Wyoming’s Mule Deer Populations May Have a Solution…

The Muley Fanatic Foundation of Wyoming

While Coursey and Faigl acknowledge that quite of few people have been instrumental in this transition, it was the assistance of local attorney Charles Barnum and accountant Brad Radakovich that helped solidify the efforts of launching The Muley Fanatic Foundation of Wyoming, Inc. “Charlie and Brad have been vital in this tedious process. Anytime you’re dealing with the state and the IRS it is a tremendous benefit to have someone experienced with the process, just to make sure that everything is filed and recorded correctly,” says Coursey, who also adds that both Barnum and Radakovich donated their services because of their strong belief in the Muley Fanatic Foundation of Wyoming cause.

“We are so blessed to live in Wyoming. Ethics, values, patriotism and western heritage are held with the highest regard in Wyoming. Believing in a cause such as this and the willingness to get involved because of its principles speaks volumes to the remarkable amount of character that represents the residents of Wyoming and our supporters. Some would say we are lucky to live in Wyoming. When I hear this I am quick to respond that it is by design, not luck,” notes Coursey.

Part of the process of establishing the Muley Fanatic Foundation of Wyoming was the formation of a mission statement. After careful consideration the Muley Fanatic Foundation of Wyoming mission statement was chronicled as:  TO ENSURE THE CONSERVATION OF MULE DEER AND THEIR HABITAT AND TO PROVIDE SUCH SUPPORTING SERVICES TO FURTHER THE SPORT OF HUNTING AND SOUND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT. “It was essential for us to have a mission statement that not only encompassed the aspect of working for the conservation of mule deer and their habitat, but that would also allow us to focus on our youth and still earn a position of influence for responsible game management,” said Coursey.

Acknowledging and including the youth has been instrumental in all previous activities as a chapter and will be the mainstay moving forward as a foundation. “We have always been very involved with the youth. From hunter’s safety courses; working to secure hunting licenses for children with life threatening diseases; to involving local Boy Scout troops with our functions. These efforts will only increase. The platform of this foundation is not just about mule deer, it is about everything that encompasses this iconic animal and the heritage that westerners hold dear to their hearts,” said Faigl, who along with Coursey and five other foundation volunteers are Wyoming Hunter Education instructors. “As a chapter we were a family orientated organization. This foundation is about the future and excluding anyone would be counterproductive. Likewise, involving everyone will only increase our productivity and our “difference” making efforts. We whole heartedly believe that the experience we have gained as volunteers will afford us the opportunity to truly make a difference in what we refer to as God’s perfect square, Wyoming.” added Coursey.

Old bucks like this don't grow on trees and they certainly don't have an easy life in Wyoming. They need our help and support to make sure they can thrive and reproduce here

For more information regarding the Muley Fanatic Foundation of Wyoming, the upcoming banquet, or to get involved as a volunteer please contact Joshua Coursey at 307-389-7495 or Joey Faigl at 307-350-0314 or visit the website www.muleyfanatic.com

Wyoming's hardest hit winter ranges from the winter of 2010-2011.

THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME- to change the season/quota/tag allocation structure for Wyoming’s mule deer licenses. Actually it’s long over-due, but play along with me a little bit here… We can’t change the past, we can only focus on the future at this point. While working on the MRS section for Wyoming deer it continued to be evident that Wyoming needs to do something to curb the pressure on the mule deer herd here in the Cowboy state. Attached is a map that I cooked up showing where the winter kill was the worst during the epic winter of 2010-2011 which left our deer herd in even worse shape than we have become used to over the past five to ten years. Even after such a winter the Game and Fish did not hardly budge a single tag quota for the 2011 season. Looking at the data and answering floods of calls and e-mails loaded with feedback from the fall hunting season got me to thinking. Thinking about a better way to allocate and structure the mule deer hunting seasons here in Wyoming. A way that would put more control into the hands of big game managers and would allow for better hunting, better management and a better outlook for the deer herd, particularly in the Western and Southern ends of the state.

