Originally Posted by
Dythbringer
I think the coyotes smashing the fawns in the spring and taking down deer in the deeper snow has had more of an impact on the deer herd than the native hunt. The hunt has been going on since 2011 with the first year having a quota of 40 (which 31 deer were taken) and then the next 2 years having a quota of 80 per year but only 37 and 30 deer taken then in 2014 & 2015 the quota was reduced to 60 deer with 35 deer taken in 2014 (I haven't heard how many were taken in 2015 but one could make an educated guess).
In 2009, an aerial population was conducted and the herd was pegged at 550 deer and then in 2013 the population was almost halved to 266. I am not saying the native hunt didn't contribute but there were other factors (I would say more significant) which lead to the herd dropping that fast.