How soon we forget

[andrew12gauge]

I’ve seen a lot stated about the failing mule deer herds in Idaho of late, and the thought occurred to me, do any of you remember the deer population in 2016, before the biggest winter kill in multiple decades? At the time they warned us that we would see the biggest impacts to hunting mature animals 3-4 years down the road and I think we are seeing that now as all I hear about is the lack of mature animals and I’ve definitely seen it myself. But when we really drill down to that winter that we are still only 4 years removed from much of the state saw 80-90% fawn loss that year. So let’s not forget that we have an entire age class of deer that is missing from the population due to natural occurrences. Call me an optimist but I really think, barring any more historically anomalous winters, that in 2-3 years from now we could be back to the “good ol days” of the mid teens. Unfortunately I do think we also have to remember that the fawn crop in 2017 was also likely smaller due to does aborting over the winter. So I guess to sum it up is everything rosy right now, absolutely not, but do I see a light on the horizon, I think so. There’s definitely places where I think IDFG needs to address some management issues, mostly the units within an hours drive of Boise, but I think for the most part it’s going to come around again in the next couple of years. I hope 2021 is a good year for you all, I for one am looking forward to next fall already

 

[JPickett]

i can count on one hand the number of does i saw this year that didn't have fawns and lost track of how many i saw with twins. it was a bunch. even saw two separate does on the same drainage with triplets. kinda blew me away. i think its going to be just fine. but i'm also really OK with everybody giving up on Idaho. no deer here guys, look elsewhere

 

[BPKHunter]

I talked to an IDFG "tech" who monitors collared deer in Nov in 32 on late hunt a friend had. He said we lost almost every fawn that winter, and a chunk of mature deer and their unborn fawns. Then I imagine, body shape took a toll on new fawn recruitment as well. It was obvious on that late hunt. We saw more deer than expected and a fair amount of bucks, but just not enough "mature" looking deer. Made sense. Mature deer most of us see, are 3.5-4.5 yr old deer. Few reach 5 or older and are seen during the day.

I do think that the Weiser Herd got hit worse, because they had another bad winter, more than most after "snowmaggen", that some other units didn't feel as bad.

Personally I hope the half hearted hunter just gives up and leaves the rest of us alone for a few years. I'm running out of time and need less people to race to the good spots.