Muley to Whitetail ratio GMU's 121/117

[GASoline71]

Will get a chance to hunt Muzzleloader Deer in these 2 areas and was curious as to how many Whitetail deer are in the area.  Used to hunting Eastern Cascade slope Muley's.  Never harvested a Whitetail before.  I checked game harvest reports on WDFW website and it doesn't break down deer by species.  Unless I was looking in the wrong spot. 

Did a search on here and came up with nothing as well.  I'd still like to harvest a Mule Deer over there.  But if the Whitetail are more prevalent, I might switch tactics.  Would I be right in thinking that the western side of 121 would hold more Mulies and the further east you go it turns to more Whitetails?  We'll be headed over to do a little scouting in another 2 weeks to a month. I don't need to know "where" to hunt... I can find all that on my own by scouting.  Just hoping for a general consensus of deer species.

Hunted turkeys up in 108 for a number of years and all we used to see up there were Whitetails.  Even back then (2000 - 2005) I would tell my hunting partner, "We need to come back up here for Whitetails." So now here I am... going to be in an area where there might be a chance at a Whitetail.  Now it's just me, the wife and our grandson on the hunts.  Who we are raising to be a fine young outdoorsman.    He's 4 years old and is getting very good at anything to do with hunting and fishing.

Gary

[buckfvr]

You can find either from the lake to the highest points in the unit, however, you will most likely see more whitetail.

[baldopepper]

You're basically correct about the western part of unit 121 holding more mule deer, but there is also a good mix of whitetails. The further east you go in the unit the mix of whitetails is much higher. As I drive up hwy  25 it seems to me I see about a 50/50 mix,  but when I head over the top towards Springdale or Colville it's about a 80/20 mix of whitetails to mulies. Tough scouting for a while, deer really go nocturnal as the weather heats up.

[buckcanyonlodge]

I feed deer through the winter along the lake..Highest number has been 120 deer...90 whitetail and 30 mulies..give or take a few....and I have more mulies in this area than ANY area along the lake up to the summit of the mountains to the east. I have hunted this unit from the Spokane rez. to Rice for 20+ years...mulies are found in pockets with some scattered through out. Winter finds more of the mulies down by the lake. Just my observation from spending July through May every year in the area running game cams and hunting... some private land and some public.

[Jonathan_S]

Good advice from some local experts. Also, you definitely will not be seeing as many deer as you saw back in 2000  but there are animals throughout.

[jrebel]

I feed deer through the winter along the lake..Highest number has been 120 deer...90 whitetail and 30 mulies..give or take a few....and I have more mulies in this area than ANY area along the lake up to the summit of the mountains to the east. I have hunted this unit from the Spokane rez. to Rice for 20+ years...mulies are found in pockets with some scattered through out. Winter finds more of the mulies down by the lake. Just my observation from spending July through May every year in the area running game cams and hunting... some private land and some public.

 

This is pretty spot on and has been my experience the few years we have ran cameras on our property.  This spring I spent countless hours and miles throughout the unit and it appears to be pretty consistent theme throughout. 

[GASoline71]

Thank you guys for the quick replies.  Some excellent advice given, and I really appreciate it.  I'll also be cruising around 117 a bit just to see what the area looks like for Moose.  We are in the wheelhouse in points to draw hopefully next year, and that is the area I'm putting in for.

Even though I really love Mulies, I'm looking forward at attempting to harvest a Whitetail deer this fall if we see one. 

Gary