Deer tags next year

[harvey lee]

Thanks for the info. I am going to make a call today and let them know what we have in our area for a decrease in deer numbers.

[KEN W]

I'm going to the one in Casselton on Wednesday.

[harvey lee]

If you could Ken, let me know what they talk about. 600 miles round trip is a bit far for me to attend this one.

Thanks in advance.

[KEN W]

If you could Ken, let me know what they talk about. 600 miles round trip is a bit far for me to attend this one.

Thanks in advance.

Will do.

[TylerS]

I'm planning on being at the Casselton meeting tonight. I hope there's a good turnout.

[marine_man]

How was the meeting Tyler?

marine_man

[TylerS]

How was the meeting Tyler?

marine_man

It was good! Close to 50 people in attendance. Meeting pretty much started and ended with deer numbers and coyotes (as I figured it would). I felt sort of bad for the G&F guys. They got hammered by people who asked questions and didn't like the answers if they didn't match up with their personal predetermined notions.

Roger Rosvet (sp), the Deputy Director, said that we should expect less than 100,000 deer tags next year (at one point, mentioned 90,000).

Also asked for input on what we'd like to see as far a buck tags. Several people mentioned a one-buck-only tag so you wouldn't give one person the ability to shoot an archery, firearm and muzzy buck all in the same year.

Roger also said that, while archery tags are currently limitless, success rates are increasing significantly (from historical rates of 20 percent to more than 40 percent now), so bow hunters are having a greater impact on the herd. There were 16,000 resident archery tags given this year and 2,800 nonresident.

(I liked what he said at one point (paraphrasing): "It seems like the gun hunters are taking the brunt of the cuts and bow hunters aren't really effected. Is there a way to reduce archery success back to normal rates (20 percent)?" At which point there was mention of shortening the bow hunting season as a possibility)

As far as coyotes, there was a lot of complaining but not a lot of viable solutions, or at least ones that don't already stretch a limited department budget. The G&F admitted that coyotes DO take deer, but they said they have no way of knowing what the overall impact is. People didn't like that. Roger said that they've done all they can as far as liberalizing the hunting of coyote, but it still doesn't do anything for numbers. If they were to add a bounty, it likely would fall on the pocket books of deer hunters in the form of increased license cost.

He gave a good analysis. If we were to put a $25 bounty on coyotes, and since hunters already take in the order of 70,000 to 100,000 coyotes a year, that means we'd have spend between $1.75 million and $2.5 million just to break even. If we wanted to take MORE coyotes, double that number.

As far as deer hunter contribution, $20 tag would now cost $70 (considering there are approximately 100,000 deer tags per year).

In other news, fishing is as good or better than its ever been. Expect open spearing for pike on all lakes except those stocked with muskies, and a 5-fish daily limit in the near future. Also mention of many new lakes popping up because of high water. I imagine a person who does some snooping might be able to stumble across some banner sloughs filled with perch and pike...or even walleye if you know where to look. I, sadly, have no clue.

Unless a miracle happens, no pronghorn season again in the fall.

As many of us know, pheasants in the southeast are "as bad or worse than (the G&F) projected."

And something I thought was the MOST important topic because it impacts not only us, but generations to come: the loss of CRP. Expect another 800,000 acres to come out next year. They've harped, and harped, and harped on this for years, and again last night, but it seemed largely to fall on deaf ears. CRP isn't just for pheasants, as one of the officials said last night, "it also is excellent habitat for deer."

Without federal funding, we're all SOL. I'm not a "sky is falling" kind of guy, but I truly, TRULY believe our outdoor world as we know it will be almost unrecognizable in the VERY near future. With a broke government and little state funding available, expect much more PLOTS land to go by the wayside was the CRP acres dry up.

In short: If you think deer and pheasant numbers are bad now, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

That's about all I can recall at the moment.

Hey Ken W, did you make it last night? What was your take?

[cbrooks]

Thanks for posting Tyler. Loss of CRP land is my biggest concern. I remember someone mentioning if you want to contribute in a small way towards CRP land/habitat since that benefits deer, upland, waterfowl, any type of hunting buy a waterfowl stamp whether you hunt ducks or not. I guess the way to fix that is to buy CRP land. Tough to do with no funds . North Dakota has a huge surplus of oil money...

just throwing ideas out there

[harvey lee]

If they feel cutting tags is part of the answer, cut away.

If they feel one buck tag will help, go one buck tag.

