Deer decline in CO and the West

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BSK

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Just read that article on Fox News' website.

But what really caught my attention was the comment: "Some of the decline may be because of changes in methods for estimating deer populations." I'm not saying there isn't a decline (as most Western States report a decline), but the very dramatic decline being reported for CO alone is most likely the result of a change in population estimation methodology.
 
Mule Deer populations have shrunk and are going to continue to shrink. When their migration routes get cut they have a lot of trouble adapting. Add to that the mountain lion population, wolves up north, bazillions of coyotes all over, yeah, Mule Deer have a problem.

I believe we will see a huge reduction in licenses and so on as the States try to regrow the herds. One smart move would be to offer bounties for coyotes, wolves & lions where legal. I have seen lions in daylight in CO.
 
Unquestionably, mule deer numbers are slowly declining, for a wide variety of reasons. They just aren't the robust, adaptive species the whitetail is.
 
BSK said:
Unquestionably, mule deer numbers are slowly declining, for a wide variety of reasons. They just aren't the robust, adaptive species the whitetail is.
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I agree, definitely not what they used to be when I was a kid. Main factors that i have seen in idaho: WOLVES!, a few poor decisions the Idaho Fish and Game, and development in winter ranges and travel cooridors. Boise area sits on one of the biggest winter range in the region and is only expanding. Just a few years ago i used to hunt the immediate foothills outside of boise with great success, now- those areas are developed with subdivisions. A few years back the deer and elk were forced to winter on Lucky Peak reservoir, a small warm front came threw and the ice broke killing thousands of deer and elk that got trapped in the waters. Fences have been installed to protect deer during migration on road ways but then they are cut off from attiquate food supplies etc. With fires in winter range in summer they've been know to have massive "shoot outs" to kill x amount of doe that are on winter ranges with 100% success rates to minimize the starvation threw out the winter (this is good, sacrifice a couple to save a bunch) but there are other ways in my opinion... in Arizona drought as u know has always played a big role in deer numbers and thanks to Arizona Game and Fish occasional coyote roundups they're getting a hold on coyote populations. I can think of a couple areas where cat hunting should have bounties but haven't heard of it happening. Im rambling I know lol im assuming these same things are happening in Colorado seeing that Denver suburbs and other cities sit at the base of the rockies in the animals wintering flats.
 

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