How's your local deer herd doing?

Hwy 75 south of Winnipeg just before you get to Morris Manitoba there is a herd of ??? 75-100 you see them every day out in the fields eating.
 
bearkilr said:
You can be anyone you want on the internet. After retiring from the Navy SEALS, I tried my luck in the NFL, but hurt too many guys, so decided to take life easy and make my billions on Wall St. True story. :)
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So, you are the guy that ended my career..... I was Tom Brady's age and had the edge on him to join the pats.... and Gisele and I had a thing for eachother too...... but anyways.... guess I will have to reduce myself to tracking down animals in their natural environment.... can't afford to high fence the hunt camp...... thanks a lot
 
beeman2 said:
I actually would of preferred Manitoba closing the season instead of making it bucks only. Why kill everything with a horn on it's head? So many people are not fussy and kill any buck. The age class structure is really messed up where I hunt. Mainly due to the winter kills a few years ago.
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Yep, I agree with that. Give them a chance...
 
umchorn2 said:
Where the hell are you? Spruce woods area? Deer Shangri-la?? I have never counted 600 deer in a year and I don't think you can count that high to begin with. I'm calling you out on these numbers. Have trouble believing you could legitimately get these numbers even from a plane. Although I have seen over 100 deer per winter for years in the same guys pea field near a community pasture.

And you're right, the age structure is really messed up. But not because of bucks only. When guys shoot fawns and does, especially before they're mature, they skew the buck to doe ratio. For many years I have only shot mature bucks (3.5 yr old or older). Haven't shot an antlerless deer since I was a youth and these deer should be reserved for young hunters (and Aboriginals of course because they have rights!!)

I practice quality deer management as my hunting philosophy and this is the most balanced approach to game hunting in general. It maximizes hunter opportunity and deer/elk/animal herd health, quality, and numbers. It takes discipline and effort on the hunters part but pays off big time in the longrun. Unfortunately provincial biologists in Manitoba have no clue how to manage game at all or care for that matter.

If you're a provincial biologist or wildlife manager and you're reading this...you suck! Please resign you need a career change.
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I am not on here very often, but from some of the replies I would question your counting ability. Do you ever leave the city? I had friends drive a very similar route here just the other day at 8:00 AM and they said they seen close to 1000 deer. With the 600 I referenced The time of day was from 2 till 4:00 pm. Still lots of deer in the bush bedded. When you see these huge herds it is not normal. The deer are stressed and trying to find maybe just a single soybean to eat. They are bedded down lots of times in the middle of fields all day long as they don't have the energy to walk to a bedding area. Maybe you don't get these severe conditions in your area. It is just a normal thing for southern Manitoba. See it almost every year in varying forms. No I am not in the Spruce Woods area. I am about 1.5 hrs SW of Winnipeg 15 miles off the ND border.
 
Our deer herds are doing quite well just ask the natives when THEY are allowed to cull hundreds of them. I asked the MNR about letting handicapped hunters in on the culls and was abruptly told "the native populations in our country have the first right to any and all culls"! That statement really made me cringe because it literally states that because I am in a wheelchair I am now a third class citizen! Thanks a lot MNR!
So I ask you what happens now, are there any changes coming or they just going to go with the status quo??
 
Lost one yesterday to wolves. I was out around 5pm and noticed many eagles and about a doz. ravens circling up river a ways. Took the Argo for ride to check it out. Young doe, one of last years fawns. Not much left. The wolves heard the Argo coming and disappeared before I got there.
 
NaviDave said:
I have heard that bucks only has reduced buck populations too much in Manitoba. I am sure the population has bounced back here over the past 3 years.

The real question is - what will be allowed to hunt this fall.
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I probably saw 40 does and fawns last november. I'm sure the bucks only thing will be over next season, maybe not in the western regions though...
 
WMU 78 Ontario I don't see the numbers of deer as was usual in low light on fields that I once did. There are some deer around in pockets just not the higher population of maybe 10 years ago. I did see a group of 6-8 on a field last Saturday evening. Off topic but I still see good numbers of turkeys.
 
The mule deer population around here is out of this world! The whitetails are starting to do better after a couple mild winters.

