Author Topic: rimrock gmu (Read 15296 times)

tony04 · « **on:** May 08, 2009, 10:19:35 PM »

just curious if anyone here hunts the rimrock unit. and what their success is like. pics? the first time i ever hunted for mule deer was opening weekend last season and i didnt see anything. i had no clue where to go, so i just started hiking. i seen some tracks but very few. i did here a few shots though way off in the distance. i plan on going back over there this season and try it again. another question i have, is would i have better luck in a differant gmu near by? like bumping or bethel. and also, do muleys behave like blacktail?

270Shooter · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2009, 10:26:51 PM »

There aren't very many deer in this unit. It is more of an elk area, finding a legal buck here is not an easy task, but it can be done.

bobcat · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2009, 10:27:47 PM »

Any of the units you mentioned have very low success rates, if you look at the harvest reports. If you want to go for mule deer, I'd go just about anywhere other than the Yakima area GMU's. Unless you just want to go for the nice scenery...

tony04 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2009, 10:43:56 PM »

i went there because its not too far from here, and i got invited by my brother inlaw.

gasman · « **Reply #4 on:** May 09, 2009, 05:25:07 AM »

The next better unit (closer) to Rimrock would be Coweche.
Coweche holds deer (more then Rimrock) but the numbers still are not high.

rasbo · « **Reply #5 on:** May 09, 2009, 05:30:17 AM »

Ive sen elk but have yet to see a buck

Dean44 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 09, 2009, 04:54:31 AM »

We saw a couple deer by Tieton Pond last week. They looked pretty healthy. Also a large elk herd.

400out · « **Reply #7 on:** May 09, 2009, 01:21:52 PM »

I actually seen a nice shooter just above tieton pond it almost looked like a high mountain muley but it was during elk

that's all I've seen up there! hope that helps

scoyoc5 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 09, 2009, 01:44:34 PM »

rimrock would be my last choice for deer just not very good numbers in that unit..

Ridgerunner · « **Reply #9 on:** May 09, 2009, 02:21:56 PM »

I've spent alot of time up there th family has a cabin on the lake. Definately not the best deer unit, better for elk, there are definately bucks in there though, if I were you I'd strap on the boots and head into some of the country away from the roads towards the goat rocks, better chances up there. Most of the bucks will be blacktails or crosses, I've seen very few true muleys up there.

tony04 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 09, 2009, 09:45:29 PM »

thanks for the help everyone. im not sure what im gonna do this season.. so do muleys behave like blacktail? do they hide out in the thick stuff? with blacktail, i just walk through the woods at a snails pace, sitting here and there for an hour or 2.

270Shooter · « **Reply #11 on:** May 09, 2009, 09:48:37 PM »

Quote from: tony04 on May 09, 2009, 09:45:29 PM

thanks for the help everyone. im not sure what im gonna do this season.. so do muleys behave like blacktail? do they hide out in the thick stuff? with blacktail, i just walk through the woods at a snails pace, sitting here and there for an hour or 2.

There are many ways to hunt them, you can get on a vantage point and glass, which is tough to do because of how thick this area is...I would find a good game trail that funnels down into a draw and watch that, of course some scouting before season will help here. I see more bucks and bulls on the north facing slopes so I would look there, in the thick stuff.

kirkl · « **Reply #12 on:** May 10, 2009, 10:39:46 AM »

i hunted elk for two weeks there this past season and i think i saw maybe 4 separate deer. 3 does and one 3pt. I wouldnt deer hunt there.

Red Dawg · « **Reply #13 on:** May 10, 2009, 12:03:54 PM »

i would not be scared at all hunting rimrock for deer. There may not be tons of them but the ones you see are typically nice bucks. I have seen several very nice bucks in that country but you have to be part mountain goat to get to them. Still hunting is the key to success in Rimrock.

jdb · « **Reply #14 on:** May 10, 2009, 12:23:56 PM »

fwiw tieton pond isnt in the rimrock its in the bethal. and if you were going to hunt deer in the rimrock(which I wouldnt ) i'd hunt up behind lost lake.

