Quality chiwawa!

[The scout]

well after 14 yrs I finally drew a quality deer tag. It is feeling like a oil tag right now. I love this unit, and will be checking out a lot more of it this summer. my good buddy lives 20 miles up entiat and we have spent a lot of time in the chiwawa, but only a few times in the rut. I know quite a few good areas and migration routes, but its hard when I don't know what the snow levels will be. thinking of mostly hitting it hard the last week of the season, but curious what some of the experts in the area think about that. I am so exited for November its driving me crazy. i'm not very good about taking pictures but will try and do better on that for this hunt and do a little write up when it happens. i will have to see if i can get a flip phone adapter for my spotter cheers

[Magnum_Willys]

I wouldnt miss the opening days there with any weather at all.  Entiat yea second half season. Chiwawa could see a bruiser early .  Start high of course .   

[UBA]

Id play the weather not the dates.  Any crazy storm and it could turn into a ghost town pretty quick.

[Magnum_Willys]

Id play the weather not the dates.  Any crazy storm and it could turn into a ghost town pretty quick.

Is that bad or good ?

[muleracks]

The cool thing is that the September (high) hunt did not happen in the upper Entiat 2014- 15 or 16 and in the Chiwawa in 2015 or 16 so the high mountain bucks have not been harvested at all for 2 or 3 years.  Could be some older bucks migrating out of the Wilderness areas.  Not sure how the harsher winter may affect antler growth.  Hopefully, the weather will not cause an early migration so you can enjoy the more normal November migration and have a great hunt for big, older mule deer.

[Magnum_Willys]

Rumor has it this is the year of the Hogs ! Hope they let a few pass through to the Entiat.........

[NOCK NOCK]

Taken on 11-12-16.....That should get your juices flowing.

[The scout]

Taken on 11-12-16.....That should get your juices flowing.

yes it does, if my juices were flowing any more i'd need to change my underwear.

[The scout]

Id play the weather not the dates.  Any crazy storm and it could turn into a ghost town pretty quick.

so what would be the ideal weather scenario for the hunt? i was thinking the last week would be best only because of a higher chance of more snow, witch i was thinking would congregate the deer a little more.

[Skyvalhunter]

Your asking people to predict the weather

[The scout]

really? thought I was asking what the best weather scenario would be because he was vague saying a storm could be bad thing. I guess my question was I thought the more snow the better for that time frame?

[7mmfan]

This is coming from a guy that is not overly familiar with that area, but based on its elevation and proximity to wintering grounds, a big storm that dumps a foot of snow could easily force a migration out of that country. You would most likely still be able to find animals around, but if they feel its time to go, they will do just that. I think that's why earlier comments suggested being there earlier in the season, but also keeping an eye on the weather.

Remember that mature bucks in general will wait until the last possible minute to migrate, sometimes waiting to long and getting trapped. Rut driven bucks however, go where the does are, and does are prone to migrating much earlier. If the does get pushed by a big storm, a large majority of your rutting bucks will follow.

In my experience, about the 10th of November is when those animals go into peak rut, so if there's no large winter storms imminent, I'd be hitting the hills right about then.

[The scout]

thanks 7mmfan, that's pretty much what I was thinking about timing. the biggest bucks I have seen up there were up to there chest in snow in December but i'm thinking that's more of the exception. I have my yearly montana mulie hunt witch is the same timing so that's why i'm trying to get it figured out. but I understand every year is different as far as weather so I will just play it when the time comes and flip flop weeks if I need to. I will either hunt it for a week on the way to montana or for a week on the way home

[WAcoueshunter]

Playing the weather is a good idea if you have that kind of flexibility. If you have to take vacation and can't be flexible, I'd bet on the last week too. Way more likely that you get no weather instead of too much weather in that timeframe.