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12-10-2018, 10:56 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 3
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Mule Deer in Peace Region
Just wondering how mule deer numbers are up on the Peace River? If they have rebounded back since a few bad winters a few years ago?
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12-10-2018, 12:12 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 315
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Mule deer #s are getting worse and worse every year in the peace region. I had an antlered draw this year and found it very hard to find a mature buck. I never folded my tag. There are a few "sanctuaries" where land owners are not granting any permission and on any day its nothing to see some nice bucks there. I am thankful for these land owners because without them the mule deer #s would be much worse. But there are lots of people that still think that because they can buy a general tag, they can shoot a buck in any zone. 7-10 years ago I would see herds of 20-40 deer seemingly everywhere, now a guy is lucky to see 2-4 mulies and those sightings are few and far between.
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12-10-2018, 12:37 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 3
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Holly Smokes! Don’t know it was that bad. Is it Preditors? Or winter kill? From a few years ago?
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12-10-2018, 01:33 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 231
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It's not THAT bad, they're still everywhere in certain regions, but like mentioned above they aren't hanging around crown land much.
Down Bricks Hill towards the river they're everywhere but good luck getting at them, no permission and no crown land. Whitetails are an easier find up towards Manning.
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12-10-2018, 01:36 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 315
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Still hunter
Holly Smokes! Don’t know it was that bad. Is it Preditors? Or winter kill? From a few years ago?
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It is everything combined. Lots of people that grew up around here are trappers and they do a great job of keeping the predators numbers down. But when fish and wildlife catch a problem cat in a live trap where do you think they release it. Not much trappers can do for the cat #s. The odd one gets accidently caught in a snare but that is a rare occurence.
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I hunt because I am hungry...
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12-10-2018, 01:39 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 315
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DRE75
It's not THAT bad, they're still everywhere in certain regions, but like mentioned above they aren't hanging around crown land much.
Down Bricks Hill towards the river they're everywhere but good luck getting at them, no permission and no crown land. Whitetails are an easier find up towards Manning.
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Without those landowners denying permission the #s would be worse off. My hat goes off to these landowners because without them the mule deer would be doomed.
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I hunt because I am hungry...
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12-10-2018, 01:40 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 231
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Z7Extreme
Without those landowners denying permission the #s would be worse off. My hat goes off to these landowners because without them the mule deer would be doomed.
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Agreed. They just need to stay off the damned roads. I filled my tag the hard way last year, almost $10k damage! At least 2-3 coworkers hit them on the way in and out of work every year, it's crazy.
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12-10-2018, 01:49 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 315
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DRE75
Agreed. They just need to stay off the damned roads. I filled my tag the hard way last year, almost $10k damage! At least 2-3 coworkers hit them on the way in and out of work every year, it's crazy.
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Yeah MD dont seem to have much for brains, making them a relatively easier target than WT.
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I hunt because I am hungry...
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12-10-2018, 03:37 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Leslieville
Posts: 2,508
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About ten years ago there was a very severe winter (10' of snow) and then SRD issued a bunch of tags (you could get 5 does per hunter if I remember right) because of complaints about too many deer around. The deer were yarded up in big herds and pretty much wiped out. I left for a weekend and came back to an open gate, empty beer cans, blood stains in the snow, and no more mulie does. My brother owns that property now and the mule deer haven't recovered. Went from a herd of does and ~10 bucks to zero in one year. That was 15 miles north of Valleyview.
I remember seeing photos on this forum of does with the hide off; they were very thin and I'm sure many starved. It didn't help that the snow stayed until May that year.
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12-10-2018, 04:07 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 3
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Yes I remember that brutal winter. To bad the animals arent coming back.
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12-10-2018, 05:13 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Beaverlodge
Posts: 1,859
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‘06 was the worst. Then 10, 12, and 17. Here’s hoping this one stays mild
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12-11-2018, 07:43 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 536
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Was elk hunting close to Valley view this November. Hunted for a full week and never seen a single mule deer.
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12-11-2018, 09:34 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 127
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We saw lots in the Peace. All on private land. A few of them were real nice bucks. In a 5 day trip we saw at least a couple dozen. Very possible some of the does were the same animals, just spotted on different days. We saw way more this year compared to last.
