Late Palouse Tag Holders

[elkboy]

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.

I tried to start a discussion on this, but dealing with it as a landscape-scale issue... didn't seem to elicit much interest. 
https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,265747.0.html

[ljsommer]

Just got back last night, here's my update:

Day one hunted ag fields and watched a river bottom for movement. Covered ground and glassed a lot. Still hunted a game trail and ran into a very curious doe. End of the evening a different doe showed up right before dark, with the tiniest spike I've ever seen about 10 minutes behind her. Cold and clear but very little movement.

Day two I hiked up into some forested hill country to hunt some cuts. The weather was mid 30's and spitting snow with a trace of snow on the ground. On the way in saw a doe and fawn crossing a trail and then later bumped 4 more doe bedded on a cut slope just below me. I set up camp and hunted till dark but no deer movement to speak of. Snow started coming in and on my hike back to camp I noticed bobcat tracks following mine to my evening glassing spot, which was neat.

Day three was cold and very wet. Overnight more snow had rolled in and dropped a couple more inches but then turned to freezing rain, which soaked everything I had. Optics were difficult to use, and it became very hard to stay warm. Still, conditions felt perfect for deer movement and the tracks in the snow told a story that there were plenty of deer in the area (bucks included) but there was zero daytime movement.

I packed up and headed back to the truck and drove home late in the day, and am awake now typing this about to head out for blacktail. Overall the hunt was fun and it's beautiful country, and I'd love to see what this tag is like at peak whitetail numbers. Still, there were definitely deer where I was at and I am sure a better hunter could've capitalized.

So, question: I've never hunted whitetail before but I've seen plenty of blacktail rut movement, and I was under the impression this tag was a whitetail rut tag. Is it just a numbers thing or was this indicative of what a whitetail rut looks like? The movement patterns I was seeing (mostly nocturnal movement, or at the very least hints of crepuscular) didn't feel "rutty" to me.

[Caseknife]

The WT buck that I got yesterday, little after 4pm, was definitely getting interested in the does, but they weren't having anything to do with him.  Neck wasn't swollen at all and he had no odor whatsoever.  From that little indicator, I would say that the WT rut is just starting in NE WA.  Archery hunters should be right in the middle of the rut.  This was the only mature buck that I had seen in daylight, couple spikes prior, everything was still nocturnal.

[nwwanderer]

Bucks that spend months alone or with a bachelor group on a few acres now start taking long walks and shun their former peers.  They are eating little and do the strangest things.  Strange to us, not them.  A track or whiff can send them back where they came from or cause a 90 degree turn that might bring them on your porch to fight with their own image reflected in a slider.  If you scout a bunch, you will see bucks appear that were not seen all summer.  Great time to be out

[andersonjk4]

The late Palouse permit season, and the late seasons to the north, are not quite peak rut tags. The 19th - 24th are usually the peak rut times. That being said the late Palouse tag is usually good for seeing quite a few bucks. I think your three day hunt was just too small of a sample size. The short timeframe coupled with lowered populations equals tough hunting. Whitetails have a larger range than blacktails, so a buck out cruising won’t necessarily show himself in the same spot every day. He is likely on a several day loop. I’ve got a few cameras up and have been getting pictures of bucks at all times of day and night all November.

[boneaddict]

The rut is most certainly on.   This fall has had some seriously weird weather that has dampened their activity a bit, but I think your window is outside of that.  My guess is just inexperience with the species, and small window or sample size as mentioned above.   The more experience you get the more you will be able to capitalize. 

[ljsommer]

Thanks for the info. Didn't see any deer on the morning hunt but dropped 2 coyotes.

[ljsommer]

So was everyone else as unsuccessful as I was? I expected more updates to this thread.