After setting a population goal of 50,000 for western WY deer and not being able to attain it the WG&F is proposing to reset their goal to 40,000. I believe the population is currently estimated to be about 34,000, only 68% of their current goal. What do you think, do we have enough deer? The WG&F is looking for comments before they implement the proposed lower goal.
Is Wyoming Giving Up on Deer?
- Thread starter WY ME
- Start date
Joseph
Active Member
How many wolves does Wyoming have? If the population of wolves is healthy and expanding they're going to really affect those target numbers. We have a serious predator problem here in BC, not just wolves but cougars, black bear, and grizzly numbers are way up. As a result our deer(whitetail and mule deer), moose, elk, caribou, and big horn sheep numbers are being adversely affected.
Conrad8899
Active Member
The predators don't help matter at all. But fish and game don't help either. I hunted a gen unit last year. It was a 3 point antler restriction for a few year. Then they dropped the restriction. I talked to the warden. And he said he saw a lot of meat bucks taken. I asked what size is a meat buck. Spike and forked horns
Game & Fish screwed up back in the early 90's and by their own admission, they overestimated the deer herd by 25%. They gave out 5 or 8 doe tags as well as a buck tag and destroyed the herd. A bad winter around 1992/93 killed even more. The deer herd has never been the same.
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Yep back in the 90's we could get 6 doe tags to go along with a buck tag. Most I ever shot was 2 does & a buck. I have 10 NR points and I am really thinking about cashing them in next year.
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No, Wyoming is not giving up on deer.
Many of the quotas were changed to reflect a realistic management goal. Many of the quotas were set a long time ago and were likely never reasonable from the start.
There were some problems with some population models, but that has been adjusted and IMO, the WYGF is doing a pretty good job of being as pro-active as they can with mule deer.
There are currently MDI's and Mule Deer working groups in nearly every region in the State. The GF is also conducting a lot of research to figure out what is going on with mule deer. Migration corridors, migration routes, fawn survival, habitat issues, etc. etc. are all actively being studied and worked on by the GF, BLM, FS, and NGO's.
Not sure how anyone could conclude from adjusting a decades old population objective to something more attainable and realistic based on habitat, carrying capacity, and past herd numbers is the GF "giving up" on mule deer???
There is, and has been, a ton of effort put into mule deer management in Wyoming.
Many of the quotas were changed to reflect a realistic management goal. Many of the quotas were set a long time ago and were likely never reasonable from the start.
There were some problems with some population models, but that has been adjusted and IMO, the WYGF is doing a pretty good job of being as pro-active as they can with mule deer.
There are currently MDI's and Mule Deer working groups in nearly every region in the State. The GF is also conducting a lot of research to figure out what is going on with mule deer. Migration corridors, migration routes, fawn survival, habitat issues, etc. etc. are all actively being studied and worked on by the GF, BLM, FS, and NGO's.
Not sure how anyone could conclude from adjusting a decades old population objective to something more attainable and realistic based on habitat, carrying capacity, and past herd numbers is the GF "giving up" on mule deer???
There is, and has been, a ton of effort put into mule deer management in Wyoming.
HiMtnHnter
Active Member
SouthernWyo
Member
- Mar 11, 2011
- 62
- 1
Buzz said it. With the current level of development on the limiting winter and transition ranges, population objectives set decades ago are not realistic. Habitat that existed 20 to 30 years back does not exist today. This is most likely true statewide.
racksackssales
New Member
The Wyoming Game and Fish are expenses money on organization mule deer habitat. They are getting 80 percent of their budget from licenses they sell. So this makes sense, sell more licenses so that there is more money to spend on mule deer habitat.