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Deer Hunter Questionair?

I know of only 1 person, that in their deer hunter survey, that did not add a letter asking for resources to consider cancelling the deer season for this year. I was a deer hunter in the early /70's and deer numbers are right down to where they were when they shut the season for 2 years. My opinion only. But I will tell you, we had great hunting for a long time after they cancelled it. Something to consider.

X2 on closing the season for a couple of years

Although I don't think the deer numbers are low due to hunting I think the reason is more in the way of the predators coyotes and wolves, nobody seems to be killing enough of them

I agree rattling junkie. And no not because I'm an archery hunter. Take a drive through these archery zones and deer are still thriving because that is where typically deer eat well all winter. 2winters ago and this past winter have been extrememly hard on deer elsewhere as they have no other means to eat for the most part. As grass is beginning to show I've seen tons of deer in a couple archery zones. But by all means I think a complete closure elsewhere could work some miracles.

The province should give out some more antlerless tags!Lol Antlerless is a joke in Manitoba, works great in southern states, its to bad all those does died, if not the next season wouldn't look so grim! I am guilty of shooting does in the past, but I will never kill another, we need them, they are so important, you kill one and your killing generations!

A friend of mine lives in Sanford and is really worried about the number of deer. In a 7 mile stretch there are 2 small herds of deer and not a track between them. One herd had 12 deer and the other has 18. In a normal year, there should be 40-80 there. If Birdshill has lost 40% of it's herd and there's a bird feeder or bails for horses ever 800 feet and are dieing, what do you think the deer are doing in the rest of the province? They're laying under a snow drift.

What drives me, is these hunters that buy a doe tag, then hold on to it till they see real big doe to kill. Hmmm, for a couple pounds of meat in your freezer, they're killing the most important deer in the herd. The one that has the most survival skills out of all of them, the best breeder and now they're wondering where all the deer are.

I would like to see the season closed for a couple of years, Manitoba's deer population is at a dangerous low, another bad winter or 2 could be devastating. Everyone needs to get out and kill some coyotes, I read a story the other that in june and july 80% of a coyotes diet is fawns. And each coyote is responsible for killing at least 2 adult deer.

You can kill coyotes year round, so get out there! We all know killing does is retarded, but we aren't the problem. How do we stop the one-weekend-a-year hunter from killing the first brown thing he sees? If conservation included a little leaflet to read with each license sale could maybe go a long way.

Ron - you say deer had a 40% mortality near the park this year? Just wondering where those stats came from, because I did hear the 40% number, but I heard it as a province-wide statistic. I have a hard time believing that the Birds Hill area took a 40% hit. but I wouldn't mind if antlerless tags were a thing of the past. That's for sure.

I was told some biologist friend of my friend in Iowa, put a camera by a coyote den last year to record coyote activity. In a 30 day span, 28 deer fawns were fed to the pups by their parents...

I was shocked too.

On top of the winter kill and excessive amounts of coyotes around here we now have a pack of wolves hanging around. Neighbour looked out his window and saw 4 standing on a ridge behind his house over the weekend. I know what I'll be hunting this fall if there is no deer season.......anything canine with 4 legs and larger than a fox. (like the foxes though so they'll get a pass)

I think I would've sat by that den and put up my own numbers lol.

I agree. My friend phoned me yesterday morning he lives on Jean Louis rd just off St. Mary's had a wolf standing in his back yard. Looking for dogs and cats I guess.

My friend from area 33 told me about timber wolves there maybe 15 years ago, but there was only the odd one. Then about 10 years ago he shows up here late to work on my wreck room with a timber wolf he shot next to Oak Bluff. So they've been around for a while. Last year the owner of a property I hunt near Starbuck, takes a picture of a cougar walking past his kid's swing set.

As for deer season still on, par for the coarse with resources. But guaranteed in 3 years, they'll be saying "we should have done closed the season a few years ago"

In their defence the winter kill hadn't really started being noticed as really serious up until about 1.5 - 2 months a go. I would imagine there is plenty of time to cancel the season yet. It's not even May. Wait and see is what I think. If Conservation released an estimated 40% winterkill they do know about it.

We all knew early winter with the rain and then the melt and extreme cold it was gonna be a tough one. At that point in time they should have already said the 2013 season is up in the air. Maybe they can't do that though I'm not sure. Like Ron said, par for the course.

I think the problem with conservation closing the season has more to do with this: Conservation wants to get rid of brain worm(never will, impossible) Focus is solely on BIODIVERSITY not what hunters want. I think some people in conservation think deer numbers are just fine. Scared of CWD and TB, but really its just a few guys that will do anything to try and save the doomed southern moose. My opinion, but sure seems to be the attitude. I have an outfitter friend whose clients were seeing between 4-10 deer a week, sitting all day. Residents shootins archery, muzzle, rifle, and extra does, how could conservation not know there was a problem. Most of these outfitters are out of business now, so they must know why.

Gumby whats it matter if the coyotes or wolves have 4 legs or not i know im guilty of shooting a few paws off if you see any 3 or even 2 legged ones dont hesitate just shoot them!

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