Okanogan County special-access deer hunt applications due Aug. 19

[Kain]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/newreal/release.php?id=jul2909a

July 29, 2009
Contact: Matt Monda, (509) 754-4624 ext. 16

Okanogan County special-access deer
hunt applications due Aug. 19

OLYMPIA – Fifteen lucky hunters will have an opportunity to hunt deer this fall on the 6,000-acre Charles and Mary Eder unit of the Scotch Creek Wildlife Area in northeastern Okanogan County.

Hunters can submit an application for the special “limited-entry” deer hunt on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/special_hunts/drawings/deer_hunt_scotchcreek.html or by contacting the department at (509) 754-4624 or (360) 902-2515.

The deadline to apply is midnight Aug. 19.

Fifteen applicants will be chosen in a random drawing scheduled Aug. 20. Winners of the drawing will receive access permits to the Eder Unit of WDFW’s Scotch Creek Wildlife Area near Oroville.

“This is the second year of our effort to provide quality hunting opportunities in this area,” said Matt Monda, WDFW regional wildlife manager. “This special drawing is open to the general public without any additional fees beyond the cost of a hunting license and the standard tags.”

Of the 15 access permits available this year, five will be reserved for bowhunters, five for muzzleloaders and five for hunters using modern firearms. Deer-hunting seasons for the area are Sept. 1-25 for bowhunters, Sept. 26 – Oct. 4 for muzzleloaders and Oct. 17-25 for hunters using modern firearms.

Hunters are allowed to take only one deer, as authorized by their general hunting license.

The results of the drawing will be available on WDFW’s website the last week of August. Hunters who are drawn will receive an access permit and a boundary map in the mail.

[BULLBLASTER]

has anyone here drawn this in the past?
i applied for rifle, not too good chance to draw but i may have tagged out before that(hopefully, i have some targets).
if you have drawn, how was the hunt? deer quality?

[bowhunterforever]

has anyone here drawn this in the past?
i applied for rifle, not too good chance to draw but i may have tagged out before that(hopefully, i have some targets).
if you have drawn, how was the hunt? deer quality?

And is the drawing a point system draw?

[Buckmark]

Not sure on the points being used for this, there was ayoung man though on here that drew that tag last year, lives over there and did tag out, cant remember his name, i'll try to find his post . I do remember him saying there were more hunters than should have been in the unit. Game department said they found like 17 gut piles??

[bobcat]

no points

[BULLBLASTER]

Game department said they found like 17 gut piles??

Now thats a quality hunt for 5 people!!!!!!

[fremont]

Why is it 5/5/5?  Why not weight it based upon the # of hunters who use each hunting method?

[clindsayrun]

Good luck drawing a permit. Now that the words out you had a better chance at drawing a moose tag. I bet close to 4000 people put in this year. And hardly any of them will have ever been up here.

It's a tiny and oddly shaped unit. It surrounds private property, and is surrounded by private property. Access is difficult, and trespassing on neighboring private land will not be tolerated. And I can't think of a land owner that will allow permission to cross their land. At least not on opening day of Modern.

Much of the unit, though you're technically able to hunt, does not hold deer. They live in a couple of areas, and come and go through a few more. Most of the deer feed on the surrounding private lands. There is plenty of vehicular traffic due to the active farming/ranching operations, and depending on the day there may be plenty of cattle on the only land you're able to hunt. A few good deer out there, but no monsters. The man who lives in the center of the Unit has hunted it his entire life, he still has special access. He's got a few pretty nice deer hanging in his basement, but nothing like what you could see in the Entiat. The genetics just aren't there. Years ago a couple of monster whitetail were taken south of the Unit, but their genetic line was wiped out. At least no one has seen any of the big ones for a while now. The best mule deer might migrate through, but the biggest you'll POSSIBLY see might push 150. Most are spindly fork horns with a scattering of skinny 3x. There are bigger, but not many. Some great bucks have been taken in the valley, but not many off the unit. There's a pretty nice one handing in the Texaco in town, but it was taken in 1977.

This year deer movement/migration will be severely restricted. Veranda beach, a new local development installed high deer fences and cattle guards all along/around their property. One of the apple orchards also installed new fence. The deer wont' be able to seek shade/shelter in the orchards or much of the sage country surrounding the unit. They also won't be able to access water at the lake any longer. The herds used to cross to the lake at night to drink. No longer. I think this will hamper their survival efforts come winter when all the easy water on the unit freezes early. As a result the deer will be funneled in to private hunting reserve, as well as private no access land. Lack of water and shelter may also push the deer back into Canada.

The reason they'll only allow 5\5\5 tags is because the Unit really can't support any more hunters than that at any one moment, it's just too small. Hunters are lucky to have an opportunity like this anyway. This is a wintering/migration destination, it was originally proposed to set the entire unit aside to assist in the recovery of the mule deer population. The numbers of deer out there in the deep winter are astounding. With only a few out there in the spring and summer it boggles the mind as to where they all come from. Mostly Canada I presume, but you can't hunt out there in the winter. And believe it or now we only found a couple of small sheds out there this spring, so I don't know where the bucks get off to. The unit is really better suited for archery and muzzle loader. Get away from the houses and sit on a trail, deer will walk by. Modern in fine, just realize that there are houses hidden in valleys, draws and up high in the timber.

