Tired of WA tag soup

[Karl Blanchard]

Oh come on karl I didnt know people actually hunted those units for deer

  They don't!  Guys just hit them with their trucks on the way down to silver beach to get more beer and throw tags on them!

To be honest with you, deer are really simple to kill in this state.

To say that for all units would be pretty silly.  What GMU's are you referring to?  I have mostly the last 2 years been in 651, and 648.  Before that I was in the Olympic unit I think its 621.

Def. Not the westside. I can consistantly find bucks in 2 of the worst units in the states number wise. Gmu 340 and 342.

  They aren't that bad!  Go find a buck up Rimrock or Bumping!  Now thats bleek!  I don't even think Rimrock broke the single digits for harvests for all the seasons!  If you wanna just kill a deer for meat I would focus on some doe hunts.   

I personally think there are a lot more deer in the bumping and rimrock than 342 .  I couldn't believe some of the ghost bucks I saw in 356 during elk season. Same with 364 I always see quality ghost bucks in there. I am not giving my secret spots up either .

Oh come on karl I didnt know people actually hunted those units for deer

and I agree with the above statements, stay on the westside. I saw deer west of the PCT every time I was on that side

  I have hunted every square inch of the Rimrock unit over the last 18 years and have seen some very nice deer but there are not very many deer in that unit plain and simple.  You keep talking about all these giant bucks you see but you never post up any pics?  Do you not like to go kill these big bucks?

[buglebuster]

 

[JLS]

Saw a thing posted  this weekend  on another site claiming montana was considering discontinuing doe tags  for a couple seasons due to a couple winters of pretty good winter kills,Hows that for a management tool............ foregoing the revenue  income to benefit the herd,what a concept huh?Don't expect anything like that to EVER happen in washington.

Get 2 or 3 doe tags in Montana and have a good time.

The relative revenue brought in from the doe tags is paltry compared to the revenue brought in by the deer/elk combination licenses.

Doe tags are sold their as a population management tool.  That's why the price has been what it has for many years.

[Smossy]

Ingredients:

All your unfilled tags (in my case all of them)
6 cups of water
1 Bullion cube
Salt and pepper to taste

First take all your unfilled tags and cut them up into bite sized pieces
Next boil up 6 cups of water.
Once the water comes to a boil add the bullion cube. Stir until it dissolves.
Add your unfilled tags and bring to a rapid boil.
Let simmer for 15 minutes or until the tags are tender.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Open up a nice bottle of wine and . . .
There you go . . .

[BoomWhop]

Adding all four of my tags to the pot this year, Deer, Elk, Cougar, and Bear.  Doh!!!!!!

[RadSav]

There are a lot of hunters always looking for the woods-o-plenty beyond their back door.  The promise that The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank in some far away place.  However, we often find other states and far away places where we do not know the lay of the land and the personality of it's residence much more difficult to hunt than tales of the promise land led us to believe.

I'm not going to go on about how great the state of Washington hunting is.  Not going to say how great the odds of shooting a Pope & Young buck or Boone & Crocket bull are here.  But from someone who has hunted all of the western states Washington state is not that bad for the average meat hunter.  I honestly can not imagine not tagging out in this state if all I wanted was to fill my freezer.  And unless I have been given access to private land or set up with a quality guide I don't see the other states making my job of filling an elk or deer tag that much easier.  There are just too many options that I know indepth here close to home.  It's no longer 1990 and I can fill my freezer with a cow or doe in the first day or two of the season.  But, it just isn't that much worse than DIY public land anywhere else I've hunted throughout the west.

Now if you are wanting to bugle in a nice bull or stalk an open country muledeer on public land I do think many of the other states offer a better supply of options.  And if you want a record class buck or elk and you do not draw one of the premium tags in this state Washington is much more difficult.  But how can a public land DIY meat hunt be any better than your own back yard?  We know these animals, we know where they go when spooked and we know the land well enough to get in front of animals when the unexpected dillweed come in and messes up a good thing.  Its going to take a lot of time and money to get that personal with animals in another state even if they do have a few more animals per square mile and a few less hunters.

My recommendation for those who have been unsuccessful close to home is not to go in search of the holy grail of hunting grounds.  Learn how to hunt and scout here at home first.  Maybe go on a ranch hunt here or there.  I probably learned more on a single trip to Catalina Island chasing goats and pigs than I did in five years on public land chasing elk and deer.  Because I made about a dozen stalks on animals each day.  My first trip I failed about 75% of the time, second trip about 50%, third trip about 25% until I had gotten to a point where messing up a stalk just seemed impossible.  Maybe ranch hunting is not going to lead you to captain of the greatest hunters of all time league.  And you may not leave feeling you had the most challenging hunt of your life.  But you can think of these hunts as a college course in hunting with an almost guaranteed diploma.

Out of state hunting is not a cheep endeavor.  It really is beneficial to learn how to hunt, how to scout, how to read a map, how to look/search where the animals are, and analyze a stalk opportunity for the best possible outcome before you go running off to a far away hunting ground expecting to find a scene from some Disney movie.  I do highly recommend out of state hunting.  It's an adventure truly worth the cost, time and effort involved.  But preparing yourself for success at home first really does improve your odds and enjoyment when hunting unfamiliar ground.


