300Winnie,
Your right, the mule deer hunting in all of the units in SE Idaho is even worse than the hunting in Utah. Everyone should go somewhere else to hunt.
Joking aside, the 2002 deer season in SE Idaho wasn?t very good (in 2002 the number of deer harvest was only 50% of the 2001 harvest). When the draw system for the SE Idaho tag started in 2003 many of the regulars weren't as interested because of the poor hunting in 2002. The F&G hasn't given out the 2003 harvest data yet but from what I saw while hunting/scouting and the F&G has said the 2003 season was only slightly better than the 2002 season. With the current winter conditions the 2004 season doesn't look to be any better.
Most hunters blame game departments before they know all of the facts. Both Wyoming's region G and Idaho's SE tag units are very similar in size and have about the same number of hunters (in 2002 there were 7,628 hunters in region G and 7,171 hunters in Idaho?s units 75, 76, 77 & 78 during the rifle hunt). The length of the season in region G is more liberal. The Idaho F&G has done some good things like reducing the rifle season in units 75, 76, 77 & 78 from 26 days in 2002 to 14 days in 2003. They should have cut the season one year sooner because they knew that there was a high mortality during the winter of 2001/2002 (95% of the fawns the F&G collard died during the winter of 2001/2002). With the help of organizations like the MDF the F&G has planted a lot of bitterbrush on winter range in recent years.
I'll agree that motorized access is generally better and more abused in SE Idaho than region G. In 2003 the F&G included a great new rule that restricted the use of motorized vehicles by hunters during some hunts. The rifle season in units 75, 76, 77 & 78 weren't affected by the new rule, but the late muzz hunt 75* (units 75, 77 & 78) was. From what I have seen and heard the F&G did a good job of patrolling the areas with the new motorized vehicle restrictions during the 2003 season.
The Idaho F&G also only allows only a handful of lions to be harvested in this area. I'm not sure what the lion numbers are in region G but I doubt that is a major reason region G has had better muley hunting. Unfortunately 10 years from now there will likely be a healthy population of wolves in both areas.
In my opinion the drought is the main reason deer hunting in SE Idaho isn't as good as region G. If you look at the link below you can see that SE Idaho is in a D3 and D4 drought and region G Wyoming is only in a D2 drought. This last fall all of what the F&G call the SE region was in a D4 drought while almost all of region G was in a D2 drought.
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
I could be wrong but I believe that SE Idaho has had worse winterkills in recent years as well. If you compare the harvest data for 2001 and 2002 you can see the impact the 2001/2002 winter had on the two areas.
The number of deer harvest in the SE Idaho units in 2002 was only 50% of the 2001 seasons harvest. In Wyoming?s region G the harvest in 2002 was 80% of the 2001 seasons harvest.
I still see a handful of big bucks every summer/fall in the Southeast Region but there aren't as many of them as there were a few years ago. If we get out of this drought and not too many deer are killed by hard winters there will once again be excellent mule deer hunting in SE Idaho.
Here's a link to info about left over nonresident tags in SE Idaho.
http://www2.state.id.us/fishgame/news/NewsReleases/view.cfm?NewsID=1911