Yes the numbers are down in the Province, no denying that. This is what I noticed this hunting season. The fall was long and not overly cold, as well there was not a lot of snow around, there was still a lot of good feed left in the bush, so there was no hurry for the deer to get to the fields to feed, so they were moving really late in the evenings. I know around my place there is a fair number of deer moving around the area, which is good. The deer I've seen so far look good, nice and fat and healthy. As stated earlier it's the back side of winter that is the hardest. So far there is not a lot of snow depth or crust, not like last winter, keeping my fingers crossed we don't get a huge dumping of snow. I truly hope we keep the one tag system for the next number of years. The one thing that has me concerned, was the cold snap we got in December, that would be hard on the older Bucks after the rut. As far a closing the season. As far as I'm concerned close it for one group, you close it for all.
Time to close the Manitoba deer season for at least 2014 and 2015
- Thread starter rsp1761
- Start date
When I see triplets and twins surviving it tells me that the winter can't be all that bad. Deer are pretty tough animals. Driving for 50 minutes in one area (not hunting or during hunting season) my brother and I counted 119 whitetails (give or take a couple). I'm pretty sure they weren't running ahead of us to throw our numbers off. Taking a peek into a couple of taxidermists' rooms also tell an interesting story.
If the whitetail population was actually that bad I would have no problems keeping myself occupied with the other animals I hunt. But when CO's are getting their info from mail-in surveys and what they hear in their local watering holes I have a problem with it.
If the whitetail population was actually that bad I would have no problems keeping myself occupied with the other animals I hunt. But when CO's are getting their info from mail-in surveys and what they hear in their local watering holes I have a problem with it.
Yes the whitetail numbers are down in my area of the province as last winter was hard on them. The mature bucks really had it hard judging by how few pics we got on trail cams and by how many were harvested last fall. That being said we still have a good population in the Swan Valley and I can see know reason to close the season around here. Right now we do not have a lot of snow on the ground and the deer have it pretty easy. The cold weather we had before Christmas was real hard on the coyote population as the last 10 or so that I shot or snared had mange. Right now you do not see a whole lot of coyote tracks running around and this can only go further in helping the deer population to recover.
Funny. I had breakfast with a bunch of CO's the other morning and they were all telling me how the deer were already dying off and it's only January. These guys and gals are out in the field every day, and I don't think they rely on mail in surveys to tell them where to find (or not find) deer. I don't know how bad this years winterkill will be, a lot of that depends on how late winter runs. The critical time will be in March and early April when the herds are at their weakest, and food availability will play a big factor in deer mortality. I think season closures will be dictated after that. No one wants to see a season closure but reduced seasons may be an option.
lefty-Cunuck
Member
- Location
- Edmonton Area
Haven't read the whole thread but Alberta is in a dismal state right now too....3 bad years in a row has been absolutely devastating.
LC
LC
Funny. I used to work with them. I know exactly how hard they work. Unless the government has somehow found a way for the people in the DNR to work hard for longer than 30 minutes a day.
I´m a non resident of Saskatchewan and won´t be going there is year because of the low numbers. Prairie provinces really need some mild winters to have populations recupe from thiese past winters. In Alberta there are pockets of good deer populations but numbers are down from the good times. The area that I hunt, Slave Lake, has gone down about 30% to 40% in population numbers, however; I did see many bucks in the 140 to 150 B&C range and passed-up two that went 160 B&C, they will be nice for the 2014 season, thats if Old Man Winter is kind to them.
I would agree that its time to be proactive with regards to deer populations across Canada. My suggestion is not to shut the hunt down. First and foremost because it is extremely hard to get it back. My suggestion is a better management plan. As well as feeding programs during these harsh winters as well as habitat enhancement programs throughout the West.
I would never support closing a season for a couple of reasons.
#1 once closed very hard to re-open it.
#2 If the deer population spikes or declines rapidly and isn't properly controlled how does that affect other animals and plants etc.
#3 loss of annual Permit sales results in less on the ground projects that will ultimately help the wildlife.
#4 Have we done counts of animals or are we just going by what we are seeing or not seeing? We need scientific evidence before making rash decisions.
Perhaps a better decision is to institute a draw system for the time being and properly manage the deer until the populations are at a stable level
I would never support closing a season for a couple of reasons.
#1 once closed very hard to re-open it.
#2 If the deer population spikes or declines rapidly and isn't properly controlled how does that affect other animals and plants etc.
#3 loss of annual Permit sales results in less on the ground projects that will ultimately help the wildlife.