In my opinion, Wyoming needs to do three things. First we need to put resident deer hunters on a draw system statewide and scrap the general deer tag system. It works, Colorado did it and we can too. This would allow the state to completely manage the Western deer herd instead of just managing the non-resident hunters. Non-resident deer hunters make up less than 40% of the deer hunting pressure equation. Only controlling 35% of an equation is not control, it’s wildlife management anarchy.

The second thing Wyoming could do is split up the seasons inside the high demand Regions like G, H and K. We could offer an early hunt from September 10th to the 25th on a limited draw basis. This hunt would be very limited, only 250 total hunters in each region. Then offer a second season from the 5th to the 25th of October with more tags allocated. Somewhere in the range of 1,200 for each region total. Then if the deer herds are healthy and doing well a third season permit would be offered for a November hunt from the 1st to the 10th with only 100-150 tags total in each region. This would get the more serious trophy hunters out of the October pool and into one of the other higher demand pools. Making more room for the recreational type hunters to hunt in October. There would probably be left over tags for the October hunts. The archery seasons would run from the 15th of August until the 1st of September and anyone with any of the three licenses could hunt that season.

And the final piece to this  solution would be to convert two or three units inside the better mule deer regions to limited quota only areas. This would not only get the even more serious trophy hunters out of the “Region” pool, but would allow for large mature bucks to slip through the cracks and travel down to the winter range to breed does each December. Which would essentially ensure a healthy, mature breeding stock of bucks onto each winter range every year. Once the bugs were worked out these LQ areas could be rotated around about every three or four years to make things interesting and blend the gene pool a bit.

Of course added to this, Wyoming would need to institute a preference point system for Wyoming residents.

These are just some of my initial thoughts on the subject. I realize this is a very tough subject to tackle and can be a barrel of fish hooks so to speak, but Wyoming has to do something soon. The data is not looking good, but all is not lost. Colorado brought their deer herd back from the brink over a decade ago. It was a tough pill for them to swallow at the time as well, but it worked and has produced the best deer hunting and the healthiest deer herd on the planet as a result.

If you have any thoughts, concerns or additional ideal post up a comment. These are just the rambling of one man at a desk watching the Wyoming wind blow out the window. Let’s here what you think.

Thanks for reading the Blog and good hunting.

-Guy Eastman

The Western States management systems are not set up to handle uncontrolled, "Super Predators".

We’re continuing to see an alarming trend in Western wildlife management. I am calling it the “Predator Death Spiral.” The underlying cause of this phenomina is when a wildlife agency attempts to hide or “pad” their big game population estimates when over predation begins to take hold. This in turn creates a downward spiral that cannot easily be avoided, and is often not even noticed until the state hits both a financial and PR rock bottom. Idaho was the first state to hit the wall with the “Spiral” followed by Montana and now Wyoming has begun to slip into the Spiral’s grip. The wolf situation has caused these three Western states to slide down the jagged slope of diminishing herds, shrinking revenues and bad PR among their customers and financial lifeline…out-of-state hunters.

The details of the spiral start out very subtle. The wolves, cougars and grizzly bears start to take a few more elk and moose each year as their unchecked populations grow and expand. The state does not react at first with cuts in the tag quotas. This would mean a decrease in revenue that would have to be met with either more tags somewhere else or even worse, budget cuts. So they do what most Government agencies would do in this situation…nothing! After a few years of turning a blind eye to the situation a bad winter like the winter we had in 2006 and 2011 hit and further accelerated the problem. But, the bad winter was even worse than imagined from a wildlife management perspective. The increased snowpack and cold temps caused far more than the usual winter kill. The predators did extremely well because of the increased snowpack that gathered the herds even tighter than usual, on heavy snow accumulations that created a wolves dream come true scenario. A concentrated food source stuck in a snow bank that cannot escape…perfect. After the long cold winter is over the elk and deer that did survive go into the spring in tough shape. Many of the cows and does have aborted their young in order to survive.

