Hunting Report

IronNoggin

IronNoggin

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Port Alberni, Vancouver Island
Not my usual cheery, detailed and lengthy tale this time around...

Back from the Christian Valley / Rock Creek areas a few days ago.
Spent near 2 weeks there.

Synopsis:

The program of destruction of the whitetail herds by the province of BC in the misguided belief that their removal will encourage better mule deer populations is working - in one aspect.

I have never seen so few whitetails in that zone before.
Well remembered "honey holes" were entirely vacant.
Places that I recall never seeing less than 2 dozen, and upwards of 75 or more held nothing.
No sign, no trails, no browsing, nothing.

We put one hell of a lot of miles on both boot leather and trucks.
Sightings were the lowest I have ever witnessed.
And mule deer numbers were absolutely nothing to write home about either.
They are unlikely to increase under this mad regime as the two species have different habitat preferences.

Spoke with several ranchers I know there, and each & every one of them said the same: they have been eradicated.

The one population that was well represented were the masses of "hunters" - largely from the LML - that set up massive camps everywhere.
Nary a game pole dressed among the vast majority of those. In fact, we only heard of a very small handful taken by a couple of extremely experienced hunters we know in the area.

We put a LOT of time and effort in.
My Partner and I are extremely experienced at this game.
We were successful, but I almost wish we had not been as we thereby contributed to their decline.

Suffice it to say I will be looking for others areas to wander down the road...

Shocked...
Nog
 
  • Wow
Reactions: DGY
I was in Rock Creek for a few days last week. Saw two mulie 3 point bucks in a no hunting zone off an FSR. Saw a few does as well. No white tails. None of the guys I met out here had seen any legal animals.
 
1899 said:
That sounds terrible. What "program of destruction" are you talking about? I haven't heard about it.
Click to expand...

Quite a few years back, a certain Region 8 biologist surmised that reducing the whitetail population might result in something of a rebound for the then dwindling mule deer population.

His answer to that was to drop the draw (LEH) tags for whitetail does, and allow cross-counter general open season tags for them, and open the season up for a rather lengthy period of time.

At first the decline was slow.
But the cumulative effect of removing numbers of mature breeding does had it's effect, and soon (last 2 - 3 years) the decline became dramatic. Now there is but a remnant population in that area as a consequence.

And btw, there is no noticeable increase in mule deer numbers...
 
IronNoggin said:
Quite a few years back, a certain Region 8 biologist surmised that reducing the whitetail population might result in something of a rebound for the then dwindling mule deer population.

His answer to that was to drop the draw (LEH) tags for whitetail does, and allow cross-counter general open season tags for them, and open the season up for a rather lengthy period of time.

At first the decline was slow.
But the cumulative effect of removing numbers of mature breeding does had it's effect, and soon (last 2 - 3 years) the decline became dramatic. Now there is but a remnant population in that area as a consequence.

And btw, there is no noticeable increase in mule deer numbers...
Click to expand...

I see - thanks for the info.
 
Mik123 said:
I'm guessing it's the open season on anterless white tail.
Click to expand...
I'm not real familiar with BC hunting, but knew some guys that used to hunt elk successfully years ago in M34. I got talking to a guy that grew up around there last summer and he told me it was a similar situation there with a ton of cows hauled out of there until elk were sparse and only now is it slowly coming back with 6 point bull only. I'm not understanding the BC government cleaning house in there and always thought it was better to have a well managed population in any species, except I guess with high EHD and CWD. Maybe I don't have the whole picture or lost something in translation. Any BC guys to weigh in?
 
1899 said:
Do you think epizootic hemorrhagic disease might have something to do with it?

Deer deaths in Greenwood
Click to expand...

The two areas (Grand Forks & Christian Valley) are widely separated and there have been no reported cases of EHD in the latter that I am aware of.
Likely not...

ojo de aguila said:
Maybe I don't have the whole picture or lost something in translation. Any BC guys to weigh in?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately you have it right.
 
IronNoggin said:
The two areas (Grand Forks & Christian Valley) are widely separated and there have been no reported cases of EHD in the latter that I am aware of.
Likely not...
Click to expand...

It is something like 40km as the crow flies - I hope you are right though. Unfortunately it seems as though wildlife in BC has been very poorly managed. The "lets get rid of moose to help the caribou" is another example. How about, "lets kill a bunch of wolves to help the caribou and moose"? Of course the public perception on that approach is quite different. I know they have been doing that for a bit in some areas, but not nearly enough, imo.

And don't get me started on them stopping the grizzly hunt...
 
I've laid eyes on 3 grizzlies in 5-1 over the past 2 weeks , didn't see any cubs but to see 3 different bears in 2 weeks around here is unheard of in recent times. A resident of fawn creek road has game cameras in her yard and caught an image of FIVE adult size cougars travelling thru her property in a pack...... never seen that before. She posted it to facebook though so the images are out there.
Active trapping for wolves has seemingly reduced thier numbers somewhat in the area i was hunting as the usual scat and tracks on every road the last few years was not to be found this year. Found what we initially thought was a poacher's kill site , only to discover that several deer carcasses where attached to the tree with heavy wire. No doubt road killed deer being used to trap wolves so we backed out of there cautiously, happy to see there is a trapper at work in the area.
Still a few days left in my friend's LEH group hunt although one of them never showed and another one had to leave for a medical appointment. So I spent 3 days in camp so far deer hunting...... saw a bull on saturday and another one yesterday..... no tag holder with me so all i coud do was watch them LOL bummer. First bulls seen since the first day of the draw when one of the crew spooked one up from it's bed and never got a shot.
Oh well... that's hunting.... though this will be my last season hunting with those guys.
Who leaves in the middle of thier 2 week opening on a LEH moose draw group hunt (2 tags) ???
I put a lot of work in to assist them in my area and am kinda pissed off at the whole affair. They left 50 grand worth of gear, travel trailer and all the stuff up in the bush and drove back to surrey. I got tired of being camp b*tch so am resting comfortably on my couch at home an hour west LOL
That said, I've hunted nearly every day this month excpt 4 or 5 maybe , so I am having a good time, shooting lots of grouse and bunnies and already have 2 deer tags punched so as far as my own season goes..... i can't complain too much. Still lots of deer season left so I'm not stressing on filling that last tag. Spotted some whitetail does in the fields on hwy 24 by sheridan so I might save the last deer tag for a whitetail buck later in november...... we'll see
 
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