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Outdoor Corner: The woes of mule deer does!
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
Where have all the mule deer doe gone? This is a question a number of hunters and outdoorsmen have been asking this year.
Oh yes, the government still had a three doe license available on the draw this year and the question that arises is “Why?”
One area farmer and hunter deliberately applied for the three doe licenses in 523 because, “There are no does or very few left so I bought the license just to make sure someone didn’t go out and harvest three does that I am entitled to. I will not shoot a doe because they simply aren’t there in sufficient number to justify a hunt, in my opinion.”
I must admit that I agree with this farmer and did precisely the same thing he did, applied for the license and simply did not fill the three tags.
The management aspect of mule deer has to be drawn into question. Every hunter that I’ve spoken to repeats the same refrain, “There’s (sic) no mule deer doe left.”
In speaking to Fish and Wildlife Officer Dave Barrett he admitted that mule deer doe numbers were “way down”. Obviously the two last brutal winters have had some impact on these animals unlike their distant cousins, the moose, who seem to have withstood the past two winters quite well and are around in significant numbers even after this past season concluded.
What political pressures or bad management would then still call for more doe deer to be harvested in the face of this obvious decline? I can honestly say “decline” because I have been in the wilderness an on perimeter property virtually eery day for the past six months and have seen a total of 12 antlerless mule deer, seven of them fawns. That averages out to spotting one antlerless mule deer every 15 days! And, contrasted with that, in that same time period I saw 22 mule deer bucks, well below what I usually see in fall.
Hopefully the 2010 season and regulations will mend this transgression on wildlife numbers. At least in WMU 523, a shakeup is necessary to make certain that this majestic animal makes a comeback. A start would be to ensure no does or fawns are harvested in the foreseeable future. While it is understandable that the government is in the business of selling licenses, a shortsighted policy such as the doe season in WMU 523 in the face of shortages of this animal can only be disastrous, not only for the long term sale of licenses of this specie but also for the animal itself.
And, while they are at it, the government needs to look at the number of mule deer buck licenses that they issue as well. Recent years have seen the resurgence of some quality mule deer buck but this past year has seen a skid in , not only number of bucks, but the quality as well. Before these animals drop even more dramatically, action needs to be taken to curtail the human harvest of both genders, bucks and does, of this specie, at least in WMU 523.
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