The post winter mortality counts come back into the department as an alarming number. But budgets have to be met. So being ever optimistic the state decides to give the remaining quotas just one more year to see if they might bounce back. After-all, the counts could have been flawed, there is no way we could have lost that many big game assets in one year, right?

The next fall the hunters are complaining, the harvest stats are coming back very low and things are not looking good on the PR front. Many non-resident hunters are threatening not to apply the following year and the outfitters are starting to make their voices heard.

The state reacts, and cuts the elk tags inside the wolf  and winter zones. But the money has to be made up somewhere, after all a few hundred non-resident elk tags equate to big money. So the state moves to increase the quotas on elk outside the wolf zone and increase the deer and antelope tags substantially in an effort to compensate for the loss in revenue.

As wolves continue to take their toll, state Game and Fish Departments struggle to make their budgets as big game populations plummet and demand for non-resident licenses crash.

A second harsh winter strikes and wipes out the antelope and deer herd excesses. Things are looking bad, but the state budgeteers don’t give up easily. Someone recommends the idea of raising license costs to all hunters, after all supply and demand economics formulas say a non-resident elk tag should go for over $2,500. But the resident tag increases get shot down by the commission but everyone likes the idea of sticking to the non-resident hunter a bit more. They can afford it, have you seen how much a house in California is worth? (pre-2008 of course). The following fall the hunters don’t see near the game they did even the previous year. Things are getting bad. Thanks to the internet the word gets out and many of the non-resident hunters move their camps and non-resident dollars to Colorado and New Mexico to hunt elk and deer.

The next thing the state knows, they are sitting on millions of dollars worth of unclaimed and unwanted non-resident tags. Now with the wildlife resource in shambles and a multi-million dollar budget shortfall the state is finally forced to wake up and smell the coffee. This isn’t the 1970′s…it’s no surprise to us that a non-resident hunter who pays over $1,000 for an elk tag expects a good elk hunt, why should it come as a surprise to the state Game and Fish Commission? But it does. What the state fails to realize is, that once they began to charge that kind of money for tags and preference points they in affect gave up the option to simply brush it off as a “bad winter, try again next year” excuse that worked so well in the past.  In the information age non-resident hunters no longer accept excuses easily.

This is the bottom. A state is stuck to come clean and admit they are in a real hole. They don’t have the wildlife any longer to support their budgetary needs and their customers know it. This is the type of situation where a little fudge in numbers here and there has created a beast that cannot be controlled and is getting bigger, badder and uglier every year until the bottom is hit.

Why? Because it would mean that the states would have to admit to contributing to their own financial demise. Some Western Fish and Game Departments have in fact become a wolf in sheep’s clothing to their constituants. Some inside the departments have, although reluctantly, in some cases went along with the Federal Government’s master plan to re-introduce super predators back into the ecosystem to eventually control big game herds without the use of hunters. It’s almost as if the state neglected to realize that this would, in fact, slit their own throats by gutting their departments of the necessary funding to run.

And this is not just a Wyoming, Montana and Idaho problem. Wolves have already begun to take hold in Washington, Oregon and Utah. Nevada, and Colorado are certainly next. And for all of you midwest whitetail hunters out there, sorry, your not safe either. The government has devised a plan to expand the Mexican wolf North from Arizona and New Mexico into Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Nebraska to connect with the upper midwest wolf populations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. This would give super predators a way to control whitetail deer populations minus the use of hunting as a management tool.

This is a critical situation but all is not lost yet. There have been huge strides made in the recent wolf debate and wolves are starting to be controlled now in Montana and Idaho. We all as hunters need to keep pressure on our politicians and state agencies to make sure they do the right thing for our wildlife. We pay them to manage our wildlife resource in a responsible manner, make them earn their money. Taking the easy way out is not good enough. They need to do better, our big game wildlife resource depends on it.

Drop me a line and let me know what your thoughts are…maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist…who knows. I know what I’ve heard and seen first hand so far, though, and it’s not looking good.

Guy

It's pretty for young deer to survive conditions like this. As deer get older, it only becomes tougher.

