Some Blues Mulies (Another pic added)

[firefighter4607]

 

Nice bucks for sure!

Thanks for sharing.

[ShaneTyTrey]

Those damn two points are devastaing the eastern washington mule deer heard, have been for 20 years now.

[fly4fish]

Those damn two points are devastaing the eastern washington mule deer heard, have been for 20 years now.

I believe the shooting of all the 2X3's and the poor 1 year old 2 points with eye guards to be the reason for our struggling buck heard.  We have fine genetics, they just don't get the age.

[JM]

What about 18"-24" wide 2 points with eyeguards? I hope you aren't saying that harvesting those is killing off our mule deer herds in Washington?

[doyourtime89]

Nice looking group of buck!!

[deadwoodbuck]

nusiance buck trampling down the crop...

[skywalker253]

Those damn two points are devastaing the eastern washington mule deer heard, have been for 20 years now.

I believe the shooting of all the 2X3's and the poor 1 year old 2 points with eye guards to be the reason for our struggling buck heard.  We have fine genetics, they just don't get the age.

Agreed...
The last year it was any buck, we were told by the biologist that the 3 point or better rule was a 5 year plan. At the end of the 5 years they would review it to see if it meet the goals they set. They wanted to produce older more mature bucks to help with the 1-3 year old bucks getting shot off. Now 20 years later we are being told that most the deer killed are between the age of 1-3 years old. So how does that make sense?

I don't think giving out almost 1200 doe permits per year in 162/163 helped things. Nor did letting youths shoot any deer for years without a special draw. We were told by the game department that the reason why they eliminated youths being able to shoot any deer, was because parents were registering youths at ages far to young to hunt (as young as 5 years old). The parents would end up shooting a  spike or 2 point to fill their youths tag. They were moreless taking advanatage of the system. Not to mention they advertised on the back page of the game regulations that Marengo/Dayton as the #1 deer success rate in the state of Washington. I wish I saved the regulations from 20 years ago, so I could post it. Apparently the game department did not take these factors into consideration, when trying to meet their goals.

[fly4fish]

What about 18"-24" wide 2 points with eyeguards? I hope you aren't saying that harvesting those is killing off our mule deer herds in Washington?

I would say that the average rifle hunter had better be shooting because the odds of seeing anything bigger in the next week are slim.  I got nothing against shooting 3 year old  2  points with eye guards.  A 2 year old 2 point could be easily be a 4X4 the following year, and would likely have eye gaurds if he had them the year before as a 2 point.  I kind of like the management hunt tag idea, but if that were to be done in Eastern Washington, I would bet a large percent of the bucks killed would be 2 year old 2 points. 

What it all comes down to is the theory which I believe to be true,  that if we had more and better predator management, we might would have  enough deer to harvest whichever one we wanted, and still have opportunity at older aged deer.

[BLUEBULLS]

do you remember what the hunting was like in 162/163 before the 3pt or better rule? 99% of deer killed were spikes and 2 points. I'm all for the rule and and in that area the reason you see so many 2 points is because you're generally only seeing 1 and 2 year old deer. It's not like there are a bunch of mature 2 points running around. At times you'll see a big, older 2 point but it's mainly due to the fact that he's not legal.

the 3pt or better rule has done nothing but help units 162/163, there are way more "better" bucks being killed now.

[woodywsu]

Agree with bluebulls.

[fly4fish]

Agree with woodywsu.   

[skywalker253]

do you remember what the hunting was like in 162/163 before the 3pt or better rule? 99% of deer killed were spikes and 2 points. I'm all for the rule and and in that area the reason you see so many 2 points is because you're generally only seeing 1 and 2 year old deer. It's not like there are a bunch of mature 2 points running around. At times you'll see a big, older 2 point but it's mainly due to the fact that he's not legal.

the 3pt or better rule has done nothing but help units 162/163, there are way more "better" bucks being killed now.

I agree as well. I think it was a smart move. Years ago it was nothing but spikes and fork horns. The occasional 3 point would get hung up in our camp. 3 point or better definately did the 2 units justice. I am glad they changed the other factors I spoke of, because way too many does were getting shot off.

[Landowner]

Here's some more photos of those in my original post.  In my opinion, WDFW needs to close hunting on all mulies for 2 to 3 years in the Dayton and Tucannon units (and probably Marengo) in order to build the herds.  Then, open it to 3 or 4 pt. or larger only for a couple of years to see how it goes. 

The mulies just don't have the characteristics of the whitetails for the herds to stay strong.  Mainly, their choice of rocky and open terrain instead of the timber and thick brush preferred by the whitetails.

[skywalker253]

I couldn't agree more with you. I am in the area if you still want to try and get together. Staying in the Tri Cities until Friday. Let me know. Thanks

[Landowner]

Found one more of the original group, but with 10 bucks in this one.