Eastern MT??? Thoughts?

[Deano0686]

Put me and my buddies in this category also . We've been back to Montana 6 times , i only filled my tag 4 times . Another buddy 3 times and a 3rd once in 6 trips . From a non resident that's a huge chunk of change to drop and not fill a tag . But we go back to have a good time, and look at way more deer in 10 days then we would see in an entire season here . Makes all of us kinda sick to see what other hunters will put a tag on sometimes . Also kinda pisses us off when the " residents " bash us out of staters at the hotel at night . Evidently we come shoot all the deer . While they have a truck load of does .

I second this. In 2022 we had some residents at the campground, 4 hunters, there was 7 or 8 deer and a doe antelope between the 4 of them.

 

[Erict]

"Proposed amendment: I move the Fish and Wildlife Commission establish rules that limit the hunting and
harvest of antlerless mule deer in Region 7 to “valid only on private land," and that on all public lands and
those lands enrolled in Block Management in Region 7 be closed to the taking of antlerless mule deer."

I don't agree with the proposed amendment for several reasons.

FWP can already restrict R7 MD doe take - cut the tags or close the doe season for the year for everyone. From a management perspective, hard to justify restricting doe take on public but allow it on the adjoining private section. This appears to benefit landowners (not enrolled in BMA) and MOGA/outfitters to the detriment of residents who don't own land (there are plenty of them who rely on BMA/public) and nonresidents. How does this address the R7 MD doe population, which does not know or care if it's on private or public land?

Landowners enrolled in Block Management should be given the choice to allow MD doe take or not - just like some BMAs already restrict taking of deer, etc. Maybe their localized condition is that they have too many MD doe and need BMA hunters to thin that herd - this proposal takes away that option.

I'll give credit that someone is trying to make some changes, even if I disagree with their idea. Managing does is a neccesary part of any solution, but I'll get whatever doe I need back home from our WT.

 

[deerlick]

I find it funny that so many think they should all get 180" mule deer in montana and because they did not the hunting is terrible and should be shut down. How many of the same people had mule deer tags in several states and really only trophy hunt. I can guarantee 100% that the kids in our group who shot there first bucks are more excited about there 3 points than anyone in here is about a 160 buck. I'm sick of trophy hunters trying to take away hunts for the average Joe. I agree doe tags are out of control, that's completely different. Most people I know who hunted hard in montana got the buck or experience they wanted. I will take that over hopefully getting a tag in 5 years.

 

[JustHunt]

I had the privilege of hunting eastern Montana as a kid every year from 2003 to 2016. It was something special from 2003 until 2009. Wish I knew what I was experiencing while we had it. There were days - when we had perfect conditions - where we’d see 300 deer. Saw one herd of mulies that probably few would believe it now. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and still had opportunities at a few 160+ class bucks and a true 30+ inch monster (that miss still hurts).

There were a couple tough winters around 2010 that beat the deer back a bit. The numbers came back pretty quick but the quality wasn’t there. Gave it up after the 2016 season when we’d sift through 2 points and occasionally turn up a basket racked buck with lots of potential. Meat lockers were still full of deer then, albeit small bucks and metric tons of does. Ate a bunch of buck tags those last few years. Those tags were tough to swallow at NR prices.

An old friend of mine with 45+ years experience of hunting E MT went out there this year. He has trouble getting around now days and sleeps in longer than he used to, so he’s not the hunter he used to be, but he knows where to look… or used to know where to look… He saw 3 deer on public in the 4 days of trying.

Sounds like the MTFWP finally BROKE that herd with lead poison after not adjusting for winter kill and drought. F****** Criminals.

 

[Lawnboi]

Just another fine example of hunters hurting hunters. Dosnt matter if you on the “killed all the does” or the “I only shoot big bucks” crowd. Those sentiments are selfish and not going to move us in the right direction.

 

[S.Clancy]

With this amount of bitching and moaning this thread belongs on HuntTalk

 

[rogerthat]

With this amount of bitching and moaning this thread belongs on HuntTalk

Bitching and moaning is for a reason but you can keep ignoring the facts if you want.

 

[Erict]

In addition to the R7 MD antlerless proposal, there are a quantity of proposals FWP is considering for 2024-25 hunting seasons at their meeting on Thursday, December 14 at 8:30 a.m.

Click HERE to go to the main page and click within the "Commissioner Amendments" and also the "Deer and Elk" sections for more info. I believe the meeting is streamed live and available for replay after. If you've never seen one it's worth watching a few minutes to learn more about just how all this stuff actually happens. I was amazed at how informal much of it was.

