New Study Suggests High Buck Ratios May Be Slowing Mule Deer Recovery 🦌

ven•a•tic: fond of or living by hunting

NORTH AMERICA’S MOST-READ OUTDOOR NEWSLETTER

I’m currently at the “it’s Thursday already?” phase of the workweek and am unsure as to whether or not that is a good thing as of yet.

With that in mind, let’s all take a minute to grab a coffee or whiskey (no judgement) and get this Thursday morning dispatch out the door.

Here's what's worth reading about today:

SHOULD WE KILL MORE BUCKS?
DAMS IN DISTRESS: NEW STUDY SUGGESTS HIGH BUCK RATIOS MAY BE SLOWING MULE DEER RECOVERY

We all want more bucks present in our western mule deer herds and that sentiment has pushed both hunters and wildlife agencies to formulate numerous plans, studies and hunting strategies to make that a reality. The logic has always been seemingly straightforward: more bucks should mean better hunting and, theoretically, better breeding success. But a new study led by researchers at Brigham Young University is flipping that assumption on its head by suggesting that strategy may be working against overall population recovery.

Published this week in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, the paper titled “Dams in distress: Adult sex ratio, female nutritional condition, and population dynamics in mule deer” examines long-term data from Utah mule deer and finds that higher male-to-female ratios are associated with declining nutritional condition in adult does. That, in turn, appears to reduce population growth through lower fawn birth weights, slower fawn growth, and reduced fawn survival…

🤦 Viral Video Leads to Charges in Illegal Duck Shooting at McKinney Neighborhood Pond. A pair of young men are facing multiple criminal charges after a video posted on social media showed them apparently shooting a domesticated duck with an air rifle at a neighborhood pond in McKinney’s Stonebridge community. The footage, which circulated last week, captured the pair lying along the bank and aiming at a group of ducks before running off after one of the birds was hit. Texas Game Wardens identified the suspects through a public tip and charged them with several illegal-hunting offenses.

The incident has unsettled residents in the Stonebridge neighborhood, which features ponds, trails, and recreational areas used by families. Longtime resident Justin Ross noted the safety concerns of shooting near kids, playgrounds, and public spaces, and called for increased security.

🏔️ Grand Teton Elk Reduction Hunt Set to Begin Saturday to Help Manage Jackson Herd. This year’s installment of the annual elk reduction program in Grand Teton National Park kicks off on Saturday, allowing a select few hunters glassing the area east of Highway 89 to take cows and calves. The hunt, authorized under the park’s 1950 enabling legislation, is a joint effort by the National Park Service and Wyoming Game and Fish to manage the Jackson Elk Herd’s size and distribution. The 2026 edition is a shadow of what this hunt once was. In the 1990s, managers issued more than 3,000 permits - a stark contrast to this year’s hunt offering only 40, after managers slashed permits by roughly 90 percent in 2023 after the Jackson herd fell to around 10,000 animals.

Managers also eliminated bull hunting in the park and closed the northern Hunt Area 79 years ago to ease pressure on migratory elk. While long-distance migrants that summer in Yellowstone and the Teton Wilderness have declined over the past two decades, “suburban” elk that move to the West Bank have grown sharply. Elk that use Teton Park are mid-distance migrants, and the reduced hunt is part of the broader effort to protect the declining migratory segments while trying to address the herd’s overall slump.

💸 Utah Bounties Skyrocket As Increased Payouts Trigger Massive Spike in Coyote Takes. The recently released Utah Division of Wildlife Resources FY26 Report highlights a major surge in hunter participation following the implementation of the state's tiered bounty system. In an effort to bolster mule deer populations, the board raised the payout from a flat $50 statewide to $100 per coyote killed within mapped, designated mule deer habitat areas back in January 2025.

Now, with the first full year under the new incentive model, UDWR reported that hunters turned in a total of 4,972 coyotes, resulting in $414,500 in total state payouts. This aggressive spike in submissions was heavily driven by the new incentive strategy given that a staggering 67% of all checked-in coyotes were harvested directly within designated mule deer habitat zones to qualify for the premium $100-per-coyote bounty.

When compared to the previous fiscal year (FY25), which concluded just as the new bounty bump was rolling out, the data reveals a substantial shift in both hunting pressure and state spending. Total coyote take jumped by 12.4%, climbing from 4,422 animals in FY25 to the 4,972 logged in FY26. However, because the vast majority of FY26 takes qualified for the doubled $100 payout, the total dollar amount paid out by the state skyrocketed. As expected, payouts nearly doubled, surging 82.4% from $227,250 in FY25 to $414,500 in FY26. Total program participation similarly saw a 21% boost, growing from 462 active bounty hunters to 560.

🐈 I’ve never personally messed with a mountain lion, but if I ever do, I won’t be trying to outrun him. Watch as these hunters got this footage through their spotting scope of this lion putting the surprise attack on a pair of mule deer.

That deer didn’t stand a chance…

🚣 Mexican Vocabulary - El Panga Mejor: He had a nicer panga. At home. A panga that rode the Sea of Cortés’s legendary swells with ease and comfort.

An angler’s panga.

This was not that panga.

Cano had his friend’s boat for the fishing day, and he was not happy about it. My Spanish is about as good as my Russian. Solid on fish names, good on numbers up to 10—enough to gamble—and solid on basic café and bar ordering. But start troubleshooting an engine on pitching seas in the Sea of Cortés? No bueno. Read the full story.

💨 My Shotgun is Quick:  I looked through the brush and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. A trickle of sweat slid across my ribs like a bloodstain oozin’ down the side of a bathtub in some cheap hotel. My heart started doing the rhumba in my chest.

The dog was on point.

“On point” is what dog guys call it when some mutt just stands there without movin’ a muscle, starin’ at nothing like it’s knocked back too many shots of rotgut hootch. Dog guys say “on point” is a good thing. It gives me the creeps; reminds me of a partner I had once. He ended up the same way, after his fifth marriage went on the rocks. Read the full story.

🏕️ This is Hunting: Sounds from the darkness, strange and wild. The kinds of sounds that ignite fear in the childhood imagination. Back leaned into bark, eyes seeking shape and form from morning mist. Boots in the tall grass, on the muddy ground. The dogs anxious, panting. This is the time we dream about; that time just before light cracks the day, when all things are possible. 

All the stories told around the campfire begin this way. We know not what will come, where the dogs’ noses will take them and us. Will warning come first of the approach? Wings, whistles, footsteps on leaves, muffled sounds that drive the remnants of sleep from our foggy heads. All the senses dulled by lives detached from earth, air, wind, and water waking in soft electric flashes, coming back to us slowly here where the trees swap sweet breath with us and ripples on the water at our feet pass back and forth communicating that tactile connection from which some have become so estranged. Read the full story.

Oh, and one more thing…