Washington State Mule Deer Hunting Future (poll)

[slowhand]

I voted yes because bottom line, the Mule deer population is far more important to Me than the opportunity to hunt them.    

[Colville]

Maybe if we could get the chemtrails stopped over the north central cascades?  And maybe if anyone who was ever vaccinated was prevented from hunting?  I think that'd help.  Sorry can't help myself...

[hunt2hunt810]

Just my 2 cents, late archery has a great impact on the mule deer heard. The deer are being chased around during the rut, exhausting them and interrupting mating, possibly killing a buck before it reproduces. I think the wildfires and mismanagement of Mule deer habitat hurts the population and whitetail have some effect.

[Jpmiller]

But Washington isn't the only state with wolf predation on deer. I see guys talking about how great Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are for hunting mule deer and they all have wolves and grizzly. Certainly predation has an effect but if it's not a Washington specific issue it must be other things, like winter range.

[jstone]

I drive through Idaho to and from Montana two weeks ago and the local hunters said it was slow cause of the wolves. And they can shoot them. Also the 50,000 silver dollar stop just in Montana said the hunting is not the same cause of the wolves. So what does that say for those small areas who try to make money cause of the predators.

[bullcanyon]

Just remembered the great idea the wdfw had 2 years ago when the chiliwist was burnt and they gave out 400 late doe tags.. That certainly didn't help. I drew the permit and got my points back when they contacted me to let me know there would be 400 rifle doe tags in my archery unit. 

So besides weather I honestly believe the biggest thing that impacts the deer is the lack of common sense management by our wdfw. If they would manage for wildlife instead $$ the deer would be better off.

[NOCK NOCK]

But Washington isn't the only state with wolf predation on deer. I see guys talking about how great Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are for hunting mule deer and they all have wolves and grizzly. Certainly predation has an effect but if it's not a Washington specific issue it must be other things, like winter range.

Try to convince this guy of that!!

Yellowstone is Dead Theatrical Trailer

 Dude, love your passion but can you take your 6 year old videos and links and start your own thread, I'd like to stay on topic.

Kind of figure this is on topic, wolves on top of other predators is the reason for poor deer hunting etc.,  changing season etc. won't help the predation problem. Everyone seems to be looking for the solution through changed seasons, the links above explain what has/is happening to WA hunting. Some of us covered this quite extensively for several years right here on H-W.

 

Hunt while you can, because if predator control isn't implemented nothing will change the outcome.

Like I have already mentioned, NO wolves in the Entiat.....but the herd is hurting.........Must be the invisible wolves SMH

[mfswallace]

But Washington isn't the only state with wolf predation on deer. I see guys talking about how great Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are for hunting mule deer and they all have wolves and grizzly. Certainly predation has an effect but if it's not a Washington specific issue it must be other things, like winter range.

Try to convince this guy of that!!

Yellowstone is Dead Theatrical Trailer

 Dude, love your passion but can you take your 6 year old videos and links and start your own thread, I'd like to stay on topic.

Kind of figure this is on topic, wolves on top of other predators is the reason for poor deer hunting etc.,  changing season etc. won't help the predation problem. Everyone seems to be looking for the solution through changed seasons, the links above explain what has/is happening to WA hunting. Some of us covered this quite extensively for several years right here on H-W.

 

Hunt while you can, because if predator control isn't implemented nothing will change the outcome.

Like I have already mentioned, NO wolves in the Entiat.....but the herd is hurting.........Must be the invisible wolves SMH

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,118415.0.html

[NOCK NOCK]

@msfwallace

1. that was 2013, and 1 wolf, 1 time. IIRC same wolf moved on and was spotted and or killed in an entirely different area. (See reply #56 in your quoted thread)

2. This is my backyard and I spend well over 150 days a year there.......you go ahead and believe what you want. I know the truth.

 

[wolfbait]

But Washington isn't the only state with wolf predation on deer. I see guys talking about how great Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are for hunting mule deer and they all have wolves and grizzly. Certainly predation has an effect but if it's not a Washington specific issue it must be other things, like winter range.

Try to convince this guy of that!!

Yellowstone is Dead Theatrical Trailer

 Dude, love your passion but can you take your 6 year old videos and links and start your own thread, I'd like to stay on topic.

