[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by mulecrazy

can you post a link sheep?

I will.



ANTLERED MULE DEER ARCHERY TO DRAW - AESRD

Open Link for Maps of Archery Harvest by WMU.

http://www.bowhunters.ca/files/Downl...0on%20Draw.doc

ANTLERED MULE DEER ARCHERY TO DRAW - AESRD

1. CURRENT SITUATION

There are currently no mule deer archery seasons which require the authority of a special licence to hunt. A resident mule deer licence is currently valid for all archery seasons for antlered mule deer. It is within the Fish and Wildlife policy to put archery seasons under authority of a special licence when archery harvest exceeds 15%. Currently, this has only occurred with moose (both antlered and antlerless) and antlered elk in various WMUs throughout the province.

2. CONCERN

Archery harvest on antlered mule deer exceeds 15% in many WMUs throughout the province, Figure 1 and according to policy should be put on draw for archery. Mule deer populations have also been reduced throughout much of the province due to liberal hunting seasons and recent winter mortality. Mule deer populations are now below goal in many WMUs and as a result rifle harvest opportunities have been reduced, while archery opportunities remain unaffected. Concern has also been expressed from some stakeholders regarding the over harvest of antlered mule deer, of which archery harvest is one pressure.


3. INFORMATION TO SUPPORT CHANGE

Archery harvest on antlered mule deer was examined by prairie area fish and wildlife staff for the period 2003-2007 (Figure 2) and again in 2010 (Figure 1)by the Wildlife Management Branch. There are many WMUs where the 15% threshold has been exceeded, in many cases for an extended period of time.

4. ALTERNATIVES

1. Maintain the current system with archery on a general license for antlered mule deer.
2. Once antlered mule deer harvest by bow hunters exceeds 15% or another predetermined threshold, archery hunting will require a special licence, which would be valid during the archery and rifle season.
3. Create a separate antlered mule deer archery special licence and run a separate draw, similar to the manner in which antelope is run.


Open Link for Maps of Archery Harvest by WMU.

From ABA re. Mule Deer Draw Points

http://www.bowhunters.ca/files/Downl...nts%20web.docx

Points of interest
- Every email address registered on Alberta Relm gets an online harvest survey.
- Each survey asks questions about every tag the hunter had.
- The survey goes out to approximately 60000 email addresses.
- The response rate overall has been app _____%.
- Only archery harvests from general antlered mule deer licenses are counted as archery kills.
- Before looking to implement needing to have a special license (draw) to hunt a species in the archery season, SRD monitors the harvest rates for several years (in many cases up to 5) to ensure there is a definite trend.
- Bowhunters are allowed approximately 15% of the harvest (based on there being 17000 bowhunters out of approximately 110000 hunters in total).

The ABA has asked SRD for the yearly and 5 year average (2006-2011) for each of the app 55 WMUs that are proposed for needing a special license (draw) to hunt antlered mule deer in the archery season starting in 2013. SRD will provide that information as soon as is possible. The 2011 harvest survey results have yet to be compiled.

How the harvest rate is determined

The ABA has asked for an outline of the method used to determine the harvest.

Questions for SRD

What has the overall response rate to the survey been?
Of the 5000 surveys in 2011 that went to mule deer hunters, what was the response rate?
Am I right in that the ratio used is the 5000 to 14500 comparison? Or would it be the results of the actual respondents (of the 5000 sent) that are compared to the overall licenses sold?
In some WMUs that had a very small sample size are the results accurate? If you had 2 or 3 respondents to the survey and they all happened to kill a mule deer buck, then expanding that to the total number who said they hunted in that WMU you could end up with a huge estimated archery kill.
Is there a way to get the actual numbers of surveys sent/response rate for each of the affected WMUs?
In the app 55 WMUs where bhtrs are over the 15%, are the total antlered mule deer harvest goals being met? Are there some that have bhtrs killing more than 15% but overall, we are still not meeting harvest goals? If that is the case should these WMUs be left off the proposal list? Or would the special license tags available for the draw be increased to meet harvest goals?
Some concerns raised from bhtrs (especially in the south) that up to now they have not put in for the draw and going forward will be starting out at “0” – be very few bhtrs in the pool for some years. A lot of archers do not apply right now but they will if it goes on draw, which adds a whole bunch more people into the pool. This could make the waiting times for tags even greater even though the bowhunting share has been added back in.
There was some brief discussion at AGMAG (and I have been getting ?? as well) about the possibility of moving to an archery draw for antlered mule deer like antelope. SRD said if that was considered it would likely mean moving more than just mule deer (still lots of discussion I am thinking before moving down that road). How would the number of tags given out for this type of archery draw be determined? Based on past harvest history?
Has there been thought of waiting until the Mule Deer Mgt Plan Review has been completed before moving forward on this proposal? I know from talking to some people and it was brought up at one AGMAG meeting that we could increase our population goals in some WMUs (and thus the overall harvest goal and then the bhtr share would then be under 15% possibly) from the old 1988 numbers.