Missing out on mule deer

Grassy, sagebrushy and only occasionally interrupted by sandstone buttes or clumps of pine trees, southeastern Montana has long drawn mule deer hunters from across the state and region. As recently as 2017, Hunters have harvested more than 17,000 mule deer from this region per year, filling their freezers with venison and adding to the tills of local businesses that guide, feed and lodge them.

These days, though, it's almost easier to find elk on public land than it is to spot a mule deer in Carter County, according to local hunters who lament a rise in hunting pressure they say is wrought by a proliferation of deer tags. And though many hunters welcome the opportunity to hunt elk, they're troubled by the decline of mule deer, an iconic native species that's partial to sagebrush shrublands and more vulnerable to overhunting and habitat loss than its white-tailed cousin.

According to a 2023 report by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the mule deer population in Region 7, which stretches from the southern reaches of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge to the farthest southeastern corner of the state, is down 41% from its 10-year average.

That recent drop provides just one snapshot of a population slide that spans multiple decades, according to Art Hayes, a rancher from Birney who's renowned for his knowledge of mule deer and extensive antler collection.

"The '80s were better than the '90s, the '90s were better than the 2000s, and the twenty-teens were better than it is now," said Hayes, who served on the Mule Deer Citizen Advisory Council that FWP convened earlier this year to examine issues related to mule deer management.

Hayes and others say there are multiple reasons for the decline, some of which are harder to correct than others. Wildlife managers can do little to minimize recent population dips brought on by drought, winterkill and Chronic Wasting Disease, for example. Similarly, FWP's ability to address predation by coyotes, mountain lions and bears is limited.

But Hayes, along with conservation groups including the Mule Deer Foundation and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, says there is one critical component of the decline that FWP can fix: overhunting.

Hayes argues that FWP has for too long relied on the "law of diminishing returns," which holds that if a game species' numbers deteriorate enough, hunting pressure will slacken and the population will eventually rebound. Hayes said that strategy falls apart when hunters lose the ability to hunt formerly accessible land and an ever-growing number of hunters carry tags for multiple species.

According to a recent report by FWP, the number of acres in Region 7 enrolled in Block Management, a program that provides public hunters with access to private land, declined by 27% between 2009 and 2021, even as overall hunting license sales have risen statewide. As a result, hunters are more concentrated on the landscape.

"What happens when there's no place for somebody to go where the better populations are?" Hayes wonders.

"In the '80s and into the '90s, you had your mule deer tag or your white-tail tag. When you filled that, you were done," Hayes said. "Now, there's doe tags, there's cow elk tags, there's bear tags, there's lion tags. ... It has just added up to a lot more pressure, especially on public land."

According to FWP's harvest reports, upwards of 20,000 hunters come to Region 7 in pursuit of deer each year, with the average hunter spending between five and seven days hunting.

Most of those hunters are drawn here by publicly accessible land and an abundance of tags. Unlike the state's other six regions, there are no limited-entry hunting districts in Region 7, meaning there is no upper limit on resident deer licenses, although some nonresident combination licenses are capped.

Chris Fortune, the Montana regional director for the Mule Deer Foundation, says that leaves southeastern Montana, which has long been a destination for nonresident hunters, "pretty much wide open" for general tags, to the detriment of the larger mule deer population.

As recently as 2023, a system designed to reallocate unfilled tags that were purchased as part of a combination license allowed a nonresident hunter to harvest up to seven mule deer or white-tailed does - way too many, according to Fortune.

Overhunting concerns have become pronounced enough that many Montana hunters are receptive to restricting their own access to mule deer tags, as long as the reduction is equitable.

"You have a lot of people from eastern Montana - Miles City and Glasgow and Glendive - who are watching these herds get decimated by the increased hunting pressures and CWD. They're seeing a lot of the animals that they love just aren't growing because they don't have the time to mature," said Jake Schwaller with the Montana chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. "I think you would be surprised by how few hunters in Montana would object to more limitation if it's shown to be for the good of the species."

FWP has long prided itself on providing Montanans with ready access to over-the-counter deer and elk tags and multiple opportunities to harvest big game species. FWP spokesperson Greg Lemon said the agency strives to strike a balance between providing hunting opportunities, addressing landowner concerns and maintaining healthy wildlife populations.

"When populations are abundant, we have the flexibility to provide more opportunity for hunters. That also helps us because when populations are more abundant, there is more conflict with landowners," Lemon said.

