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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pluckem" data-source="post: 238920" data-attributes="member: 843">I share some agreement in this, but I do believe this has changed in the last 5 years and it doesn't really hold true anymore with the topic of badlands mule deer.  Why would a meat hunter apply for mule deer buck in the badlands and only draw a tag every 4-8 years? If you are just after any deer then apply for a tag that's easier to obtain. There is also a large amount of people who were drawing a whitetail buck tag every year to every other year at some unit further east and this was enough to keep them doing that.  Now that those whitetail buck tags take 2-4 years to draw and their "hunting party" dissolved a bit they are now applying for mule deer out west.  When you draw a tag that takes 4-8 years, there is a level of pressure to capitalize on that opportunity. Fair or not, expectations increase.  Guys take weeks off of work because they built it up for years. They know they wont have a tag in their pocket the following years so use it now.  They make an extra trip or two scouting because "this is the year". They will have time to pheasant hunt, walleye fish, goose hunt.. etc. in the next few years while they wait for the next tag.- - - Updated - - -I have seen this mentioned a few times on this thread. The population is great, in a couple years we will have bigger bucks.  This could be true, im no expert in the matter. However I do have some experience hunting mule deer just west of the border in MT.  I have spoken with a fair amount of their biologists and wardens from many different areas in the eastern half of the state.  The message is similar from all of them...  They don't manage for trophies, they manage for opportunity.  JUST LIKE NDGF.They have very few mule deer bucks reach 5 years of age.  A guy can always get lucky or find a secret (at least for year or two) spot where he might find and shoot a 170"+ buck.  However for the most part, year in and year out the "trophy hunters" in MT are looking for those 3.5 to 4.5 year old bucks that will score around the 150-160" mark.  Sound familiar to the reports in this thread?Keep in mind their mule deer populations right now are doing great.  Most areas are well above the long term averages. However its no secret to the MT biologists that they don't get many 5+ yo bucks in the age structure of the population.  The opportunity is so great out there with tag #s, long archery season, and a 5 week rifle season during the rut that the bucks just don't make it.So given all the potential reasons for the decline of the 170"+ deer listed in this thread.  I think you can just look at MT as an example that it doesn't matter what you have for deer numbers or a healthy population at some point the buck harvest can become great enough that you just wont have many 5+ yo bucks.Are we there yet? I have no idea, but it is a likely possibility.</blockquote>

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