I was looking at harvest reports on Mule deer in 54 and they had an excellent succes rate but in 2008 it looks as if the bottom fell out.

oldelkhunter had said deep snows in neighboring units had thinned the herd.

I was going to start building preference points to draw a Non-resident tag in 54, but looks like that would be a waste of time to hunt it (of course by the time I get enough points they may be back).

What happened to the Mule deer there?


JM.

JM,


The mule deer in the Gunnison Basin were essentially wiped out in the blizzard during the winter of 07/08. Winter kill there was extreme. The CDOW won't admit more than 30% winterkill and they only did that reluctantly after catching heck from the hunting population. I hunt the Gunnison basin and it was worse than they want to admit. Seen the carcasses first hand myself last year. We too wanted to hunt the deer here and finally had enough points to draw a tag. Now its pointless at least for the next 5 years to get back to the point they were before that winter. I've heard 54 is the same but there are still some good bucks in there. Just harder to hunt them.

Poop! I've got a unit 54 buck tag for the third season, this year. Well I guess any deer tag is better than no tag. So I'll hunt elk like any other year and if I see a buck so much the better. We'll see what happens.

KC

KC,

Got an associate that has spent the summer scouting and camping in 54. He's retired so he had the time. He has been seeing some dandy bucks. They are few, but they are there. 54 faired better than some of the other units so I've been told. Still got hammered, but a few survived. There are others here that live in the area that will have better first hand knowledge than I do but what I saw last year was shocking. Very, very disappointing.

Good luck and hope you score on a nice one.

The published decline by the DOW was 43% which is HUGE. The reason the bottom dropped out of the harvest and the success was still high is because the cut the tags in half, knowing there was a large winterkill. But since it occurred after the survey, they didn't know how bad it was. Combined with the 2008 post season harvest and population surveys, it turned into a big "uh-oh". There's still good deer there.

Thanks,

I saw where they cut tags like the dickens. It will be awhile before I have enough points anyhow. They'll be back by then I hope or if they are there now, I hope they will let us hunt them.

Best,

JM.

John:

About 10 or 12 years ago, in a purely political move, the DOW cut mule deer tags in unit 54 by 90%. The action was in response to pressure from outfitters in the Gunnison/Crested Butte area. Unit 54 is now managed to improve trophy potential no matter how badly it affects the overall health of the herd. The recent die-offs from winter kill are the result of that kind of management.

I used four points to get my buck tag and now, as a result of poor management, the chances of seeing any buck are significantly reduced.

KC

KC,

I hear that they are still some trophy animals in the unit. It will just take some hard hunting to scare one up. DOW says that 54 was not hit as hard as the other units down there.

I have heard that from others as well. I'd go with plans of killing a good one. I bet you find him.

JM.

The snow was pretty deep... And this was just outside of town, the big boys were up high and the first snow of the season was 3 feet, I imagine 5 feet at the top of the hills. It did not melt off until April.

This is what they looked like after a short time in the snow...

Man,

Nature sure can be rough sometimes. I hope that don't happen to me when I go.

I have already made plans to eat my brother-in-law if we get snowed in....

JM.