Saw the article.
I was talking with a biologist the other day - we were talking about "objectives" and 10-year population trends. That's what the game management professionals run their numbers using. Some years go up some down, but they look at the 10-yr trend lines. He was talking about additional deaths and issues but that the numbers were following the trends. That's why they don't often close doe seasons.
Seems like after such a rough winter, they should just shut it all down for a year or two.
Western hunting is so stressful.
R vs NR is probably the worst thing that could have happened - will be the death of hunting.
90/10, 80/20, 75/25 - no-one is ever happy.
Where to go - species specific or whatever.
Preference points and getting drawn - annual turmoil.
Trophy vs non-trophy hunting.
Add the winter-kill and inability for most hunters to help the herd.
The non-trophy guys are gonna hurt everyone this year. They'll see less deer and be more eager to shoot the little 3x3 buck. Then they'll complain about the lack of big bucks and such. The fawn crop of 2022 is dead, will does have carried the fetuses thru such a stressful winter and be able to produce a fawn crop for 2023? So, let's just say we've lost 2 years of fawn crops. That's a tough gap to bridge for hunters.
I checked the units where we are supposed to hunt antelope this fall. Of the 6 or 8 units, only 2 have any reductions. Will go by what the outfitter says for the hunt.
