Central Washington Deer Population

[Romulus1297]

So sad how about a 2024 map? Probably should not even ask.

[NOCK NOCK]

23.............54...................12................36........................18..........................79....2...9.....16.......4.....you get it

[bigmacc]

So sad how about a 2024 map? Probably should not even ask.

Sorry, I removed it, totally worded it wrong.

What I meant was I remember seeing those count graphs back in the 60’s when my dad was working with bios. The numbers I remember seeing are shockingly different from today.

[timberfaller]

Having logged in all those areas circled on that map, seen the herds back in the 70-80's.  Sad thing is, a LOT of the area is now non-accessible except by hiking.  Hundreds of miles of road-abandonment!!    Caused a lot of unnecessary wildfires!

Remember the days line skidding on the Gold Cr. main road during hunting season!!  USFS told us we had to stop doing what we were and let the hunters pass by.  What a nightmare! Lucky to get a load of logs decked in a day!!  Get a couple of logs on the road to clean up, and here would come someone pulling a trailer, stop, clean the road off, move the machine to where the hunter could get by.  Glad we were being paid by the hour!!

[bigmacc]

Do you have any past numbers for comparison?

I posted this a few years ago.  This is from 1938.

Sooperfly, for clarification, you said this map was from 1938? The count numbers are red and blue, is it a comparison of different years? 
Thanks in advance👍

We seen some similar back in the day that were counts of “bucks” and “does” and also seen some that were total deer counts along with a few that even broke them down even more ,ie forked horn or better. Wish I had taken pictures of the graphs. I remember as a kid watching them do the “roundup” up by Sullivans pond where they’d run them into a big net corral,(horseback and at times helicopters)count them, tag some etc., come up with a estimate of what was in the area etc., also based on folks counting who were out in the surrounding area posted in staging areas etc. Then like I said before they would post college kids in routes who also counted, with a “clicker”😆 Deer actually counted on winter turf was done differently and sometimes different than actual “migrations” back in my day. They counted deer coming in, they counted where they ended up and sometimes counted and studied the reverse migration (including fawns) that would head back to summer ranges. IMO, a lot more went into the herd than is being executed these days as far as coming up with “numbers” and counts.

[bigmacc]

Do you have any past numbers for comparison?

I posted this a few years ago.  This is from 1938.

So is what you’re saying is that in 1938 there were more deer in a single drainage that we have in the whole region today? Hum, if only the state would have created a department to manage our deer populations back then…

There was. There was actually folks working for the government watching over, counting and caring for this herd going back to the 1920’s. My uncle Gabe was one of them, helping out in mostly the 30’s and 40’s, I’ve posted pictures of him on here with some of the bucks he killed. His brother eventually went on to work for Alaska Fish and Game, his son eventually worked for Idaho Fish and Game. The actual “Game Department” started buying up land in the Methow in the early 40’s. This is why I asked sooperfly for clarification, if indeed his graphic was from 1938 my uncle may have been involved with the count. Like I said, as a kid and young man I remember seeing many “graphs/count maps” like the one sooperfly posted, some resembled his post. Some were even more detailed and some were not. I remember my dad and some bios going over “count maps” from previous years back in the 50’s and 60’s asking him and my grandpa their opinions of how they thought deer got from point A to point B(migration routes) it was pretty fascinating listening to the conversations. Make no mistake, there’s been government folks, agents, wardens etc watching over this herd and involved with this herd for over 100 years. It’s just the last 30 or so where that has drastically changed, the “herd” in general has been surpassed in importance by the new “darlings”, imho.

[sooperfly]

Do you have any past numbers for comparison?

I posted this a few years ago.  This is from 1938.

Sooperfly, for clarification, you said this map was from 1938? The count numbers are red and blue, is it a comparison of different years? 
Thanks in advance👍

Sorry!  Red is from 1937, Blue 1938.

[bigmacc]

Do you have any past numbers for comparison?

I posted this a few years ago.  This is from 1938.

Sooperfly, for clarification, you said this map was from 1938? The count numbers are red and blue, is it a comparison of different years? 
Thanks in advance👍

Sorry!  Red is from 1937, Blue 1938.

👍 Thank you for the clarification sooperfly, that’s what I had originally thought. My uncle could have been involved.

[no.cen.wa]

Thanks sooperfly and bigmacc for the info and comments! I remember during the 1980's season my Dad and I were on Southridge/Wolf canyon looking south toward the Frazer creek/ highway 20 area of the Methow game range. As we sat watching deer cross over a ridge between Shrive canyon and Peterson canyon. a line of 87 deer crossed heading east. mostly does, a few bucks but no big bucks. I thought that was great till I told my grandfather,,," he had leased a ranch toward Twisp just before the Simmons place."( later was the Tice Ranch)
anyway when I told him of the deer we saw and he replied " THAT'S TOO BAD! He told me he would ride his horse up there and count deer but would lose track when the count got over 1000!
There is nothing there now, maybe see a doe or 2 if lucky. I've never been a guy who could sit still for too long but I'm better at it since I passed 75 years old!
Thanks for the comments tho!

