Limited Landowner Preference Mule Deer Tags Oregon Fish and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Limited Landowner Preference Mule Deer Tags

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission March 17, 2015

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In 2013, House Bill 2027 made changes to LOP Program statutes, including:

• Add Brothers-in-law & Sisters-in-law to “Immediate Family”
• Increased the proportion of tags for antlered animals that

can be issued to non-family members from ~1/3 to 1/2

• Replaced “Tag Splitting” of LOP elk tags with Elk Damage

Program Tags

• Authorized the Commission to limit by rule LOP tags for

mule deer populations below Management Objectives (MOs)

2013 Landowner Preference (LOP) Review

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Initial formula: In Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) below the population MO, LOP tags for buck mule deer were limited to five tags or 10 percent of the tags authorized, whichever is greater:

• Same formula used for deer and elk hunts that provide a

very limited special opportunity

─ Branch bull tags in WMUs where most tags are spike only ─ Late season buck deer hunts

• Applying the 5 tags or 10% formula reduced LOP tags

issued from ~ 2,800 in 2014, to ~2400 in 2015 and 2016

Limited LOP Allocation Formula

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Limited LOP Mule Deer Tag Review Committee members represented, Oregon Cattlemen, Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Hunters Association, Oregon Bow Hunters, Traditional Archers of Oregon, landowners, and hunters at large; concerns related to Limited LOP tags included:

• Individuals purchased property for guaranteed tags
• Reduced market value of property
• Can not guarantee anyone a tag
• Impact to tradition of hunting
• Formula applied to all WMUs below population MO, did not

consider:

─ Proportion of WMU that is private land ─ How far below MO the population was

2017 Limited LOP Tag Allocation Review

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Tiers consider relationship of the deer population estimate compared to the population Management Objective (MO) for each Wildlife Management Unit (WMU)

Tier 1: Population estimate > 80% of MO, 100 Series (Buck) LOP mule deer issued based upon the acreage table in OAR (2-14 tags/property) Tier 2: Population estimate 60%-79% of MO, LOP buck tags limited to five tags

• r 15% of the tags authorized for the public for each hunt,

whichever is greater Tier 3: Population estimate < 60% of MO, LOP buck tags limited to five tags or 10% of the tags authorized for the public for each hunt, whichever is greater

Three Tiered Tag Allocation Proposal

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Three Tiers primarily based on population estimate as % of MO

• Consideration given for WMUs predominantly private land

─ Columbia Basin (94%), East Biggs (89%)

• Consider primary use of the land

─ NE Owyhee

• Looked at % white-tailed deer in the LOP harvest

─ MT Emily, 40%-50% of LOP harvest white-tailed deer

Additional Consideration

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Tier 1: 12 WMUs > 80% of MO, + Columbia Basin, E Biggs, NE Owyhee, and Mt Emily, LOP buck tags based on acreage table Tier 2: 15 WMUs 60%-79% of MO, LOP buck tags five tags or 15% of tags authorized for each hunt, whichever is greater Tier 3: 20 WMUs < 60% of MO, LOP buck tags five tags or 10% of tags authorized for each hunt, whichever is greater

Note: Not all hunt areas are entire WMUs (i.e. E and W Biggs, NE Owyhee)

Summary

Tier 3, < 60% Tier 2, 60-79% Tier, % Of MO

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2016 Mule Deer Population Status/Tiers

Snake River Chesnimnus Sled Springs Minam Wenaha Walla Walla

• Mt. Emily

Columbia Basin W Biggs Maupin Malheur River Beulah Lookout Mt. Keating Imnaha Starkey

Desolation

Northside Murders Creek Silvies Ochoco Maury Grizzly Paulina Whitehorse Beatys Butte Juniper Interstate Silver Lake Sprague Klamath Falls Fort Rock Metolius Pine Creek E Biggs Hood Tier 1, > 80% + Exceptions

Trout

• Cr. Mtns.

NE Owyhee

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Questions?