Originally Posted by
ojibwa
2 Hypothetical questions..
lets say your state was hit very hit with an EHD outbreak and you lost much of your herd...
Would you still hunt that year or at least give them a year or so to recover.. Remember you will have less mature bucks running around and less deer in general breeding..
Do you think the state should step in the cancel season for one year at least or take it county by county?..
Remember a few years ago the Milk river region on MT lost close to 90% of it's deer herd a few years ago..
My opinion and it's worth what you are paying for it.. If I owned or managed a large tract I would not hunt that year and maybe the next with a good herd census first. I would do everything I could to improve the habitat and herd health.
I have been hunting through significant EHD for 2 straight years now.
Ive only taken 2 deer last year and 2 deer this year VS the 5 or 6 I usually take.
This year I have only taken 1 mature buck. I might take another if it falls in my lap but I'm not really pursuing another one. Partly because the buck I went after this year was smarter than me and it took me 2 months to get a shot.
Our herd bounces right back numbers wise but the average age is down and the big boys are harder to come by.
We do still have more deer even dealing with EHD than most places do when the herd is healthy though.