Okanogan Fires Benefit Fundraiser

[MtnMuley]

Exactly. I wonder how many bucks are getting killed with the 1900 antlerless tags. There was a very mature buck killed yesterday there with one of the 2nd deer tags. I wonder how many times this mistake has been made?

[huntnphool]

Exactly. I wonder how many bucks are getting killed with the 1900 antlerless tags. There was a very mature buck killed yesterday there with one of the 2nd deer tags. I wonder how many times this mistake has been made?

 "Mistake"?

 Someone mistakenly killed a mature buck, while hunting for a doe, with his/her second deer tag?............I think not!

[MuleDeer]

huntnphool, I don't see any conflict with our annual fundraisers and what WDFW is doing at all.  We don't make their rules or decisions, but we DO raise money to improve habitat whenever and wherever we can.  How is it a conflict that we have a dinner and use the money earned to improve habitat?  As a hunter I don't agree with the decisions they made either, but does that mean I shouldn't do what I can to help make things better?
If you have questions about our motives as MDF, read our mission statement.  There is nothing hidden, we are not in cahoots with any agency..sometimes we have to do our work IN SPITE of agency ruiles or decisions.  But we don't quit working for Mule Deer.  That is our goal, plain and simple.  Let me know if I can answer any questions for you, and I'd be happy to.  If talking in person would be better, let me know when and where and I'm happy to meet you there.  Happy New Year

[MtnMuley]

  As a hunter I don't agree with the decisions they made either

I watched you stand up in a meeting, introduce yourself and who you represented, and then take sides with WDFW on issuing the antlerless tags with hopes of thinning out the local resident deer that weren't as "healthy" as the migrating deer. The question brought up twice asking why issuing the tags before a problem presented itself never got answered by WDFW. It was asked twice.  As a hunter, and certainly in the position you are in, I would have felt you would have been better off addressing that question for the third time, rather than say it was smart to kill a bunch of the local deer before there ever was a problem.

[MuleDeer]

Read back to my answer to this same question to you quite a few weeks ago, and you'll see my explanation.  If you can't find it, here it is again.  I spoke with Scott Fitkin, Phil Anderson and a few other agency guys before the meeting.  The answer they gave me for the tags is the same one I passed on as THEIR reasoning, not mine.  Scott was being bombarded as they all were, and I felt he wasn't giving the clear answer that he gave me, so I stood up and offered the reasoning that they (he) provided.  I wasn't taking their side or defending them; I was giving the answer that I was given, because Scott wasn't giving it.  Was it biologically the best decision?  Maybe, maybe not.  If the tags weren't issued, we had a hard winter, and 3000+ deer died of starvation, they would have made the wrong decision.  That's a lot of ifs.  Right or wrong, they have to make decisions that we won't always like. 
I didn't say, as a representative of any group, I don't agree with their decision.  I said as a hunter I don't agree.  One of the biggest problems that I've expressed to Phil Anderson, Jerry Nelson and many others, is that we do too much management in this state by initiative and not by biology.  They made a decision based on biology.  It wasn't popular, no doubt.  But do we want to keep encouraging WDFW to manage by public opinion, or trust the biologists to manage according to biology?  We don't have to agree with them, but that doesn't make them wrong.

[MuleDeer]

For those that don't see it as a "conflict of interest" to help, despite the decisions WDFW has made, here is a chance to get some habitat restoration work done for the mule deer of Okanogan County.  Please spread this flyer around and encourage folks to put together project proposals, even if they think it may already be in the works from other people or agencies.
A couple notes: we will not fund orchard fencing, as it would keep deer away from browse, which would be directly in conflict with the best interests of the deer, and, it looks like the majority of our funding may be directed towards restoration, mainly planting shrub plugs over the next year.  Thanks for your input.

[huntnphool]

For those that don't see it as a "conflict of interest" to help, despite the decisions WDFW has made, here is a chance to get some habitat restoration work done for the mule deer of Okanogan County.  Please spread this flyer around and encourage folks to put together project proposals, even if they think it may already be in the works from other people or agencies.
A couple notes: we will not fund orchard fencing, as it would keep deer away from browse, which would be directly in conflict with the best interests of the deer, and, it looks like the majority of our funding may be directed towards restoration, mainly planting shrub plugs over the next year.  Thanks for your input.

 Will the restoration be done by state workers or will volunteers be utilized?

 I'd bet you could get a lot of hunters to gather, be briefed on directions and locations, and get a lot of plugs planted in very short order.

[MuleDeer]

For those that don't see it as a "conflict of interest" to help, despite the decisions WDFW has made, here is a chance to get some habitat restoration work done for the mule deer of Okanogan County.  Please spread this flyer around and encourage folks to put together project proposals, even if they think it may already be in the works from other people or agencies.
A couple notes: we will not fund orchard fencing, as it would keep deer away from browse, which would be directly in conflict with the best interests of the deer, and, it looks like the majority of our funding may be directed towards restoration, mainly planting shrub plugs over the next year.  Thanks for your input.

 Will the restoration be done by state workers or will volunteers be utilized?

 I'd bet you could get a lot of hunters to gather, be briefed on directions and locations, and get a lot of plugs planted in very short order.

Manpower will be dictated by the project, but it is very seldom when we are not allowed to provide spots for volunteers.  Especially with planting projects (plugs, in particular), time and man-hours are usually the hardest thing to come by.  We will definitely be looking for volunteers to help with projects!
For anyone wanting to be on a list and be notified of upcoming projects, please send me a PM or email at dan@muledeer.org, and give me your email address.  I can then put out an email to those of you on the list, and you can let us know if you are available on that day or days.  Thanks!



(fixed your post)