Big tag cuts to Gunnison Basin

[jm1607]

No reductions for 61?

 

[shotgunwilly]

61 is not in the gunnison basin

 

[TwoTikkas]

61,62 and 68 are probably going to be harder to draw as well. All these deer slayers are going to land someplace.

 

[Double Creek]

Are the cuts applied evenly across all seasons and weapons?

 

[shotgunwilly]

We won't know what tags are slashed till the commission meets in may

 

[chindits]

Shotgun has it right. These are recommendations to the wildlife commission, so who knows what will happen with business and political interests adjusting wildlife biology in the end.

Before your all cry into your soup about how unfair life is, it seems like in 08 there was a firestorm over the tags not being able to be cut until the following year rather than the season of the big winter. So after that hard winter they couldn't adjust the tags in an efficient manner. I am kind of proud that they got the gumption to make such drastic cut recommendations for this year. Second, for the handful of you folks that actually went to the CPW meeting where they discussed their herd survey methods and there tag reduction recommendations, was I the only one that was alarmed at the fawn survival rates declining over the last several years. We are talking about fawn survival declines even during mild winters over the last few years. Chew on that thought for a while as we ponder how our mule deer point plan just fell victim to a harsh winter.

This year they are publicly projecting a 26% fawn survival rate with a potential 10% error. In addition, they are suggesting fawn mortality will not stabilize for a few more weeks despite the availability of spring forage.

I'm sure you all know that Gunnison is one of 5 areas in the state selected for long term deer collaring and that is where some of these mortality estimations are coming from. I do appreciated your hunting license fees partially financing that. Best wishes for the next few years.

 

[chindits]

I know there is some heart ache over doe tags and percentages. The CPW hand out in the meeting for GMU 55/551 has the following tag numbers for all methods of take:

2016: 620 Bucks, 195 does.
2017: 170 Bucks, 40 does.

55 is combined with 551.

66 is combined with 67.
2016: 510 bucks, 220 does
2017: 260 bucks, 40 does


54 is the only stand alone unit.
2016: 470 bucks, 0 does
2017: 215 bucks, 0 does

I'm not going to break it down by method of harvest, but across the board there are solid reductions. If you are looking for a better chance of drawing a tag, then get out of the snow belt that the Basin was in. I heard about multiple areas in the state not that far away from Gunnison that didn't get the snow dump. However, declining populations maybe the new norm even during mild winters.

 

[smoothie25]

Any idea on the tag cuts for 53?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[shotgunwilly]

The numbers being recommended by the commission are now up under the may 4th and 5th meeting agenda on the Dow website, 66 ,67 and 551 are cut in half for archery thru 3rd rifle, 4th rifle only lost 5 tags. 54 and 55 are slashed to next to nothing.

 

[prm]

Scroll way down to page 72

http://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Co..._15-Ch_W-2-Big_Game-Quotas-May2017-PWCMtg.pdf

 

[robby denning]

Thanks for posting this.

I sure wish Colorado could figure out a way to issue these tag #s before the application deadline. They'd only have to switch it a few weeks. I see choices on there I'd have considered had I known what license numbers would be.

 

[30338]

Why would they issue a single doe tag for herds that had that much winter kill?

 

[MesaHorseCo.]

I've got an idea...apply somewhere else.

 

[chindits]

Mr. Denning, I do believe that part of the final game commission decision not being until May has to do with the potential for additional winter kill in the spring. As you know, unlike most of the country, March and April still present significant risk of heavy snows in the high country. So at the tail end of a hard winter, heavy snows in the spring would be the coups de grace of struggling fawns. Now your argument that big bucks make it through hard winters according to harvest stats the following fall maybe valid. However, the public and hunters will still expect wildlife managers to take significant actions when a fawn population just experienced 75% or more attrition. A more pressing question to the future of the mule deer hunt maybe why there was a significant decline in mule deer fawn survival during the preceding mild winters and what is the socially acceptable solution for that. I know you have been examining that issue as have the wildlife managers. In Gunnison, we will see the killer winter at least once every 10 years. And unlike Eagle and Mesa County, once deer have migrated to the bottom of Gunnison basin at 7800 feet, there is no escaping the snow and cold without having to go back up over mountain passes to get out of here. Not an option for critters that aren't snowbirds. So the bigger question maybe why are we failing to recover our deer herds during the milder winters.

A more valid argument concerning the timing of the game commission meeting might be to push the entire draw process later into summer rather than change the wildlife commissions harvest decisions to earlier in the year. Of course it is kind of nice to be able to have that April tax refund money available to cover the credit card purchase of all those CO draw hunting tags, which are going to double in price next year. Just my opinion on a few things.

 

[bowuntr]

OK... the big question... How bad was the winter kill in the Gunnison Basin? I'm in for one of the few archery tags in 55 with 10 points. It's May already... Ed F

 

[Bulldawg]

Fawn mortality is bad this year, but there will be some mature bucks running around up there.

One thing that you guys might like to keep up to date on, the Gunnison Trails organization has proposed construction of a new single track trail in the Signal Peak area of Gunnison, this is prime wintering habitat for the deer in the valley where 50% of the deer in unit 55 spend their winters. The Gunnison Wildlife Association is putting together some materials to send to the BLM but we could use all the support we can get to help preserve some of these critical lands and any letters or phone calls to the Gunnison BLM office to let them know what you think about the trail systems.