Mule deer decline

[jimd]

I have been researching Mule deer declines here in Nevada for the last few days and really have found that there are so many so-called experts out there with so many reasons that it is really hard to have a good answer for the decline. The one thing that really stuck out in my reading was about Mt.lions. Two of studies that were done a few years ago really showed that the cats use deer as their feed in winter real heavy. So my question to all is what do you think is the main reason for the Mule deer decline in the West?---jimd

 

[realunlucky]

Migratory routes blocked and winter range has been developed. Predator population explosion is a close second in my option

 

[AZGUY]

Dont forget water. We had a terrible drought in AZ a few years back that significantly hurt our population.

 

[oct71]

I'm not a biologist, but I feel it's a little bit of everything. Habitat reduction,drought and winter kill is a lot of it here in western Wyoming.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

Jimd, for Nevada it's really simple, mountain lions and tag allocations. I find it funny our herd is about to reach under 100k for the first time in a LONG time but we are still issuing more tags. I also find it funny with trail cams set up in a unit north of me, the best deer caught on film was a 150" buck and a butt load of lions( ndow says this unit doesn't have a lion problem). The icing on the cake is this particular unit went TWO years straight without a single buck killed in ANY season but they still issue tags and won't open their eyes that there is a problem. The deer population in this unit is between 200-300. The unit next door to this one had this exact same problem in the early 2000's. Ndow addressed it by hiring government trappers to kill the predators. To date they have killed over 60 lions, 1,000s of coyotes and a ton of bobcats and now this unit sports one of the healthiest herds in Nevada. The biologists flew it this summer and counted over 500 BUCKS! I hope we start taking care of our deer again, it's sad seeing the herd treated like this.

 

[jimd]

Drhorsepower, after reading your post above which I found very interesting I decided to do some research on NDOW,Wildlife Commission,USFS and BLM. I found through my research that all of these organizations are just talking in circles and have been for numerous years. I have only been living here in Nevada for two(2) years now having moved here from Calif. and see that what is now going on here in this state is alot of the same things that went on in Calif. I also read where even state Reps. would not beleive what numerous biologists were saying about the decline in the deer herds and monies that are paid from tag sales for predator abatement have been used for other things. I really hope sportsman here in Nevada follow this close before it turns into a bigger problem that it is now.---jim

 

[bobhunts]

The decline all over the west is due to many of the factors mentioned above. I am no biologist but I know one. His name is Chris Roe and he has his own web site. Send him a message and see what he says. He is not affiliated with this site or any game agency..but he does know his stuff.Bob.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

Drhorsepower, after reading your post above which I found very interesting I decided to do some research on NDOW,Wildlife Commission,USFS and BLM. I found through my research that all of these organizations are just talking in circles and have been for numerous years. I have only been living here in Nevada for two(2) years now having moved here from Calif. and see that what is now going on here in this state is alot of the same things that went on in Calif. I also read where even state Reps. would not beleive what numerous biologists were saying about the decline in the deer herds and monies that are paid from tag sales for predator abatement have been used for other things. I really hope sportsman here in Nevada follow this close before it turns into a bigger problem that it is now.---jim

Welcome to Nevada Jim, we like to bring refuge to level headed Californians but leave your comrades behind if they want to bring their California way over here would ya?

 

[jimd]

I am pretty much a loaner and will not be bringing anyone from California over here to Nevada:----jim

 

[ceng]

It seems as though there are many factors. One big one is fire control. A lot of winter forage needs to be burned of and re grow every 10 years or so. I read a good biology paper saying that winter forage like bitter brush, sage and a few others lose nutrition and eventually are not digestable by deer. Where I'm at there's still some habitat but I know most of it hasn't burned in a long long time. Where it has burned it's held a higher number of deer. So I would throw in fire management as a big cause in mule deer decline. Add it to disrupted migration, increased predation and it's quite a big deal.

 

[ceng]

Sorry my phone double posted

 

[eleaf]

The unit I've hunted in WY the past three years (Region A) the decline in quality is due to a few factors. The winter of 10-11 hit the Black Hills hard and killed lots and lots of deer. WYFW didn't adjust the number of tags appropriately and the rest of the population that survived was hit really hard by hunters. Then 2 straight years of heavy summer drought (which killed lots more deer), and EHD hitting the whitetail population last year like a ton of bricks shifting some hunting from whitetails to mule deer. WYFW again failed to adjust the tag numbers here appropriately and the deer herd has taken a huge hit.

Combine all of those natural occurrences with hunters shooting anything with horns because the bigg'uns just aren't there (or are exceedingly difficult to find) and you have a serious depletion in big bucks in the area. When the weather kills lots of animals, then add in hunters who shoot forkhorns and spikes because there just aren't any bucks that are much bigger and you'll have a serious cycle that leads to a huge deficit in quality animals to shoot. If everyone shoots the little ones, there will be no big ones left. It's gonna take years of greatly reduced tags in order for the population to rebound back to where there is quality hunting there. It's one of the reasons why I'm moving to a different area next year (plus I want to hunt bigger country). It also doesn't help that you can't shoot a doe on public land in WY (at least not in Region A) and hunters, if they want to fill the freezer, are forced to shoot a small buck or eat tag soup.