Pateros area deer ??

[Tbob]

Hey y’all,
  So I’ve got a line on some private property to possibly hunt on out near the Pateros/Carlton area. Anyone do any hunting over there? Just curious how the deer numbers are out that way? Thanks!!

[vandeman17]

Deer numbers are tough in the whole area. Harsh winters, big fires and far far too many predators have the mule deer population hurting. I personally will not hunt up there strictly on my own personal beliefs but if you have access to some private ground and want to fill the freezer you could have a good chance at that. 

[timberfaller]

Numbers are way Down!  Between the 2015 fire season(hunting season) massacre of many bucks and the winter kills and wolves,  your chances are very slim.  BUT if your property your looking at is near town or an orchard, your chances just improved a little.

Watch out for the surrounding property owners too!  Having permission is one thing,  shooting their "bambi" is another!

[bigmacc]

  on all the previous posts, worst deer numbers I have seen in over 50 years, but as said if you have some private stuff to hunt you may be able to pick off the resident year round animal, but like was said, be careful not to shoot a pet of the next door neighbor...

[RileyH]

My family has hunted around Pateros since the 50's.

As already stated, the fires and predators have put a big dent in the herd. Additionally, I have watched rampant poaching the last two years, which helps even less. On top of that, good luck finding a public land spot that's not full of road hunters.

Only options for consistently decent hunting are all on Gebbers land. They watch it pretty close in big groups of ATV hunters, as the road hunters trespass daily during season.

[JLew]

Tough Hunting this last year. Success rates were very low.

[bigmacc]

This will kind of put things in perspective, my friend just spent 6 days in the Methow and he has relatives that live there. He spent his time mostly in the north part of the valley(Twisp/Winthrop area) and saw a total of around 26 deer in the 6 days and 20 of those were in peoples yards around Winthrop and 5 of those were laying under a trailer shed in the shade. I know this is aways from the area you are asking about but it is the same from the north end of the valley all the way south to the Columbia. His relatives said they saw the least amount of deer this winter that they have ever seen. This echoes a lot of what others(including myself)have been seeing the last few years, the valley has been through a lot in the last 10 to 15 years or so, both natural(fires, a few harsh winters, and a predator explosion, etc.) and man made(poor management, habitat issues and a predator explosion), all have taken a huge toll on this herd, yes, I used predator explosion as a natural and a man made issue.....they need hound hunting brought back in the Methow and IMO, they need it fast, or at least more lengthy predator hunting seasons for bear and cougar and expanded quotas for cougar and even a bounty brought back for coyotes and yes there are plenty of wolves in the Methow, no doubt they are killing a lot of deer in this valley, ALOT...

[Skyvalhunter]

Pateros/ Carlton area is tough to find a deer in these days That wolf pack runs from Twisp down to Pateros. My friend has a neighbor there year round and watched the wolves take down deer last year in two separate instances out her front door. I am not going to say there is no deer at all and that you will have a tough time finding a 3 point mulie. If you are set on hunting there I would suggest you go do some scouting and see what you think. I would definitely have a back up plan. Way too many predators as was stated. Now you might take a private land deer as the locals feed them and the deer stay closer to the houses but that's more white tail. I wish you luck but its a sad situation over there.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I've worked primarily in the Pateros-Brewster-Bridgeport area for the past 11 years.  Lean times for mule deer, especially on the Okanogan County side.  It all depends on the private land where you have access, if it has good habitat it is probably still a decent place to hunt, but definitely no slam dunk to kill a 3-point even on pretty good private land with exclusive access.

[cbond3318]

Spent the Last couple years there , slim slim slim, there are some good bucks that would come in each winter to Gebbers feed station but I assume those critters don’t leave the Gebbers land. The public land areas are huge and I spent many evenings in all seasons high on the hills  glassing 360 as far as I could see, numerous miles in all directions for sheds and just generally out and about killing time. Amazed at the lack of deer. That whole region is depressed from the Columbia to Concunully to Mazama.

[RileyH]

Cbond has got it figured out.

To expand on my earlier thoughts, unless you can hunt Gebbers land it's a war-zone of people searching for dinker three points. I'd also add that there are a lot of "hunters" that off-road on the public land on 4-wheelers and motorcycles and push the deer into the Gebbers land in the first day or two. I shot a buck 2 or 3 years ago on our property boundary, and had two different ATV's on top of me within 15 minutes (2 miles from the nearest public road) to see what I had killed.

