Capturing Mule deer does by Helo

[JimmyHoffa]

Think they're using tranquilizers that will render the animals forever inedible?

[nwwanderer]

I assume netters and muggers, anyone know for sure?

[Rainier10]

I assume netters and muggers, anyone know for sure?

Pretty sure the gal I was talking to said net guns.

[Rainier10]

So I got a call yesterday about the upcoming study.

They will be using net guns, not tranquilizer guns.  Net guns from a helicopter, land, hog tie legs of deer and blindfold it, draw blood, install the collar, remove net, remove blindfold and untie legs.  Supposed to take about 10 minutes from the time they get to the deer until they release it.

Radio collar sends out signals every 4-6 hours.  If there is no movement and they suspect mortality of the deer they work to get there within 24 hours so they can try to determine the cause of death.  Some of these deer migrate from really remote locations so they can't always get there in 24 hours, they just don't have the man power of funds.

The purpose of the study as it was explained to me is to see where the deer go every year, what land they summer and winter on and what they land they use to get to and from those areas.  There is a ton of land out there and the deer don't use it all.  They want to find the critical land and corridors to get there and try to protect those.  Kind of like salmon, they don't want to put a barrier/dam in between the two and make life harder on the deer.  You don't want to put a housing development or apple orchard in that corridor.  If they can identify the corridors and then buy that land to keep it open for recreation and wildlife that is where there they should spend their limited funds protecting that habitat.

The study is funded for the next 4 years and at that point the radio collars electronically unlock and drop off of the deer.  They are still transmitting a signal and can be retrieved where they fall off.

[2MANY]

Stressing pregnant doe on a struggling herd sounds real intelligent.

Congrats again WDFW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stlusn30-06]

General Sentiments of HW:

"Where are all the deer? WDFW doesn't know what they're doing and make no attempts to increase deer populations"
WDFW using common and nationally practiced deer management techniques
"Why would they do this?" "What a bunch of idiots. They're gonna stress the deer to death" "They're not coming on my private land to get data that could benefit the hunting population as a whole"

Cool.

[Rainier10]

Stressing pregnant doe on a struggling herd sounds real intelligent.

Congrats again WDFW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to hear your more humane and fiscally responsible plan for doing the study.

Spring time when they are more dispersed and have month old fawns?

Summertime when they are more dispersed and the fawns are a few months old?

Maybe fall when they are dispersed but the fawns are now six months old, oh and thousands of hunters are in the field trying to find a legal deer?

I sure hunters would love to see helicopters chasing deer during deer season.

Maybe they should wait for the fawns to get another month older just before the does get bred again, smack dab in the middle of elk season and chase the deer around while thousands are elk hunting?


Please tell me your solution? I’m all ears.

[JimmyHoffa]

I wonder how closely the results will match the previous studies done over the years when it was dept of game?  But back then, the migration routes didn't have the same development or wolves.  Makes me wonder if it's a deer study or more of a wolf study?

[2MANY]

Stressing pregnant doe on a struggling herd sounds real intelligent.

Congrats again WDFW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to hear your more humane and fiscally responsible plan for doing the study.

Spring time when they are more dispersed and have month old fawns?

Summertime when they are more dispersed and the fawns are a few months old?

Maybe fall when they are dispersed but the fawns are now six months old, oh and thousands of hunters are in the field trying to find a legal deer?

I sure hunters would love to see helicopters chasing deer during deer season.

Maybe they should wait for the fawns to get another month older just before the does get bred again, smack dab in the middle of elk season and chase the deer around while thousands are elk hunting?


Please tell me your solution? I’m all ears.

Great but be prepared for the truth.

Instead of all the young bios and tech guys from out of the area trying to figure out the big mystery why don't they simply ask the older generation of outdoorsmen and ranchers that have walked the walk for generations???
Most of them know exactly what was and is happening with migration and wildlife populations.
As a matter of fact most of them will tell you the same thing.

A better question for me would be why don't wildlife managers listen??
Why do they continually try to reinvent the wheel only to prove the obvious???
I'll tell you why.............................It's how they make a living.

Quit building on the winter range, quit spraying, control all predators, harvest timber responsibly, limit easy hunter access, and manage tag sales for the herd's benefit not the financial gain to fund another bonehead study.

Can you hear me now?

[Rainier10]

Stressing pregnant doe on a struggling herd sounds real intelligent.

Congrats again WDFW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to hear your more humane and fiscally responsible plan for doing the study.

Spring time when they are more dispersed and have month old fawns?

Summertime when they are more dispersed and the fawns are a few months old?

Maybe fall when they are dispersed but the fawns are now six months old, oh and thousands of hunters are in the field trying to find a legal deer?

I sure hunters would love to see helicopters chasing deer during deer season.

Maybe they should wait for the fawns to get another month older just before the does get bred again, smack dab in the middle of elk season and chase the deer around while thousands are elk hunting?


Please tell me your solution? I’m all ears.

Great but be prepared for the truth.

Instead of all the young bios and tech guys from out of the area trying to figure out the big mystery why don't they simply ask the older generation of outdoorsmen and ranchers that have walked the walk for generations???
Most of them know exactly what was and is happening with migration and wildlife populations.
As a matter of fact most of them will tell you the same thing.