Kind of figure this is on topic, wolves on top of other predators is the reason for poor deer hunting etc.,  changing season etc. won't help the predation problem. Everyone seems to be looking for the solution through changed seasons, the links above explain what has/is happening to WA hunting. Some of us covered this quite extensively for several years right here on H-W.

 

Hunt while you can, because if predator control isn't implemented nothing will change the outcome.

Like I have already mentioned, NO wolves in the Entiat.....but the herd is hurting.........Must be the invisible wolves SMH

Wolves move deer, we have found areas that when the wolves move into an area the deer move out. I have been in drainages that have always carried deer, there will be wolf tracks but very few if any deer.

I bet WDF&Wolves are having a good laugh at some of the folks on H-W, I think the wolf plan states that seasons will be cut when wolves start impacting the game herds. I wonder how many deer we will have left when that determination rolls around?



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C03E3D7163EE033A25755C2A9639C946697D6CF

[sneakyjake]

I just got back after many successful seasons.  I almost expected this thread.  Beyond the obvious, heavy winter, multiple cougar tracks.  Someone had wolves on camera.  They weren't in the area now, but they did come through the ridge line in the winter and kill a bunch of deer. We found multiple kills high up where they would have been trapped in the snow.  I've seen it in other areas where the wolves don't frequent year round, but when the snow hits, the deer are easy pickings.  4 or 5 cougs at a deer per week, fair amount of bear.  The habitat was fine, infact a little better then last year. We did take quite a few nice bucks last year, but overall fewer deer by far this year.  Hard to vote on something that feels like a union contract asking for concessions knowing that the company is all smoke and mirrors and won't hold up their end of the bargain.  I do hope for a good outcome. 

[deerlick]

Getting rid of late seasons, special permits or general late and getting rid of multi-season tags. Should be the first thing to happen unless trophy hunting is what your wanting.

[bigmacc]

Any suggestions then?

After getting back I think I will stick with going with the odd/even system(based on the last digit of your wild ID). I will only speak of the Methow herd but I think other traditional muley herd areas are seeing the same. Hunter numbers were the most I have seen, predators were the most I have seen and deer numbers were the worst I have seen. My family celebrated our 100 year anniversary of hunting the Methow(started in 1917) and boy have there been changes! There are still a very few family and friends alive that tell stories going back into the late 1930,s and the 1940,s that made the trip to just sit around the fire and tell tales. We heard stories of respect for other hunters, staying out of another hunters way and lending a hand to a stranger. Stories of seeing another hunter and immediately turning and going the other way, stumbling on to a hunter in a spot , raising your hand in a salute and mouthing the word "sorry" then slowly, quietly getting the h@@@ out of their space. Stories of 2week seasons taking in 3 weekends, some liked the first part because of more "camping type" weather where the local deer were mostly taken(and the local deer herds were robust up until about 10 to 15 years ago) and then they would go home and the second wave of hunters would role in, folks with tents, wood stoves and chains for their rigs, they hunted the migrators because by the 2nd week(usually ran through the 1st week of Nov.) the big fellas were moving in with a mission. We heard stories of bountys on coyotes seeing a bear or cougar was very rare let alone killing one. Stories of real FISH and GAME agents visiting our camp for hours, sitting by the fire and listening to stories my dad and great grandparents would tell of migration routes, staging areas, and fawning areas that they knew of. A great and respected biologist (back in the 1970,s and 80,s that I'm sure some on here know of)that my dad and I convinced to start gateing roads so people couldn't park motorhomes and trailers in migration routes. Stories of seeing 50 to 100 deer per day and maybe 8 or 10 hunters in a week(now you can reverse those numbers, 50 to 100 hunters and 8 to 10 deer ). I have told these stories before, have thrown out ideas, have mentioned the "good old days" even got brave and posted some pics of our family history years ago but the bottom line is we have a history with these deer, this area and we care. I think all quality tags and doe tags should be done away with in the Methow, I think predators need to be controlled(if the state can't do it then we as hunters need to do it legally and ethicaly,) kill some yotes, buy a bear tag and a cougar tag. Lets face it(at least in the Methow) more and more land is being posted, more anti-hunting folks are moving there and for some reason(since the 2015 slaughter) more and more people are flocking there to hunt, I can't tell you how many folks I chatted with said it was the first time they hunted there and "heard" there were deer everywhere, some had hunted other parts of the state but "heard" there were deer behind every bush, they "heard" a lot of different things that they described to me that I haven't seen in over 20 years and even then most of what they "heard" was over-eggagerated and I know we will never see again even close to it in the Methow, one guy told me" I thought it was supposed to be easy to get a buck here, heck I haven't seen a doe in 4 days". My suggestion I guess,in a nut shell would be a 10 day season ending Oct 31st, no late permits, odd-even system so you are hunting it(Methow)every other year hopefully cutting hunting pressure in half. I know some will say that the Fish and Wildlife dept(they are no longer the GAME dept in my book) won't want loose money because of limiting tags, then double the cost of a tag and lic. for hunting the Methow, I would gladly pay double to hunt it on my year to hunt if it made a difference in quantity and quality of this herd. The next idea would be drawing 200 to 300 permits per unit from the Canadian border to Pateros and maybe getting drawn every 4,5 or 6 years, I myself like the every other year idea.