There are some good bucks, but I have not seen any come off Gebbers land since the Carlton Complex Fire. The Gebbers have also gotten less and less inclined to let people hunt their land, they patrol it heavy during season like I said. Ranch hands at a lot of gates, ATV's riding the ridges and glassing for orange, etc.

They have the feed, the salt, and the water.

 

 

[timberfaller]

Had an interesting discussion with a "specialist" after the Hunter Ed. IST was over in Wenatchee.  She brought up that they were looking at the Methow deer and the NE corner of the state.   Wanted to talk to her about the Methow herd since I spent most of my life in the area. 

One comment stuck out and that in reference to the "herd" at present state was "acceptable".   She mentioned something about an easy winter last winter and a lot of deer didn't come down from the high country.

She did understand the concept of the "lack" of logging having a impact on the herd.

She mentioned Scott F. a few times so I really didn't get where she stood with him and his ideas.

When people don't grasp that there is a problem,  solutions will never happen.

[bigmacc]

Had an interesting discussion with a "specialist" after the Hunter Ed. IST was over in Wenatchee.  She brought up that they were looking at the Methow deer and the NE corner of the state.   Wanted to talk to her about the Methow herd since I spent most of my life in the area. 

One comment stuck out and that in reference to the "herd" at present state was "acceptable".   She mentioned something about an easy winter last winter and a lot of deer didn't come down from the high country.

She did understand the concept of the "lack" of logging having a impact on the herd.

She mentioned Scott F. a few times so I really didn't get where she stood with him and his ideas.

When people don't grasp that there is a problem,  solutions will never happen.

 ...your exactly right timberfaller, they either are to arrogant to admit the Methow herd has been mis-managed or that herd is so far down the pecking order of priorities they just don't care. Wolves, cats, bears and many others are top priorities now(I and some folks I know have never seen so many cougars with collars), a lot of money is being spent on predators(studying them, collaring them, helping them thrive, protecting them etc. etc.) and it seems that this deer herd thats a mere shadow of what it once was has taken a back seat, heck they have been kicked out of the car! 

[timberfaller]

At our IST they had a section on the Cougar study they've been doing.   VERY interesting!!  To bad they haven't put that much effort and money into the decline of deer.

Its also amazing how many don't grasp the "bear's" roll in low deer populations.   It has also increased in numbers in the Methow.

[Skyvalhunter]

Just ask Bio Fitkin for his opinion he will tell you there are lots of deer, the doe to buck ratio is at an all time high, & the area can't sustain any more.

[bigmacc]

At our IST they had a section on the Cougar study they've been doing.   VERY interesting!!  To bad they haven't put that much effort and money into the decline of deer.

Its also amazing how many don't grasp the "bear's" roll in low deer populations.   It has also increased in numbers in the Methow.

Absolutely!  I myself have eyewitnessed 3 separate bear attacks and kills on fawns over the last 5-6 years, watched them happen, very hard to watch. The issue is, I had never seen it happen in the previous 50+ years in the Methow, have only seen maybe 8 to 10 bears total in the previous 50+ years, I,ve seen over 15 in the last 5-6, roughly the same thing with cougar numbers, needless to say I have started buying bear and cougar tags the last couple years. If you add up the numbers that just bears, cougars(found 20 cougar kills in the area we hunted this last year in a 10 day period) and coyotes are taking, there is a lot of deer being killed each year(heck a cougar will kill one every 7-10 days), bears and yotes get em when their young, and the cats get them young and old, add all that to growing wolf numbers and that herd has and continues to take a real beating. There is a lot of predators that are packed into that valley, its busting at the seams with them, people are seeing them in there yards, their pastures, under bridges, in barns etc., IMHO I think an emergency measure of allowing hound hunting needs to take place to do some serious predator thinning before someone gets hurt, they have already devastated that herd.   
 

[Skyvalhunter]

I read a RMEF article stating that cougars don't necessarily kill just one deer a week but given the opportunity will kill as many as possible. While doing this they rarely eat much of their kill.

[bigmacc]

I read a RMEF article stating that cougars don't necessarily kill just one deer a week but given the opportunity will kill as many as possible. While doing this they rarely eat much of their kill.

 ....Ive kind of heard and read similar, it seems I remember one cougar on average will kill 40 to 50 deer per year, eat, bury or cover the kill and basically eat on it until it spoils and then kill another. Plain and simple, predators including cougars, especially in the north part of the valley(thats where we found a lot of cached kills this last year)  are killing a lot of deer from Pateros north to 30 mile and everywhere in between.