18 Quality Deer Points..... Where would you go?

[vandeman17]

Im in the 18 point club as well.  I am not holding my breath, but would love to draw so I can zero out and put in for easier tags to draw.  I am pot committed at this point though.

Same with me. I set plans to hunt other states for deer as well as late season whitetail general in wa. If I happen to get lucky that’s great but don’t expect it at all. I think I will be at 17 points this year

[The scout]

Idaho

  That’s exactly what I was going to say. I drew chiwawa unit a few yrs back, I love the unit and have spent tons of time in it. I also had a montana tag in my pocket, i had 10 days to spend in chiwawa, it was fogged in for like 7 days in a row and with snow in the forecast I bailed early and went to montana. Still was a awesome hunt. And I had zero issues eating my tag. But the 16 yr wait to get fogged out was the most disappointing part. I don’t apply in Washington anymore, see 10 times the big bucks in other states.

[Igor]

It's sad to see units like Chiwawa go so far downhill.  In the 80s that used to be our favorite unit.  The buck in my avatar came from the Chiwawa unit.  I still put in for it every year.....just for old times sake.  That unit still has some nice bucks, and would be my recommendation.

[Skyvalhunter]

Saw some nice bucks during that Chiwawa permit time.

[Miles]

I would never wait 18 years for any WA mule deer tag.  Big mule deer are doable (even in WA) without waiting that long for an overrated tag.   Good luck.   Best advice would be look at any other state with easy to draw odds.  It would most likely beat out a 18 year tag in WA. 

[blindluck]

I ran into a special permit holder multiple times this last season in one of the north central units, he hunted from Nov 1, thru November 18 or 19 and ended up shooting a 3 year old 16” 4x4 he was a little disappointed to say the least.

[huntnphool]

 A 20” buck is a no brainer in any of those units, just pick one.

[jstone]

Utah

[jstone]

Jk
Any of those would work
Muzzy.!!!

[buckfvr]

Im in the 18 point club as well.  I am not holding my breath, but would love to draw so I can zero out and put in for easier tags to draw.  I am pot committed at this point though.

Same with me. I set plans to hunt other states for deer as well as late season whitetail general in wa. If I happen to get lucky that’s great but don’t expect it at all. I think I will be at 17 points this year

Your mention of "late season whitetail" reminded me of a notification from NWWG (Northeast Wa. Wildlife Group) at their Jan 4th zoom meeting with the commishes, wdfw staff has floated the idea of changing late season to an 8 day season rather than apr to save some deer, ya right.

[highcountry_hunter]

Idaho

OTC Idaho is better than any current WA unit even with 200 points

[deerlick]

Montana

[dvolmer]

Start applying to other states like MT that are fairly easy to draw and killing 22"-26" wide 4x4 is a realistic goal. 18 points in WA is not even close to a guarantee of drawing a tag in any of those units. I know several people who apply in these same units with 20+ points every year, my self included with 24 points this year. I'm almost 40 and have never drawn a quality or OIL tag in this state, so I'm grateful I started hunting out of state about 15 years ago. You should stop delaying your dreams of killing a decent muley and start saving up to hunt elsewhere imho. 

Best advice on this thread!

[vandeman17]

He said multiple times in his post about not wanting to leave washington state for this hunt. I am pretty sure Idaho, Montana, Utah etc are not in the state of washington but I could be wrong. 

[Mtnwalker]

He said multiple times in his post about not wanting to leave washington state for this hunt. I am pretty sure Idaho, Montana, Utah etc are not in the state of washington but I could be wrong. 

They obviously know better. "Oh you want xyz? No you don't, here let me tell you what you actually want."