My personal experience has always included a but load of miles putting boots on the ground in the summer scouting. For the purpose of intel. Which is far more valuable than a camera. Should we make scouting illegal?
Early July til mid August to me….shows the deer at their most vulnerable and most consistent patterns. Equating to the least need for a trail camera. Once velvet is peeled and bow hunters start bumping them, then the transitions begin. No need for these critters to hear gunshot’s to make changes. It’s the late muzzy and rifle hunts where cameras for me would be most important for intel. As general rifle season kicks off, I feel the least knowledgeable about where they are at. Especially as those fall weather patterns begin to impact the deers behavior besides guys and gals with rifles aimlessly move around and the animals hunker down or move to deeper canyons and more secluded places.
Even though I don’t bow hunt, I still spend countless days and miles scouting to find and pattern the biggest bucks during that summer time when they are most consistent which is well before hunting season starts. Which gives me intel of the quality and quantity.
Take my cameras, don’t need them. Take my magnified scope from my muzzleloader (although the success rates haven’t varied much to warrant it) I’ll still be chasing them with my muzzleloader because it’s the timeframe that I find them somewhat consistent. I’ll just have a higher probability of missing or wounding them since my eyes are deteriorating.
But the intel that I gather, has kept my finger off the trigger far more occasions than times than I did. It is that intel that has saved the lives of yearling bucks almost EVERY SINGLE YEAR
All the experiences that I’ve witnessed or seen on my own hunts and while helping others, I’ve never witnessed a muzzy shot over 185 yards and I’ve helped a lot of folks. My brothers LE muzzy hunt two years ago was a shot at 45 yards. My only muzzy deer kill was 85 yards.
I think most GS muzzy hunters don’t own a LR muzzy nor have the practice, skill, loads or capabilities to kill deer at 300+ yards.
It’s a small minority of hunters who use those set ups.
A magnified scope on my muzzy only helps me take more ethical shots.
Now I’ve recently looked at harvest success rates for GS muzzy deer hunts. Based on the data I’ve looked at, there was nothing I could see that would indicate that magnified scopes have impacted the number of deer killed.
I would like to see data based information that suggests otherwise. But I think some peoples assumptions have gathered support from misinformation.
2013-2015 statewide average success rate was 33.5% 2016 magnified scopes were legalized on muzzleloaders.
2017-2019 statewide average success rate was 35.2% (increase of 1.7%)
In the 29 units, there were 17 units that had an average increase in success rates and 12 units that had a decrease.
The facts about declining mule deer herds has a variable of determining factors that all have an impact.
There is no information or data out there for you or I nor the state WB to see that shows without a shadow of a doubt that magnified scopes on muzzleloaders has made us too good at killing.
Just a lot of opinions
So would my hunting strategies change? Absolutely not! But it might save a mature big deers life in the rare opportunities that I get. But maybe that’s the purpose or intentions for the restrictions.
Maybe taking the technology away might force me to kill more deer when the opportunity arises instead of being selective. Because the opportunities to kill for me are annual.
Be careful what you wish for
Maybe everything about my experiences involving hunting,scouting, technology and the belief that my equipment doesn’t dictate my personal limitations…. Is a minority. But I’m quickly seeing alot of reasons to lower hunter recruitment and turn hunters off as continuous restrictions are put into place for all because of a few.
I once heard a WB member say something in a meeting that made me proud. “we shouldn’t be managing our animals on social issues”
But it’s come to that and it’s turned hunter versus hunter inevitability.