A better question for me would be why don't wildlife managers listen??
Why do they continually try to reinvent the wheel only to prove the obvious???
I'll tell you why.............................It's how they make a living.

Quit building on the winter range, quit spraying, control all predators, harvest timber responsibly, limit easy hunter access, and manage tag sales for the herd's benefit not the financial gain to fund another bonehead study.

Can you hear me now?

All great questions that I will be happy to answer.

Lets start with your last question. "Can you hear me now?"

No, actually I didn't hear your response on when is a better time to put the collars on the deer.  I would imagine by your first statement that caused me to reply to you that you surely have a better plan on when this round up and collaring should happen.

I honestly want to know when you think would be a better time and why you think that is a better time.

I am not trying to be a jerk.  I brought information to this thread on what was going on.  You are displeased with that information and I am really curious as to what time of the year would make you comfortable with it.

[Rainier10]

So who here thinks that Wyoming has better mule deer hunting than we do in Washington?

My guess is most think that even though most probably have never hunted mule deer in Wyoming.

Guess what?  This study is modeled after what they did in Wyoming.

I get it, people are skeptical of WDFW, I am too at times, but we need to at least go into some of this stuff with an open mind and see if it works.

Here's the thing, there are thousands of acres around my cabin.  I own 2,000.  Guess which 2,000 I bought?  Yep, the 2,000 that had deer and elk on it most of the time. 20 acres here, 40 acres there, 600 from a timber company, 500 of sagebrush.  Sure I could have bought 4,000 acres, twice as much land, adjacent to it that had deer and elk on it some of the time for the same price but instead I paid a lot more a little at a time and got the land that had deer and elk on it most of the time.

I don't know what is different about the land, sagebrush and bitterbrush than on the adjacent land, it all looks the same to me, but I do know the animals like my land better. 

If someone else would have bought it and turned it into timothy hay I am pretty confident the deer and elk would not have gone over to the adjacent land they would still be trying to get to the land that was now timothy hay.  Kill permits and master hunter permits would be issued to haze the animals into going somewhere else that wasn't as good as what they had before it was developed.

The WDFW is actually being pretty smart and trying to establish what is critical and conserve that for the future of all of us.  Rather than buying up what is cheap they are trying to decide what is holding deer now and protect that.  Once it gets developed it is gone.

Maybe it's all a bunch of malarky and they are really hoping to see how long it takes for all 200 deer to get eaten by predators.  It's quite the cover story they have come up with if that is the case.

I guess time will tell.

[2MANY]

Thanks for the hug.
Is it getting warm in here?

IMHO I think the round up, collars, and the helicopter rental could be replaced with historic information.
Collars will just recreate an annual pattern proven to be the same year after year.

Perhaps I'm all wrong and the collars will prove the herd will begin migrating to the tops of the highest peaks and wintering on north facing slopes.
I doubt it.
The collars will most likely prove what you all ready should know.

[2MANY]

"My guess is most think that even though most probably have never hunted mule deer in Wyoming."

I've hunted Wyoming's region G and H 6 or 7 times over the course of the last 20 years.
Guess what?
It's in a downward spiral too.
Seems they give out to many tags to a much more efficient group of hunters.
HHHHHHhhhmmmmm.

Anyone seen my collar???

(Rainier I'm not specifically targeting you here although I'm pretty set in my ways regarding my wildlife management views and you are providing the platform.)
The problem is man.
Less is more.

[Rainier10]

Thanks for the hug.
Is it getting warm in here?

IMHO I think the round up, collars, and the helicopter rental could be replaced with historic information.
Collars will just recreate an annual pattern proven to be the same year after year.

Perhaps I'm all wrong and the collars will prove the herd will begin migrating to the tops of the highest peaks and wintering on north facing slopes.
I doubt it.
The collars will most likely prove what you all ready should know.

I get what you are saying.  And I am not trying to single you out.  I am really trying to understand the other side.

Do you think the deer are using the same routes today that they used 50 years ago, 20 years ago, 5 years ago? 

I can tell you in the 25-30 years that I have had my property I have seen the change in flow of deer. 

Some of the areas they used to be are now, houses or farmland. 

Fires have come through and decimated areas of cover that they used bed.  Oh the under story has come back and they come through to feed from time to time but there is no cover so they have moved to areas with cover and food elsewhere.  I am sure as the cover regenerates the animals will come back.

Windmills with a road system have gone in on winter range that you used to not be able to get to by vehicle but now you can cover the entire area in 30 minutes with a permission slip and vehicle, pressure in those areas has moved the deer to less pressured areas.

[stlusn30-06]

Thanks for the hug.
Is it getting warm in here?

IMHO I think the round up, collars, and the helicopter rental could be replaced with historic information.
Collars will just recreate an annual pattern proven to be the same year after year.

Perhaps I'm all wrong and the collars will prove the herd will begin migrating to the tops of the highest peaks and wintering on north facing slopes.
I doubt it.
The collars will most likely prove what you all ready should know.

Not WA specific discoveries, but a lot more than migration patterns are learned using GPS info. And I also realize not all of these are collared deer findings.