mule deer management

[freebird63]

In everyone's opinion what is IDFG doing wrong in the management of mule deer??? Mainly I am speaking of general hunts. Yes I only hunt unit 39 because of conditions out of my control.
I don't know that IDFG would ever listen to any suggestions???

Chuck in Boise

 

[cletus14]

i know i usually complain about there being few deer in my spots . however this year in my 39 honey holes i saw conservativly 5x more deer this year than the last three years combined for what it's worth.

 

[twsnow18]

Alright freebird, enough b*tching. Every post you have made has been negative. I hunted 39 the 2 seasons before this and did 36 hard earned miles with a pack frame and a bivy sack the right way. 9 days total yielded 7 does and 2 tiny bucks. My advice for next year is get off the computer and try a different spot or unit. For everyone except you, it has been a great year. You were also posting on the forum the most. I'm drawing some pretty simple conclusions.

 

[Deerlove]

My unit is way overcrowded, it's unlimtited LE. I would suggest limiting tags or have a early muzzy season to disperse the crowd. There were 11 guns in my fav basin on the opener.

 

[freebird63]

I ask a simple question if you don't like it then by all means please don't reply. I'm not a lazy ass who has a ATV or lucky enough to own horses, I hike in and hunt hard even with a partially broken back. So get off my case.

Chuck in Boise

 

[NickM]

Try the archery seasons, less people, more of a hunt.

 

[freebird63]

I use to archery hunt and loved it, but don't think I am quite able to make the kind of stalks required to get close enough. I would also love to get back into the 3D archery target shooting. Archery is fun and I have a great deal of respect for those around here who can harvest animals with a bow and arrow.

Chuck in Boise

 

[scubasteven25]

>i know i usually complain about
>there being few deer in
>my spots . however this
>year in my 39 honey
>holes i saw conservativly 5x
>more deer this year than
>the last three years combined
>for what it's worth.

Same story for me. Saw a lot more deer this year and actually tagged one on only the second day of hunting. I just got back and away from the hunters.

 

[idgator]

freebird,

It seems you are stuck between a rock and a hard place ... if you have your heart set on mule deer in 39, given your situation. I personally think, the farther away from people you can get the better off your are in 39. Not saying you won't find deer near the roads, but my experience has been the farther away I get the more deer I see.

Some alternatives might be focusing on controlled hunts (there are some really good ones out there with pretty good access) and if we are talking meat for the freezer don't snub the whitetail hunts up north (they are a kick). As a matter of fact I always put in for an extra WT doe tag and buy an out of state wT tag to go along with it.

Best of luck!

 

[Idabow]

>freebird,
>
>It seems you are stuck between
>a rock and a hard
>place ... if you have
>your heart set on mule
>deer in 39, given your
>situation. I personally think,
> the farther away from
>people you can get the
>better off your are in
>39. Not saying you
>won't find deer near the
>roads, but my experience has
>been the farther away I
>get the more deer I
>see.
>
>Some alternatives might be focusing on
>controlled hunts (there are some
>really good ones out there
>with pretty good access) and
>if we are talking meat
>for the freezer don't snub
>the whitetail hunts up north
>(they are a kick).
>As a matter of fact
>I always put in for
>an extra WT doe tag
>and buy an out of
>state wT tag to go
>along with it.
>
>Best of luck!

This sounds like pretty good advice to me.

That ain't a camel toe, that's a moose knuckle!

 

[BPKHunter]

If you have time and patience and do the scouting, even from a full sized vehicle with some decent optics, you can start to figure out some places where they like to be late season, even close to some vehicle access points. Early season, if you are too disabled to be able to walk much, you wont have much luck on bucks, so put in for doe tags.

I know you have rifles that shoot a long way, I've seen your posts before, so if you can walk a mile or even a half mile you will be as good as most other hunters anyway. Even if you can't walk a lot, you still need to do YOUR own homework and figure the deer out. Took me 2-3 years here to get some "places", and yes anything bigger than a 18" 3pt takes a lot more luck and work, but those smaller bucks are not hard, not last year, and certainly not this year. We all have bad days, but based on your posts I would guess you either have much more than most or just need to put in more time figuring it out. Deer don't like every ridge....

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

I hunted for 3 days in 43 back packed in 3 1/2 miles hunted hard day lite to dark glassed the hell out of this area.saw 20 bucks NOT ONE that I would have shot last day of any season biggest buck was maybe 22" wide..last year same area same time 1st day we saw & shot at & missed a 170 buck saw 2 bucks in the 160 to 180 class & bird dogged a buck to a guy that shot & killed it that scored 194 a 29" wide 24" tall stud..I myself believe the higher # of deer being seen along with a RECORD opening weekend check station harvest count {according to IF&G} was larger due to two things all the FIRES that were burning earlier in the year & there was snow up high earlier in the week which pushed alot of animals down as well...we all know we will NEVER see the hey days of years gone by with our deer herds but F&G needs to do something now about the units that have fewer & fewer deer..last year F&G put out a report about HOW BAD 2011 was going to be due to the high winter mortality..& than in nov or dec they put out a report stating that the 2012 herd was going to be HUGE ??? how does this happen ???