When I compile the Wyoming MRS section for mule deer in the Feb/Mar 2012 issue of EHJ, many areas and regions in the state will need to be significantly downgraded. The affected regions and areas will include but not be limited to: Regions G, H, and K and areas 130, 141/152, 101, and 102. Make sure you look at that MRS carefully if you plan to apply for a Wyoming mule deer tag in 2012. Nothing would be more depressing than blowing five mule deer points on an area that is in such poor shape.

The Wyoming mule deer herd is in the worst shape I have seen in almost 40 years. And the saddest part of the whole mess, is that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department probably won’t cut the tags back as much as they should to ensure a quick rebound which will possibly add between two and five years to the rebound process. Depressing news I know, but the elk and antelope in Wyoming seem to be doing very well. Good luck in your research and watch for that MRS section in your Feb/Mar issue of EHJ for more details.

Guy

Best of luck to all of you this fall and I hope you’re chasing a big bull of your own this week. Send me some pics if you connect. I’m off!!!

Guy

2.) Get a Good Map-
One of the first things I do once I have drawn a tag is buy a good map of the area. I usually get a customized paper topo map of the area with the unit boundaries and the public versus private land designated directly onto the map. This allows me to then transfer any “Walk-In” areas or public access to private property onto the map for reference while out in the field. I always make plenty of notes on my map during the hunt and signify where I have seen and killed big bucks for future reference. Soon you will be able to purchase these very maps from the eastmans.com store for your specific hunt area. An additional option might be to order a card for your GPS of the corresponding state so you can double check or verify access and road/trails against your paper map. Never throw your maps away and definitely do not loan them out to anyone! I have an arsenal of almost 50 of these maps waiting for another tag to be drawn in the area.

3.) Google Earth your Area-
After I get my map in hand I always run through my area on Google Earth. Most of the time I am just trying to get an idea visually of how the drainages and ridges flow as well as to get a general overview of what the country looks like. I look for good habitat as much as anything else. Secondary would be to search out good hard to get to roadless or trail-less country that could harbor a big old buck or bull where hunting pressure is light. After doing this a few times you will get better and better at picking out good buck and bull habitat. In a nutshell, I look for water holes and sage flats for antelope, basins and the heads of creek drainages for mule deer bucks and snow slides and pockets off of steep timbered ridges for elk. If you are new to this-Google Earth a piece of country that you know well and build up your familiarity with the look and feel of the program against what you know it looks like in your mind’s eye.

4.) Check the Weather Report-
I always check the weather report before I go on any type of hunt. Not only will this give you an idea of what type of gear to bring it also can give you a rough idea of what to expect when it comes to trophy behavior and game movements. I realize that moving a hunt at the last minute might not be possible for most guys but sometimes you can shift a hunt either way just a day or two in order to hit the perfect weather envelope which can make for a lot better hunt. My favorite time to hunt is right after a hard fall snow storm. The day right before the storm can be very productive also. The worst weather you can get is a big high pressure stuck over the Rocky Mountains bearing warm temps and blue skies. In addition, a full moon can be the kiss of death on any hunt. Try to avoid this scenario, particularly on a mule deer hunt. As a side note, one exception would be-nice weather is good for antelope hunting. Moisture and gray skies can make hunting speed goats a tough endeavor.

This general season October buck fell prey to the front end of an arctic cold front that started to blow in the final morning of the season in SW Wyoming.

