Let The Methow Herd Destruction Begin

[Mtn.Ghost]

Well I'm proud of you for filling your doe tag within 3 units with nobody in the woods. Must have been a very rewarding feeling on the trip back to Snohomish County knowing that you succeeded. Did you get her right before she starved standing in the burn?

Congrats again,
--Chicken Little--

No I waited until she stepped into lush green grass.......You assume a lot knowing next to nothing only finger available.

[MtnMuley]

LMAO. Enlighten me then, SnoCoGenius

[Mtn.Ghost]

LMAO. Enlighten me then, SnoCoGenius

NWMT NorthCentralKnotHead  

[actionshooter]

Wow, glad to know there was no reason for concern, all good......nothing to see here.   

[huntnphool]

So just out of curiosity? Is every person that admits to hunting in the methow  over the next X amount of years going to get a ration for doing so?   

 You clearly have not read the entire thread, or completely misunderstood the opposing comments.

 Perhaps you could point out the posts where someone was given "a ration" too, I must have missed those.

[MtnMuley]

LMAO. Enlighten me then, SnoCoGenius

NWMT NorthCentralKnotHead

Exactly. Not worth mine either. Now be on your way like a ghost

[boneaddict]

I'm thinking more deer were lost in the fire than being admitted too or claimed.

[MtnMuley]

You must have made it home,  bone. A few areas here were decimated with the wall of fire. Others survived okay. With new deer moving in its getting harder to tell which areas were hit harder. The obvious areas are very noticible still though.

[boneaddict]

I got there prior to the migration.  There were a lot of areas void of deer that normally have volumes of just local deer.  I know there would be some displacement but I was still shocked.

[wsmnut]

From the Methow Valley News
Glad everyone came and left your money...


Healthy buck harvest segues into expanded doe season
by ADMIN on Oct 31, 2014 • 12:48 pm No Comments

Chris Thomson of Thomson’s Custom Meats holds the trophy head of the “biggest buck I’ve seen come out of this valley in the past 25 years.” The monster rack was taken by 74-year-old Mel Souders of Marysville. Photo by Mike Maltais
By Mike Maltais

As harvest figures are analyzed and numbers crunched in the wake of this year’s nine-day modern firearm general deer season from Oct. 11-19, local hunters have shifted their focus toward an abundance of antlerless permits in the three game management units (GMUs) – Pearrygin, Chiliwist and Alta – most affected by this summer’s Carlton Complex Fire.

Hunters have upwards of 1,900 permits to harvest antlerless deer in fire-ravaged GMUs to help mitigate potential winter losses that could occur if the combination of reduced winter range and harsh winter conditions becomes extreme. Permit hunters have through the end of the month to fill their tags, plus an additional 10 days at the end of November if more time is needed.

Every indicator used to evaluate local hunter success in the buck season points to better-than-average numbers of legal bucks taken, in spite of questionable conditions that made reliable predictions in some doubt.

Carcass counts at Thomson’s Custom Meats in Twisp, hides dropped off at Katie Russell’s skinning station on Highway 20, the Washington Department of Fish and Game’s (WDFW) check station at The Barn in Winthrop, and reports from hunters returning from the field all support the consensus that it was a better-than-average season in GMUs that comprise the greater Methow Valley.

Seth Thomson of Thomson’s Meats said carcasses hanging in the company’s cooler were nearly double the number recorded last year. That included one mule deer with a massive rack that Chris Thomson claims was “the biggest buck I’ve seen come out of this area in the past 25 years.”

The trophy buck was shot by 74-year-old Mel Souders of Marysville, who was hunting north of Winthrop in an area where two years ago he shot another big buck wearing a set of antlers only slightly smaller than this year’s prize.

Bent Kios of Seattle has been hunting in the Rendezvous area since 2006. This year he was with his son Leif and a friend when all three got their bucks – father and son a 3×3 and 5×5 pointer respectively, and another 5×5 for their companion.

Deer counts at the WDFW’s Winthrop check station, particularly toward the end of the season, reflected a buck harvest “slightly above the five-year average for the area,” said WDFW biologist Scott Fitkin. The numbers also pointed a level of hunting pressure about identical to 2013, a welcome surprise to game monitors who were concerned that the summer’s natural disasters would warn away a large influx of fall hunters.

[huntnphool]

 It's October 9th, shouldn't WDFW be done with their winter predictions and be offering up 1000 more doe tags for the Methow?

[Skyvalhunter]

Give them time!! They have to issue the doe tags after the does have been bred and then the hunters can come in and shoot a pregnant doe that still has a yearling hanging off its tit. Then the yearling dies because it hasn't learned to survive a winter. Thus they kill 3 for the price of one.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

There's deer left to harvest after last years slaughter?

[MtnMuley]

WDFW cancelled their annual round table meeting with us locals here this year.  Reason: Lack of Funding.  They're keeping whatever their plan is pretty quiet.  However, I've heard of several extra tags already handed out without much more information received.  A phone call is going to be made right now.............. 

[huntnphool]

WDFW cancelled their annual round table meeting with us locals here this year.  Reason: Lack of Funding

 Well that's not a complete shock, after all, they have the WAG to allocate a significant amount of resources to now.