121

[Zag11]

Hunted 121 pretty hard for 4 days on public 3000+ ft land and didn’t see a buck. One day nothing, the rest just does. Wednesday (yesterday) at last light had a doe and bigger bodied grey-er looking deer. Though for sure it would be a buck but wasn’t. Anyone else have similar experiences?

Hoping late archery might get some action!

Also saw what looked to me like a good amount of wolf tracks in certain areas. Usually see a ton of moose where I go and only saw one big bull that came a little too close for comfort.

[BKF509]

I had the exact same experience, only in GMU's 113 and 117. 3.5 days of hard, patient hunting. I saw 3 does, all 3 without fawns, and zero bucks. I usually see way way more animals this time of year...
I hunted anywhere from 3200' to 5200' in elevation

[Shooter4]

Same in 121 the rut sucks for modern rifle it doesn’t get cold enough during late buck and blue tongue on top of that doesn’t help.

[mcrawfordaf]

I split every opportunity between 117 and 121.

117 I saw a lot of doe and 1x buck pre-season on private.

121 I saw a lot of doe, 1x spike and 1x buck on private about 15 mins before end of legal shooting.

A lot of bear crap and a lot of wolf track.

[buckfvr]

The deer numbers just arent there.  Doesnt have anything to do with temps/weather at this point, weapon choice/season wont matter.  You will still be hunting few deer.  Yes there are some bucks around, but not many, and most are young.  Cats, wolves, and bear have our ungulates on a serious downward spiral and Blue Flu took an incredible number of deer from our herds.  It wont get better anytime soon.

[johnhart84]

Had a nice 4 point bedding on my property and heading out on my field over the past week. Well this weekend at 1am I heard a single shot. Went out to my field to find someone drove over my crop to get a deer. Since I live near stateland I decided to go to a known camp and found the 4 point hanging. I didnt have to say a word before they started stating they hunt approximately 6 miles away. I stated it's funny how the boot prints in there camp are strikingly similar to the boot prints in my field where deer hair and blood was found. Needless to say I called fish and game dispatch who stated nothing can be done since it was not witnessed. Basically telling me I am wasting there time. Pretty messed up since they can very easily cross reference the hair or blood from my field to the deer hanging in there camp, which is not expensive. Fish and game can also ask them to take them to the kill spot to prove they shot it on stateland. At the end of the day, it is frustrating as my son got his license this year and we were going to hunt this deer last weekend. Wish our wildlife department truly cared about prosecuting true poachers going to extreme lenghts to trespass and shoot animals during non-hooting hours. This was 121. Have a little spike and a small 3 point also running around.

[baldopepper]

Public ground around me got hunted very hard this year.  Seemed every back road (and trails) had a orv cruising it. Deer got pushed down on the private ground very quickly.As the season wore on more and more deer showed up on the private, posted property around the house. Is it mandatory that you have to have a side by side to hunt deer? Saw them cruising back country areas where I've never seen them before and white tails don't care much for that. Whitetail numbers seem to be down, but mulies around me are doing very well. Lots of fawns and several nice bucks hanging around

[Zag11]

Thanks for the responses. Everything pretty much in tune with what my experience was. Wish I could lay eyes on a cougar one of these days and get a crack at it. Sad to see less and less moose every year as well.

[Ryans71]

Also hunted 121 & 117 from Saturday - Tuesday.  All state land.  During previous years we've seen many deer on fields at dusk.  Those same fields had 1/3 or less this year.  Called and talked with one landowner in 117 that had their normal locals hunting it since the beginning of the late deer.  She usually has 10-12 bucks a year taken off her farm, this year, none. 

[huntnnw]

Same in 121 the rut sucks for modern rifle it doesn’t get cold enough during late buck and blue tongue on top of that doesn’t help.

Cold enough? Has absolutely nothing to do with rut!

[greenhead_killer]

All based on length of the days. Could be 80 and they will still rut when the days get shorter. I prefer it being cold though!

[hunter399]

The deer numbers just arent there.  Doesnt have anything to do with temps/weather at this point, weapon choice/season wont matter.  You will still be hunting few deer.  Yes there are some bucks around, but not many, and most are young.  Cats, wolves, and bear have our ungulates on a serious downward spiral and Blue Flu took an incredible number of deer from our herds.  It wont get better anytime soon.

I've hunted and lived 121/117 my whole life.
This is the truth.Almost gospel .

[hunter399]

Public ground around me got hunted very hard this year.  Seemed every back road (and trails) had a orv cruising it. Deer got pushed down on the private ground very quickly.As the season wore on more and more deer showed up on the private, posted property around the house. Is it mandatory that you have to have a side by side to hunt deer? Saw them cruising back country areas where I've never seen them before and white tails don't care much for that. Whitetail numbers seem to be down, but mulies around me are doing very well. Lots of fawns and several nice bucks hanging around

I also have to agree with this.
The going behind gates and down closed roads with atv/sxs is getting pretty old. I hunt 95% public land ,closed roads ,walk in areas. So you can imagine my frustration.
Sometimes I walk around in areas that are open to drive also.My frustration gets to me then also but not so bad.
I parked at this one road ,fresh snow,no tracks truck or people.So I walked a mile or two up the road.Guy pulls up ,says hay your too high up all the deer are lower. Not a 100 yards up the road ,set of buck tracks crossing the road.
It was like sure,yup,ya your right. The lower portion of the road down by my pickup looked like a hiway by the time I walked back down.Its like this guy parked and his footprints are in the snow,we better get up there.