The opportunity piece of the equation is also reflected in Montana's lengthy window to hunt deer and elk. Between the archery, rifle and muzzleloader seasons, some hunting districts will host hunters for 12 weeks this fall, making Montana an outlier among its regional peers.

Montana is also unusual in that it allows hunting through the rut, when mule deer bucks are easier to kill because their mating instincts distract them from human predators.

Leroy Schallenberger, a longtime Ekalaka rancher and hunting guide who leases hunting rights to his property to an outfitter, said it's time to reevaluate both the volume of mule deer tags FWP issues and the timing of the rifle season.

"Most of the younger bucks get killed during the rut. They're stupid and they're easy," Schallenberger said. "[Eliminating hunting during the rut] would be an incredible way to build trophy quality."

Kent Undlin, a Miles City-based Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist who's been recognized for his work on mule deer conservation, argues that shifting the hunting season out of the rut could also serve other objectives, including ensuring there's a diversity of ages within the larger population, which supports overall herd health.

Undlin said hunting during the rut contributes to a dynamic in which younger bucks breed later in the fall and does give birth later in the spring. He said that's problematic because fawns born later in the spring have an abbreviated window in which to mature and accumulate the fat stores they need to carry them through the winter. As a result, they're more vulnerable to predation and other mortality risks.

"You need those different age classes to keep a real healthy herd," Undlin said. "It's all part of a very intricate balance."

Restructuring the timing of the rifle season so that hunting during the rut is prohibited on most hunting districts forms the cornerstone of a handful of changes that an ad hoc group of hunters, outfitters and landowners developed earlier this year to address hunters' reports of an overharvest-related diminishment of hunt quality.

Other elements of the proposal involve the length of the archery season, the structure of the shoulder season and a requirement that hunters share the outcome of their hunts with FWP. The group said it's seeking input on the package, which it has passed along to FWP and plans to forward to the Montana Legislature and the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

FWP Region 7 Wildlife Manager Brett Dorak said he's skeptical that the proposal, which involves changes to both deer and elk hunting regulations, will have the desired result. It might just condense rifle hunting into a shorter period, he said, leaving the overall mule deer buck harvest unchanged.

"As of right now, biologically [the population] is sustainable with our management plan," Dorak said, adding that FWP's most recent mule deer hunter survey supports the agency's opportunity-oriented priorities.

Dorak also underscored that deer populations tend to run in cycles related to habitat quantity and quality.

"The population has been stable, basically, from the 1980s on - same with the general harvest amount," he said.

Dorak's assessment doesn't resonate with hunters like Undlin and Schallenberger, though. They argue that the state has been too slow to catch up to the most recent cycle.

"We had to have the population plummet, and now I think we're going to see hunting pressure back off on its own," Schallenberger said. "And it's a little too late."

A recent change to hunting regulations that's been almost universally praised by eastern Montana hunters involves the restriction of mule deer doe tags in Regions 6 and 7.

In January, the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to eliminate tags for eastern Montana antlerless mule deer on public land. Commission Vice Chair Pat Tabor cited a "deep-seated genuine concern about the sustainability of the population" in his support of the measure.

Schallenberger, Fortune, Undlin and others welcome FWP's shift, describing it as overdue.

"Fish and Game [FWP] is trying to cut down [on doe tags], and I applaud them for that. I wish that it would have been five to 10 years ago, so it wouldn't have to be such a drastic cut now," Schallenberger said. "This has been roughly 20 years in the making."

Schallenberger said other changes regarding how tags are divvied up - particularly changes related to the allocation of tags between resident and nonresident hunters - are more difficult to weigh.

"I struggle because I benefit from both sides," he said. "Being part of the outfitting business and the commercialization of hunting, out-of-state is where we make our money. Those are the ones, primarily, that we cater to."

At the same time, Schallenberger said, he's hunted since he could walk and he wants his kids to carry forward that tradition.

"I would much rather them have the opportunity than someone from another state," he said. "That's part of our heritage and where we come from."

Andy Wright, a contractor and hunting guide who's been pursuing mule deer on the Custer Gallatin National Forest since he moved to Ekalaka 22 years ago, echoes that concern.

Hunting pressure, predation, drought, swelling elk populations and public land grazing are all catching up to mule deer attempting to eke out a living on public land, Wright said.

"There's very few small pockets of deer left," he said. "I just want to be able to see my children have the opportunity to hunt. I'm worried that if there isn't a big change here, there's going to be nothing left to hunt."

This story was reported in collaboration with the Ekalaka Eagle newsroom as part of Montana Free Press' 2024 reporter residency program, which places MTFP reporters for weeklong stints in community newsrooms throughout the state.