2013 Archery Mule deer going on Draw
 

Just kind of curious as to what everyone's thoughts are on the fact that this will be the last year of being able to buy a general Mule buck Tag in Alberta For Archery purposes?

I Know about 3 years ago myself and some buddies thought up this same idea,for a variety of reasons....I even posted\Made A thread on here about the exact same subject! I was laughed at..."Thanks for the Chuckle" I believe Steve or someone said.

Eitherway... now i'm not sure if Putting Archery Mule buck on draw is the right move?I know for sure that Trophy quility will improve,however maybe to cut down on the ever increaseing mule buck archery harvest,the government should be cutting the outfitter and non resident canadian harvest???(just a thought) What do you guys think should be done?

Eitherway enjoy the General 2012 mulebuck season,because it's going to be the last!

A hard winter plus GROSS mis-management has led us to this.

I've not heard anything of this....what is the source?

I'll Agree 100% with that statement!!!

Province wide WJ?
Or just the zones close to the population centres that get hammered every year?

Too bad that Aberta residents get limited before the outfitters do .Like you said Junkie , I saw this coming way back .Looks like if you ever want to get a velvet muley it better be this year .

Peace river area\All 100 Series Wmu's

Doesnt make sense , the 200 series zones of eastern alberta prob got hit the hardest , so why would those wmu not go on draw if this was the case ??? Just asking??????

thought you called BS on the hard winter thing???.....

Huh??? If 600 buck tags and 600 does in wmu 200 isnt getting hit hard please let me know what is !! All im saying is if the 100 series and the peace country are " going on draw for archery " ( which as far as im cocerned isnt gonna happen in 2013) then why wouldnt the eastern zones of AB go on draw ??

Sorry misunderstood your earlier post...

The paper from SRD said the draw was needed as archers were exceeding the 15% of the deer killed in the zones. If they are then a draw is required.

I can't wait for all the archery bashing guys who wanted this to complain about long wait times now to draw an antlered tag....... If archery harvests went over 15% then there would no longer be a general season. Well if we tack 15% onto all zones the wait times should increase quite a bit.....I can't wait to see our lovely srd roll this great decision out. This was brought up at the last ag mag meeting and its the real deal not a rumour!
A poor decision was made based off non current data.

Well hopefully I can draw an antler-less mule deer tag and get 2 extra ones sent to me. Best deal ever! It's no secret mule deer numbers are down yet there's undersubscribed tags and extra doe tags sent out yearly after several terrible winters where record herd number's perished?

Right on it's Alberta take it while you can!

:sHa_shakeshout:

Im stoked! They better put 357 on draw, the last few years have been disgusting....

Hmmm so IN every 100 series zones and peace country zones (what zones in peace country ) the archery hunters shot 15% of the deer harvested... But less than 15% in ALL of the 200 series zones .. Still makes no sense since the population is a heck of alot more in central AB than southern AB ,

Rich,

Any indication from SRD how they arrive at the numbers? One concern I've always had with % of harvest numbers is the fact that Alberta rarely does very good 'harvest' reports and a 3-4 question online survey hardly could give very accurate results.

It seems like a bit of a pipe dream to think that they get accurate numbers for any species (other than sheep, etc) with what seems like a low hunter survey response that sometimes proves random at the best of times.

Regardless....lots of interesting changes going on the east side of the mountains!!!

No idea how or where. They statement backing up the proposed draw said that the archers were exceeding the 15% harvest threshold.

Cool thanks Rich. That was the only part of the thing that I was curious about and wasnt sure if it had been addressed. Appreciate it.

You can say that again.

Srd is full bullsheet!

How could they even begin to come up with a number, when they don't have a mandatory Harvest report, to actually qualify their statements!

There's no way archers are exceeding the 15% !!

This nothing More than the right people whining because the big bad bowhunters killed a buck in sept, before they could in nov!

More hunting opportunity lost! Sad!

Does anyone know where the 15% number came from???....I don't Bow Hunt anymore, but with the increase in Bow Hunting licenses is this still a valid number??...just wondering.

My thoughts exactly ..yupp take , take , take pretty soon when its only yankes hunting & paid hunting all these a55 clowns will be happy that they whined there way into this !!

Ive said it before and i will say it again heads gotta role out of the SRD office , time for new blood!!!

The rifle guys will be whining when there waiting 8 - 10 years to pull a mulie tag !!
Idiots , its happening already in certain zones , the author of this thread was complaining to me about it the other day , why do( I) have to wait 8 years for a rifle mulie tag ... I think he answered his own question !! I dont see the logic !!

Okay, here's a question, instead of a draw, would the bowhunterrs be okay with a 2-3 week season, instead of how it is now????

FYI Ty ... I have shot 2 mulie bucks a 180+ and a 199 5/8 in the 7 years you have been waiting to draw the oh so special WMU tag ! I dont understand what your laughing about or happy about lost opportunity for archery guys is gonna mean lost opportunity for the only rifle guys!! Which = lost opportunity for everyone, it just isnt gonna be good for anyone and were all HUNTERS and ALBERTAINS ... You might as well spit into the wind and let it hit you in the face ( your happy now but you aint gonna be in the future)!! So stop complaining about wait times cause there only gonna get longer....:sHa_shakeshout: cant wait ... This is gonna be awesome !!

Why is there an actual problem with bowhunters harvests , does anyone have factual data to confirm such allegations?

Sorry Hal, but without the info, there's no use in discussing alternatives or other suggestions!

I would be fine with a 1 week season rather than getting rid of the general season. Not all zones will be closed but its like anything the pressure will shift and then those zones too will be lost as well. Just look at the general moose situation in 505 and 510 I guarantee its only a matter of time until they go to draw soon since 338 and 337 did.

I think the thing that gets me really mad this is the absolute doe slaughter that has gone on in the last few years. Everyone puts the blinders on and says archers are the reason. In the past few years I could have gone in the rifle season with 4 buddies and brought 12 does home. How is this game management? There were way better steps in conserving mule deer rather than this. As a bowhunter I have to suck it up and do what's best for the future herd and not let my selfish thoughts interrupt.........But really srd hasn't been doing what's best for the province since the first devastating winter of 2006. It's a poor choice and I can't wait to draw a mulie tag every 8 years because of srd's lack of effort to actually have accurate game counts and harvest surveys.

X2 on the stats, how many of the email surveys get sent out that no one answers or how many phone surveys do they do when they get screened? are they just counting those as successfull to stack numbers? some sources most definetly need to be shared before they should be passing anything. Would blow goats if they put it on draw, so much time in the woods/fields that would be taken away

WJ has part of the story right. There is an SRD proposal to put all WMUs where archery harvest exceeeds 15% on Draw. Nothing really new here. This 15% cap has been in place for a long time, it's just never really been enforced. The WMUs have not been named and it's not limited to some areas and not others...only those that exceeed 15%. While I hate to see hunting opportunity reduced, it has to be reduced somewhere and right now, in many WMus, archers are exceeding their share. Not sure it's really fair to ask rifle hunters to give up more. I would think that all hunters would support a decision based on fair distribution of tags among various user groups.

No decision has been made whether there would be a seperate draw for archers and another for rifle or just one draw for both.

I don't think this is going to be quite as dramatic as you make it out to be. Every bowhunter I know also rifle hunts and enters the draws every year already. The only difference will be for yourself when you'll be waiting 8 years to shoot your next big buck.

These guys sure know how to manage mule deer
ML's gone
Archery on draw
No reduction in outfitter or non resident tags
Cwd slaughter for nothing
Landowner tags unlimited

Someone needs to pull the plug on the decision makers at srd