Mule Deer over Money

[wind gypsy]

I burned some points on a mule deer tag this year. I had a whopping 1.5 days of targeted Muley hunting prior and a lot of days holding a MT combo tag while elk hunting. I'm in the "find a decent representative buck" stage. I found that on day 1. In the future, if I have meat in the freezer like I usually do, I'll hold out for something a little more rare now that there's a "representative" rack at home. I have no qualms about eating tags if the alternative is another token youngster who's rack will get thrown in the corner of the garage.

 

[Mtndawger]

I have no issue trying to shoot big deer, I enjoy it too. I’ll be the first to say that I probably don’t fully agree with a lot of the hands that be, and how things happen, but I also understand that we can’t all fight each other, because of that we are losing.

That’s just the icing on the cake for me though(the antlers/horns). I also don’t see hunting as a sport.

Glamorization of trophy animals has put us in place where it’s not only making things increasingly more expensive, on top of becoming a cash cow to many state agencies; but it undermines the reasonable purpose of what we are doing.

Hard to justify to a non hunter that we are just out there for a big buck, and if we can’t shoot that then we won’t shoot anything. It also taints the experience to people just beginning.

Iv seen a growing attitude of disrespect for anything but a big deer.

“Glamorization of trophy animals has put us in place where it’s not only making things increasingly more expensive, on top of becoming a cash cow to many state agencies; but it undermines the reasonable purpose of what we are doing. “

Very close to my current thinking. After going through the wolf chronicles here in Colorado. Followed by the “cats aren’t trophies” chronicles and the defeat of 127 it is very clear that the hunting community has a large public relations task to ensure the viability of our sport ( for lack of a better term) into the future. I think it’s generally true that most members of this website are dyed in the wool hunters and that they want to connect and share stories and photos of their moments including the large horns or antlers. I think the focus on antler size as the only relevant metric and the illogical arguments supporting as much are ultimately damaging to our community. Me, I hunt for the experience, for the meat and hopefully to occasionally shoot what I consider to be a representative animal. Ya all should listen to the excellent podcasts about mule deer genetics etc by Mr Denning on this site.

 

[Pulleye16]

For the prices they charge, I'm filling my tag with any legal animal, as do most I hunt with. That said, the first day or two are typically trophy days but after that, its brown-its down!

 

[TaperPin]

If someone would rather shoot a doe over monster buck I’d worry about them. Seriously. I stopped hunting doe or cow only hunts long ago, so I’m biased, but there is a long long tradition of seeking out large trophy animals.

I don’t feel any sense of having to apologize for hunting based on antler size, to other hunters or the general population. Same for fish size - when the day comes other fishermen are arguing little stockers are just as worthy as trophy size whoppers I’ll worry about them as well.

What about animals that aren’t eaten at all, and we simply kill them, like varmints. Most varmints aren’t in anyone’s way, there’s no practical reason to smack prairie dogs out in the middle of public land, we aren’t protecting crops or livestock out there. I don’t feel any need to apologize for that. Same for trophy animals that aren’t eaten like grizzlies or mountain lions - there is no reason anyone should apologize for hunting the biggest baddest one they can find.

 

[bigsky2]

I'm looking for a trophy buck and fine going home empty handed. Maybe I am biased since I live in a state where I can hunt OTC mule deer every year, although I only shoot a buck about once every 4 or 5 years in my home state.

 

[TaperPin]

I think the general population needs to understand trophy hunting is a part of our hunting tradition, and we aren’t just harvesting game as if they are nothing more than a food source. Anti hunters would love for all of us to say hunting is nothing but a food source, because then it’s easy for them to justify doing away with hunting opportunities when $1.29 chicken and $1.49 pork could fill a freezer for far less than what most of us spend each year.

Also, the “don’t kill it if you aren’t going to personally eat it” crowd can kiss my ass.

 

[lif]

I don’t mind hunters that only kill trophy bucks or will eat their tag. But I do mind hunters that look down on folks for shooting smaller bucks. If we all decided as a hunting community that we would shoot nothing smaller than a 170” buck, success rates in most units would be 5%.

 

[Mojave]

Depends on about 1000 factors.

1. Quality of Tag, time, weather, conditions or whatever. If any of those are factors. I am dumping the first legal whatever.

2. Time is finite. If I am done and can come home early I am doing that. If I put in for 5 days of leave and I am done hunting and home on Monday I am going to work Tuesday. So while I love hunting, I want to be able to balance it against a million other family requirements. I will not come home early for something stupid in the middle of the time I have allotted.