[huntnphool]

Any suggestions then?

After getting back I think I will stick with going with the odd/even system(based on the last digit of your wild ID). I will only speak of the Methow herd but I think other traditional muley herd areas are seeing the same. Hunter numbers were the most I have seen, predators were the most I have seen and deer numbers were the worst I have seen. My family celebrated our 100 year anniversary of hunting the Methow(started in 1917) and boy have there been changes! There are still a very few family and friends alive that tell stories going back into the late 1930,s and the 1940,s that made the trip to just sit around the fire and tell tales. We heard stories of respect for other hunters, staying out of another hunters way and lending a hand to a stranger. Stories of seeing another hunter and immediately turning and going the other way, stumbling on to a hunter in a spot , raising your hand in a salute and mouthing the word "sorry" then slowly, quietly getting the h@@@ out of their space. Stories of 2week seasons taking in 3 weekends, some liked the first part because of more "camping type" weather where the local deer were mostly taken(and the local deer herds were robust up until about 10 to 15 years ago) and then they would go home and the second wave of hunters would role in, folks with tents, wood stoves and chains for their rigs, they hunted the migrators because by the 2nd week(usually ran through the 1st week of Nov.) the big fellas were moving in with a mission. We heard stories of bountys on coyotes seeing a bear or cougar was very rare let alone killing one. Stories of real FISH and GAME agents visiting our camp for hours, sitting by the fire and listening to stories my dad and great grandparents would tell of migration routes, staging areas, and fawning areas that they knew of. A great and respected biologist (back in the 1970,s and 80,s that I'm sure some on here know of)that my dad and I convinced to start gateing roads so people couldn't park motorhomes and trailers in migration routes. Stories of seeing 50 to 100 deer per day and maybe 8 or 10 hunters in a week(now you can reverse those numbers, 50 to 100 hunters and 8 to 10 deer ). I have told these stories before, have thrown out ideas, have mentioned the "good old days" even got brave and posted some pics of our family history years ago but the bottom line is we have a history with these deer, this area and we care. I think all quality tags and doe tags should be done away with in the Methow, I think predators need to be controlled(if the state can't do it then we as hunters need to do it legally and ethicaly,) kill some yotes, buy a bear tag and a cougar tag. Lets face it(at least in the Methow) more and more land is being posted, more anti-hunting folks are moving there and for some reason(since the 2015 slaughter) more and more people are flocking there to hunt, I can't tell you how many folks I chatted with said it was the first time they hunted there and "heard" there were deer everywhere, some had hunted other parts of the state but "heard" there were deer behind every bush, they "heard" a lot of different things that they described to me that I haven't seen in over 20 years and even then most of what they "heard" was over-eggagerated and I know we will never see again even close to it in the Methow, one guy told me" I thought it was supposed to be easy to get a buck here, heck I haven't seen a doe in 4 days". My suggestion I guess,in a nut shell would be a 10 day season ending Oct 31st, no late permits, odd-even system so you are hunting it(Methow)every other year hopefully cutting hunting pressure in half. I know some will say that the Fish and Wildlife dept(they are no longer the GAME dept in my book) won't want loose money because of limiting tags, then double the cost of a tag and lic. for hunting the Methow, I would gladly pay double to hunt it on my year to hunt if it made a difference in quantity and quality of this herd. The next idea would be drawing 200 to 300 permits per unit from the Canadian border to Pateros and maybe getting drawn every 4,5 or 6 years, I myself like the every other year idea.

  I'd be honored to buy you a beer one of these days and chat about those times!

[slowhand]

I second that! Great information and quality recommendations.