Unit 41, 42, 421 Management Deer Tag Idea

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Bryerific
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Unit 41, 42, 421 Management Deer Tag Idea

Post by Bryerific » Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:53 am

Hey everybody, I am curious of what people think of the idea I have been milling over for the last couple hunting seasons, in my go to deer hunting destination. Since 2004 my father and I have been hunting in unit 421 mainly on some private land we have access to and almost always during third season. Occasionally we have brought friends and family along on the hunt. We focus solely on deer due to the fact I have always had to be back for school which limits our hunt to 4-5 days. Our group has never had more than two deer licenses in a year due to the fact we really only hunt the same 160 acres. Currently we have filled 15/16 of the buck licenses and 1/1 of the doe licenses. In this timespan, my father has harvested two incredible bucks and we have seen three deer over the 200 inch mark (two of the three were fighting each other in a herd of 7 bucks that had a couple more beasts above 170, only issue is they were on the other side of the fence ](*,) )
Overall, we have had fantastic success and usually shoot very good deer. However in the last 5 years or so I have noticed a growing number of "bad genetics" deer. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there seems to be less and less deep forked 4x4s and more 3x3s and 3x4s or bucks with crab pinchers and in my opinion less desirable racks. This year was an oddball year with the crazy warm temperatures, so even with a late start to third season there wasn't much rutting activity and according to the warden, the big bucks were still up higher. I did still manage to shoot a good buck after a crazy event with a trespasser got the bigger buck I was hunting shot by the neighbor. I also saw two young 4x4s that I passed because they have great futures. Most of the bucks I saw were NOT like the ones I just noted. Most of the bucks I saw were smaller 3x3s and one giant 3x3 that was tall and easily 26-27" wide.
I would love to see the great genetics of the area preserved for the rest of my hunting career and future generations by making a large number of the buck tags a management buck tag instead. What I mean is to follow Utah's model and have tags that are only for deer with 3 or less points on at least one antler, not including eye guards.
At least during third season there seems to be two types of hunters, those that really need to fill a freezer and will shoot the first buck they see and those that are looking for the giants the area hides. By making a management tag those that want to fill the freezer could put in for that and stand a higher chance of drawing every year because in at least third season not everyone applying with zero points draws, and some years it almost requires one. Those that want to go for a trophy can put in for the other tag and can still try for one of the giants and then not compete with the meat hunters for tags. It seems to be working in Utah so why not give it a try here?
Also, in my conversations with ranchers, they say that in recent years the number of mature bucks has been decreasing because of the mountain lion population increase and the big cats seem to target the big bucks most. One said he sees lion kills frequently and it's usually the bigger bucks. I cannot validate a mountain lion population increase but they are out everyday.
What do you guys think? and I'll upload a couple of our deer
/Users/Bryawesome/Desktop/Hunting/Mesa deer/2011 Dad's big buck copy.jpg
/Users/Bryawesome/Desktop/Hunting/Mesa deer/2011 Dad's big buck copy.jpg
2007 Dad's huge buck copy.JPG (77.56 KiB) Viewed 11916 times
2011 Dad's big buck copy.jpg
2011 Dad's big buck copy.jpg (214.1 KiB) Viewed 11916 times

JBird
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Re: Unit 41, 42, 421 Management Deer Tag Idea

Post by JBird » Wed Nov 30, 2016 6:47 pm

I'm on the fence on the management hunts here in Utah. Most of what I have seen has been on the Pausagaunt so it may be different on the Henries. The idea is a good one but the execution isn't there sometimes. It seems to me that a lot of the deer that should be killed with these tags are passed on in search of a "trophy" management deer. By that I mean I have seen older age classed 2's, 3's, or 3x4's passed on because they're ugly, or narrow framed or in one case "had bad forks", in short because they were management bucks. I have also seen many young deer, mostly 3x4's that in my opinion were still young and had potential to grow into something special, get hammered.

The extra number of tags given out also affects the deer numbers, but if it were like you suggested and the tag numbers stay the same and designate a few as "trophy" or "management" that issue is mitigated.

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