GMU 251 Why no archery whitetail hunt?

[Eric M]

I looked at some previous posts about 251, and they are mostly talking about elk. The deer hunting regs for muzzleloader and modern seem pretty good for 251, especially if you're a whitetail hunter, but no archery. Is that weird , or is there some good reason for it?

[Shed Stud]

?? There are maybe only a handful of wt in 251 if any. I've only ever seen one. That is mule deer country

[Eric M]

?? There are maybe only a handful of wt in 251 if any. I've only ever seen one. That is mule deer country

I was just bored and noticed it. General and muzzleloader are any buck for whitetail there. Just thought it was odd.

[jackelope]

?? There are maybe only a handful of wt in 251 if any. I've only ever seen one. That is mule deer country

I was just bored and noticed it. General and muzzleloader are any buck for whitetail there. Just thought it was odd.

Those GMU's are managed for mule deer and elk. They don't want whitetails there and there are hardly any either way, but if they are there, they want them gone, so they'll let the gun guys shoot them if they see them. Definitely not a destination area I'd look at for whitetails. You could go literally years without seeing one I bet.

[Eric M]

?? There are maybe only a handful of wt in 251 if any. I've only ever seen one. That is mule deer country

I was just bored and noticed it. General and muzzleloader are any buck for whitetail there. Just thought it was odd.

Those GMU's are managed for mule deer and elk. They don't want whitetails there and there are hardly any either way, but if they are there, they want them gone, so they'll let the gun guys shoot them if they see them. Definitely not a destination area I'd look at for whitetails. You could go literally years without seeing one I bet.

I'm not planning on hunt whitetail there. I just thought if they were managing for a certain species, they would make all the regulations super easy. Muzzleloader and modern are any buck, but there is nothing listed for archery. Just thought it was odd. I appreciate the answer. I was reading the regs for this area and noticed this and thought it was curious that WDFW wrote it the way they did. So- There are basically no whitetail in this area, but if you are unsuccessful at your mule deer hunt and on your way back to the truck and happen to see a whitetail, feel free to shoot any buck- Unless you are on your way back to the truck during bow season. Just seems odd.

[jackelope]

@DOUBLELUNG
Maybe it's got something to do with success rates of gun hunters versus bowhunters in terms of how bad they want the whitetails gone. I totally just made that up. No idea if that's even a thing.

[DOUBLELUNG]

@DOUBLELUNG
Maybe it's got something to do with success rates of gun hunters versus bowhunters in terms of how bad they want the whitetails gone. I totally just made that up. No idea if that's even a thing.

Usually, restricting harvest for a user group within a district in one or more GMUs is a tool for reducing success toward equalizing success rates (resource allocation).  In this case, I'm guessing either an oversight, or in answer to complaints from one of the agricultural operators who has whitetails and has had issues with early season archers - just a guess. 

As noted above, there are VERY few whitetails in GMU 251, in 15 years living in the GMU and having spent a fair amount of time in the field, I've seen less than 10 total - and the most in a group 3.  I only know one location in 251 that has whitetails on a regular basis, and a second I suspect (I've seen two roadkill at the same location in different years, but never a live one).  I have seen two, total, on public land, and those were just above the private where they are normally found. 

The further north one goes in Chelan County, the more likely one is to encounter whitetails; but they are still very scarce until you get to the eastern part of the Lake Chelan basin.

[Eric M]

@DOUBLELUNG
Maybe it's got something to do with success rates of gun hunters versus bowhunters in terms of how bad they want the whitetails gone. I totally just made that up. No idea if that's even a thing.

Usually, restricting harvest for a user group within a district in one or more GMUs is a tool for reducing success toward equalizing success rates (resource allocation).  In this case, I'm guessing either an oversight, or in answer to complaints from one of the agricultural operators who has whitetails and has had issues with early season archers - just a guess. 

As noted above, there are VERY few whitetails in GMU 251, in 15 years living in the GMU and having spent a fair amount of time in the field, I've seen less than 10 total - and the most in a group 3.  I only know one location in 251 that has whitetails on a regular basis, and a second I suspect (I've seen two roadkill at the same location in different years, but never a live one).  I have seen two, total, on public land, and those were just above the private where they are normally found. 

The further north one goes in Chelan County, the more likely one is to encounter whitetails; but they are still very scarce until you get to the eastern part of the Lake Chelan basin.

Thanks for the detailed response.

[muleracks]

In 94 my son's first buck was a whitetail 4x4 taken just above the town of Entiat (GMU 247) in 94; surprised when the flag went up.  Met a WDFW rig on our way down, showed it to him and lobbied for an open season on all whitetail.  He said, "We would end up with way to many dead mule deer; too many hunters would shoot first and check later".   Saw a whitetail in Swakane Canyon a few years ago running with a bunch of mule deer during the winter.  They are an invading species; still have a chance to control on the south side of Lake Chelan.

[scoutdog346]

Probably so they can say they gave somthing the the MF and muzz people that the archery people dont get...lol just joaking.