Recollections of long-time residents of the area indicate 

 that deer numbers were relatively high during 1890s and early 

 1900s but declined to scarcity during the 1920s and early 

 1930s. This decline, which coincided with great increase in 

 human populations on the area during 1905-1920 and drought 

 from the mid 1920s through the mid 1930s, was also documented 

 in increasingly restricted hunting regulations. A 4-month 

 hunting season with a bag limit of 8 deer established in 1895 

 was progressively reduced to 3 months and 3 deer in 1905, 2 

 months and 3 deer (of which 2 had to be bucks) in 1913, 2 

 months and 1 deer of either sex in 1919, and 2 months and "one 

 male deer with visible horns" in 1921. From 1921 to 1930, the 

 eastern sixty percent of the study area was closed to hunting 

 and, during 1931 and 1932, the entire area was closed. 

 Hunting resumed for bucks-only in 1933, but was prohibited on 

 the portion of the area within the CMRNWR from 1937 through 

 194 7 and during 1949. 



An August 1935 survey of the area that later became the 

 CMRNWR by O.J. Murie indicated that "the mule deer has become 

 very scarce on some parts of this range, but is still present 

 and widely distributed." 



The period from the 1920s to 1935-1937 marked the 

 historical low in mule deer populations on the study area. 

 Some deer persisted, however, and by the time the drought 

 ended in 19 38, most of the human population had left the area, 

 formerly cultivated tracts had reverted to rangelands, and the 

 overall intensity of human usage had been greatly reduced. 

 All of this apparently set the stage for increasing mule deer 

 numbers during the late 1930s into the 1940s (Mackie 1970). 



The newly established Fort Peck Game Range brought 

 resident observers with biological interest to the area during 

 the late 1930s. Quarterly narratives by Game Range personnel, 

 beginning in 1940, provided qualitative information on 

 wildlife abundance and forage and cover conditions through the 

 1940s and 1950s. Passage of the Pittman-Robertson Act and its 

 adoption by the Montana Legislature in 1941 enabled the 

 Montana Fish and Game Department to employ biologists and 

 begin collecting quantitative data on and near the study area 

 during 1947. 



Selected statements from quarterly narratives and other 

 reports during 1940-59 that relate to mule deer populations 

 and factors that we have found to influence mule deer 

 populations are presented in Appendix D. The reader is 

 encouraged to read Appendix D to obtain more specific 

 information as well as "the flavor of the times". Although 

 such qualitative information does not enable us to precisely 

 estimate numbers, it was recorded every year and provided a 

 continuous record of impressions and events. When combined 



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