5.) Be Smart About your Hunt Dates-
Before I actually set aside my hunt dates, I always do the math. This simply means to divide the number of hunters (the tag quota) by the number of weeks the season is long. So if you have 100 tags in an area with a five week season that would be only about 20 people per week hunting. A very manageable situation and the hunt dates for this type of hunt would be wide open as there should be very little hunting pressure in this area even on the opening weekend of the hunt. On the other hand, if an area has 1200 tags and a two week season then we have an entirely different scenario with over 600 hunters combing the area for bucks. If this pressure factor goes to over 100 hunters per week, I usually schedule to hunt during the week from Monday to Thursday. This allows the weekenders and locals to have at it on the weekends. Another thing to watch out for is the opener. Research shows that over 60% of the hunters in an area hunt on the opening day or two of the season. With only 100 tags this would not be much of a problem as only about 60 guys will be competing with you for a buck. I try to only hunt on the opening weekend if this number is below 100 or I have scouted the area thoroughly and have found the buck or bull I am after before the seasons starts. One last thing to keep in mind is the size of the area. A massive area can handle a lot more hunters than a small area. Some final rules of thumb I use: For elk hunts October 5th to the 20th seems to be a dead zone. I try to hunt before the 5th of October if possible. For a rut hunt schedule the 20th of September to be smack in the middle of your hunt, moon depending. Try to hunt the back end of a full moon phase as the moon is decreasing if possible. For Antelope: anything really goes here. I like to hunt antelope after the 10th of October in nice weather if I can. For mule deer, the earlier the better, or after the 25th of October. The first three weeks of October can be a brutal time to try and hunt a big buck. Why do you think so many of the mule deer rifle seasons are scheduled during this time period? Throw in a big high-pressure weather cell and it can be next to impossible. The exception to this is the first week of October can be a golden time to kill a big buck in the high country if you get the right weather and light hunting pressure.

The "Crew" with Nate's big British Columbia spring bear (2010). Hoping for a repeat!!!

For those of us who DON’T turkey hunt, a good spring bear hunt is about as good as it gets to get the cabin fever and the dust knocked off the old bow or rifle. Although, I do have to say I’m just going to miss all those turkey pics on Facebook each weekend…well not really. Anyhow, Nate and I are headed out to Western Oregon where yours truly was lucky enough to draw a spring bear tag after only six years of applying, yes I have terrible luck. We are looking forward using this hunt to test some new gear, a new camera and get some good shots for some upcoming DVD and promotional projects we have simmering on the stove back at the office in Wyoming. This hunt is going to be a spot and stalk endeavor for big bruins in some very steep and nasty country, Public Land/DIY just the type of hunt I look forward to most. Who knows, we might even take the bow along just in case a cagey old bear lets his guard down a little too much. Can’t wait, got a lot of gear to find and very long drive ahead of us on Friday, but given a little luck it might just be well worth it. Who knows, we might even drop a turkey or two, but don’t tell anyone.

Headed for camp!

Guy Eastman

As a firm believer in wool base layers I have been searching high and low for a good high quality wool t-shirt to wear on my backcountry excursions as my “against-the-skin” baselayer top. This would go underneath my FirstLite Merino Wool long-sleave baselayer. I’m a huge believer in wool. Cotton is too cold, stinks bad, and dries extremely slow, while the high performance synthetics dry fairly fast, but are uncomfortably cold, not very soft and once they get a good stench brewing you cannot get it out even after a good hard washing. I always thought a good high quality merino wool base t-shirt would be the perfect solution. And I finally found one, at Sierra Trading Post of all places and on sale to boot. A company called Icebreaker builds high quality merino wool performance gear for outdoor athletes. As a part of their performance line is an entire line of high quality t-shirts built to perform. These shirts fit fairly tight so they don’t wrinkle up underneath your other layers particularly when adding and removing layers over the top of them. They make them in two different weights, a superfine-150 and a superfine-200.

The Icebreaker Tech-T is a high quality merino wool, "against-the-skin" baselayer for the hunter/backpacker.

In my opinion, the wool baselayer gives the hunter/backpacker the best of all worlds, warmth even when wet, good odor resistance even after multiple days of continuous use, soft comfort, dries very quickly once wet, and extremely breathable even in hot weather. The Icebreaker garments are built with the highest quality merino wool on the planet from sheep raised in New Zealand. The cut is very athletic and they even make an ultra-high performance t-shirt (the GT version) with venting (mesh) on the back and under the arms. You can even get online and punch in a special code from the tag of your particular shirt and it will show you the actual “sheep station” (ranch)

The Icebreaker Tech-T GT offers wool mesh under the arms on the upper back to increase ventilation and keep the user cooler during the early fall hunting season.

in New Zealand where the wool for your shirt came from. This shirt is perfect for my backpacking excursions in the early fall when the weather is hot and dry.