I totally agree with the coyote issue and it seems those yotes can survive about anything.

I also agree that the loss of CRP will really hurt the wildlife.

It all takes money and our gov seems to find other places to waste it in other countries.

I knew about 6-10 years ago that what we were seeing for deer populations and hunter success would one day slow way down. Time is here now. Might be talking the good ol days in a few more years.

I agree the yotes are an issue but to control them without breaking the bank is the next issue. We all need to go out and shoot and trap all we can for the next 5 years and then maybe the population may go down.

let's also hope for a short, easy winter for the wildlife. At least it is starting easy. But, we know what a few bad snowstorms can do.

[cbrooks]

I might have to give coyote hunting a try this winter. I just don't know if I would want to go throw the trouble of turning the fur in. I think the closest place to cash fur for me is Carrington. Thats atleast 2 hours away. Not as much money in furs as it was back in the day.

[TylerS]

You can shoot coyotes until your barrel melts down, but it's doing going to do a darn thing to the population.

I know what will, though: mange.

Think about it. There's a perfect storm brewing for mange to happen. Just look at EHD and the deer herds out west. All it takes is a little bug to put a significant dent in an animal population..

When populations go up, chances of them running into each other also go up. Mother Nature has a way of controlling things better than we ever could. Mark my words: they'll be a significant mange outbreak in the not too distant future.

[cbrooks]

Good point Tyler. Mother nature is the boss.

[KEN W]

Yes.....I was there last night.As I expected.....mostly talk about deer hunting and to many coyotes.

The rifle tags have been reduced by 1/3.Since ML tags are a % of rifle tags,they have been reduced also.Time for the bow hunters to get some restrictions also.They have not had any.

Everyone should have to get a tag in the first draw in June.3 boxes on the form.....1 for rifle,Bowhunter,and ML.You pick the weapon of your choice.They said last night that there were 90,000+ first lottery rifle apps.Sounds like there will be a lot less tags available next year.Which means there will be many hunters with no tag at all.

Then why should anyone get more than 1.In the past almost everyone applied for a buck as first choice.If they didn't get it,they could get a doe as second choice.Using that philosophy next year will mean you may not get any tag at all

Also landowners need to apply for their gratis tag at the same time in June as the lottery apps are due.There are a lot that put in for the unit tag,and if they don't get it....they get a gratis tag at any time up to the final day of the season.There were about 15,000 gratis rags last year.I'm not opposed to a gratis tag.....but why should they have that loophole in the system?

There also needs to be a change in the NR landowner regs.NR landowner tags are subtracted from the 1% allowed for NR.In allmost all the mule deer units,NR landowners take all the tags available.In other words NR are applying for units where they have no chance to get a tag.

I was told last night that the same thing is happening in the units along the RR Valley.If a NR wants a tag to hunt their own land,they should get a doe tag free.But if they want a buck tag,they should have to go through the lottery.Like the rest of us.

[Scoot]

Good info and good discussion, fellas. The loss of CRP is a bad, bad deal and won't be any good for the future of the states critters and hunting in general- no doubt about that.

I'd hate to see the archery season get shortened. I love hunting the late season- most hunters are done and only the people crazy enough to brave the elements are left. I'm not smart enough to stop then and I really enjoy dealing with cold and wind at the end of Dec. I'd much prefer to see the number of tags reduced or a tweaking of doe/buck archery tags to get to desired numbers.

I'm not sure I agree about mange being teed up and ready to be a big deal. Mange ravaged the number of yotes not many years ago and the ones that are primarily resistant to it made it through. Their genetic lines are largely in the yotes we have around now and they'll be more resistant to mange. We'll see I guess, but I'd sure love for you to be right and for the yote numbers to nose dive. I'm sure you're right though- eventually Mother Nature will win out- if not mange, then something else. Maybe starvation after all the deer in the state are dead...

Unfortunately Tyler, I totally agree that yote numbers don't seem to be significantly reduced by hunters. Yote hunter numbers are higher than ever in ND right now and yote numbers also seem to be at an alltime high. If hunters were more effective at keeping the number of yotes down, this wouldn't be the case... Is it legal to poison yotes in ND?

Great info fellas- thanks much for passing it along.

[BigTen]

I heard from a biologist a few years back that you need to shoot 70% of the coyotes in a given year to keep up with their reproduction. That's just not going to happen. Humans are not going to control coyote populations. One way or another, mother nature is responsible for that. And sooner or later, she usually gets even.