4-point rule 117/121

[hambone]

I hunted a lot of years before i shot my first deer started in my teen years never shot a deer until i got out of the navy it made me more excited to hunt with the wait never thought about just shooting a doe part of hunting is the total package the outdoors being with friends and family this is what young hunters should be brought into not thinking they will lose interest in hunting just my thoughts

[PA BEN]

You can't eat horns

[CedarPants]

You can't eat horns

Ray Lewis disagrees 

[MtnMuley]

I'd go statewide all species(deer).......but thats just me.   

Me too........and that doesn't include eye guards!

You've never hunted blacktail have you?

Nope, and have no desire to.  I should have rephrased my statement as to the Eastern half of the state, as I realize it'd be very difficult only being able to harvest 4 point blackies..........not including eyeguards.  

[Jonathan_S]

You can't eat horns

Ray Lewis disagrees 

Deer have antlers though 

and if you really can't eat them, I need to tell the porcupines that they're inedible.  Maybe then I'll find a decent shed without teeth marks.

[sfrenger]

I know we had quite the spirited discussion over this when this rule first came about in GMU 117 and 121. This will be the 3rd year for this rule in these units. What do you guys think now? I still say kids and seniors should be able to shoot any buck. The first year my buddy tried to get his daughter on a 4 point and by the time doe season opened she was burned out and quit hunting. Last year she didn’t hunt until the doe season opened and she got a nice big doe. It’s all about getting the youth out hunting.

Why start up the subject again if the subject was so fiery? I hunt in those two units the most and the whitetails have been destroyed. I have noticed considerable numbers of deer back in those units. I love it, I wish they would keep it 4-pt for at least 3 more years. Then start giving out liberal doe tags again. Just my opinion and  , for what it's worth.

[sfrenger]

Love it.  I feel like my honey hole is back!!     and less people too.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[sfrenger]

The population has "rebounded".  It's time to lift it next year.

Great observation from Bellevue !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sfrenger]

John,
While I would love to keep the 4 point min. in place, I know that it can't stay forever. I wouldn't want to see deer starving to death because there's no feed left. Just like china had to manage their population, we have to manage our deer populations. Luckily we aren't canibals. lol

[Rooster1981]

I totally agree with the APR. I've never hunted in the NE corner but I have hunted in the Kittitas Valley all of my life. When I was a kid walking behind my dad hunting mule deer we would see 100-200 deer a day. Now that being said it was tuff to find a buck. We almost always got a buck, but normally a 2 point. A three point or bigger was a real trophy. Now when I take my kids hunting we can expect to see 10-20 deer a day. Any more than that and we feel like we are really on them. We normally see about 40% bucks and lots of spikes and two points. And lately we have been finding alot more legal bucks.
  In my opinion it truly is the predators. I live on the west side and hunt on the east side for mule deer & and before true spike I hunted elk there as well. We have been finding bear in places where you couldnt possible imagine. Places where there isn't a tree in sight. Cat tracks on every ridge, busting out coyotes in every draw. The APR is the only thing in my mind that is letting the few deer live a little longer to breed and populate the area.

[WaltAlpine]

Im all for the 4pt or better rule! Wish they would start doing this to some of the blacktail units!

4?  I could see 3 pt min for blacktail.  I hunted the 650 units for a lot of years and most of the good bucks I have seen were 3 pt

I've got a big heavy 2x3 blacktail in 2001 that I would have cried over in a 4 pt minimum hunt.

Well I was meaning antler restriction in general! Like the Mule Deer units, 3pt min!

There's just no need for antler restrictions on blacktails. Plenty of mature bucks on the westside.

Care to share a general area???

[Maverick]

I am a firm believer of the 4 point rule for whitetail. my reason is most 3 point main beam bucks have eye guards giving them 4 points. for mule deer I think should stay 3 point rule because muleys don't get eye guards as much as whitetail and are usually small. Ive never hunted blacktail. but with the ways the point systems have worked for both mule deer and whitetail I see no reason why having a 3 point minimum wouldn't work great. itd be slow the first year or two but ive noticed here that most black tail bucks taken are young spikes and two points. with a point rule you guys over there would have more bucks and a lot more bigger ones!

[grundy53]

I am a firm believer of the 4 point rule for whitetail. my reason is most 3 point main beam bucks have eye guards giving them 4 points. for mule deer I think should stay 3 point rule because muleys don't get eye guards as much as whitetail and are usually small. Ive never hunted blacktail. but with the ways the point systems have worked for both mule deer and whitetail I see no reason why having a 3 point minimum wouldn't work great. itd be slow the first year or two but ive noticed here that most black tail bucks taken are young spikes and two points. with a point rule you guys over there would have more bucks and a lot more bigger ones!

While I agree with you on mule deer and whitetail, I disagree with you on blacktail. But only on the amount of points. I think it should be two point minimum. Unlike mule deer and whitetail there is a substantial amount of bucks that will never get bigger then a two point. Combine that with the habitat they live it (brush holes, making it hard to distinguish a 2 point from a 3 or 4 point. I think a 2 point minimum on blacktails would be the equivalent of a three point minimum on mulies and a 4 point minimum on whitetails. 

[huntnnw]

We need the ability in this state to set regulations where hunters can shoot these big fork mule deer.

[returnofsid]

This will be my first year getting back into hunting since I hunted last, close to 12 years ago.  This will also be my first time archery hunting.  Prior to that, most all of my hunting was done in GMU 117 with some in 113 and 121.  Back then, these rules didn't exist.  Being such a long time since I've hunted, I've been working to learn all of the new rules.  Back then, I never went a single year without harvesting a deer, only one being less than 4 points.  A lot of my past hunting areas are now owned by different people so I'll have to find different areas or approach new owners for permission.  Some of the public lands I used to hunt will no doubt have a lot more pressure than they used to.  It'll sure be interesting to see how things have changed.