SK WMZs 29 and 30
 
The mulies roaming my yard look happy, healthy and fat but a little dejected this morning.
It is -29C wind chill though.

In general around here deer are really doing well.
The numbers were already up last hunting season after two bad years.
It was very wet last fall and quite a number of green fields were left standing; bad for the farmers but good for the deer getting through winter.

I have seen dozen or hundreds in some of this fields and they look very healthy.
 
RiMP9 said:
That statement really made me cringe because it literally states that because I am in a wheelchair I am now a third class citizen!
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guess that means I've been a third class citizen all my life. Don't really think this has anything to do with you being in a wheelchair.
 
in my hunting area they seem to be doing good there was a lot of does around this fall and a few decent sized bucks. So far this year I've seen a lot of deer when I've been touring around. It's good to see them making a comeback after a few bad winters.
 
For you guys that feed the deer- every year I hear CO's warning against feeding them as they claim the deer can't process hay or grains and due to not getting the necessary nutrients, end up starving to death. Personally I call BS on this as I see the deer browsing the hay fields and ditches around here all winter, which is exactly what's being fed to them by all the well meaning people.

What do you think?
 
^ I always wonder about that as well. If hay were the kiss of death for deer, the countless bales that are often left in the fields over the winter would spell doom for the herd...but it doesn't appear that's the case. During a rough winter, I see deer eating these bales right down to the ground, whereas during a soft winter like this one, the bales are largely untouched. Perhaps hay isn't the ideal food for them, but it appears to serve as an emergency ration when little else is available...and when other feed is accessible, they seem to prefer that natural fare to hay.

If I were starving on a desert isle, I would eat McDonald's burgers if they were the only thing available. Might not be healthy food, but definitely better than no food. Then, when something better comes along, I'd at least be alive to take advantage of it.
 
coyoteking said:
For you guys that feed the deer- every year I hear CO's warning against feeding them as they claim the deer can't process hay or grains and due to not getting the necessary nutrients, end up starving to death. Personally I call BS on this as I see the deer browsing the hay fields and ditches around here all winter, which is exactly what's being fed to them by all the well meaning people.

What do you think?
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Sounds like there's been many studies in the states that agree we shouldn't be feeding the deer unless it's a horrible situation. In reality it probably isn't the bales being fed to them, but the tractor bucket of corn, peas, wheat, barley, oats, etc. that guys think will rescue their herd and keep them tip top shape all winter. It's just the nutrients they're worried about either. When you get high concentrations of animals feeding off a single food source, your odds of spreading CWD skyrocket as it can spread through saliva of animals. I guided a warden from Missouri last season for waterfowl, that was his their reasoning behind the baiting ban where he is.
 
i am not seeing a lot of deer but i imagine it is because the winter has been an easy one, in the colder winters they feed in the daytime and are easy to see. we did get to see a group of five on the front lawn a few nights ago.they were actually feeding at the bird feeders. first time seeing that. they looked in good condition.
 
chisholm said:
Sounds like there's been many studies in the states that agree we shouldn't be feeding the deer unless it's a horrible situation. In reality it probably isn't the bales being fed to them, but the tractor bucket of corn, peas, wheat, barley, oats, etc. that guys think will rescue their herd and keep them tip top shape all winter. It's just the nutrients they're worried about either. When you get high concentrations of animals feeding off a single food source, your odds of spreading CWD skyrocket as it can spread through saliva of animals. I guided a warden from Missouri last season for waterfowl, that was his their reasoning behind the baiting ban where he is.
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I hadn't considered the CWD issue but now that you mention it that's a pretty obvious risk.

I can't remember if it was the winter of '11 or '12, we had 3-4' of snow on the level from the end of January right into April, all the deer were starving or being hit on the highway because the only place they could find feed was on the shoulder of the road where the plows had cleared the snow. Some of our neighbors that had hay to spare were putting a few bales out to keep some of the deer alive. I give full credit to them for saving the few whitetails we had left in the area, now the herd is bouncing back quite nicely.

The mulies that wintered on the farmland that year all died and haven't really made a comeback, the ones that wintered in the Valley and the Grasslands National park did much better and are showing signs of a return in their numbers. Hopefully they'll start spreading back out to the crop land.
 
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