Our wildlife is doomed

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Could you kindly point out the population numbers in my point.

There are none.That's the point. Just a lot of BS with nothing to back it up, yet you trash someone who actually posts numbers to back his opinion.

I'm done here .

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

There are none.That's the point. Just a lot of BS with nothing to back it up, yet you trash someone who actually posts numbers to back his opinion.

I'm done here .

As other posters also pointed out, the numbers posted were not Alberta numbers, they only represented a few select species, and they represented over 100 years, so they were not representative of the current game populations in Alberta.

[hunterfisher]

Wow Page 6 now u know where to start some controversies. Good debates- the off topic ones. Heehee

Sorry I apologize as I know this adds nothing but i had to.

[Outdoorfanatic]

Well you obviously don't hunt much if you think that the animals aren't smart enough to pose a serious challenge to "technology". Firstly there are more animals today then there where 50 years ago. Third generation farmers I know say when the land was first broke deer where so rare that if you saw one you where a local celebrity. Now its to the point where fellow hunters shame one another for even considering shooting a doe. And the elk are on the increase to the point where seasons for anterless tags are ever expanding in both number of tags issued and length and number of season offered. Yet tags are under subscribed every year. The result is Fish and Game are secretly resorting to transplanting cougars into populated areas just to manage the increasing ungulate population. Wolves to are now seen places where they've haven't been maybe ever, ie: 936 right next to Sherwood Park. There are also cougars there.

If your a hunter you know that braving the weather, maintaining your patience, keeping your focus all day all season, gaining premission, building relationships with land owners, farmers, fish and game, fellow hunters, practicing your marksmanship skills, getting within rifle range of a good buck when its bow season and having to watch him walk, and doing all this while balancing life commitments is work!!! Work that requires excellence in the pursuit. No wonder when it all comes together its such a feeling of true achievement.

Bottom line is the animals need to be managed. With all the "technology" I have yet to meet a group of hunters who fill with consistency more then 40% of their tags. Most I talk to are doing good at 30%. In academics less than 50% is a fail. Seems to me that the animals are talking us to school.

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by sjemac

I'm from Sundre. We used to have 20-30 deer out behind the house every night last season.This year there were three - a doe and two fawns and the "Black Truck Brigade" from Calgary killed all of them. Last year I found 7 winter killed deer on the property and if those were the ones I found, how many actually died? It certainly isn't as bleak as some want to paint it but numbers are noticeably down all over -- especially on my daily commute down the Range Roads west of 22.

Your yard deer were behind the grocery store last night , 15 odd mulies and maybe a few w/t on the little slough creek, with an other hand full standing beside the bridge. buddy out toward bearberry called me to tell me twenty cow elk just moved down from the upper bearberry road, didnt see any bulls . Im not about to point out specific areas but I have seen deer in numbers every day ive spent looking . Dont know what else to say maybe I just know where to look

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by sjemac

It certainly isn't as bleak as some want to paint it but numbers are noticeably down all over -- especially on my daily commute down the Range Roads west of 22.

Down all over based on your land and your daily commute, eh? Would you care to tell me what the deer population is like in WMU 508 in this area where I am? Or in WMU 506 and 501 where I got called by landowners to come up and thin them out with my sup doe tags?

This is the problem right here. Too many people believing that the deer are decimated based on the bubble that they live in. Sheesh!

[fingershooter]

Originally Posted by GWN

The technology is neutral, how it is applied and the practical impact of that application is what is important.

A perfect example would be long-range shooting technology used on the open prairies. Being able to make consistent hits beyond 400 m could easily make a significant impact on game populations if a number of shooters chose to do so and developed the necessary skill. If a hunter chose to hunt ethically in this manner and developed the skills to do so I have no problem with that.

Where I have concerns is when the technology is used as a crutch to compensate for the lack of skill or inclination to develop it.

Well,there you go.....back to the original post - and all of the consequences.
Oh, wait, gotta get another bag of popcorn.

[Don K]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Down all over based on your land and your daily commute, eh? Would you care to tell me what the deer population is like in WMU 508 in this area where I am? Or in WMU 506 and 501 where I got called by landowners to come up and thin them out with my sup doe tags?

This is the problem right here. Too many people believing that the deer are decimated based on the bubble that they live in. Sheesh!

[sjemac]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Down all over based on your land and your daily commute, eh? Would you care to tell me what the deer population is like in WMU 508 in this area where I am? Or in WMU 506 and 501 where I got called by landowners to come up and thin them out with my sup doe tags?

This is the problem right here. Too many people believing that the deer are decimated based on the bubble that they live in. Sheesh!

If you had followed the thread you would see that I was specifically talking about 314 and challenging the assertion that the deer numbers there are as high as they've always been.

[sjemac]

Originally Posted by fish gunner

Your yard deer were behind the grocery store last night , 15 odd mulies and maybe a few w/t on the little slough creek, with an other hand full standing beside the bridge. buddy out toward bearberry called me to tell me twenty cow elk just moved down from the upper bearberry road, didnt see any bulls . Im not about to point out specific areas but I have seen deer in numbers every day ive spent looking . Dont know what else to say maybe I just know where to look

I see deer every day too. But not in the same numbers as previous years. Fields that held dozens, hold single digits. Elk are fine, moose too. Deer are down in numbers. Not absent or annihilated but down.

[dshaw]

Originally Posted by grinr

Re:gadgets....Looking at trailcams last week and I see Spypoint offers these Motion Detectors that you can place up to 4 sensors on trails to alert you when game is approaching....where does it end?? http://www.spypoint.com/EN/products/...oduct-wrl.html
Honestly,I think there is something to be questioned even with the ethics of using trail cams??Putting on my body armor now,lol..
But seriously though,makes me wonder if we are depleting the gene pool by targeting trophy bucks harder and with more technology then ever before in history??How many people are letting respectable 140" bucks walk,often because they are after that 180" that they've caught on camera but often as not have never seen in the flesh?
"Back in the day" we did our scouting thru observation and reading sign...big rubs,big tracks etc meant there was a big buck in the area.Theres a big buck now,BANG....nice 150 class buck that 99% of hunters would be happy to hang a tag on.......nowadays....big buck coming.....get ready...nope,"only" a 150"er,I'm after the 180 that I know lives here.

You asked where will it end with the technology? it won't as long as there are tv shows promoting the latest gadgets and the pressure to shoot the biggest and the most! All these gadgets are promoted to help we as hunters "kill the biggest" deer, elk, moose or whatever in the woods. I realize there are a lot of guys that could care less about record books and big animals and I applaud them, but most advertising for these new gadgets is to kill the biggest and be the best. Its not the greatest image for hunters. But until something is done to limit the gadgets they will keep coming. The next world redo crd whitetail will be all thanks to a drone or some crazy thing like that.

[thebuckshow]

Too much newfies killing everything and bunging up our draw system