Deer Heard Shrinking ?

[jmall]

I have hunted in Arizona for 30+ years , and I have always been able to find deer . The past few years it seems that it has been increasingly harder, for me, to find deer . I am wondering if others have experienced the same thing or if I am just getting old and losing my touch .

[nutzos16]

Its getting a lil tough! I never have a problem finding deer but recently I havent seen any rut activity going on and its making it harder for me to wait for a good coues deer. I really dont wanna shoot another mulie but maybe thats what Im going to have to do

[billrquimby]

"DEER HEARD SHRINKING?"

 

As I approach 77, I find that every time I go out I see more deer than I did when I was 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60. And that's with mild cataracts. With luck in the tag lottery and God willing, I will have hunted in this state for 65 years before 2013 ends, and the only two things I can say for certain on this subject are:

 

1. the mule deer herd in White Mountains is rebounding.

 

2. human ears are incapable of hearing a deer shrinking.

 

Bill Quimby

[synper100]

you went to what school? HERD, not heard

[jmall]

I really do know It is herd and not heard just had a senior moment thanks for pointing out my mistake.

[Snapshot]

I know mule deer have been on the decline for a couple decades. I thought the Coues populations were stable or increasing? Maybe G$F flooding alt of the units with too many tags has something to do with it?

[oz31p]

I dont know the current health of Arizona's deer herd. Or how to even measure it. But i know with each passing year im able to locate and harvest more game(deer included) than the year before. Mabee im just hitting my stride, or mabee i realy sucked when i first started hunting big game by my self in arizona.

[123456]

I was thinking complete opposite. I seem to find deer in places where I have not usually seen deer. Case and point, I took a buddy out pig hunting this weekend to my stomping grounds and did not see the usualy pig "heard" but I did manage to spot 3 bucks and 7 does. This makes 5 bucks and 10 does over the last 5-6 years hunting this area. Stink pigs went on the back burner and unfortunately buddy blew the opportunity and stink pigs became priority again.

[DCS]

I would say it was a safe bet to say the Az deer herd is not a fraction of what it was say 50 years ago.We could ride our ranch-10 sections,and see 100 deer a day.Now we ride many days,and see no deer.I have a copy of the hunting regulations of Az,1957.There were 4000 any deer permits on Kaibab from Oct 25-30,and 4000 more any deer permits from Nov 15-24.Hunting license was 4.00,javelina,deer tag was 1.00,antelope tag was 10.00,elk was 15.00,and bighorn was 50.00.My how things have changed!!!!

[CouesBuckhunter]

You are not the only one. I saw lots of deer in the past years, now it is just flat out depressing not seeing the numbers there used to be. This year alone I had seen a good number of bucks in a mountain range during the august bow hunt. After the rifle hunts in October and November I was struggling to even find one buck.

[CouesBuckhunter]

The worst place so far are the catalinas. That place gets hit way to hard with all the rifle tags.

[billrquimby]

"I would say it was a safe bet to say the Az deer herd is not a fraction of what it was say 50 years ago.We could ride our ranch-10 sections,and see 100 deer a day.Now we ride many days,and see no deer.I have a copy of the hunting regulations of Az,1957.There were 4000 any deer permits on Kaibab from Oct 25-30,and 4000 more any deer permits from Nov 15-24.Hunting license was 4.00,javelina,deer tag was 1.00,antelope tag was 10.00,elk was 15.00,and bighorn was 50.00.My how things have changed!!!!"

 

 

 

 

Yes, things have changed, but we're talking drastically different dollars. I graduated from UA in 1958 and took a job in advertising that paid $10,000 a year. This was a lot of money at a time when union tradesmen were making $6,000 to $7,000 year.

 

We bought a new 2,800 sq. ft. home on an acre in the foothills above Tucson for $21,500, put in a swimming pool for $2,500 and ordered a new Chevy station wagon for $2,000. Gasoline was 19 cents a gallon, and cigarettes cost less than $2 per carton.

 

I have a box of Winchester-Western .270 Silver Tip ammo I bought at the long-gone Steinfeld's Department Store. There is a $4.49 sticker on it.

 

 

Bill Quimby

[brian390]

I don't know about whitetails, but in my opinion the mule deer herd in the general area of flagstaff is down quite a bit.

[jmall]

I spent a week in 22n hunting elk this december. I saw around 200 elk and 2 whitetail bucks. It seems that the deer in 22 , in my opinon, are much harder to find than in past years.

[dieselroe]

I would say white tail are up big time and the muley's are going down. Mule deer have to stop and look at what is chasing them every time and are a bigger target. Odds are against them with their stupid habits. WT are also being seen in new places all the time. Like really low.

 

I also think the WT are pushing the mule deer around. Elk and WT are taking the mule deer feed. Elk and cattle are not native and create more competition for the deer.

 

I would like to see the mule deer tags go down and a WT Doe hunt brought back pretty heavy. This would lead a lot of people to taking does and save some big bucks for the trophy hunters, instead of killing all the spikes that are not that smart yet.

 

To bad I didn't make the commission!! LOL