#4 Have we done counts of animals or are we just going by what we are seeing or not seeing? We need scientific evidence before making rash decisions.
Perhaps a better decision is to institute a draw system for the time being and properly manage the deer until the populations are at a stable level
I think this winter has been pretty hard on the deer in much of Alberta but I would not say they were in a "dismal state" the last two years.
First off we have to talk about what is a good average deer population or density.
There have been times in the past when deer numbers were really really high. Maybe too high. Thus the gov't. started out with doe draws then doe draws with two or more tags, then Supplemental seasons and two tags with some of them.
As the deer densities went down to a more "normal" number a lot of hunters began to complain that they were too low.
When someone tells you "Why I used to go for a drive and see 100 deer and now I go to the same area and only see 10". Which situation was more "normal" and a healthy population density?
Obviously something happened in your life that gives you such a resentment towards them. The ones I've met are hard working people, up before dawn lots of the time to go out on patrol etc. For the most part they're underfunded and understaffed and cover huge areas. Maybe the deer herds are good in your neck of the woods but lots of people responding here and on MHF were finding low numbers and are concerned about the severity of this winter. The next few months will tell how bad the winter kill is.
Yeah. I suppose when you work side by side with people for a couple of years you would learn a lot more about some people than if you just meet with them every once in a while. I don't deny that there are some great ones out there, but as a collective I was greatly disappointed in how they operate. Especially in regards to animal management. The thing that actually gets my knickers in a twist is that people are pushing for a province wide freeze on whitetail hunting when the population in some areas are clearly not being affected. And if the CO's in these areas actually cared or did their job properly enough to know that there are healthy populations in certain GHA's they would know that it shouldn't be shut down.
The problem is that this province doesn't manage deer herds on a GHA by GHA basis. Their blanket "Zone" approach doesn't take into account that there may be lots of deer around
Altona they just see no deer around Melita, They're both in the same zone even if they're hundreds of miles apart. Game Branch makes those decisions not CO's, and the lack of management is a direct result of lack of funding. You can thank our NDP government for that, they'll pour millions into useless social programs and waste even mote on Bipole III but they won't protect our natural resources. As far as keeping areas open do you think that will really work? Where do you think that all the hunters will go when their GHA's are closed down? They'll move into GHA's like the one you hunt in. Maybe the hunting will be good, maybe they'll switch permanently to your area, all of a sudden your GHA becomes over hunted. You can't win in a situation like this. If they determine that the deer herds have been seriously killed off by this winter, and if they decide to close the season in my humble opinion they should close it province wide and to all user groups. I personally think that they'll just do some tinkering with seasons and maybe go to a bucks only type tag. Only time will tell, at least people are concerned and talking about it.
Oh I completely agree that closing certain zones would suck. And yes I agree that the NDP is mostly to blame. I just think that a blanket closure would be a knee jerk reaction that doesn't seem intelligent.
I just know that the last two years they've had extra tags where I hunt and the area has more hunting pressure than I've seen in years. You close certain zones down and leave others open and the open areas will get pounded. If you close down the areas in the west for instance and leave the Whiteshell open, everyone hits the Whiteshell for a year or two. Numbers rebound out west and everyone heads back to their old stompin' grounds. Problem is that anyone whose area was the Whiteshell are dealing with low deer numbers and have to wait even longer for those herds to rebound. Maybe I'm off base here but I sure wouldn't want the added hunting pressure in my area for one or two years, rather not hunt and let numbers recoup everywhere. Some of the guys from western Sask. might have some good input after all of their deer were culled off the past few years.
Their rifle season is also earlier than ours, pre rut. Usually primitive weapons ( if you can call modern muzzleloading and archery tackle primitive) duriong and after the rut. I'd rather see that than zone closures, at least it would spread out the hunting pressure.
driftpounder
Member
- Location
- Martensville, SK
In North Eastern Saskatchewan where I hunt there has been a significant population drop. Enough that they have cut back the tags to one either ### tag. I believe there is still an antlerless tag as well but not sure if you can have both at this time. Either way it seemed to be a more normal population number last fall when they made the tag cut back. This year I am afraid the population is down considerable more as even now the last few weekends I have been snowmobiling up there and it is very hard to even find fresh tracks anywhere and I am not your average trail rider, I typically use my sled to do off season scouting into new areas and get some ideas of what might be coming next season.
I feel that the hard crusty snow we have there and the huge temperature fluctuations this year is what has brought it to this point.
I feel that the hard crusty snow we have there and the huge temperature fluctuations this year is what has brought it to this point.
