Late Palouse Tag Holders

[KP-Skagit]

Gutted and skinned a Methow Whitetail for an older friend during general rifle. Thing was loaded with ticks under the tail. I had them all over me by the time it was done. Gorged ticks on the deer. Not lice.

[salt n sage90]

I shot a buck outside pullman in October that was covered in ticks, but none of them were attached.

The deer over here commonly have Deer Ked or Deer Lice (Lipoptena depressa) during the fall and winter.  The little bugs kind of look like ticks, but are a little bigger, only have 6 legs, have softer bodies and have wings depending on life stage.  I don't know that I have ever seen a tick on any of the 100+ Palouse whitetails I have been involved with gutting, skinning, and processing.

Anderson,

These were ticks. My veterinarian father was there. I know the bugs you're talking about though and they are tick like.

[andersonjk4]

I shot a buck outside pullman in October that was covered in ticks, but none of them were attached.

The deer over here commonly have Deer Ked or Deer Lice (Lipoptena depressa) during the fall and winter.  The little bugs kind of look like ticks, but are a little bigger, only have 6 legs, have softer bodies and have wings depending on life stage.  I don't know that I have ever seen a tick on any of the 100+ Palouse whitetails I have been involved with gutting, skinning, and processing.

Anderson,

These were ticks. My veterinarian father was there. I know the bugs you're talking about though and they are tick like.

Didn't intend to say that what you saw weren't ticks, just putting out the info because I think a lot of people think the lice are ticks.  Very interesting about all the ticks you found on the deer.  Was it toward the Snake River from Pullman? 

   

[buckfvr]

Ked always seem to move or scurry around quite a bit faster than a tick does.  Seen plenty of both, never hunted Palouse but down closer to Starbuck and Dayton and there were plenty of ticks.

[salt n sage90]

I shot a buck outside pullman in October that was covered in ticks, but none of them were attached.

The deer over here commonly have Deer Ked or Deer Lice (Lipoptena depressa) during the fall and winter.  The little bugs kind of look like ticks, but are a little bigger, only have 6 legs, have softer bodies and have wings depending on life stage.  I don't know that I have ever seen a tick on any of the 100+ Palouse whitetails I have been involved with gutting, skinning, and processing.

Anderson,
These were ticks. My veterinarian father was there. I know the bugs you're talking about though and they are tick like.

Didn't intend to say that what you saw weren't ticks, just putting out the info because I think a lot of people think the lice are ticks.  Very interesting about all the ticks you found on the deer.  Was it toward the Snake River from Pullman? 

 

youre all good. It was just outside colfax. We are extra sure they were ticks because we brought some home and they latched onto my dog ha.
BTW my dad just connected on a little WT this morning with this same tag,

[ljsommer]

I'm driving over Wednesday morning and will be hunting WT Weds through Friday, then driving home Friday and hunting BT Sat and Sun. Very much looking forward to the trip!

[andersonjk4]

Looks like excellent late season weather for the end of next week…. Clear and cold. The cold snap should get the deer on their feet a little more during daylight hours. Good luck everyone.

[Britt-dog]

Spent five hours hunting a normally productive piece of private close to home. Zero deer seen, as well as no fresh sign. No tracks, droppings, scrapes or rubs. I knew it was bad watching from a distance, but I’m still surprised.

[Bob33]

Good luck to everyone.

[huntnnw]

with all of this EHD hitting palouse hard Id be willing to bet WDFW does not a single thing to help the deer recover. 1 would be to eliminate next years late tag permits or cut them way down. It only took them 4 years to do something this year about the EHD outbreak 4 years ago. Always a day late and dollar short.

Ya know, help can be administered in many different ways.  One easy way to do it without taking away "opportunity to hunt", is to restrict what can be killed.  Ya I know, the ever unpopular AP restrictions.  They work, dont have to apply to youths, but if we want to keep our opportunity to hunt, we should be happy to hunt but be selective in our kills.  Keep in mind, a good deal of wt can be 4pt at 18 months old.  I think we need to go to a 3pt rule for wt and mules, 3pts, NOT COUNTING BROW TINES, since that is probably the biggest complaint, not being able to see them.  Lets be open to entertaining ideas because change is going to happen, it just has to....wdfw cant continue the dumb down and lying they do so well.

there's been a 3pt restriction on the palouse for 30 years or more. I emailed wdfw a bunch about the state of our deer herd in 2017-2020 several farmers also wrote concerns and 4 years later there was Bio out counting deer this season they cut doe harvest, but the effects of that die off in 2017 had been all but gone we had a huge population of 1-3 yr old bucks.

[salt n sage90]

Just back from the palouse last night. Went over and helped my dad with his deer he had hanging. Quite of few carcasses laying around near water sources. I assume blue tongue. Considerable drop in deer seen in morning and evening hours. Also quite a bit less fresh sign. 4 roosters before my dog slit himself open on a "glass pile" from a draw we were hunting...

[Broomd]

Surprised they even had a season this year, honestly.

We all love to pursue deer, and no dis meant to successful hunters, but with BT at some point the resource needs a break.

[Spuddieselwwu]

I hunted outside of davenport this year on a farm that normally holds a ton of deer.  We saw 2 WT in 3 days of hunting sun up to sun down.  Slow hunted timber, sat in blinds, didn't matter.  We counted 17 dead deer (4 bucks) that were just laying dead near water sources.  Interestingly enough, none had been scavenged... High predator area, too. (Cats, bears, tons of coyotes, etc.)

[salt n sage90]

Surprised they even had a season this year, honestly.

We all love to pursue deer, and no dis meant to successful hunters, but with BT at some point the resource needs a break.

Broomd,
I agree with you. On these years where areas are stricken by disease, perhaps it is better to just refund points or not have a drawing. Though once you give up an opportunity it may not come back in this state. If water is the issue with these diseases, couldn't WSU figure out some sort of cheap water tank system with aeration that prohibits the growth of the midges. This way there are more water sources that spread the deer out a bit more in low water times. Sounds like a great thesis project.

[Broomd]

Surprised they even had a season this year, honestly.

We all love to pursue deer, and no dis meant to successful hunters, but with BT at some point the resource needs a break.

Broomd,
I agree with you. On these years where areas are stricken by disease, perhaps it is better to just refund points or not have a drawing. Though once you give up an opportunity it may not come back in this state. If water is the issue with these diseases, couldn't WSU figure out some sort of cheap water tank system with aeration that prohibits the growth of the midges. This way there are more water sources that spread the deer out a bit more in low water times. Sounds like a great thesis project.

Excellent consideration...maybe someone out there is thinking about this.