MT FWP Commission - proposals
- Thread starter whiskeydog
- Start date
D
Deleted member 28227
Guest
These come in youth sizes correct?
HighWildFree
Well-known member
Just read through the Commission agenda. You'd think we were drowning in deer and elk. Honestly, why even have seasons and bag limits?
antlerradar
Well-known member
I am not against this. Right now nearly all the hunting pressure is focused on the bucks with the top potential. There is opportunity in allowing some hunters to focus on the bucks with little potential to grow big.
It’s all about the $$$$$ (said in George Carlin’s voice of course)
Except the bulk of the 3x’s are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year old bucks.
Point restrictions have never worked in MT, now if you could get a handle on the poaching and native american take,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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antlerradar
Well-known member
It is my experience that better than 50% of those 2 1/2 year old three points will never get big even if they live to 6+ and the percentage only increases with every additional year of age that a buck remains a three point. In a unit like 270 where quality hunters often spend far more than a week looking for the best buck they can find these bucks may essentially be unhunted and die of old age and the three year old 170 buck has little chance of making it to four.
One thing to remember the proposal is for the 3x permits in addition to the 45 that are already there. The 3x are not coming out of the existing pool.
Its more dead young bucks plain and simple.
I spend the best part of 11 weeks in this unit and have for over 40 years killing 3x’s won’t do anything but reduce buck numbers.
IMO the unit has never recovered from FWP raising the permits to 125 for a few years back in the mid 2000’s. To much pressure on the top end. Add in poachers which the local warden figures is as much as the legal take now. Also there are plenty of natives from the Flathead down here pounding MD bucks. The unit being mostly public land lends itself to lots of harvest, legal and not.
Total population, like much of the west is down too. I would have to look at my post season FWP counts to see just how much it is down.
Killing 3x’s and think we are doing something for herd management is just wrong headed.
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antlerradar
Well-known member
Too much pressure on the top end is both legal and poaching is what is hurting 270. Adding permits that will be used all most entirely on bucks in the bottom end of potential will not hurt the number of truly big deer.
JEL
Well-known member
Some adults during the youth hunt
HighWildFree
Well-known member
The given reason is to for the 3 point tags is to "lower buck numbers to improve herd health and manage for CWD." The CWD part seems pretty arbitrary. I find it frustrating that there is no stated goal like what buck:doe they want to achieve or evidence as to why the current buck:doe is too high. Just kinda like "Hey we're going to manage this random unit in Western MT for CWD." Whatever "manage for CWD" even means. It's not like CWD is knocking on the door of HD 270
BuzzH
Well-known member
The mtfwp has been “managing” deer for cwd longer than cwd has existed.... pure brilliance.
Wisconsin tried that and it never worked. Unfortunately CWD is never going away.
