deer numbers

[vanhill]

Just wondering if deer in your areas are low or average?Been hunting and scouting fairly hard and havent seen good numbers. I hunt 336,fields that. Held deer for the last four years are like ghost towns this year. Strange year in my opinion.

[waterninja]

I have personally noticed that #s are high in the 500's and 300's. Numbers seem very low in the 200's.

[bear crossing]

I thought numbers were low in my part of 346 last year ,but this year is worse,

[DiabeticKripple]

lots of wt in west central AB, lots of mules in the south, lots of mules by GP as well.

[Dick284]

Where I'm hunting in 332, I'd say the numbers are better than last season, but still well below 3-4 years ago.

[Salavee]

Numbers are still down quite a bit. Probably take a few good years to get them back to where they were. We need to carry over all the does we can.

[Salavee]

Numbers are still down quite a bit. Probably take a few good years to get them back to where they were. We need to carry over all the Does we can.

[sns2]

Where I hunt in 336 is WAY WAY DOWN. My party has agreed upon a strict no doe policy with the only exception being my 12 yr old son. It is sad really. I have hunted hard and haven't seen a WT buck yet. Mulies seem to have done better, but they too are still way down.

[Smokinyotes]

Originally Posted by sns2

Where I hunt in 336 is WAY WAY DOWN. My party has agreed upon a strict no doe policy with the only exception being my 12 yr old son. It is sad really. I have hunted hard and haven't seen a WT buck yet. Mulies seem to have done better, but they too are still way down.

X2. I remember 5 years ago taking my daughter for a drive the last hour of legal light and it was nothing to see at least 30 white tail. Now you would be hard pressed to see 30 in a week.

[Dick284]

Was the over abundance of 3 -5 years ago, being deemed the normal population?

It was an over abundance....... That's why the supplemental antlerless tags came about.....

When the abnormal, gets seen as the new normal, we have issues.

Think about it.

Now you actually have to hunt hard to have success. It's not like going to the store.

[Smokinyotes]

In 35 years last year and this year are the lowest numbers I have seen in 336.

[Submoa_hunter]

Seen more bucks than does this year, literally a 5 to 1 ratio. Between rocky and sylvan.

[Don K]

Numbers still way down in our area. There's more than last year but I'd say about 50-60% of what would be considered 'normal' and way down from 4-5 years ago...

[catnthehat]

Ours are still up from what I have seen .
Cat

[HunterDave]

It's an odd year this year in 506 around here but I don't think that the population is down, the deer are just like ghosts. They are here, just not moving around and going into any fields during daylight. I've got a theory that El Niño is to blame and the warm weather has effected them. With their winter coats, maybe it's been too warm for them and they spend their day cooling off somewhere. Maybe the lack of snow makes it easier to forage in the bush and they don't need to feed on what's in the field.....I don't know. I don't know of any reason for the populations to be down where I am.

We only got our first snowfall last night so it'll be easier to figure out what's going on tomorrow.

[wyatt k]

I agree with above Dave but also think mother nature took its toll with the hard winter a couple years ago

[xtreme hunter10]

Hunted 336 and 349 this year. Numbers are scary low. In 349, last year saw 10-15 wt a day. Saw 5-8 mule a day....this year i saw 2. Not in a day.. all season i've seen 2. In 336, i was getting deer on camera. Usually get 30-40 deer in camera every week, dropped down to 5. I used to see 15-20 during archery season, saw 0. So far rifle season, i've seen 1. I was seeing 1 coyote on camera every 2 weeks. Im seeing 15-20. The population has switched. Deer numbers are very low. The next couple of years are going to be very bad for deer population. Unless of course we get out this winter and knock the predator population down.

[58thecat]

My numbers seem low but the First Nations " Newfies" took a few of my deer
All,is good though, my luck will change.

[densa44]

I live in 206 and am in 166 often and there are lots of mulies and wt. The guy I work with hit a wt buck with his truck. Lots of damage to the truck and killed the buck.

I was hoping for some hunter success so we didn't have to see so many on the road.

[Dale S]

The deer #'s in the 100 WMU's seem to be good. I counted over 30 WT bucks while hunting. Most were small ones.
There seems to be a lot of MD being hit on the roads this year. So the numbers must be good.

