Slow Hunting Western Wyoming

[WyoBull]

I was out calling coyotes last weekend here in central Wyoming in an area that normally has a lot of Antelope. Saw very few and even fewer deer.
It was really strange not seeing game that should have been abundant and has been for my lifetime.
It will be a lot of years before the numbers come back.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

22/23 was the worst winter kill I've ever seen in my life out here, worse than 1993 even. Hardly any deer in the fields at night or in the hills these days. Yet plenty of folks still looking to "bag a buck." Pretty disheartening honestly. If we truly practiced what we preached, we'd shut down the mule deer hunting here for at least 3 years, but it's all a money game in the end. Gary Fralick is a hell of a biologist and IMO, a great all around guy who really cares. You can get on an email list to receive updates on WY deer. Personally, I listen when he speaks.

My first winter in Idaho was the 92/93 winter. Crazy cold and unbelievable amount of snow. The deer never really recovered from that.

Heard another theory that may all be rubbish but who knows. If you're a longtime resident of Idaho then you are certainly familiar with the bunny bash in the 80's when jackrabbits had a crazy year and were everywhere. Apparently that was like a 7 year thing, where every 7 years or so, that would happen. But the theory is that because of the bad press the bash got, the ranchers/farmers didn't want to go through that again. In turn it became acceptable to poison the jack rabbits and there's not been an outbreak like that since.

And since coyotes love to eat jack rabbits they turned to another source....mule deer and that has had a long term slide in the mule population. True? I haven't a clue, but maybe.

 

[flatwater bill]

Wyoming Game and Fish did a miserable job in tag allocation. Many units needed a two year moratorium on Mule Deer hunting. Money, incompetent biologists? Hard to say. In deer unit 78, for example, there were a total of 275 deer tags in 2021. After the worst winter on record, that number was changed. It was raised to 465. I suppose it wouldn't matter if they offered 5000 tags.....if there are no deer, there will be no harvest. Many guides and outfitters in the area had refused to book deer hunters, saying it would have been akin to fraud. Local sporting goods dealers, and residents who had successfully hunted Wyoming for 40 years felt that the season should have been closed. I talked with about 20 of them, plus Gamey's and Biologists. I used my 9 preference points to draw this tag. I haven't enough years you accumulate points again, so it's my last hunt....that's why I didn't simply throw the tag away. Wyoming doesn't need me as a hunter. That's for sure. But I wonder if the young Game Wardens and biologists realize that Wyoming soon may not need them either. If they don't do a better job, many of them will have to go. Wildlife is an amazing asset. It needs to be managed for ALL of us......from hunters to greenies. But it cannot be managed solely for money. Departments must have the courage to cancel a hunt when animals are in extremis. Lest I leave this topic on a sour note, let me say that I had marvelous camping, great weather and food, scenery was spectacular, and I didn't get hurt. So my last deer hunt was one of my best.....FWB

 

[Firebird]

Three of us hunted the entire first week of October. Met with the biologist at least
Once and the law enf. As well. Biologist said 80 percent loss on deer. They know this as 8 of every ten collared does died. The biol. said that each buck will cover 7 does. Currently in his unit there aren’t 7 does for each buck to breed. So hunting isn’t going to impact the population. Which is why they didn’t cancel hunts.
Antelope were extremely scarce but elk/moose in our area were normal numbers. Sage grouse had their best year ever according to the biologist. My buddy killed a big moose with archery gear-not sure which unit.
Each of us put a legal buck in our crosshairs and passed. We have always used Wyoming as a trophy hunt area or an area to let our kids get into some opportunities. We saw very few other hunters and mostly locals. This was very unusual but wonderful at the same time. The weather was wet and foggy and made everything harder. Thankful to God for that.
Wyoming managed each unit very effectively-better than any other state I hunt and especially my home state.
The one thing no one could answer to my satisfaction was where to hunt for antelope. Me and my girls have 7 points each but no idea where to put in. So we will be patient for awhile and buy points and see what happens. I will hunt deer any chance I can-I just probably won’t pull the trigger

 

[fourfive8]

My first winter in Idaho was the 92/93 winter. Crazy cold and unbelievable amount of snow. The deer never really recovered from that.

Heard another theory that may all be rubbish but who knows. If you're a longtime resident of Idaho then you are certainly familiar with the bunny bash in the 80's when jackrabbits had a crazy year and were everywhere. Apparently that was like a 7 year thing, where every 7 years or so, that would happen. But the theory is that because of the bad press the bash got, the ranchers/farmers didn't want to go through that again. In turn it became acceptable to poison the jack rabbits and there's not been an outbreak like that since.

And since coyotes love to eat jack rabbits they turned to another source....mule deer and that has had a long term slide in the mule population. True? I haven't a clue, but maybe.

Yes, kind of IIRC. I'm not sure of the jack rabbit connection but am familiar with some work done in the 60-80s that indicated a population dynamics relationship among various rodents, mule deer and coyote densities in the West. I think there is a more direct predator-prey relationship between population densities of some smaller rodent spp and coyotes. But that doesn't exclude jack rabbits either. After all, coyotes can subsist on such as juniper berries and automatically reduce their pup production during lean cycles. If 10-80 didn't get rid of them, nothing can.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Yes, kind of IIRC. I'm not sure of the jack rabbit connection but am familiar with some work done in the 60-80s that indicated a population dynamics relationship among various rodents, mule deer and coyote densities in the West. I think there is a more direct predator-prey relationship between population densities of some smaller rodent spp and coyotes. But that doesn't exclude jack rabbits either. After all, coyotes can subsist on such as juniper berries and automatically reduce their pup production during lean cycles. If 10-80 didn't get rid of them, nothing can.

Interesting avatar. "No Pebble Mind". Well, too late for Brandon but maybe the members here will heed that advice. LOL

 

[flatwater bill]

Deer were so scarce in the unit I hunted that two small groups of does were run and chased over and over again by hunters looking for a buck (that didn't exist). Trial by 4-wheeler I call it. Will that impact survival? Maybe. Large solitary bucks are vulnerable to lion predation. Every time one is harvested, it shifts predation onto another deer.....often a doe. Two examples. Hunting has effects that may not be obvious on the surface. The down side to a 1 year moratorium? Money. The down side to excessive tag allocation? Remains to be seen. But it will not be zero.....FWB

 

[jduckhunter]

So, as I'm sitting here starting on my 3rd cup of coffee for the morning, I've been thinking about something that happened last month while I was hunting deer and antelope in Wyoming. While I was out cruising around looking for antelope, I ran across 4 hunters from Georgia (not that it matters where they were from) we struck up a conversation and I soon learned that between the 4 of them they had 10 antelope doe tags. I asked why they would buy so many tags especially this year? I also informed them that I had been here for a week and have only seen a fraction of the antelope that I normally see. They response was " We talked to the game warden and the biologist for the area and were assured that the previous winter wasn't that bad in this part of the state, so go ahead and buy the tags." In disbelief I reiterated my findings and asked them to reconsider filling all of those tags. I have no idea if they filled them or not, but I suspect that they at least tried to, because for the next week or so I saw them cruising the dirt roads every day. The thing that bothers me the most, if it is true, is why would the warden and biologist tell them that? And as sportsmen (assuming they were good sportsmen) why would they shoot so many does after a winter such as the last one?