270Shooter · « **Reply #15 on:** May 10, 2009, 04:00:06 PM »

Quote from: jdb on May 10, 2009, 12:23:56 PM

i'd hunt up behind lost lake.

jackelope · « **Reply #16 on:** May 10, 2009, 08:53:58 PM »

i spent 3-4 days in that unit a few years ago elk hunting and saw a really nice buck in the wilderness. i saw a few other deer here and there but nothing to write home about....i have not been back since.

backwoods_boy · « **Reply #17 on:** May 10, 2009, 08:56:18 PM »

i have a ton of info about RIMROCK...ask anyone on this site i can tell you alot about RIMROCK.
just look my topics from last elk season. i have enough for a few hours of reading.

fishunt247 · « **Reply #18 on:** May 14, 2009, 05:32:05 PM »

Used to hunt the rimrock back in highschool, when deer hunting Yakima was good (so like 2005 and prior). I killed my first buck up there, no digital pics, but its a 16" 3 pt, pretty blacktail type horns. But going in blind is not the way to hunt this unit. Its thick as balls, and there aren't many deer. We'd see maybe between 1 and 8 deer a day, but 90% of the time the deer you saw was a buck. Now I think you'd be lucky to see 2 deer a day there, maybe.

backwoods_boy · « **Reply #19 on:** May 15, 2009, 07:45:58 AM »

we spent 3 weeks up in that GUM last year and saw 5 deer. 1 buck and 4 does.

jason4429 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 15, 2009, 02:13:06 PM »

When i was elk hunting up there this year . I saw about twenty deer in two weeks .

Craig · « **Reply #21 on:** May 15, 2009, 02:19:30 PM »

I have posted this picture a couple times. I seen this buck while I was scouting for my elk permit. I think he might be a cross blacktail/muley buck.

270Shooter · « **Reply #22 on:** May 15, 2009, 03:22:53 PM »

All of the deer in this area are Blacktail/mule deer crosses.

Red Dawg · « **Reply #23 on:** May 15, 2009, 03:59:14 PM »

If you are serious about hunting deer in rimrock area send me a pm.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 20, 2009, 09:42:31 PM »

Never hunted Rimrock, but I muzzeloader hunted Cowiche for elk for a full week a couple of years ago and saw a grand total of one benchleg buck. a fork horn. If I were after deer, I would hunt somewhere other than the Yak units. If you insist on hunting there, I guess my advice would be to listen to the guys that know the area, find your buck BEFORE the season starts, figure out where he's going to head when "spooked", then wait there on opening morning.
Good luck.

tony04 · « **Reply #25 on:** May 21, 2009, 06:09:53 PM »

thanks everyone for the help. i really appreciate it! i hope to do alot of scouting. when would the best time to go? august?

sparksbr · « **Reply #26 on:** May 21, 2009, 08:31:12 PM »

I've hunted the Yakima G.M.U.'s my whole life...Pre-season scouting is necessary to find the general areas the deer are inhabiting, yet once the first shots begin to ring out on opening morning, it all goes out the window! With the amount of hunting pressure those deer receive, they are pretty much impossible to pattern. Once this happens, all the mature bucks usually go totally nocturnal and hole up in the nasty *censored*! At that point, it's basically a crap shoot.

You're best bet...As someone previously mentioned, get out and hike! There's no substitute for being out in the woods.

As everyone else has said...Rimrock has deer but they are few and far between.

I'd be up scouting right now! There's lots of places for the critters to hide up in Rimrock!

Good luck!

