Saskatchewan big game draw

I will not be drawn for any thing this year. Still too low in the pools. It's ok tho as I'm heading to England and then WA to hunt this year. I'll be busy enough.
 
scruffee said:
Applied for moose and 99d the rest. Glad to see mule deer antlerless opportunities gone, they've taken a serious shyt-kicking around here.
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The mule deer populations are so bad in my normal zones I apply for that I won't even bother trying. I have heard there are some better zones but I think mule deer populations in general are very poor compared to just 10yrs ago.
 
jbmauser said:
The mule deer populations are so bad in my normal zones I apply for that I won't even bother trying. I have heard there are some better zones but I think mule deer populations in general are very poor compared to just 10yrs ago.
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I'm in 36, and we have had a pile of them this year. Been here 4 years and never seen them before. I can see why they take a beating...they are kinda dumb.

I did apply for a tag, just to keep in the pool


I work with a fella who hunted south of us closer to the border and said the herds were huge a couple of years ago.
 
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In 2016 I got drawn in 27. During pre season scouting we found 5 bucks over 180", one with a huge drop tine. I ended up getting a 201" non typical that we didn't even know about on the second day of muzzleloader season. My friends had been hunting that zone in years past and it was normal to see 30-40 mule deer in a morning walk and that many again in the evening. In 2020 I walked over 200 miles that fall and only saw one mature buck. The same areas we would see 30 mule deer while walking through, we would see less than 5. It has remained about the same since then. This past fall both my daughter and uncle were drawn and while we saw a decent amount, none were mature bucks. They are out there tho, my friend got an old 170" class buck 2 years ago but they are far and few between compared to 10 years ago. Pretty sad really.
 
Mulletard said:
I'm in 36, and we have had a pile of them this year. Been here 4 years and never seen them before. I can see why they take a beating...they are kinda dumb.

I did apply for a tag, just to keep in the pool


I work with a fella who hunted south of us closer to the border and said the herds were huge a couple of years ago.
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I've been hunting Central Sask for over a decade. Mule deer (and whitetail) populations have taken a massive hit in the past few years. It wasn't uncommon to see several herds of 12+ animals in a day and I could pretty much find at least one 180+ inch mule deer every time I went out.

In the last 2-3 years, the largest group I could stumble upon would be a handful of animals, and finding anything above 140 inch was a real challenge, let alone seeing a 180 inch buck...
 
scruffee said:
I've been hunting Central Sask for over a decade. Mule deer (and whitetail) populations have taken a massive hit in the past few years. It wasn't uncommon to see several herds of 12+ animals in a day and I could pretty much find at least one 180+ inch mule deer every time I went out.

In the last 2-3 years, the largest group I could stumble upon would be a handful of animals, and finding anything above 140 inch was a real challenge, let alone seeing a 180 inch buck...
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Over hunting you think or? Did see a few decent bucks last year and yesterday saw a heard of white tails probably 10 plus that ran away from me till they were over the horizon 😄 always groups them around and random small groups.

Usually only see mules in smaller groups around here. But I have never seen them till this year.
 
Mulletard said:
Over hunting you think or? Did see a few decent bucks last year and yesterday saw a heard of white tails probably 10 plus that ran away from me till they were over the horizon 😄 always groups them around and random small groups.

Usually only see mules in smaller groups around here. But I have never seen them till this year.
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Anterless tags certainly didn't help the population and they have finally stopped selling them but I think a combination of drought, harsh winters and cwd have taken their toll. I know that there was a particularly hard winter in 27 during 2020 that killed a lot of them and rhe population was already severely down. Snow came early and extremely deep that year in that area.
 
Thanks op, didn't miss the draws this year, lol. Missed last year as got different email and never thought to alter hal info.

We haven't been here long enough to worry about getting drawn(A pool I think), so 99'd elk, moose, antelope. Been putting wife in for mule as well.
 
jbmauser said:
Anterless tags certainly didn't help the population and they have finally stopped selling them but I think a combination of drought, harsh winters and cwd have taken their toll. I know that there was a particularly hard winter in 27 during 2020 that killed a lot of them and rhe population was already severely down. Snow came early and extremely deep that year in that area.
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Thanks for the explanation. Always interesting to hear about zones all over the province.
 
Mulletard said:
Over hunting you think or? Did see a few decent bucks last year and yesterday saw a heard of white tails probably 10 plus that ran away from me till they were over the horizon 😄 always groups them around and random small groups.

Usually only see mules in smaller groups around here. But I have never seen them till this year.
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Around my parts, it's a combination of things; CWD, droughts, hard winters, road kills and over hunting of does IMO. The mule deer have just gotten the crap kicked out of them. I'm hoping they make a rebound to normal herd numbers, but it's not looking good.
 
scruffee said:
Around my parts, it's a combination of things; CWD, droughts, hard winters, road kills and over hunting of does IMO. The mule deer have just gotten the crap kicked out of them. I'm hoping they make a rebound to normal herd numbers, but it's not looking good.
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South west?
 
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