As far as what states to start doing research I would have to put Idaho first.  Not that the hunting there is better than Wyoming, Montana or Utah.  But because finding public land to hunt accessible to the average guy is easier.  And it is closer for the occasional getaway to scout.  If I was going to hire a guide or purchase a trespass allowance that might change to Montana.  Bearpaw's rifle hunts over there seem to be filled with plenty of adventure with a very high success rate.  And last I checked you could add a few doe tags to really get that freezer stuffed!  No permit applications too which is nice.  For meat a Washington multi-season tag would be my third choice.  Way more cost effective and an archery mule deer doe in the first week of this state is about as easy as bowhunting gets.

I really hope you can get that monkey off your back Philepe.  The first one is the hardest.  Whatever it takes to get that first one can pay big in the long run as they just seem to get easier with each filled tag.  Best of luck to you.

[Duffer]

To be honest with you, deer are really simple to kill in this state.

Nice. kick the guy when he's down.

Old guy opinions ahead:

1) Successful hunters are not casual hunters. I am a casual hunter. I don't have time to scout. I barely have time to hunt. I've only found some time recently by shutting down my home business (2nd job). Surprise, surprise - I'm not good at finding animals and if I get lucky enough to stumble upon one, I can't close the deal. Being successful is NOT EASY. It takes sacrifice and time.

2) It's easy to frequent a site like HW and believe that you are the only guy who can't fill a tag. Hogwash. Stats show % success. There may be a higher percentage of sucessful hunters here (and probably are) because alot of these guys & gals are serious hunters. See #1. example: what are my chances of filling an archery elk tag in Idaho (where I've gone now 2yrs out of 3)? about 10%   It will take me (statistically) 10 YEARS! to fill a tag over there. and that's just on average. Since I consider myself a poor hunter at best, it will take me more than 10 years.

3) I believe some folks are luckier than others. The hunting gods smile on them a little bit more. You know those guys.... always first to land that fish. Just seem to draw the better hands playing cards. Take home a bit of cash every trip to the casino. This year, I PAID to finally fill a tag and still couldn't pull it off. The weather was HORRIBLE! Every legal whitetail I saw was running full out from one thicket to the next. The Guide's wife is calling me Bad Luck Chuck. 

So don't feel too down. I have not filled a tag (no deer, no elk, no bear, no anything else on 4 legs) since I was in college. and I'm in my 50s now. In my entire half century+ of existence, I have one cow elk, a couple small blacktail bucks and one whitetail doe.

I've gotten out of it what I've put in to it.  You will too.

[RadSav]

You are right Duffer.  The percentages show there are more guys like you out there than a hunting website would assume.  That being said, what has your success ratio been out of state in the promised land?  Sounds like it has been worse than your success ratio in your own Washington state back yard.   That is a hidden truth unsuccessful hunters looking to buy or move their way to an increased success ratio fail to realize.

Idaho sure is a great place to hunt.  Not what it once was before the wolves destroyed so much of it, but it's still one of my favorite states.  However, it is still a place where one has to "Hunt" to fill their tag.  Same goes for CA, WY, MT, CO, UT and AZ.  But, sometimes a guy just needs to throw away a few extra dollars to find reality.  Nothing at all wrong with that.  Learning is almost never a bad thing! And occasionally the hunting gods reward those who take the risk.  That's always fun too

[RadSav]

Posts like the OP remind me of Chuckar hunting with my oldest brother for the first time.  He never had much money and usually hunted using my old hand me down guns.  He also never had a real good dog so his success was always limited.

So we get to some choice chucker ground and before we even get the guns out of the truck the dogs have busted the first covey.  It was going to be one of those epic days!!!  After a few hours I was limited out and my brother was still looking for his first bird.  I was trying to give him some instruction on how to read my dog and also how to wait for the right shot.  His response surprised me.  He said, "Well, if I had a $3,000 gun I could be limited too."  Not really wanting to swap my 5# gun for his 8# gun, but after that comment we switched.  A few more hours later and we headed back to the truck to get more ammo.  He did have one bird in his vest the Dancer Dog picked up on at least a 500 yard retrieve.

We decided to give these birds a rest and crossed the draw to hunt the other side of the canyon.  In the creek bottom we jumped two roosters.  The old Winchester Model 12 reported loudly twice and with a little work the Dancer dog retrieved both my birds.  My brother had absolutely nothing to say when I commented, "Man!  This gun brings back some fun memories "

By the end of the day my brother was able to complete his bag limit on chucker, while I was able to complete my hat trick limiting on Chuckar, quail and pheasant.  And the poor little Dancer dog after having the day of her life...slept straight through the next three days on the bed.

A year later after my brother spent a bunch of time at the sporting clays we did what became our annual chucker hunt again.  This time the birds were hard to find and what birds we did find were busting out at extended range.  At the end of the day my brother, still shooting my old Model 12, had reached his bag limit on chucker and me and my $3,000 gun had not.  He had simply worked harder and was better prepared than I was that year.  And to this day he still tries to rub it in my face

We always want to believe our lack of success must be due to something else like the need for better guns or a better managed state.  But more often than not our lack of success falls squarely in our own lap regardless of where we live or what we shoot.

