4 pt. restriction 117/121

[kball4]

Wasn't there a point where it was any whitetail buck was to help the mule deer herd from the more aggressive more territorial whitetail.  To slow the whitetails movement west.  I may be mistaken.

[johnaferrera]

       Hope they change it back. Did not really like the point restrictions. It was really tuff counting points in the thick brush when rattling. should of maybe been a three point restriction.

[buckcanyonlodge]

Wasn't there a point where it was any whitetail buck was to help the mule deer herd from the more aggressive more territorial whitetail.  To slow the whitetails movement west.  I may be mistaken.

I feed about 25 mule deer and 30 whitetail every winter and spring two times a day.. The mule deer are the aggressive ones.. Even yearling mulies chase mature whitetail bucks away from the food. Have never seen a whitetail show aggression towards a mulie without getting put in it's place.

[JimmyHoffa]

I hope they were able to get a good data set over the last few years it was in effect.  Have something to point to for or against if they want to try APRs elsewhere.

[PA BEN]

To bad the youth only option wasn't on the table.

[dscubame]

Dang I wish they would leave it 4 pt min.

[Jonathan_S]

Wasn't there a point where it was any whitetail buck was to help the mule deer herd from the more aggressive more territorial whitetail.  To slow the whitetails movement west.  I may be mistaken.

I feed about 25 mule deer and 30 whitetail every winter and spring two times a day.. The mule deer are the aggressive ones.. Even yearling mulies chase mature whitetail bucks away from the food. Have never seen a whitetail show aggression towards a mulie without getting put in it's place.

   whitetail aren't aggressive, they are just better at proliferating than are mule deer.

[bearpaw]

To bad the youth only option wasn't on the table.

The commission has the authority to go with the youth option if they choose. I'm curious how it will end up.

[buckcanyonlodge]

Wasn't there a point where it was any whitetail buck was to help the mule deer herd from the more aggressive more territorial whitetail.  To slow the whitetails movement west.  I may be mistaken.

I feed about 25 mule deer and 30 whitetail every winter and spring two times a day.. The mule deer are the aggressive ones.. Even yearling mulies chase mature whitetail bucks away from the food. Have never seen a whitetail show aggression towards a mulie without getting put in it's place.

   whitetail aren't aggressive, they are just better at proliferating than are mule deer.


11 of the mulie does had 20 fawns last year. Of the 20 fawns only 5 have survived until now. I know of 2 that were hit by cars. The rest were killed by cougar and coyotes I believe. Maybe even a bear took some. Whitetail seem to have had a good crop also.

[jasnt]

I would like to see the youth and seniors go to any deer and stay 4point min for the rest of us. At least till 2019. I like the challenge my self

[csaaphill]

  Good they need to manage and not set things then forget them. No more of this set a 2,3,4,pt minimum forget about it until people get angry and complain. They need it ok but manage the herd and go with what needs done don't just set something then sit back and rule around it. change it every few years that's good!

[bowhunterforever]

Dang I wish they would leave it 4 pt min.

[muleyguy]

kudos to the Department if they follow through........we will see how well they stand up to the special interest groups surrounding this issue.....to my knowledge, the WDFW has never undone any APR in this State once they have initiated it.

the reality of this rule is that it is not the APR restriction itself, that caused any rebound in the herd;  what the other side is not telling you is that hunter pressure dropped by 25% in unit 117 and 30% in unit 121 the immediate year after the rule was implemented, and despite what you are hearing on here, bounced around at those much lower levels the entire time the rule has been in effect;  in addition, you have had very mild winters since the rule was implemented.

where the outcry is going to happen, and, why it is very,very difficult to unwind these APR's is that with the rule, there effectively has been a "stockpile" of yearling bucks (and those with fewer then 4 pts) built into the population because this is the age group that is protected;

so, once you rescind the rule, you will see hunting pressure rise back up dramatically;  with the stockpile of immature bucks running around, and you will see hunter success rates go dramatically back up in short order.

in the short run, this is actually great for mature bucks, as most of the hunting pressure will now be put back where it belongs, on the younger, immature bucks.

That area is going to have to suffer probably some lower buck numbers here for several years down the road because of the outsized harvest that is going to happen here in the next few years. 

But, as time goes on, those ripple effects will go away, and those units can get back to how they used to be without all the skewing of the age class lower.

The reality is that almost all of the gains that have been achieved in those two units can be attributed to the dramatically lower hunter numbers, and not the APR;  so, the APR is really a blunt tool they used to reduce hunter pressure, while not reducing hunter opportunity (and thats the backstory to this whole thing);  but, at the end of the day, all of the age class skewing that comes from the APR's only does longer term harm. 

Next time, if we all decide a herd needs to be helped, lets just be straight up, and reduce the hunting pressure through a short term limited draw situation, or a short term shortening of the season, or in those units, if you just shut down the late season hunt for a few years it probably would have had the same effect.

But, lets not use poorly designed APR's that just cause all these other issues.....

[dreamunelk]

Someone gets it
APR are only a tool to reduce harvest. 

[bobcat]

Good to see a post by you again, muleyguy. It's been a while. You need to come around more often.