NE buck/deer population.

[Skyvalhunter]

Not encouraging to say the least

[10thmountainarcher]

Moose hunting yesterday I counted 12 wolves and 8 cougar tracks, might be a connection?

What unit for moose? I ran into a monster on Saturday.

[birdmanwa]

I talked to a guy that got his moose but had to hunt 20 days and the one he got was the only one he saw. I have seen the normal amount of moose for several years.

[Ridgeratt]

I have hunted 105 for over 40 years and in the last 10 years I will write down on the calendar what the total game my hunting partner and I see for the day when we are out. There has been a continuing down ward spiral. There are folks on this forum that have looked at my calendar. This year we saw only a total of 5 bucks during the early season and the late buck. Most were tiny spikes. When I came back last weekend the game check that is always on 395 at the Deer Park weigh station was not open. Perhaps the WDFW knows something we don't. But get ready for a fee increase due to the loss of the budget. 


Would be interested to see what the deer density per square mile estimates are from WDFW. Excluding the farm deer. I know where I used to have 20/30 in the pasture I now have a doe and a set of twins.   

[Seabass]

They say 10 percent of hunters kill 90 percent of the good deer. I think this is very true over the past few days of the rut my buddies have sent me great pics of big deer they have killed. As I said before changes need to happen but I don't understand how the success rate was 24 percent last year and likely less this year when I pass on bucks mulitable times every season. And yes am hunting public ground get out of your truck and work for it. The numbers are not great but I think that anyone who hunts hard has a decent chance. Or I maybe I have just been lucky for the past 6 years in a row that I have got a deer. Missed a couple before that due to college but a good handful before college. I wish we would get better about the predators but there are still deer out there.

this has absolutely nothing to do with getting out of the truck! Myself along with a dozen friends who are avid whitetail guys . We run hundreds of cams between us have noticed a massive drop off in deer pop and mature bucks. One friend ran over 40 cams in 3 units to never turn up a 150" buck! unheard of in these areas. I have cams in areas just as little as 5 years ago would average 7-10 bucks to now you are lucky to get a deer on camera! I was hunting areas over the weekend where there is virtually 0 sign of deer where once was full of deer! I never saw a fresh rub which was shocking! not even old ones.

I have a circle of WT nuts that I keep in contact with. That circle consists of 8-10 dudes that are all what most would consider "over the top" when it comes to trying to kill big bucks. I wouldn't even wager a guess at the number of trail cams that the group, collectively has in the woods. One guy has 2 bucks in that 140-150" class, 2 other's each have 1 (including 1 giant that I won't guess a score on) and the rest of us have nothing that even resembles a shooter. We are all spread out over 101, 117, 121....even a couple in 124 and 127.

I checked a camera last week in an traditionally good area that had 5-6 bucks on it last year. On a 2 week soak over bait....1 picture of a doe. My most active camera had 3-4 does and 3 young bucks on it.

I have been moving cameras all over the place. I will check some of those new cameras on Friday but my expectations are pretty low.

[Mr Mykiss]

Seems like WDFW is doing an awesome job...everyone has an OPPORTUNITY to look for a big deer in Washington. Everybody wins!!

[idaho guy]

They say 10 percent of hunters kill 90 percent of the good deer. I think this is very true over the past few days of the rut my buddies have sent me great pics of big deer they have killed. As I said before changes need to happen but I don't understand how the success rate was 24 percent last year and likely less this year when I pass on bucks mulitable times every season. And yes am hunting public ground get out of your truck and work for it. The numbers are not great but I think that anyone who hunts hard has a decent chance. Or I maybe I have just been lucky for the past 6 years in a row that I have got a deer. Missed a couple before that due to college but a good handful before college. I wish we would get better about the predators but there are still deer out there.

this has absolutely nothing to do with getting out of the truck! Myself along with a dozen friends who are avid whitetail guys . We run hundreds of cams between us have noticed a massive drop off in deer pop and mature bucks. One friend ran over 40 cams in 3 units to never turn up a 150" buck! unheard of in these areas. I have cams in areas just as little as 5 years ago would average 7-10 bucks to now you are lucky to get a deer on camera! I was hunting areas over the weekend where there is virtually 0 sign of deer where once was full of deer! I never saw a fresh rub which was shocking! not even old ones.

