Thread: the OFF TOPIC to Stags shot 21 (discussion of wild animal management)

Originally Posted by gimp

I personally shot 5 deer on public land in 2020, and they were 2 male 3 female, so I am probably not quite practicing what I preach yet!

I was the same and seriously upped my hind harvest last year once I had a chest freezer a prior to this I was always limited for space. Not the best excuse as its easy to give away but I dont like butchering that much and most people I would butcher it for are hunters themselves.

There isn't good understanding of impacts of WARO or recreational hunters on population trends anywhere on public land currently - except maybe the Wapiti area. But the number of deer taken nationally by WARO from public land has floated around 20,000 for the last few years though, even if recreational hunters shoot 5 times this (possible best estimate) then it's still a contribution to population management as some of those 20,000 are female.

For sure a real study would be great. Actually something as simple as compulsory reporting of sex etc would help (may already be the case if so it would be interesting to see). Its not that hard considering they are already supposed to be GPS logged in I remember rightly.

Unrestrained WARO of any kind (without a lot of compliance work) and good management can't go alongside each other. Incentives would always lead operators to take stags preferentially over hinds and situationally they're likely to find more stags in the easy tussock country in summer. In a potential future with better management, WARO would have to be directed and subsidised by the management agency for a female-focussed take.

I think incentives are the best option as its the only possible way to get the WARO operators on board. To be fair I still think that it may have to be more of a subsidization to make up for stopping stag harvest as realistically they are still going to target everything unless the subsidy pays better than the difference weight and antlers make to there payday.

Did you see the Tahr Foundation post?