South Dakota mule deer

[KurtR]

There's always been fewer mule deer east river.
In 2023, there were ~30k resident archery tags and ~5k NR.
There were over 10k antlerless tags sold for youth/mentored
50k resident general rifle tags (ER and WR). 2k NR

25% success with archery: 8,500 deer 6000 bucks 200 does
45% success youth/mentored antlerless: 4,500 does.
45% success rifle: 24,000 deer 16000 bucks and 8000 does

My extended family (second cosuins) have around 12k acres in NW SD and have reported that deer numbers are fine. My trail cameras on my parents land (much smaller and borders public) have captured more deer than any other time in the last decade. (perhaps they've been placed a bit better?)

Seems hard to believe that deer numbers are sooo bad now that your dad and father in law say it is worse than back when it was a big deal to even kill a deer? How can that be when it isn't that hard to kill deer now? Must be better now..

I'm curious if you believe anecdotes. In one sentence you say 'random people say its good' as if to discredit them, but then use random 'farmers and ranchers' to say its bad. So which is it, are anecdotes reliable or not? Because I know many ranchers that say deer numbers are fine.

If you want more deer, the actual numbers would indicate to stop antlerless hunts and reduce resident rifle tags. The 2,000 deer (majority bucks) that nonresidents kill are not going to make a significant change to population levels. This is just a fact.
You suggest making NR archery a draw, but it already is a draw? So what are you even suggesting? Did you not know that NR archery was a draw?
Do you have any actual evidence to support this doomsday? I would honestly love to hear it. I think there are areas where deer numbers are down. I think there should be some rule changes to improve deer numbers. I absolutely do not support making decision based off of anecdotes and proposing rule changes that are not supported with data.

Nr archery isnt a draw you just have to apply. Its not random ranchers and farmers its people i have known since i moved to mobride over 20 years ago. I spend all year driving back and forth to eagle butte and spent alot of years hunting perkins county till the bad winter kill in 2010.

There are less mule deer east river but way less pressure and way better quality in general.

Do you remember when they were handing triple tags out like candy just 15 years ago then the winter of 10 hit and then ehd.

Im all for killing less does and killing a deer isnt that hard i guess but im past the stage of wanting to shoot rats. I have a 188 mulie and went into the year knowing i probably wasnt going to kill one if its not bigger than that im not that interested. I would rather eat ducks and geese so the meat isnt a concern.

What part of the state do you live in and how many days out in the country do you spend the data i have is what I see along with a pretty big group of people i hunt with or talk to.

Our nr tags are way to cheap compared to other states that we border like wyoming and montana we should at least be in line with what they charge. Hell both rez by me charge over 700 dollars and sell out in minutes

 

[TheYukiYama]

Nr archery isnt a draw you just have to apply. Its not random ranchers and farmers its people i have known since i moved to mobride over 20 years ago. I spend all year driving back and forth to eagle butte and spent alot of years hunting perkins county till the bad winter kill in 2010.

There are less mule deer east river but way less pressure and way better quality in general.

Do you remember when they were handing triple tags out like candy just 15 years ago then the winter of 10 hit and then ehd.

Im all for killing less does and killing a deer isnt that hard i guess but im past the stage of wanting to shoot rats. I have a 188 mulie and went into the year knowing i probably wasnt going to kill one if its not bigger than that im not that interested. I would rather eat ducks and geese so the meat isnt a concern.

What part of the state do you live in and how many days out in the country do you spend the data i have is what I see along with a pretty big group of people i hunt with or talk to.

Our nr tags are way to cheap compared to other states that we border like wyoming and montana we should at least be in line with what they charge. Hell both rez by me charge over 700 dollars and sell out in minutes

in 2024 there were 2200 NR archery public/private tags. 3471 applied. How is that not a draw???

South Dakota is an generally an opportunity state rather than a trophy state. The fact that its pretty easy to get a tag and kill a deer is reflective of that imo. Just because you only want big antlers and you didn't see that this year doesn't necessarily tell me new. Eagle butte to Mobridge is not representative of the entire state. One persons observations are not data which is my entire point. Some ranchers some guy on the internet knows is not very relevant in my view of the data as there are also ranchers I know that disagree. I was born east river and raised and spent my life WR, often in the BH. But my family has land in multiple units west and east river. I spend a few days a week outside. I also study data and trends in many states quite closely. So looking if you have any actual data or just anecdotes.

I would love to increase deer numbers. But since I would like to increase deer numbers, I would like to do things that would actually increase deer numbers.
For example, how does one believe that charging more for nonresident tags that are a small portion of the harvest and sell out anyway, is related to deer numbers? That just doesn't make any sense.

I would love to hear some other suggestions to actually increase deer numbers and any actual data that deer numbers are as low as some anecdotes seem to indicate.

 

[KurtR]

in 2024 there were 2200 NR archery public/private tags. 3471 applied. How is that not a draw???

South Dakota is an generally an opportunity state rather than a trophy state. The fact that its pretty easy to get a tag and kill a deer is reflective of that imo. Just because you only want big antlers and you didn't see that this year doesn't necessarily tell me new. Eagle butte to Mobridge is not representative of the entire state. One persons observations are not data which is my entire point. Some ranchers some guy on the internet knows is not very relevant in my view of the data as there are also ranchers I know that disagree. I was born east river and raised and spent my life WR, often in the BH. But my family has land in multiple units west and east river. I spend a few days a week outside. I also study data and trends in many states quite closely. So looking if you have any actual data or just anecdotes.

I would love to increase deer numbers. But since I would like to increase deer numbers, I would like to do things that would actually increase deer numbers.
For example, how does one believe that charging more for nonresident tags that are a small portion of the harvest and sell out anyway, is related to deer numbers? That just doesn't make any sense.

I would love to hear some other suggestions to actually increase deer numbers and any actual data that deer numbers are as low as some anecdotes seem to indicate.

Money buys habitat and habitat makes more deer so theres that.

I will let you study data a figure it out im more worried about how dry it is and the may pond count and the bpop survey for the year. I hope we get alot of snow its dry and the ducks need more sloughs filled.

 

[TheYukiYama]

Money buys habitat and habitat makes more deer so theres that.

I will let you study data a figure it out im more worried about how dry it is and the may pond count and the bpop survey for the year. I hope we get alot of snow its dry and the ducks need more sloughs filled.

fair enough. But if you want more money increasing the cost of resident tags would create a lot more money considering there are 25x as many rifle tags. Or better yet, raise both in my opinion.
Hell, raise them all to 2k a piece, I will have wayyy less competition out there.

And just to be clear, you believe both white tail and mule deer population is very low across the entire state? And you believe current habitat is the cause? Or harsh winters? Or tag/harvest count?

and nonresident archery. do you now agree that it is in fact a draw?