How's mule deer hunting in Wypming

[WI Whitetail Hunter]

Hello everybody, How has mule deer hunting been going in Wyoming, I see through different pages on Facebook that there has been a few dandy's having there picture taken with a hunter. Are the Deer still up high or are they making there way down due to the weather getting cooler at night? Also i'm curious as to how west of the Continental Divide is producing in harvesting deer after last years winter kill. I'm headed out to Wyoming Wednesday to take a gander at the sage and do some sight seeing around Casper.

 

[wyoboypt]

the deer situation is sad. you will notice if you go around casper. many factors contribute to the low numbers but 1 is the game and fish not managing appropriately!!!!

 

[BuzzH]

the deer situation is sad. you will notice if you go around casper. many factors contribute to the low numbers but 1 is the game and fish not managing appropriately!!!!

Easy to just blame the GF how about some specifics.

From what I've seen the last few years, I think mule deer are rebounding in the Casper/Laramie areas, the population counts and harvest trends are also supporting that.

There is a lot of on-going research being done on migration in many of the major herd units throughout the state with a lot of GPS collared deer right now. A few people from this board helped with the collaring efforts.

IMO, the GF does a good job of balancing opportunity with quality, which isn't easy to do.

 

[Four22]

I'm headed out Thursday night for region J... Any thoughts in that area?

Also any ideas why general deer season in unit 65 if only the 15-21??

 

[wyoboypt]

Easy to just blame the GF how about some specifics.

From what I've seen the last few years, I think mule deer are rebounding in the Casper/Laramie areas, the population counts and harvest trends are also supporting that.

There is a lot of on-going research being done on migration in many of the major herd units throughout the state with a lot of GPS collared deer right now. A few people from this board helped with the collaring efforts.

IMO, the GF does a good job of balancing opportunity with quality, which isn't easy to do.

for one the area south of casper should be limited quota. but the game and fish wont do that because they want the "father son" experience. if it were the 90's thatd be no problem. there are less than half the deer now than we had in the 90's. 2ndly they are allowing youths to shoot doe's!!!!! having deer to hunt in the future is more important than a kid shooting a doe or a father son shooting a 2x3 every year in a suffering area.

 

[BuzzH]

for one the area south of casper should be limited quota. but the game and fish wont do that because they want the "father son" experience. if it were the 90's thatd be no problem. there are less than half the deer now than we had in the 90's. 2ndly they are allowing youths to shoot doe's!!!!! having deer to hunt in the future is more important than a kid shooting a doe or a father son shooting a 2x3 every year in a suffering area.

Nobody wants any more LQ areas and the doe harvest by youth is a non-starter, and not that significant. I would also make the case that getting youth involved in hunting is equally or more important to the future of the sport. Some battles are worth fighting, but youth hunters killing a handful of does is not one that I'm going to fall on a sword over. I think there are much bigger fish to fry in helping out mule deer populations. I like the idea of fathers and sons deer hunting every year.

I would also be cautious of saying there are only half the deer now than in the 90's, that's painting with a broad brush and a deer model that was grossly over-estimating mule deer populations.

Did you check out last years post harvest buck to doe ratio's and doe to fawn ratio's?

You do know about the mule deer working group out of Casper and what they agreed to with the GF regarding management plans, right?

A good friend of mine is a member of that working group, maybe he'll chime in.

 

[wyoboypt]

im interested in what the mule deer group worked out. i didn't hear. jm77? friend of mine too. my dad helped the g&f with the collaring last year. i understand they are aware of the situation. but it seems like they are a good 5 plus years behind in getting on top of this problem in my opinion. i am not an expert on the subject. but i know what i saw in the 90's and i know what i see now. and i understand the g&f are not solely to blame for the decline in muley numbers. but the game and fish always seem to put their income ahead of management and what may be best for the resident hunter.( such as allowing the non residents to apply with the residents for the leftover draw) they are always looking for ways to cator to non residents.

 

[BuzzH]

If you know Jeff, he'll fill you in...their plan sounded pretty solid to me and seems to be working. Very similar to the one down here in Laramie.

The last few years of good weather have been good for mule deer and pronghorn...elk always seem to take care of themselves.

I don't think there is an issue with income needs trumping management, it has a lot more to do with legislative meddling and pressure applied from WOGA. That's starting to change...

IMO, there isn't a whole lot to complain about with the way the WGF manages big-game, pretty well balanced.

 

[N2TRKYS]

The deer hunting sucked for us this year. We saw does and little ones, but only a couple of young bucks. I may look for a different part of WY to hunt mule deer next time.

 

[JDH]

The amount of mule deer we saw in the area we hunted pronghorn this year was 10 fold what we saw in 2014. Unfortunately the area does not produce big bucks probably due to terrain and available feed but the numbers were astounding compared to just a few years ago. Even with the good weather WGF must be doing something right.

 

[MN Public Hunter]

I hunted unit 8 for lopes this year and we saw tons of deer, mostly doe's. The largest buck we saw was in town in Newcastle Go figure. All the rest of the bucks we dinks.

 

[IsThisHeaven?]

I regularly deer hunt Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I have seen first hand what deer mismanagement by state G & F’s look like. I have hunted Wyoming three times, once for deer and twice for antelope. Wyoming does a great job managing their game animals and their job is much tougher given all the widely varying terrain, guides association, etc. We see more deer in 4 Days in Wyoming than we see all year around here. You can hunt general deer areas every year and antelope bucks every year on good tags while accumulating points for a LQ hunt.

We have been going every other year due to family/kid issues, but the plan is to start going every year starting next year and i can’t wait. I may even go back a second week to try whitetail.

From where I am sitting Wyoming G &F does a pretty good job overall.

 

[icebreaker12]

im interested in what the mule deer group worked out. i didn't hear. jm77? friend of mine too. my dad helped the g&f with the collaring last year. i understand they are aware of the situation. but it seems like they are a good 5 plus years behind in getting on top of this problem in my opinion. i am not an expert on the subject. but i know what i saw in the 90's and i know what i see now. and i understand the g&f are not solely to blame for the decline in muley numbers. but the game and fish always seem to put their income ahead of management and what may be best for the resident hunter.( such as allowing the non residents to apply with the residents for the leftover draw) they are always looking for ways to cator to non residents.

Interesting to hear the complaints. Need to make sure you attend the post season and season setting meetings as well as submit comments online.

 

[Gut Shot]

I've never seen so many mulies in my life as I saw in Wyoming this year. We spotted hundreds while antelope hunting. In a couple of years there should be some dandies in the area we hunted.

Then we went to a different part of the state bird hunting. We never saw a single buck and very few does. Other deer hunters we talked to were complaining about the lack of deer as well.

 

[opyff]

SW Wyoming is looking pretty bleak this fall, there has still been some decent deer taken. I spent 3 days/4 nights camped out and saw a few smaller bucks and only a hand full of does and fawns compared to a normal year I'd see over a hundred deer in that time. G&F has thrown out there that they have discussed making this area a limited quota unit, me personally I'd prefer they just shut the unit down for a few years and let the herd recover, but I don't think anyone is willing to forego hunting for a few years and the state doesn't want to lose out on funds and of course nobody wants to go home for tag soup so they shoot whatever young legal buck they can find