While writing this in late April, application season is in full swing. May is an exciting month for those of us hoping to draw a tag in WY, MT, UT, ID, NV, and CO. Draw results for some or all species in these states will be coming at us fast throughout the last three weeks of May. Plenty of calls have already been coming in from lucky Huntin’ Fool applicants, especially those who have drawn in New Mexico or for elk and deer in Montana.
Montana can be a confusing state not only to apply in but also to decide where to hunt on the general license for elk and deer. In this issue, we will be covering what general districts are available to be hunted with a combination license. Refer to page 20 for that information. As you may have noticed in the past, we don’t include harvest data in our magazine for any of the elk, deer, and antelope units across the state. The reason for this is that Montana does not have a mandatory harvest reporting requirement for these species, and as a result, the data conveyed in their harvest reports is so inconcise that it can be more misleading than beneficial in researching a particular hunt.
If you’re not familiar with Montana’s harvest reporting system, it goes like this. You may (or may not) get a call in the spring, after the elk and deer draw has been conducted, from a number you don’t recognize. You don’t answer it, you get a voicemail inviting you to call back to take part in FWP’s annual hunting survey. You call back (very few do) and can’t get through to them. You leave a voicemail for them to call you back, and you don’t get a call. The outcome is, of course, half ass harvest data.
It’s easy to point the finger when things aren’t going well, and as you may know, Montana’s mule deer population has been in serious decline over the past few years. Since 2017, the state’s population is estimated to have dropped by over a third. That is an estimated 130,000+ less mule deer on Montana’s landscape. For 2024, FWP has taken a few steps to help manage and at least stabilize the state’s population. Mule deer doe harvest on the general license will now only be allowed on private land in regions 6 and 7, and a few districts in region 4 that were general hunts in the past have been changed to limited permit only hunts. In my opinion, these measures are simply reactive instead of proactive management practices.
I fully understand that managing mule deer numbers in any state in the West is a difficult job and that the challenges that our mule deer face are dynamic and multifaceted issues. Winterkill, poor fawn recruitment, predation, disease, habitat loss, and other factors are all at play. Many of these are largely out of our control. However, with the many uncertainties involved in management, why not be certain of any information that we can be? Why aren’t we tracking and monitoring harvest data in every district of the state after every season that will give biologists baseline information to work with by using a mandatory harvest reporting system? This data will help stay ahead of any dramatic population declines by making changes to hunting restrictions as warranted on an annual basis instead of after they become so severe that the recovery process becomes a long game.
The Montana Mule Deer Citizen Advisory Committee will be meeting twice before June 15th and is taking input from the public on how to better manage their deer. Get involved. Let’s take the lead of other states’ mandatory reporting programs. It’s not expensive to build a web page with 10 questions that if not filled out after your hunt, you are locked out of applying for hunts the following year. In the meantime, as we work towards these improvements in monitoring, help FWP help themselves. Do what it takes to provide harvest information after a hunt. As conservationists, we need to do better. Not just for the sake of the quality of our time in the field, but more importantly, for the future of our deer.
Login