[Bigshooter]

You are right Duffer.  The percentages show there are more guys like you out there than a hunting website would assume.  That being said, what has your success ratio been out of state in the promised land?  Sounds like it has been worse than your success ratio in your own Washington state back yard.   That is a hidden truth unsuccessful hunters looking to buy or move their way to an increased success ratio fail to realize.

Idaho sure is a great place to hunt.  Not what it once was before the wolves destroyed so much of it, but it's still one of my favorite states.  However, it is still a place where one has to "Hunt" to fill their tag.  Same goes for CA, WY, MT, CO, UT and AZ.  But, sometimes a guy just needs to throw away a few extra dollars to find reality.  Nothing at all wrong with that.  Learning is almost never a bad thing! And occasionally the hunting gods reward those who take the risk.  That's always fun too

I have never been on an out of state deer hunt where I couldn't have killed multiple bucks.  On some hunts I could have killed as many as 50 different bucks.  But hunting W WA for blacktails I have had years where I didn't see a single buck and I have also had many years where I didn't see 50 deer total all hunting season.  So I can understand why people would be frustrated hunting W WA.  But I will admit my success ratio is higher in WA than out of state hunting.  But for only one reason.  When I hunt out of state I am looking for something big and have no problem eating tag soup. 

[DBHAWTHORNE]

I wouldn't venture out of state to hunt if you are having trouble filling tags in WA. Make a solid commitment to scouting and you will be successful if your only goal is to fill the freezer. If you don't know what you are looking for then make a solid effort to learn more. A lot of people say they don't have time to do these things but then I see those same people watching football all day Sunday or doing other things with their leisure time... Bottom line it comes down to priorities.. If you are willing to commit more time or more money (or both) your success will increase.

[Duffer]

You are right Duffer.  The percentages show there are more guys like you out there than a hunting website would assume.  That being said, what has your success ratio been out of state in the promised land?  Sounds like it has been worse than your success ratio in your own Washington state back yard.   That is a hidden truth unsuccessful hunters looking to buy or move their way to an increased success ratio fail to realize.

Idaho sure is a great place to hunt.  Not what it once was before the wolves destroyed so much of it, but it's still one of my favorite states.  However, it is still a place where one has to "Hunt" to fill their tag.  Same goes for CA, WY, MT, CO, UT and AZ.  But, sometimes a guy just needs to throw away a few extra dollars to find reality.  Nothing at all wrong with that.  Learning is almost never a bad thing! And occasionally the hunting gods reward those who take the risk.  That's always fun too

Sorry to the OP for hijacking his post.

My Idaho adventures, for elk only and only in the past couple of years, again displays "The Casual Hunter". I think I'll trademark that    I don't spend hours scouring stats, applying for hot draws and studying maps in an attempt to hit it hot and hard. That was my dad. That was my uncle. Both successful hunters.

The Casual Hunter goes: 1) where it's familiar or 2) where his friends go. That's me & Idaho elk. Friends. I didn't go this year because of cost and odds of success. I actually hunted Wa to improve my odds. Yeah

I wouldn't suggest the OP go out of state to improve his odds unless he's paying for a canned hunt.

I would not have even entered this discussion at all (cuz I've got zero experienced advise) except for the lack of compassion I sometimes see in threads like this. If you are a highly successful and talented hunter, is it really necessary to slap a fellow hunter around with it? It's Christmas time. Show a little compassion.

Sorry for getting my Depends in a wad.      /rant off   

[Duffer]

I wouldn't venture out of state to hunt if you are having trouble filling tags in WA. Make a solid commitment to scouting and you will be successful if your only goal is to fill the freezer. If you don't know what you are looking for then make a solid effort to learn more. A lot of people say they don't have time to do these things but then I see those same people watching football all day Sunday or doing other things with their leisure time... Bottom line it comes down to priorities.. If you are willing to commit more time or more money (or both) your success will increase.

Absolutely agreed. "don't have time" actually means "won't make it a priority"

I'll say it again. You get out what you put in. The best, most successful hunters here bleed & sweat for it. They live it, above all else. Respect deserved. The rest of us don't. or won't. wait for it...... hunting is not a high priority 

The Casual Hunter has no grounds to bitch about it tho. That includes me and I don't. I just use my success rate to let other know they are not alone.

[philepe]

Duffer and Radsav what you guys say has got me thinking a lot.  I definitely could spend more time scouting that has not been a priority for me.  Its hard to admit but I guess Im a casual hunter since I don't make time to be out in the woods more.  During the season I work hard but I think I need to hit reset and figure out what Im doing wrong. 

[Taco280AI]

Only unit I've hunted in WA is 510 and have gone my share of seasons without seeing a single buck. See more elk than deer. Hunted Idaho a couple of times and was amazed how many deer, and bucks, I'd see daily. Hike uphill for a good hour or more, then back - everywhere! Even the road hunters have decent luck, but that's not my style.