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12-11-2018, 09:36 AM
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Gone Hunting
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: North of Peace River
Posts: 11,346
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The Peace district has never and will never be Mule Deer country.
Yes there are Mule Deer here. In small issolated herds. Whereever there is sutable habitat for them. Unfortunatly most of that habitat is close to human development.
We have wolves taking them now and hunters from all over the province.
Couple all that with a few bad winters and it's not hard to imagine what happens.
I have seen a total of one MD close to my acerage. I see WD here almost every day. It's not uncommon to see WD in my yard, within feet of the house.
But only one Mulie.
Those who live in the town of Manning, or in Peace River town are a thousand times more likely to see a Mule Deer then I am.
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12-11-2018, 10:28 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Northern Alberta
Posts: 1,704
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1 mule deer
I saw exactly 1 mule deer buck this year, almost no fawns either.
I can say without a doubt, the change from last year to this year, in my area around Dixonville as well as Grimshaw, was approximately 1/2 of the year prior for Whitetails. There is an age class missing from the population, seems like 2 1/2 year old deer are non-existent.
And ive never seen this much wolf sign, anywhere.
And there are supplemental tags to be had!
If youve got what you consider to be “Good numbers” in the Peace Region, congrats, thats not what I have.
I remember when you could drive by Diashawa 20 years ago and see 40 deer anytime of day in the hills, i havent seen hardly any in past couple years. Same for Shaftsbury trail.
Alberta has had some tough years in the past decade thats for sure.
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12-11-2018, 05:18 PM
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: E Town
Posts: 928
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Numbers are awefull & any decent buck that made it through that awefull winter last year is killed by a outfitter. As there quotas have not been re aligned with the decreasing population & decreasing resident tag.
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12-11-2018, 08:54 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snap Shot
Numbers are awefull & any decent buck that made it through that awefull winter last year is killed by a outfitter. As there quotas have not been re aligned with the decreasing population & decreasing resident tag.
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^^^this^^^
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12-11-2018, 09:13 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 134
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Still hunter
Just wondering how mule deer numbers are up on the Peace River? If they have rebounded back since a few bad winters a few years ago?
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Spent a few weeks hunting the peace area this year and there was tons of mule deer without looking to hard. Not sure what these folks are talking about regarding scaricity.
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12-12-2018, 02:12 AM
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Gone Hunting
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: North of Peace River
Posts: 11,346
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Quote:
Originally Posted by outdoorsman12b
Spent a few weeks hunting the peace area this year and there was tons of mule deer without looking to hard. Not sure what these folks are talking about regarding scaricity.
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The Peace River district is by far the largest hunting zone in Alberta.
Yes there are some locally abundant populations of Mule Deer as I stated before. But there are also a lot of WMUs within this area that have just a few Mulies. Or only small isolated populations.
If all one was talking about was the town of Peace River then one could honestly say they are abundant in Peace River. But Peace River town is towards the bottom of the zone, and less then point one percent of the district.. The further north one goes the fewer Mule Deer there are.
I don't doubt that where you hunted there were good numbers of Mule Deer, That's one small part of one WMU.
The Peace district encompasses over twenty WMUs most of which are the most northern WMUs in the province and hold relatively few Mule Deer.
That is why most of our WMUs are draw only for Mule Deer except for archery season.
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Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
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12-12-2018, 08:53 AM
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Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,171
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I have not seen the number of 170-190+ class Mulies my hunting buddy and I use to see years back in the Peace Region where we hunt. Blame it on wolves, the 3-tag antlerless deer, harsh winters, etc, I don't know.
I was going to do my draw last year (priority 6) for mulie but I didn't see anything decent the past couple years prior or potential bucks up to submitting my draw application, so I held back. Always next year I guess. Wait and see what potential bucks are like by mid-June
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12-12-2018, 09:45 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: North of the Kakwa
Posts: 3,973
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snap Shot
Numbers are awefull & any decent buck that made it through that awefull winter last year is killed by a outfitter. As there quotas have not been re aligned with the decreasing population & decreasing resident tag.
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Outfitters allocations didn’t get cut back ? Are you sure about that ?
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