After so much poaching last year, lazy people shooting small deer from the road, I though for sure that the number of tags would be cut. Most of the locals are pretty miffed about the whole deal. Used to be a local honey hole, easy meat. Only had to ask, and if the owner was after a particular deer, just not shoot his. Guaranteed doe. Basically guaranteed small whitetail (spike to 3x). And with luck a decent buck.

Anyway that's about what I know.

[Buckmark]

I'm sure that everyone here is aware that this draw application is due by midnite on the 19th (tommorow).
I did post on this back on july 29th about how i remembered reading that someone on the forum had drawn last year and tagged out, said i would try to find the post.
So last night im reading through this and i notice the above post by clindsayrun and as im reading it i keep looking at the pic of the deer and im thinking, i've seen this pic before, so a quick search of his archive posts and i find on page #8 post #106 his post of his hunt there last year, i read though it and i get perplexed by what i read, i then reread his current post above and i find them to be in direct conflict with each other??? Not sure why but i have my suspicions, i do agree that there are alot more people putting in for this app than before and that trophy potiential is very doubtfull, ive hunted this area for along time, but for a draw that does not use your points and where apparently you can tag out on day 1, a 140 gross mule deer without scouting at all and see 2 nice whitetails not a bad draw to put in for.. Just  but the 2 posts are completely different, if my other half draws this tag i'll keep ya posted.

[shanevg]

I'm sure that everyone here is aware that this draw application is due by midnite on the 19th (tommorow).
I did post on this back on july 29th about how i remembered reading that someone on the forum had drawn last year and tagged out, said i would try to find the post.
So last night im reading through this and i notice the above post by clindsayrun and as im reading it i keep looking at the pic of the deer and im thinking, i've seen this pic before, so a quick search of his archive posts and i find on page #8 post #106 his post of his hunt there last year, i read though it and i get perplexed by what i read, i then reread his current post above and i find them to be in direct conflict with each other??? Not sure why but i have my suspicions, i do agree that there are alot more people putting in for this app than before and that trophy potiential is very doubtfull, ive hunted this area for along time, but for a draw that does not use your points and where apparently you can tag out on day 1, a 140 gross mule deer without scouting at all and see 2 nice whitetails not a bad draw to put in for.. Just  but the 2 posts are completely different, if my other half draws this tag i'll keep ya posted.

You ain't kidding, 2 posts less than a year apart and they are completely contradictory.  A year ago this hunter was able to see 400-500 deer a day in the unit, and now it will be hard to find any?     Sounds like a local trying to scare away some hunters from applying to me.

[teal101]

I'm sure that everyone here is aware that this draw application is due by midnite on the 19th (tommorow).
I did post on this back on july 29th about how i remembered reading that someone on the forum had drawn last year and tagged out, said i would try to find the post.
So last night im reading through this and i notice the above post by clindsayrun and as im reading it i keep looking at the pic of the deer and im thinking, i've seen this pic before, so a quick search of his archive posts and i find on page #8 post #106 his post of his hunt there last year, i read though it and i get perplexed by what i read, i then reread his current post above and i find them to be in direct conflict with each other??? Not sure why but i have my suspicions, i do agree that there are alot more people putting in for this app than before and that trophy potiential is very doubtfull, ive hunted this area for along time, but for a draw that does not use your points and where apparently you can tag out on day 1, a 140 gross mule deer without scouting at all and see 2 nice whitetails not a bad draw to put in for.. Just  but the 2 posts are completely different, if my other half draws this tag i'll keep ya posted.

You ain't kidding, 2 posts less than a year apart and they are completely contradictory.  A year ago this hunter was able to see 400-500 deer a day in the unit, and now it will be hard to find any?     Sounds like a local trying to scare away some hunters from applying to me.

I'm applying now

[shanevg]

I'm sure that everyone here is aware that this draw application is due by midnite on the 19th (tommorow).
I did post on this back on july 29th about how i remembered reading that someone on the forum had drawn last year and tagged out, said i would try to find the post.
So last night im reading through this and i notice the above post by clindsayrun and as im reading it i keep looking at the pic of the deer and im thinking, i've seen this pic before, so a quick search of his archive posts and i find on page #8 post #106 his post of his hunt there last year, i read though it and i get perplexed by what i read, i then reread his current post above and i find them to be in direct conflict with each other??? Not sure why but i have my suspicions, i do agree that there are alot more people putting in for this app than before and that trophy potiential is very doubtfull, ive hunted this area for along time, but for a draw that does not use your points and where apparently you can tag out on day 1, a 140 gross mule deer without scouting at all and see 2 nice whitetails not a bad draw to put in for.. Just  but the 2 posts are completely different, if my other half draws this tag i'll keep ya posted.

You ain't kidding, 2 posts less than a year apart and they are completely contradictory.  A year ago this hunter was able to see 400-500 deer a day in the unit, and now it will be hard to find any?     Sounds like a local trying to scare away some hunters from applying to me.

I'm applying now

LOL

I guess anytime someone is willing to type that much stuff in the hopes of discouraging other hunters from applying for a permit must know how good it really is!

[Ghost Hunter]

If your gonna be in the area anyway, give it a shot   You gonna bet the farm on an area you never been   I'm gonna be close, might be fun to try some of the old stomping grounds.  I'll waste a day there if i get drawn

[SpokaneSlayer]

I put myself in for archery and the wife in for rifle.  She wasn't really planning on deer hunting but we could do a day or 2 up there if she got drawn.

[TheHunt]

I put in to see what happens...