Grande Ronde Unit

[AlbinoRhino]

That is a bummer to hear, I had high hopes for that tag.Have seen some dandies while fishing over there. Not what you expect when you think 'quality' tag

Thanks... I was surprised I know that there has to be deer in there but what we heard from a couple locals we passed is they got slayed in the regular season and they have had a rise in the cats there wouldn't mind going back for some great fishing tho and saw a gorgeous ram on our hike

[Kenaiwild]

We have a cabin just downriver from the mouth or the Ronde and spend a lot of time running around the hills.  Though you can usually find a legal buck if you hunt hard and know where to go there are very few truly "big" bucks in the area.  It's nothing like the Okanogan. 

[bobcat]

This is the problem with having all the separate deer permit categories that the WDFW created several years ago. It used to be we had special deer permits and special elk permits. No categories. Deer was deer and elk was elk. Antlerless permits, buck permits, youth permits, all in the same pool. It was up to the hunter to decide what kind of quality each permit was and whether he wanted a doe or a buck. Now we have "Quality" permits and "Buck" permits so naturally people have much higher expectations for anything that the WDFW deems a Quality hunt.

[pcal]

  I gave up 30 years ago playing game department lottery with the confusing regulations which allowing poaching for the select few who are willing to play to pay the rediculas price for years to get that letter"selected".There was  a little forkhorn mulley posted here today by a hunter with a quality tag and I was so ignorant of the legalized poaching now allowed that I called him out on it.IF ANYONE WONDERS HOW POACHING IS NOW SUCH A PROBLEM NOW:THINK HOW HARD IT IS FOR LE (other than game wardens)WHO ENFORCE THE LAW ARE SUPPOSED TO DO THE GAMEWARDENS JOB NOW THAT WE HAVE SO FEW?There are even guys who can shoot deer and elk into march into next year! I am never going to report anyone I think might be  poaching as they probably paid off the right politician or got lucky on the poaching lottery.I wonder how wsdfw can say with a straight face that the seasons are set with the survival of our game when they are allowing them to be hunted 9 months out of the year,too?!

[Timberstalker]

I gave up 30 years ago playing game department lottery with the confusing regulations which allowing poaching for the select few who are willing to play to pay the rediculas price for years to get that letter"selected".There was  a little forkhorn mulley posted here today by a hunter with a quality tag and I was so ignorant of the legalized poaching now allowed that I called him out on it.IF ANYONE WONDERS HOW POACHING IS NOW SUCH A PROBLEM NOW:THINK HOW HARD IT IS FOR LE (other than game wardens)WHO ENFORCE THE LAW ARE SUPPOSED TO DO THE GAMEWARDENS JOB NOW THAT WE HAVE SO FEW?There are even guys who can shoot deer and elk into march into next year! I am never going to report anyone I think might be  poaching as they probably paid off the right politician or got lucky on the poaching lottery.I wonder how wsdfw can say with a straight face that the seasons are set with the survival of our game when they are allowing them to be hunted 9 months out of the year,too?!

You've contributed negatively to multiple threads today. You're a clown.

[splitshot]

   it is a human population problem and it will continue to get worse.  more people more regulation and more restrictions.  which states have the best hunting?  the least populated, simple.  nobody thinks about this but in my 75 years I have seen the big changes.  in the sixties we had a month long deer season and any deer was legal. you could shoot any bull in the blues.   no master hunter stuff, no quality stuff and no point stuff.   more people, more problems.    mike w

[Timberstalker]

 

[huntnnw]

I hunted the general rifle deer and barely put in any time and saw 3 mature bucks and passed 2 of them trying to kill a 180" buck. Saw about 10 bucks in total in a few days. Granted the area I hunted was gnarly steep and never saw a soul

[AlbinoRhino]

I hunted the general rifle deer and barely put in any time and saw 3 mature bucks and passed 2 of them trying to kill a 180" buck. Saw about 10 bucks in total in a few days. Granted the area I hunted was gnarly steep and never saw a soul

Unfortunately we didn't have the same luck... walked passed the end gate up the chief Joseph trail and glassed every inch of grass we could the only nice mature bucks we saw were opposite side of the river and behind the ranch fences, oh well great countryside and some fun memories

[huntnnw]

Bucks are there, but you gotta hunt where the ATV's cannot see or get to. I laughed at how many hunters were down there that never got off their quad or outta the truck. Never saw a rig parked anywhere with hunters in the field. The other thing I noticed being in that area a lot this year is Nov 20-24th is pretty much post rut. Just spent 9 days on the ID side in unit 11 and saw 1 buck the entire hunt with does.. the rest were all solo or bached up and feeding. When I hunted the WA side Oct 20th-25th bucks were chasing hard.. every buck I found was with does and chasing them around.