[bigmacc]

Thanks sooperfly and bigmacc for the info and comments! I remember during the 1980's season my Dad and I were on Southridge/Wolf canyon looking south toward the Frazer creek/ highway 20 area of the Methow game range. As we sat watching deer cross over a ridge between Shrive canyon and Peterson canyon. a line of 87 deer crossed heading east. mostly does, a few bucks but no big bucks. I thought that was great till I told my grandfather,,," he had leased a ranch toward Twisp just before the Simmons place."( later was the Tice Ranch)
anyway when I told him of the deer we saw and he replied " THAT'S TOO BAD! He told me he would ride his horse up there and count deer but would lose track when the count got over 1000!
There is nothing there now, maybe see a doe or 2 if lucky. I've never been a guy who could sit still for too long but I'm better at it since I passed 75 years old!
Thanks for the comments tho!

Hey no.cen.wa Good to hear from you.

Yes times have changed. For sure and not in a good way as far as deer numbers are concerned in the valley.

I keep looking at sooperflys count map and can’t believe how far this particular herd has decreased. I had some friends and a couple family members over there in the early winter last year doing “their counts” like our family has done for over a century, dismal, as most know especially compared to what sooperfly posted and what a lot of us on here used to experience. We stopped our spring counts years ago which was my great grandmas favorite part back in the day because of all the fawns she would see, hundreds and hundreds of them. A lot of them in tow heading for the summer range, the reverse migration is what we called it. She would sit in routes for hours, sometimes days at a time with nothing but a tent, some food and a coffee pot. The stories she told of those events was nothing short of spectacular. Those migrations are not even a trickle these days. If even existent.

I know a lot of folks on here have similar stories and memories and they are all true but for some may seem like a “tale”. Especially the stories like your grandfather told you and the stories told by folks with that “history”.

Now days seeing 20-30 deer in those same spots sooperfly showed are reported as “lots of deer” etc. numbers are skewed to bring in license sales etc. Bottom line imo, take care of the herd again, stop coddling the predators and be honest about the decline. They probably can’t wait for some of us to “disappear” so these stories won’t be told anymore 😆

Once again, good to hear from you no.cen.wa👍

[Romulus1297]

Romulus has moved on thanks bigmacc for your stories.

[Skyvalhunter]

It's been nice having you on Rom, enjoy your next adventure.   

[sooperfly]

I posted this picture back in 2010.  15 Years...Oooof.. time is flying.
This is a stitched together picture from six pictures.  So there can be spots that are fuzzy, etc. 

This was the last time I've seen that many deer together in the valley. 

[bigmacc]

I posted this picture back in 2010.  15 Years...Oooof.. time is flying.
This is a stitched together picture from six pictures.  So there can be spots that are fuzzy, etc. 

This was the last time I've seen that many deer together in the valley. 

Great picture. 15 years imagine that same turf 30, 40 or 50 years ago.

I told the story of one time back in the early 60,s I believe when I was sitting on a rock outcropping during hunting season. The weather had hit hard up high about 3 days earlier. I watched over 500 deer at least(to many to count) come through, over a hundred bucks, mostly smaller, spikes,  two points and smaller type bucks, no big boys. It was amazing to say the least. We didn’t have cell phones and we didn’t pack cameras etc back then, pictures were for back at camp. I’m glad I still remember those times, I’ve wrote many of them down for my kids but they sure were a frequent acurrance back then. That “bunch” that came through that day moved through my vision in less than an hour, they were on the move, get from point A to point B type of thing. I remember walking down into the area when I was on my way out, it literally looked like a herd of cattle had just went through, the ground/light snow covered was tore up. Another thing I remember about that experience was how I seen the lead doe come out of a thicket, head down, moving. I knew there were more coming but I had no idea I was going to see what I did.

The next 4 or 5 days( ) I think we killed 7 or 8 big bucks in that same spot. The bigger bucks started moving through, with the next phase. Even those groups consisted of 30, 40 and more deer. I remember our bunch being in there killing 4 big bucks in a matter of about 6 hours. We would get down, gut em and get back only to sit for another hour or so and knock down some more. Yes sooperfly, time does fly. Cherish those memories and moments you have.

“Good ole days”, yes they vary with us all especially depending on age, thanks for following up and thanks for sharing your pictures.

[yakimanoob]

lol good 'ole HuntWA. 7 pages of anecdotes, conjecture, and stories of the good-old-days, and almost zero data (although shout out to Cougeyes for at least mentioning that this information does, in fact, exist, and to skyval and sooperfly for providing some actual numbers ).

2024 Game Status and Trends Report (published in Feb 2025)
https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/02567/wdfw02567.pdf

You've gotta do some reading, but you can find your zone and see the actual population surveys, harvest reports, and hunter-days. For my zone, the population got hit hard in 2015–17 as is well-known, but the population is holding steady and harvests continue to tick up despite falling hunter participation.