I put my shirt to the test and wore it for five straight days, day and night without any mention from my girlfriend or co-workers about heavy odor. I also drenched one in the sink, rung it out and hung it in the wind at 58 degrees. The shirt became totally dry in less than 45 minutes with a cool steady breeze. Based on this, I suspect that under normal hunting conditions in early September no matter how much you managed to sweat in this thing, it would be dry in less than 20 minutes with a slight breeze in the sun, and all while maintaining a reasonably odor free garment.

The Icebreaker, Tech-T Light is sure to be just the ticket for my baselayer top this fall. This t-shirt is the type of high quality base that I have been searching for. A shirt that can be worn day and night for five long days in comfort while trekking the backcountry in search of big bucks and bulls.

The entire Icebreaker line of clothing can be found at: www.icebreaker.com. Beware, these shirts are far from cheap. A simple ultra lightweight merino wool t-shirt will run you in excess of $60.00 on the site, but if you do some research online you might find one for much less. I got mine at Sierra for less than $30.00.

Rumor has it that the guys over at FirstLite, a hunting friendly company are also developing a short sleeve T-shirt for the “against the skin” application as well, possibly in time for the fall hunting season. The FirstLite merino products can be found online at: www.firstlite.com and at Linton Outdoors, www.lintonoutdoors.com. I can’t wait to check out their new products later this season.

-Guy

The new, Suunto Core-Extreme Edition Everest, "All-In-One Outdoor Sports Instrument for the Vertically Inclined!"

Is a wrist top computer watch a necessary item for the backcountry hunter? The truth…probably not. But it sure is nice to have one. After all, none of us died before the advent of this little piece of technology. When you’re sitting high atop a ridge line in the head of the Grey’s River and a storm front looks to be building on the horizon is sure is nice to know how far down you have to climb to the creek bottom, what time the sun is going to set, is the barometer plunging or will you wake up without an alarm in the morning to get on that 200-inch buck before the sun comes up.

And that is just some of the useful characteristics of this type of instrument. Along with all of the normal watch functions. I just bought a new Suunto Core Everest edition watch. My old Suunto Vector was getting a bit worse for the wear, after well over 2,000 days of continual use and was about due for an upgrade. After reading an article in a past issue of Backpacker Magazine I was sold on the new version of my digital hunting partner. The new Core Everest is a limited edition of only 8,848 which un-coincidentally happens to be the elevation of Mount Everest in meters. This bad boy will run you about $400 bones but well worth the money given the watch’s functions and upgrades. Beyond the time and date needed for punching your tags this not so little sucker will; tell you your elevation, give your altitude and barometric pressure, has a digital compass, give your net altitude change, measure your depth underneath the surface of a lake, give a storm alarm warning, give the sunrise and sunset times, wake-up alarm, and give the temperature all along the way. Not to mention the case full of trophies and awards this watch has won. And for good luck the signature of Apa Sherpa is on the bottom of the watch. For those of you who don’t know, Apa holds the world record for the most summits of Mount Everest at a current summit count of twenty times. Unbelievable!!!

So far this watch has been everything it’s cracked up to be and more. The functionality of the menus and user friendliness has been seriously improved versus the older version as is the aluminium bezel and improved wrist strap design. The readout and backlight are much better than the old version as well.

I have no doubt that this little devil will be on my wrist this fall and hopefully will be with me for another six long hunting seasons just like its older brother was.

I have had the good fortune to try more than a few watches in my career and I always seem to come back to my trusty old Suunto. And the best part…it’s only available in EASTMANS’ ORANGE!!!

For more information check out backcountry.com for more information and user reviews.

Guy

The new limited edition Suunto Core Everest. This one is number 1015 of 8848.The new Suunto Core, Extreme Edition Everest. "The All-In-One Outdoor Sports Instrument For The Vertically Inclined."