 

[Marshfly]

There are some interesting things being proposed in the bear and antelope arenas as well. Splitting region 7 for antelope would be fantastic IMHO.

 

[Mt Al]

2 cents from a resident that's been hunting Eastern MT for 35 years: The increase in the number of people hunting there vs "the old days" is mind boggling and I don't blame anyone, it's a great place to be. All kinds of reasons including change from relatively easy private land access to almost none, social media making this type of hunting a "thing", GPS/OnX, plus it's just fun to hunt where there's a ton of public land. If FWP was really about the critters vs other influences, they would have limited does years ago, put a minimum on points on bucks, limited Res and Non Res and spread people out to other regions, etc.. Not holding my breath.

If you're a non resident coming out for fun, good on you but I strongly recommend driving a few more hours and getting out of region 7, hunt the foothills of some of the mountain ranges. If you come to region 7, IMHO, it's still a ton of fun but to keep it a good time focus on predators and/or birds along with the deer.

 

[mtwarden]

A new amendment came out yesterday that would limit doe harvest to private land in Region 7.

https://fwp.mt.gov/binaries/content/assets/fwp/commission/2023/dec/amendments_combined/dept-resp-_tabor_region-7-mule-deer-doe-trophy-district.pdf

You have until December 7th to email the commission and comment. [email protected]

If you've taken the time to comment on this thread, take a couple of more minutes and comment on this R7 proposal- three days left to comment. I know from personal experience dealing with the commission, the more comments they receive, the more attention they pay to a proposal.

Thanks

 

[Dos Perros]

"Limiting antlerless deer harvest to private lands is a common practice in Montana, all designed to address the same issues raised by sportsmen in Region 7. Presently restrictions for antlerless harvest exist in 15 deer HDs that are restricted to hunting on private land only and 28 elk HDs that restrict hunting to private land only including 4 HDs within Region 7."

Is there historical data that supports that this change will actually do what it's supposed to do? Seeing as how there are already 15 deer HD's with similar restrictions, there ought to be data. Also, what's the end game? Population come back and the restriction is removed? Has that been done before?

 

[mtwarden]

They don't like to completely remove doe tags as there is always a chance that in certain areas ranchers are getting hammered by deer and having available doe tags are a tool to address this specific concern. By restricting it to private land, you remove doe harvest from State Lands, BLM and Forest Service lands which if I had to guess, are overwhelmingly the areas where most of the mule deer doe harvest is currently occurring.

I'm certain that if mule deer populations were to significantly increase they would remove this restriction along with again getting more liberal with doe license numbers. They've got a ways to get to the more liberal seasons.

I'm not familiar with the other hunting districts that have already gone to this restriction.

 

[WCB]

I had the privilege of hunting eastern Montana as a kid every year from 2003 to 2016. It was something special from 2003 until 2009. Wish I knew what I was experiencing while we had it. There were days - when we had perfect conditions - where we’d see 300 deer. Saw one herd of mulies that probably few would believe it now. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and still had opportunities at a few 160+ class bucks and a true 30+ inch monster (that miss still hurts).

There were a couple tough winters around 2010 that beat the deer back a bit. The numbers came back pretty quick but the quality wasn’t there. Gave it up after the 2016 season when we’d sift through 2 points and occasionally turn up a basket racked buck with lots of potential. Meat lockers were still full of deer then, albeit small bucks and metric tons of does. Ate a bunch of buck tags those last few years. Those tags were tough to swallow at NR prices.

An old friend of mine with 45+ years experience of hunting E MT went out there this year. He has trouble getting around now days and sleeps in longer than he used to, so he’s not the hunter he used to be, but he knows where to look… or used to know where to look… He saw 3 deer on public in the 4 days of trying.

Sounds like the MTFWP finally BROKE that herd with lead poison after not adjusting for winter kill and drought. F****** Criminals.

Sorry but if he only saw 3 deer in 4 days he need to look in other spots or get his eyes checked. Not saying the numbers aren't down and there aren't issues. But in a day in eastern MT you wouldn't even have to pull out binos or roll your window down to see 3 deer on public ground. You can't expect even in good areas to go look at the same 3 drainages and see the same amount or quality of deer year after year. Hell on our 80 acres this year here in MN if you sat where we "always" saw deer (20 or so a day) for years you would have saw exactly zero deer during shooting light. But move 200 yards and in one day I passed 12 different bucks.