The whitetails cometh....

[bustedoldman]

Went out shooting dogs and deer watching this weekend out by Ritzville, usually go out 10-14 times between Dec-Mar, It's not uncommon to see a WT or 2 but this weekends count was 37!! All in 1 day!

[elkboy]

Nice!

Numbers are up down this way as well.

[bustedoldman]

They are moving west in greater numbers.....I have heard of them over by Yakima and Cle Elum but have never saw any myself.......

[chukarchaser]

this is not good news for mule deer.

[Russ McDonald]

I saw a wt doe on Green Mt. above Verlot years ago.

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[dilleytech]

I have a white tail shed from around goldendale. But it’s like 10 yrs old now.

[ThurstonCokid]

this is not good news for mule deer.

Why’s that? Serious questions!


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[dilleytech]

Goldendale

[Jonathan_S]

this is not good news for mule deer.

Why’s that? Serious questions!


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Idea being that whitetails live year round on mule deer winter range.

Would seem that if the mule deer are never going to be recovered in those benchleg areas, might as well let the whitetail move into them. WT are better in those high pressure zones at surviving and multiplying.

[nwwanderer]

Saw a bunch at west end of Sprague lake, not far from the pronghorns

[DOUBLELUNG]

I finally saw a live whitetail in the Monitor Flats area (just west of Wenatchee), a doe and fawn in the headlights along Lower Sunnyslope Road.  Over the past 19 years I've seen two roadkill on Highway 2/97.

[snake]

I saw more white tail this year than I have in the last 3 years combined.  The population went up this year for sure. I was in the NE

[OutHouse]

Goldendale

I've been hearing about them in/around goldendale since I was a kid. Been there a long time I think. Methow is increasing as well.

[chukarchaser]

Whitetails are more aggressive and territorial than MD.  While there range can does overlap in certain areas, they do not get along and over time MD will get pushed out and leave.  That is why Central WA has had an any buck tag for WT for years. 

[jstone]

Been around Wenatchee for a long time

[Alchase]

Whitetails are more aggressive and territorial than MD.  While there range can does overlap in certain areas, they do not get along and over time MD will get pushed out and leave.  That is why Central WA has had an any buck tag for WT for years. 

Texas Mule deer would disagree with you.

I also believed this before moving to Oklahoma. After reading up on Texas Muleys they have had no problem competing with whitetails. There is no winter range or migration there, yet you can find both in the same Game Units.

[buckfvr]

I think it has more to do with crop depredation (any whitetail buck) than mule conflict.  Thats an old line that has been around as long as I can remember but really hasnt been thought to be significant.  Also, summer temps in central wa make the threat of blue tongue even worse than it is in the Blues or the northeast.  Yes we know they are there but not in great numbers that habitat would suggest.

[Jonathan_S]

Whitetails are more aggressive and territorial than MD.  While there range can does overlap in certain areas, they do not get along and over time MD will get pushed out and leave.  That is why Central WA has had an any buck tag for WT for years. 

Texas Mule deer would disagree with you.

I also believed this before moving to Oklahoma. After reading up on Texas Muleys they have had no problem competing with whitetails. There is no winter range or migration there, yet you can find both in the same Game Units.

  also there would have to be mule deer in some of the 300 series units for me to care about them 

[elkboy]

Something else to consider is that we have altered the landscape in favor of whitetails, with forest patches becoming denser due to fire suppression and irrigated or otherwise productive farm fields producing higher quality forage that whitetails need. A good example is where I live- the Palouse- which was historically shrub steppe and ponderosa woodland, and was mule deer habitat. Now, with denser forest patches and lots of garbanzo beans and winter wheat, it is known more for white-tailed deer.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Something else to consider is that we have altered the landscape in favor of whitetails, with forest patches becoming denser due to fire suppression and irrigated or otherwise productive farm fields producing higher quality forage that whitetails need. A good example is where I live- the Palouse- which was historically shrub steppe and ponderosa woodland, and was mule deer habitat. Now, with denser forest patches and lots of garbanzo beans and winter wheat, it is known more for white-tailed deer.

I agree that human effects are a bigger factor in changes in mule deer and whitetail abundance than direct competition between the two species.  In addition to the habitat changes, when both species are hunted under common general seasons outside the rut, mule deer are harvested at a higher rate than whitetails.

The Black Hills of Wyoming and South Dakota offer an interesting situation where the opposite is true.  The BHNF is managed for ponderosa pine very similar to private industrial forest lands with primarily even-age management and seed tree clearcuts being the norm.  This has opened up the habitat and favored mule deer over whitetails, it is one of the few public land areas where both species overlap that mule deer abundance has increased and whitetails declined.

[Karl Blanchard]

Whitetails are more aggressive and territorial than MD.  While there range can does overlap in certain areas, they do not get along and over time MD will get pushed out and leave.  That is why Central WA has had an any buck tag for WT for years.

this isn't entirely accurate. 300 series guys don't have a whitetail season at all except 373, 379,  and 381.

[elkboy]

Something else to consider is that we have altered the landscape in favor of whitetails, with forest patches becoming denser due to fire suppression and irrigated or otherwise productive farm fields producing higher quality forage that whitetails need. A good example is where I live- the Palouse- which was historically shrub steppe and ponderosa woodland, and was mule deer habitat. Now, with denser forest patches and lots of garbanzo beans and winter wheat, it is known more for white-tailed deer.

I agree that human effects are a bigger factor in changes in mule deer and whitetail abundance than direct competition between the two species.  In addition to the habitat changes, when both species are hunted under common general seasons outside the rut, mule deer are harvested at a higher rate than whitetails.

The Black Hills of Wyoming and South Dakota offer an interesting situation where the opposite is true.  The BHNF is managed for ponderosa pine very similar to private industrial forest lands with primarily even-age management and seed tree clearcuts being the norm.  This has opened up the habitat and favored mule deer over whitetails, it is one of the few public land areas where both species overlap that mule deer abundance has increased and whitetails declined.

Very cool example, Doublelung.  I think that is another example of why restoring open-structured ponderosa pine is the way to go in places like the east Cascades.  Reminds me also of the irregular thinning and prescribed fire that WDFW did in the Sinlahekin Valley to help mule deer and bighorn sheep.     

[gutsnthegrass]

One of the guys in camp this year saw a whitetail doe up on Stormy mt. in the Entiat this last season.  I shot a small buck down low in the Entiat, but have never seen them as high a Stormy.

[DOUBLELUNG]

One of the guys in camp this year saw a whitetail doe up on Stormy mt. in the Entiat this last season.  I shot a small buck down low in the Entiat, but have never seen them as high a Stormy.

A coworker saw one there also, south side of Stormy?