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #27 on:** May 22, 2009, 08:25:31 AM »

Quote from: sparksbr on May 21, 2009, 08:31:12 PM

I've hunted the Yakima G.M.U.'s my whole life...Pre-season scouting is necessary to find the general areas the deer are inhabiting, yet once the first shots begin to ring out on opening morning, it all goes out the window! With the amount of hunting pressure those deer receive, they are pretty much impossible to pattern. Once this happens, all the mature bucks usually go totally nocturnal and hole up in the nasty *censored*! At that point, it's basically a crap shoot.

You're best bet...As someone previously mentioned, get out and hike! There's no substitute for being out in the woods.

As everyone else has said...Rimrock has deer but they are few and far between.

I'd be up scouting right now! There's lots of places for the critters to hide up in Rimrock!

Good luck!

Good advice. I have found the same thing with the mule deer down here. I got some advice from an old mule deer hunter a few years back that has seemed to work for me the past couple of years.
He said that as soon as the shooting starts the mule deer bucks WILL change their patterns and habits, but when the first shots go off on opening morning they will run along a set "escape route" to their nearest hiding place. What he suggested was to try to pinpoint that escape route by intentionally spooking the deer a few weeks before the season starts. Then come back on opening morning and sit along that escape route. It took me a couple of years to figure out how to make this work, but it does. I killed 2 of my last 4 bucks this way and my son killed his first last fall doing the same thing. In fact the deer I shot in 07 and my son's deer in 08 died about 200 yards from each other in the same draw.
Like I said though, this technique involves finding the deer you want to shoot WELL BEFORE the season starts.

270Shooter · « **Reply #28 on:** May 22, 2009, 03:10:44 PM »

The last time I hunted deer in the cowiche unit (2 years ago), we didn't see anyone hunting, and didn't hear any shots

. We did see 1 camp with 3 guys sitting in lawn chairs, no meat hangin though.

Red Dawg · « **Reply #29 on:** May 22, 2009, 05:05:26 PM »

that is what I was thinkin myself. Not much shootin up there during deer season.

270Shooter · « **Reply #30 on:** May 22, 2009, 07:38:30 PM »

Quote from: Red Dawg on May 22, 2009, 05:05:26 PM

that is what I was thinkin myself. Not much shootin up there during deer season.

Yea my dad was like "Are you sure its deer season?

"

Cause no one is up here.

sparksbr · « **Reply #31 on:** May 22, 2009, 08:04:33 PM »

Quote from: Pathfinder101 on May 22, 2009, 08:25:31 AM

Quote from: sparksbr on May 21, 2009, 08:31:12 PM
I've hunted the Yakima G.M.U.'s my whole life...Pre-season scouting is necessary to find the general areas the deer are inhabiting, yet once the first shots begin to ring out on opening morning, it all goes out the window! With the amount of hunting pressure those deer receive, they are pretty much impossible to pattern. Once this happens, all the mature bucks usually go totally nocturnal and hole up in the nasty *censored*! At that point, it's basically a crap shoot.

You're best bet...As someone previously mentioned, get out and hike! There's no substitute for being out in the woods.

As everyone else has said...Rimrock has deer but they are few and far between.

I'd be up scouting right now! There's lots of places for the critters to hide up in Rimrock!

Good luck!

Good advice. I have found the same thing with the mule deer down here. I got some advice from an old mule deer hunter a few years back that has seemed to work for me the past couple of years.
He said that as soon as the shooting starts the mule deer bucks WILL change their patterns and habits, but when the first shots go off on opening morning they will run along a set "escape route" to their nearest hiding place. What he suggested was to try to pinpoint that escape route by intentionally spooking the deer a few weeks before the season starts. Then come back on opening morning and sit along that escape route. It took me a couple of years to figure out how to make this work, but it does. I killed 2 of my last 4 bucks this way and my son killed his first last fall doing the same thing. In fact the deer I shot in 07 and my son's deer in 08 died about 200 yards from each other in the same draw.
Like I said though, this technique involves finding the deer you want to shoot WELL BEFORE the season starts.

Also good advice! The more tricks you can add to the bag, the better!

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Author Topic: rimrock gmu (Read 15296 times)

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