Free: Contests & Raffles.
Mule Deer Antler Point Regs (APRs) Don’t Workhttps://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/cont...VIE0006790.pdfAll APR strategies resulted in a short term gain in the proportion of males in the population. However, male:female ratios eventually returned to pre-APR levels after varying lengths of time, regardless whether the APR was continued. Most western states have concluded that sustainable improvements in buck:doe ratios and the number of mature bucks can only be realized by reducing harvest through: 1) a limited quota license system that decreases the total buck harvest while allowing some level of doe harvest (Bender 2011); or by setting a very short hunting season.Further, increases in buck:doe ratios have never been shown empirically to improve either herd production or population size (deVos et al. 2003; Bishop et al. 2005).Several observations from our analysis of APR use in Wyoming and throughout the west are summarized below:• APRs DO increase total buck:doe ratios; however results vary and are usually temporary.• APRs are very popular with the hunting public. However public understanding of the pros and cons appears to be limited, and is complicated by popular literature concerning APRs.• Most benefits occur in ≤ 3 years; use of APRs beyond this often appear to result in negative impacts to both total buck ratios and mature buck ratios. Continued long term use of APRs (≥3-4 years) may result in lower total male:female ratios.• No APR strategy produced a long-term increase in adult (mature) male:female ratios, or an increase in the number of adult bucks, except in a handful of cases where hunter participation declined significantly, coupled with good fawn production.Temporary APRs are most effective following a year of high fawn production and recruitment or when doe harvest is increased.• Managers have found most effective way to recover from chronically low buck:doe ratios is through a dramatic reduction in harvest pressure on males ≥2 years of age (through a conservative limited quota season or very short season length). Available data also tends to support this.• APRs have been shown to reduce the number and potentially the quality of mature bucks over time.• Long-term use of APRs may target legal bucks that have not realized their full antler growth potential while protecting bucks with low antler growth potential (i.e., hunters select against legal bucks with smaller antlers). Although not validated by research, this is a concern among wildlife professionals and the public.• APRs may dramatically reduce hunter participation, harvest success, and total harvest.• APRs increase the number of deer shot and illegally left in the field; this can be significant and has been documented in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Montana.• APRS do not increase fawn production or population size. Even in herds with singledigit buck:doe ratios, pregnancy rates are well over 90%. Large increases in buck ratios result in relatively few additional fawns (White et al. 2001). The extent to which relative proportions of yearling and mature bucks influence timing of conception and fawn recruitment/survival needs further evaluation.• Some APRs displace hunting pressure to the oldest age classes of bucks, gradually eroding that segment of the population. Others reduce recruitment to older age classes by displacing harvest pressure to yearling males.• APRs may decrease interest of hunters whose primary motivation is to obtain meat.• APRs may discourage beginning and young hunters by increasing the difficulty of locating and identifying legal deer.• Long-term use of APRs in areas with limited security/escape habitat potentially impedes maintenance of publically acceptable total and mature buck:doe ratios.• Empirical studies of APR regulations have not been conducted. We recommend this become a priority research topic for the WAFWA.• APRs should be viewed as a legitimate management tool in areas with chronically low male:female ratios provided they are applied on a time-limited basis. Managers and the public are cautioned that available data and experience suggest APRs result in no long term increase in either the proportion or number of mature bucks, or the total deer population.
I know a lot of folks who I highly respect, some who have great history and/or have worked around wildlife and who,s opinions I respect. It seems that managing healthy, robust deer herds for sportsmen/women and hunters stopped awhile ago in this state, managing healthy predator populations are a much higher priority it seems. Making sure there are just enough deer to sustain thriving predator populations is way ahead of putting a healthy deer herd front and center for us hunters, you don't have to look any farther than the Methow and whats been going on there to see that opinion in action unfortunately.If they do anything, get rid of the 3 point rule and put restrictions on shooting spikes, at least they are easier to distinguish and it may cut down on the hundreds of 2 points that are left to rot around the state. When my dad was young and no spike shoots were put up in the Methow he said he never found a dead spike in the field, we have found dozens of dead 2 points since the 3 point rule went into effect......
I think people shooting the two points is cause they don’t take the tie to look and study the deer. They see something with points and want to shoot them look. Tell me why it is so hard to let a deer walk if your not sure if it’s legal or not?? I do it every year. You don’t have to shoot something.
Quote from: jstone on January 23, 2020, 12:00:29 PMI think people shooting the two points is cause they don’t take the tie to look and study the deer. They see something with points and want to shoot them look. Tell me why it is so hard to let a deer walk if your not sure if it’s legal or not?? I do it every year. You don’t have to shoot something.Clearly you have a rare ability known as "self control." Many people dont have that. My guess is that a lot of the idiots that shoot forkies do it just hoping that there will be a 1" browtine on it when they walk up to it. I really do think the "3 up" thing would solve a large part of that problem.
