Praise for FWP's mule deer policy

Editor:

I would like to applaud the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners decisions regarding the mule deer situation in Montana. These decisions will definitely affect the mule deer population positively. I had read that Commissioner Moody was concerned that there is more to the issue of mule deer population declines, I agree. The mule deer in Montana have suffered a perfect storm; a couple of horrific winters in a row and high predator populations create a domino effect. Obviously the amount of snow we have seen covers prime habitat and cannot be reached through a bit of scraping the snow away, this eliminates the nutrition needed and starvation increases.

Heavy snows provide predators a huge advantage as the deer are unable to evade predators effectively, therefore a single coyote can take down an adult mule deer by itself. Throw in the predator population way above objectives and your predator-to-prey balance is out of whack. Now, you take in the effects of poor nutrition and high predation, you have a stressed population of mule deer. When a doe is stressed due to lack of nutrition and using a higher than normal amount of energy to evade predators, that doe will not birth a fawn as its body will abort that fawn, therefore the doe-to-fawn ratio is at unsustainable levels year over year. Add in the fact that fawn survival has decreased as well due to high predation.

I would suggest the Commission to strongly look at predator quotas for mountain lions, bears and wolves. I will be an advocate to deer hunters to take some time to coyote hunt to give our deer a chance. Although I do not have the statistics, but based on FWP reports, listening to landowners and outdoorsmen, the aforementioned predator populations are high and need to be brought back to levels that create a balance of predator and prey.

For instance, an adult mountain lion will kill on average two deer per week, but this kill ratio increases due to the lion's loss of its kill to other predators and carrion eaters. By increasing the quotas on lions, wolves and bears along with limited hunting on the doe populations as well as bucks in areas of overall low mule deer population and with weather permitting, this will allow the mule deer herds to bounce back quicker.

Lastly, habitat improvement/enhancement projects need to be developed to provide mule deer and other wildlife the nutrition and shelter needed to maintain sustainable populations. The Mule Deer Foundation, along with other NGO's, are ready, willing and able to provide funds and labor to improve and enhance habitat.

Marshall Johnson

Regional director,

Mule Deer Foundation

Billings