with rifles. These will all come from the public herd because CWMU deer haven't migrated and aren't accessible during archery and rifle hunt dates. This leads to 400 - 90 - 30 = 280 bucks left on public land after rifle and archery hunts. There will be 30 bucks killed on the CWMU during this time. This leaves 570 bucks on the CWMU. Since the herd will have migrated and be hunted in it's entirety by muzzle loader season, a 570/280 ratio will be killed from the CWMU/public herds respectively during this hunt. This will lead to about 20 CWMU deer killed and 10 public. Most of the 14 landowner tags will be killed at the same rate leading to about 10 CWMU and 4 public land deer harvested. What all these numbers mean is that out of the 400 bucks summering on public land, 134 are scheduled to be killed. Out of the 600 bucks summering on CWMU land 60 are scheduled to be killed. This means we are reducing the public herd by 134/400 or 34% and the private herd by 60/600 or 10%. The main point is that we are choosing to reduce the number of deer on public land 34% BECAUSE we choose to only reduce the CWMU herd by 10% and we have been doing this for over a decade. It is all about hunt dates and migration dynamics. If hunt dates were moved back to when they used to be in late October, many more CWMU deer would be killed. For each one killed, a public deer would get to grow up another year.
Do the same math for each year from the early 90's and it will become obvious that we have selectively reduced the herd on public land by about 30% each year while reducing the CWMU herd by less than 10%. These numbers are inversely related. One depends on the other. Change the hunt dates so the public gets a chance to hunt the entire Paunsaugunt herd and more deer that summer on PUBLIC LAND will get a chance to grow up. In fact, the number that gets to grow up will be the exact number of CWMU deer killed by public hunters each year!
The next argument is that success rates play a major role in these numbers. Figure them in for both sides and you will find they don't change things much. The numbers still lead to the conclusion that the portion of the herd that the public gets to hunt has suffered dramatically over the last decade because of the introduction of the CWMU and the manipulation of rifle hunt dates while tags were increased
LowLander's of the Paunsaugunt