NE buck/deer population.

[Jonathan_S]

It's pretty bleak right now.  Can't believe they changed it back to "any deer" for late archery this year.  Populations are generally lower (by my estimation) than they were when they were changed to "any buck".

Of course the shiploads of hunters are back to try and kill a whitetail doe now.  Amazing how these animals can withstand so much abuse and still be viable.  Mature bucks are still around.  Does and fawns are less and less

[dibbs]

Whitetail AND Mule deer populations are in the toilet in many/most areas of Eastern Washington.  Doe seasons, and likely deer seasons in general should be closed for a year or two to let the populations rebound. 

WDFW is treating deer herds as an unlimitied resource, and I truly believe has absolutely no idea of the severe decline in numbers out there and how poor the populations are.

Multi season tags, too liberal seasons, second tags and way too many predators has to change. The state has NO wolf management program, quotas on cougars, and doesnt  allow hound hunting for cats and bears.   

In general,  mis-managment of a resource & overhunting.

I'd hunt on a draw if I had a chance of harvesting something decent every couple years.

WE as sportsmen, need to flood WDFW / and the game comission with letters and emails and let them know what a crappy job they are doing, and that they need to change things prior to next years seasons.  Please get involved, make some noise so maybe there will be a deer or two left for our childern/grandchildren.

[baldopepper]

Area 121:
Archery: Sept 1-26. Any whitetail
Muzzleloader: Sept 29-Oct 7 Any whitetail
Modern: disabled/youth. Oct 13/14, Oct20/21 Any whitetail
Special Antlerless: Oct 13-26. 225 permits
Combine all these with the any buck option and you have a tremendous amount of pressure. Seems every hunting group I saw this past opening had  at least one youth Hunter with them looking for a doe. Great to see the young hunters out, but have to wonder if this is in the best interest of the whitetail herd

[boneaddict]

WE as sportsmen, need to flood WDFW / and the game comission with letters and emails and let them know what a crappy job they are doing, and that they need to change things prior to next years seasons.  Please get involved, make some noise so maybe there will be a deer or two left for our childern/grandchildren.

Problem is most are screaming for more opportunity and the selective hearing responds well when it means more 💰


Once again this oh it has to be antlerless for youth hunting is a bunch of .....   you can fall in love with hunting and become successful without having to harvest a doe.  If management of a healthy herd needs it, then yes it’s an opportunity. Otherwise shame on the department and shame on us hunters.

[Jonathan_S]

 

[vandeman17]

WE as sportsmen, need to flood WDFW / and the game comission with letters and emails and let them know what a crappy job they are doing, and that they need to change things prior to next years seasons.  Please get involved, make some noise so maybe there will be a deer or two left for our childern/grandchildren.

Problem is most are screaming for more opportunity and the selective hearing responds well when it means more 💰


Once again this oh it has to be antlerless for youth hunting is a bunch of .....   you can fall in love with hunting and become successful without having to harvest a doe.  If management of a healthy herd needs it, then yes it’s an opportunity. Otherwise shame on the department and shame on us hunters.

Spot on. I am all about doing whatever is needed to help the herds of pretty much all deer in Eastern WA.

[baldopepper]

Kind of puzzling to me also, one group I ran into of two dad's each with their son, laughed that they didn't like eating deer meat and if they got one they'd probably give it to friends.

[birdmanwa]

As mentioned earlier. It’s not just one thing contributing to the declined deer population. It’s a lot of things. I believe some of those things we can control. When they had the 4pt rule. The population was good and the buck to doe ratio was actually somewhat decent. I think harvesting does is a good thing when it’s mannaged. There’s are a ton of Barron does that could be taken out but I fear a lot of momma’s are shot since it seems as the season goes on, you see a lot of single fawns. I think we have control over some of the things that are hurting the population but how can we relay it to the state? It doesn’t take a lot of effort or looking to see the population is low. Just drive around and look at the fields. 

[Jonathan_S]

Tons of barren does?  Just because they don't have a fawn with them in fall doesn't mean they aren't viable 

[SpurInSpokane]

It seems to me that the whitetail management objective in 124 at least must be reduction of conflict. This past season they opened up the entire unit to 2nd deer tags (permit 1410), and gave out 350 antlerless permits in the area (not including youth, over 65, etc). Previously it was limited to a smaller area of mostly private land in unit 124 (deer area 1040? 1050?)
It's a pretty classic paradox in using hunting as a management tool to reduce numbers, because the hunters doing the managing usually have an interest in keeping population levels up, while those who are sustaining crop damage certainly want to see numbers drop.
Another potential reason to keep whitetail numbers low, esp in the 124 area, is possibly to reduce competition with mule deer (I don't know that that's an objective of WDFW, just a possibility).
I can't speak to the other units in the corner. I suspect bears and cougars are doing a lot of damage, wolves are adding some to that...like others have said, lots of things probably combining.

[weatherbow21]

Sounds about like our blacktail populations.

[Seabass]

One thing that was interesting about the 4-point restriction years...I didn't notice ANY difference in the hunting pressure where I was at.

I DO remember hearing a ton of hunters claim that they would boycott those areas and all the pressure would fall on the areas without the restrictions. I don't believe that actually happened...certainly not in the area of 121 that I hunt. Literally nothing changed as far as the number of hunters in the woods goes.

We are going to need some light winter's and disease free/fire free summer's if we are going to get back on track. The department isn't going to do anything about the issue...most of us wouldn't allow them to even if they had the stones to try.

I was shocked to see the doe harvest during late archery get re-introduced in 121....almost fell on my sword arguing about it with a buddy. I didn't believe it until I read if for myself.

[fishngamereaper]

I'm in North Idaho right now.. some areas we are working are on the state line. We have seen very few deer. I've actually seen more elk than deer. Lots of moose sign...5 sets of wolf track's and at least ten different cat track's.  We've had cats following our track's.  It's not just Washington... this hunt Used to be a slam dunk...

[TommyH]

i think its a combo of alot of things, predators,winters,disease and hunting have all taken their toll. I have very good friends who are avid whitetail guys complaining how bad it is. I have never witnessed whitetail hunting in this state as bad as it is today.

  They seem few and far between this year.

[Jimmy33]

We need to have 3 separate types of tags: whitetail, blacktail, and mule deer. You have to choose. I also feel like there should be a quota by way of a draw for mule deer.


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