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Old 03-02-2013, 10:15 AM
Deer Hunter Deer Hunter is offline
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Attached is a letter I wrote regarding how the archery mule deer draw was imo improperly forced on resident hunters without first considering other users.

I thought some on here may like to read my take on the story. From the letter...

Quote:
Key Take Aways Based on the Proposed Wildlife Management Change – Antlered Mule Deer Archery to Draw -AESRD
1. ESRD is restricting resident harvest rates to manage antlered mule deer without first considering other groups in which some have “unlimited” quotas.
2. ESRD is using the 15% archery harvest hurdle to force resident archers into a mule deer draw on certain WMU’s but have not added other harvest groups to the “total harvest” denominator.
3. ERSD has not finalized the five year outfitter allocation process but is moving quickly to meet harvest goals by restricting resident harvest and or opportunity.
4. ESRD has not published or assembled harvest data for outfitters and landowners yet is quick to use the 25% participation GHS data to restrict resident archery harvest.

Further, 16,716 resident bowhunters hunted in mule deer in 2011 (under the general archery season). This compares to 13,454 succesful applicants in the antlered mule deer special license (- rifle season, out of 64,519 applications). This shows that there are more hunters utilizing the general bowhunting antlered mule deer opportunity than are currently successful in the resident/non-resident antlered mule deer (rifle) draw system.
Also attached is the AESRD proposal that I quote numerous times in the letter.
Again, this is my interpretation of the injustice that has lead to this proposed change.

Last edited by Deer Hunter; 02-13-2017 at 12:41 PM.
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Old 03-02-2013, 10:39 AM
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J.B. J.B. is offline
 
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Amazing work deer hunter...have the changes been finalized or are they still on the table?
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Old 03-02-2013, 12:00 PM
Deer Hunter Deer Hunter is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J.B. View Post
Amazing work deer hunter...have the changes been finalized or are they still on the table?
I dont know if they have been finalized but a unfortunate note was just sent to me:

Quote:
I haven't heard too much on the outfitter review - did hear that they will not be impacted in their allocations for 2013 and will call ESRD next week to see if that rumor is just that. We have been told repeatedly that their archery allocations for mule deer were gone in those affected WMUs
So if this is in fact how it goes down, residents will go on archery draw (draw code 13) for mule deer while outfitter allocations will remain untouched in those WMU's. To me this is completly unacceptable but rings very clear as to the direction of the govt with respect to resident opportunity.

in other words, its not too late to write a letter to represent your feelings on this.
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Old 03-04-2013, 01:47 PM
Deer Hunter Deer Hunter is offline
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Bump for more awareness.
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Old 03-04-2013, 02:00 PM
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Okotokian Okotokian is offline
 
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From your own quote:
"Further, 16,716 resident bowhunters hunted in mule deer in 2011 (under the general archery season). This compares to 13,454 succesful applicants in the antlered mule deer special license (- rifle season, out of 64,519 applications). This shows that there are more hunters utilizing the general bowhunting antlered mule deer opportunity than are currently successful in the resident/non-resident antlered mule deer (rifle) draw system. "

So aproximately 13,000 rifle hunters (from a much larger pool) had to run the draw gauntlet to get a crack at a 1 month season, but 16,000 bowhunters could just walk on with no draws and hunt for 3 months... On the surface that seems to me to be exactly why draws need to be applied to bowhunters. Obviously, however, it would be good to know what the hunter success rates are. If bowhunters are successful 1% of the time then let them hunt all year round with no draw for all I care, but all those bowhunting shows and commercials suggest the success rate is higher. LOL
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Old 03-04-2013, 02:17 PM
Deer Hunter Deer Hunter is offline
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I see where your coming from.

the harvest rates are figured from harvest surveys and an archery harvest over 15% by WMU could propose an archery draw. Yet the harvest numbers from outfitters and landowner tags do not appear to be used when calculating the percentage. And these are signifigant harvests given the number of tags they have by WMU.
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Old 03-04-2013, 07:40 PM
RACKER RACKER is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Okotokian View Post
From your own quote:
"Further, 16,716 resident bowhunters hunted in mule deer in 2011 (under the general archery season). This compares to 13,454 succesful applicants in the antlered mule deer special license (- rifle season, out of 64,519 applications). This shows that there are more hunters utilizing the general bowhunting antlered mule deer opportunity than are currently successful in the resident/non-resident antlered mule deer (rifle) draw system. "

So aproximately 13,000 rifle hunters (from a much larger pool) had to run the draw gauntlet to get a crack at a 1 month season, but 16,000 bowhunters could just walk on with no draws and hunt for 3 months... On the surface that seems to me to be exactly why draws need to be applied to bowhunters. Obviously, however, it would be good to know what the hunter success rates are. If bowhunters are successful 1% of the time then let them hunt all year round with no draw for all I care, but all those bowhunting shows and commercials suggest the success rate is higher. LOL
Obviously you don't bowhunt or you would realize how tough it is to harvest an animal with archery.I bow and rifle hunt but I enjoy hunting with bow a lot more.The longer season does not mean a sure thing but it gives you time to pattern and set up for many different situations.By the time November rolls around I hope to have got lucky enough to harvest a deer with a bow because when gun season opens in the area where I hunt it gets crazy with so many hunters.I understand that this happens every year so I accept that fact but it doesn't mean that bow hunters have a free for all for three months!By the way the last time I read the regs it stated you could hunt general with rifle from sep 1 to nov 30.This to me seems like a little more than 3 months to hunt with a gun so who really does have the advantage?
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