No Love on Opening Weekend

[filmjunkie4ever]

My wife, Father-in-law, and I have been hunting all weekend.

Last night he got a running shot at a 4-point muley at about 250 yards. Clean miss.

Besides him which I did not personally see, all we saw were a 3 Moose, a doe and two fawns.

Now call me crazy but its times like this that make me want to quit hunting altogether. Not that long ago we would see 50 or 60 deer in a day and have several opportunities to fill our tags. Not now.

This is really ticking me off. Hunting has always been work but when you have to work as hard as we did to even see a deer or two, it makes you wonder sometimes if it's even worth it.

Hopefully this thread isn't taken the wrong way but is all of the good hunting gone?

I don't have the means to make trips all over the country to hunt deer like so many I know do. Is it only a "rich man's" sport now?

 

[sask boy]

I know that deer population here in Saskatchewan is no where near what it was 4 years ago. This past winter was a fairly easy one do we are hoping that there has been a increase in the deer numbers.
I had my hunt of a lifetime this past Aug but won't be able to afford that again.
Hope that you can get a couple of cracks this season yet!!

Blessings,
Dan

 

[IdahoCTD]

IDFG has done in most of the game herds and if it wasn't for the mild winters we've had we'd have no deer. They like to blame it on the wolves but the winter of '93 and '94 was brutal on the deer and F&G never let them recover with the massive amounts of doe tags they kept issuing. That winter killed about 80% of the deer in this part of the state and they never reduced the number of doe tags (that either tells you the biologist don't know squat or the money greed is too high. BTW F&G is pretty broke now so they are doing what they can to make $$). Then the wolves came along. Opening day of the '93 deer season I saw 34 bucks and 28 4 point bucks. I killed a 33" buck by about noon. The next year I did the same hunt and saw 4 bucks. Yesterday I saw 4 bucks and 5 does along with a bull elk and 2 cows. Nothing big enough to shoot though. I did see about a 23-24" buck with a 8" drop tine at 483yds and tried to take a picture through my scope. If he was only 4 to 5"" wider and had better forks I would have been done.

 

[sask boy]

So sad to hear !!

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Vince]

I think hunting goes through cycles and right now it's a cycle of dearth in your locality. Hang in there and it'll get better.
At least that's what I tell myself.

Vince

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Thanks for the encouragement chaps.

I guess I have read too many "O'Connor" books and stories and feel like the hunting should be much better than it is and more like it used to be.

My wife and I are looking into other opportunities around the area. I cannot remember the last time I saw a genuinely huge buck Idaho CTD. I would've busted a forked-horn today that's how bad its getting to be in this area.

At this point I am hoping we can get some meat for the winter.

Anyone know any good areas for a cow elk in the Ririe and Idaho Falls areas? Specifically Tex Creek (66,69)?

 

[JD338]

It's still better than having to work all weekend.


JD338

 

[Teknys]

I know the feeling - I hunted all season last year - more than 20 days beyond the gates and saw only 4 bucks and they were all with in two hours of each other during a wind / snow storm.
In our area - Clearwater Region this is the headline:
"Fish And Game Confirms Outbreak Of Bluetongue Disease In Whitetails"

Thats why we haven't seen the numbers for a while now. Between bad winters and trying to recover from this disease which isn't the first time here in this area - you have a real challenge finding a "shooter" buck.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Years ago I would see a 30" buck at least every other year. It's been 10+ years since I've seen one around here. 26-28" were really common and are now somewhat rare. The 22-24" bucks are fairly common now. As the people population goes up around here so does the hunting pressure. I've never seen more than 6-7 trucks on the road where the trail head is in previous years. This year there was 16 and 4 camps set up along the trail. I think the hunting pressure, over harvesting, and ultimately a lack of management has really reduce the numbers and quality of deer. It does suck and it would be nice if F&G could be held accountable but all the commissioners are appointed rather than elected. Maybe putting pressure on the state senators and reps would change things but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Well we will keep trying. Nothing else we can do.

Doc if you and the rest of these fellas don't mind uttering a few prayers to our success, it'd sure be appreciated.

We need meat for the winter. Hopefully we get a couple of tags filled next weekend.

Thanks Fellas -

Dale

 

[DrMike]

Indeed, may God be gracious to those who hunt--especially when they do so out of necessity. This Peace Region has been inundated with hunters for several years, and it is finally taking a toll. Fifteen hundred hunting parties per day entering into the Peace Region for a sustained period takes a toll. I am finding animals--large animals and in only slightly reduced numbers. However, they have adapted to the invasion of hunters driving up and down the roads. They are back in the bush and almost entirely nocturnal now. The animals I have seen appear after shooting light, and they are skittish. It is a new world up here. It will require adaptation on my part if I want to be successful. Even the grouse are more wary this year (though Gil and I did bring home fifteen ruffed grouse, blue grouse and ptarmigan this past Wednesday; and Noah added four ruffed grouse to his take this past Saturday). Let's see, it should take only about 250 grouse to equal a large bodied whitetail.