[densa44]

Is there a way for the biologists to know how many of the tags they issue are not used? Do those hunters who want a "special" animal go into the same mix as those who just want a deer?

Where I live in Central Alberta we have way more deer than hunters. Hwy 12 from Stettler to Red deer always has dead animals in the ditches that have been hit by vehicles.

Does anyone know how the available numbers of deer are calculated?

It seems to me from this post that the deer numbers are not evenly distributed around the province. Can hunters from other zones shoot some of the ones around here?

I'v seen herds of mulie does in 166 and nary a hunter.

[greywolf]

Originally Posted by Dick284

Where I'm hunting in 332, I'd say the numbers are better than last season, but still well below 3-4 years ago.

X2,
the severe winterkill of 2013/14 will take a few more years to recover from. IMO.

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by densa44

Is there a way for the biologists to know how many of the tags they issue are not used? Do those hunters who want a "special" animal go into the same mix as those who just want a deer?

Where I live in Central Alberta we have way more deer than hunters. Hwy 12 from Stettler to Red deer always has dead animals in the ditches that have been hit by vehicles.

Does anyone know how the available numbers of deer are calculated?

It seems to me from this post that the deer numbers are not evenly distributed around the province. Can hunters from other zones shoot some of the ones around here?

I'v seen herds of mulie does in 166 and nary a hunter.

The game harvest survey is one tool, to determine success, rates.
Aerial population surveys give biologists an idea on actual population numbers.
Because pockets of game exist, isn't a true indicator of the areas population. Accessible hunting land is a big factor, as is crop rotation. Prime alfalfa hay land that's treated like a sanctuary, because the owner allows no hunting for what ever reason, will concentrate deer dis proportionately, and if that along a major hiway, guess what happens.

No hunters with a mule deer draw in 337 can't go hunt mulies in 166, it's that simple, and mule deer are on a draw.

Access, along with timely and meaningful harvest, and density data needs to be available, that's it in a nut shell.

[hillbillyreefer]

In my area the winters worked them over pretty hard. Mules seem to be coming back WT are lagging a bit. The fall has been good for the deer though, warm temps, good forage available, no snow, access to liquid water in the bush, resulted in deer staying hidden. No need to venture out in the open. If this winter keeps going the way it is we should have a very good fawn crop next year and really start seeing the benefits of the rebound by 2020. It's a cycle like everything else in nature.

Moose on the other hand.......

[last minute]

spend a couple days in WMU 349 and I thought the whitetail populationI was doing good went with my brother to WMU 254 because he had a mule deer tag and the mount a mule deers I saw there i think they are growing old age there so big no matter where we went they were there 258 also we didn't see too many white tail deer though.until next year

[craig82]

I'd say numbers are down in 320 from 3 years ago but better then last year. They seem to be in different places and moving at odd times

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by bear crossing

I thought numbers were low in my part of 346 last year ,but this year is worse,

It looked like that to me in my corner of the world... lots of prophets of doom roaming the streets around here. But logically with the easy winter I cant see the numbers possibly being lower than last year or the year befor. More wolves? Maybe but I still cant beleive a relatively small rise in wolf numbers over last year could kill more deer than 2-3 brutal winters in close succession. Shaping up for what looks like another easy winter so far, there will probably be even more deer next year, and there will still be guys who are convinced there are less.

The deer are there, there are more of them than last year. They weren't where they usually are, behaving the way they usually do, and if I wasn't adaptable in my techniques and locations I wouldn't have seen many.

[husky7mm]

Originally Posted by DiabeticKripple

lots of wt in west central AB, lots of mules in the south, lots of mules by GP as well.

Hmmm? Lots of mules in GP??? Groups of 1-3 mules it lots , are you talking about town deer? Lots compaired to 3 yrs ago, 7-8 yrs ago?

[35 whelen]

Hunted in 521 for last 2 weeks lowest deer numbers in 10 years around my place .only hunted a 5 mile area though,

[CMichaud]

Our group has pushed a fair amount of bush in our little section of 336.

We have seen a 2-3 moose and approx 5 whitetail amongst the three of us.

Seen lots of coyote tracks and some good deer sign but not all over the place.

Our consensus is that the weather has meant the deer have not had to move far for food.