3. What happens if you draw a super tag, in a super unit, and you have 9 points into to draw a tag that takes 11? But, the weather is BS massive draught. Your hunting companion has covid, gave it to you and he is your 83 year old father. This happened in 2022. It still pisses me off. I don't tell anyone about these big tags anymore I just go do it by myself. Do you shoot the first decent buck on opening morning so you can take your father home? I did. I regret allowing him o get involved, but at least I got to hunt with him again.

4. A lot of things can happen.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I don’t mind hunters that only kill trophy bucks or will eat their tag. But I do mind hunters that look down on folks for shooting smaller bucks. If we all decided as a hunting community that we would shoot nothing smaller than a 170” buck, success rates in most units would be 5%.

My dude if we decided that we were only shooting 170 class bucks success rates would be .5% haha

 

[hburggunner]

Why does hunting need to be an industry?

It doesn’t and if it wasn’t, it would sure be much easier to do without all the of states promoting outfitted tags vs diy tags.

 

[Hnthrdr]

It doesn’t and if it wasn’t, it would sure be much easier to do without all the of states promoting outfitted tags vs diy tags.

I can tell you that as recent as 7-8 years ago it. Was 2-3x easier to get tags… I’m sure 15-20 years ago it was even easier to get tags

 

[Jimss]

Colo could be a prime example of checking out harvest reports in 2024 vs several years ago. It is evident that mule deer buck quality is in the dumps across Colorado in recent years.

If there were a lot of hunters passing up mediocre bucks and only harvesting whoppers you would expect harvest success to drop in recent years.

My guess is that harvest success is similar to the glory years as hunters are harvesting younger/smaller bucks even in units that take a lifetime of pts to draw. There aren’t many hunters willing to eat tags after waiting so many years to draw.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I'm not sure I want to kill any mule deer much less a young one. And 100% we don't kill mule deer does in my house.

Wife and kid can shoot any buck they want, as can anyone else, but I certainly judge when people shoot does with our population struggling like it is. Makes no sense to me, but this isn't a once every ten years thing for me.

I understand your thoughts, but I think that saying shooting any mule deer doe is hurting the population as a catch all is the wrong view. As a whole mule deer populations throughout the west are declining, but there are population segments, typically low elevation resident herds that are largely agriculture dependent, that seem to be thriving. I have no problem personally taking a doe from a population like that and I don’t see how that would have anything but a positive effect on the herd that lives in the mountains 50 miles away and migrates down to eat on the same ag fields in the winter


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[Fatcamp]

I understand your thoughts, but I think that saying shooting any mule deer doe is hurting the population as a catch all is the wrong view. As a whole mule deer populations throughout the west are declining, but there are population segments, typically low elevation resident herds that are largely agriculture dependent, that seem to be thriving. I have no problem personally taking a doe from a population like that and I don’t see how that would have anything but a positive effect on the herd that lives in the mountains 50 miles away and migrates down to eat on the same ag fields in the winter


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I got you. My thoughts were primarily based on people in SD and eastern WY killing doe mule deer. It's just a bad idea.

 

[S.Clancy]

I got you. My thoughts were primarily based on people in SD and eastern WY killing doe mule deer. It's just a bad idea.

I'm not in the "never kill does" camp. I think it's a ridiculous idea biologically and socially.

 

[Fatcamp]

I'm not in the "never kill does" camp. I think it's a ridiculous idea biologically and socially.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

[S.Clancy]

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

You too.

 

[LostWapiti]

Never and always are ideas people love to cling too. It’s not human nature to admit that issues are complex and there is not one silver bullet. Everything just be carefully managed for optimal outcomes. Careful management “never”(lol) includes the rules of always and never since we live in a changing world.

 

[Treeratslayer]

It’s a balance for me. I love the taste of mule deer so I want to fill the tag. Not sure I could shoot a dinker 2x2 though just to do so. So far I’ve been fortunate enough to find decent deer.


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[saltfork]

To each their own. Everyone's situation could be different. This year my son and I had Colorado 4th season tags. It was his first mule deer hunt. We saw a lot of deer, passed on a lot of smaller bucks. I told him since it was his first mulie hunt, he could take whatever he wanted. He said he'd rather come home with nothing than shoot a small buck. So, we came home with unpunched tags. Now for us, living in Kansas, we can each shoot 5 whitetail does apiece if we want to fill the freezer. The doe season runs through the first of January, so a lot of time for me to fill some tags. I know not everyone has those opportunities, just my situation.