I have a circle of WT nuts that I keep in contact with. That circle consists of 8-10 dudes that are all what most would consider "over the top" when it comes to trying to kill big bucks. I wouldn't even wager a guess at the number of trail cams that the group, collectively has in the woods. One guy has 2 bucks in that 140-150" class, 2 other's each have 1 (including 1 giant that I won't guess a score on) and the rest of us have nothing that even resembles a shooter. We are all spread out over 101, 117, 121....even a couple in 124 and 127.

I checked a camera last week in an traditionally good area that had 5-6 bucks on it last year. On a 2 week soak over bait....1 picture of a doe. My most active camera had 3-4 does and 3 young bucks on it.

I have been moving cameras all over the place. I will check some of those new cameras on Friday but my expectations are pretty low.

Not to derail this with Idaho but I think it’s interesting
You guys aren’t alone on this I put on a few huge hikes last 2 days in places that I have traditionally seen tons of deer and rattled in multiple bucks and me and my family have taken a bunch of nice bucks. Almost no deer sign and seen very few deer. It’s public land but hard to access and some of it you need permission to cross private to get there. All of this is close to Coeur d alene 1 hour or less and some borders wa. It’s like the deer just disappeared. It’s all north of cda seems like if you go farther south numbers are still good I live on acreage out of town and our resident deer are almost non existent as well and we usually just leave them alone during season and used to be all over. We deer hunted south more north central and deer numbers were good or at least what seemed “normal “

[hunter399]

Wdfw need to do population checks on public lands .
Private lands that are not huntable is not opportunity.
Private land owners that don't allow hunting that complain or make reports of problems deer should be round file.

[ellensburgpo]

Wdfw need to do population checks on public lands .
Private lands that are not huntable is not opportunity.
Private land owners that don't allow hunting that complain or make reports of problems deer should be round file.

Just because someone doesn't want to let the general public on their property doesn't mean they shouldn't be taken seriously if they have a deer problem. Have you spent time around some of the hunters out there? The majority I've seen I wouldn't want anywhere near our land with the crazy stuff I've watched. Hunter behavior is responsible for so much private land being off limits, we made our bed in many ways and now we are sleeping in it. IMHO.

[idaho guy]

I agree with you baldopepper, there is a major difference between the two.  I still believe it all comes down to quality food sources per capita for deer.  It helps winter survival and overall herd health.  The comment about doe reduction in key areas was specifically tailored to agriculture areas, they will always out compete a lone buck for food consumption.  With all the public land there is no easy answer, but there in lies my reasonning, people are complaining about WDFW approach to quantitity over quality as far as bucks go.  Sure everyone wants to shoot a buck 140"+ but even this is difficult with antler restrictions in place.  Allowing age structure to project upward is about the only hope to increase a bucks chance of reaching maturity and thereby full potential, but this is all still constrained by available food sources.

I think what you are saying is spot on for the Midwest but is off for the west. You don’t have predators like out west. One lion kills 52 deer a year if that’s all it’s feeding on I don’t even want to know what damage the wolves are doing I think they say 20 plus big game animal per wolf per year but I have seen a lot of not eaten carcasses where they must have been thrill killing.

[hunter399]

Wdfw need to do population checks on public lands .
Private lands that are not huntable is not opportunity.
Private land owners that don't allow hunting that complain or make reports of problems deer should be round file.

Just because someone doesn't want to let the general public on their property doesn't mean they shouldn't be taken seriously if they have a deer problem. Have you spent time around some of the hunters out there? The majority I've seen I wouldn't want anywhere near our land with the crazy stuff I've watched. Hunter behavior is responsible for so much private land being off limits, we made our bed in many ways and now we are sleeping in it. IMHO.

If someone has a deer problem but won't allow a handful of hunters to take care of the problem.They kinda made there own bed having a deer problem.

And don't think there problem should be affecting doe permits and hurting populations on public land.

[rudysts]

Deer numbers have been going down for sometime now if WDFW does not do something about predator control cougar, wolves and bear then it makes no sense to even have a management plan. already there is limited moose I have not seen a calf in the area I hunt in a few years. saw nine deer while hunting including late season I use to count as many as fifty 15 to 20 years ago. I know of 3 other hunters who hunt the area I hunt and we all agree cougars are the biggest problem in our area. one of them showed me a picture of one he shot at close range. he said he thinks it was stalking him. the next day was the first time I was not comfortable walking into my spot at 4 in the morning. worst year ever for me as far as numbers are concerned.