mule deer population
June 21st, 2006 by Administrator
Idaho Fish and Game estimates 80 percent of the mule deer population in Heise died because of the harsh winter.
Fish and Game have been using helicopters and radio collars to track the mule deer, and because of this big loss, the Fish and Game Commission is now planning to accommodate hunters.
For about a decade, they’ve been monitoring the mule deer in units 64 and 67 by putting radio collars on the deer and then tracking them. Fish and Game biologists radio collared 241 fawns across Southern Idaho, and after tracking them, discovered that 121 of them died of malnutrition.
That means fewer hunting permits for hunters.
“Populations aren’t meeting department objectives, nor are they meeting sportsmen’s expectations.”
The antlerless controlled hunt in unit 67 will be cut from 200 permits to 50. That’s a 75 percent cut of permits. The hunt permits for either sex, buck or doe, have gone from 200 hunting permits to 100 permits — a 50 percent cut.
The Fish and Game Commission is going to accommodate hunters who have already applied for their permits for this area by giving them a chance to switch their choice of permit. They are also now calling people who put in for the unit 64 and 67 controlled deer hunts of mule deer.