Far Fewer NE Deer

[halflife65]

340 and 342 are just south of Ellensburg.

I've been hunting on the North side of Ellensburg, although I shot a deer this year in Manastash...still, I didn't see many deer the one day that I was down there but I'm glad that coach has been seeing a few more.

The north side of the freeway is still pretty poor.  I ALWAYS see a couple of legal bucks when I'm elk hunting and haven't seen anything but a few does this year.  However, the majority of the does had fawns and a lot of them had twins, so that's probably a good sign - also a sign that the population is depressed.

[colockumelk]

if the game dept. could just get out of the way and let the people who actually care about the future of hunting take over and I bet private citizens could build a better population than what wdfw has produced. If it wasn't for our revenue we produce this bunch of liberal whackjobs would have tried to shut us down along time ago. 

 
And we'd also be able to balance our budget unlike the WDFW.  How awsome would that be.  Keep the game bios and the game wardens and then make up committees for each region or two committees per region.  And then each year those committees could meet a few times to hammer out changes in the game regulations.  I bet you our state would be awsome for hunting.  

Oh well you know what the WDFW says?  If it aint broke make sure it is.  Or if it's already broke keep breaking it until you can't recognize it.

Websters says:  INSANITY:  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.  

[Machias]

They need to eliminate the doe tags until the herd rebounds.  I thought that was one of the reasons they always cited for the regs being so late so they could adjust seasons according to what is happening on the ground.  We as hunters though can do our part and not take does in the NE part of the state even if they are legal game.  

[wolfbait]

One thing I have really noticed is how few of deer are out in the mountains this year in NE WA. The last couple winters have really hammered our deer population. Hopefully we have some milder winters coming up.

According to my buddy Al, we shouldn't be getting these hard winters.

Easy winters won't matter once you have wolves in your neck of the woods. It don't take to long to notice that your deer keep getting fewer and fewer each year. The okanogan hasn't been very good hunting for more than a few years now.

[boneaddict]

The elk are doing well.  Surprised me. 

[270Shooter]

I saw 5 deer last year on the late buck hunt. All were from the truck too. I almost cried

[bearpaw]

We have been all over the northeast mountains nearly every day since before Sept 1, many days we saw no deer in the mountains and that is just amazing, I will admit there are more deer in the agricultural areas, but the numbers are down some in the farmlands too.

[WAcoyotehunter]

I have not seen many deer in the mountians either.  I wonder what the doe kill is for archery and MZ hunters?  I think they are still any deer in much of NE washington.

[bearpaw]

Yes still either-sex for bow or muzz, youth, and seniors.

[boneaddict]

Much of the Methow is the same Bearpaw.   There are still pockets with some deer, but it certainly is lower overall. 

[bearpaw]

There are many people who will blame the WDFW for this decline, but the deer decline in NE WA really has nothing to do with WDFW management practices, it was deep snow in our area two winters in a row that killed our deer. We had 36-40 inches snow on the ground at my house which is close to some deer winter range for several weeks both of the last two years. Killed the dickens out of the turkeys too....

The WDFW has greatly reduced antlerless tags which will help for a couple years. I do agree with Machias, 0 doe tags for a couple years might be even better. Our deer go in cycles here, every 5-10 years we get a hard winter that takes 30% to 80% of our deer, but in 3 to 5 years the numbers rebound pretty good. Perhaps we could assist that rebound.

wolfbait has made a good point, if we get wolves multiplying here, especially while deer numbers are down, our deer herds could really suffer.

I also agree with boneaddict our elk are increasing, the winters have not been so tough as to hurt the elk so bad, they can take a harder winter.

Some of the guys I know who work for the WDFW have told me that quite a few moose perished the last couple years, but their numbers still seem to be strong.

The wild card here in NE WA is the wolves, hopefully it will not be another Idaho, but I am worried about that as you all can tell by my many wolf posts.

[SHANE(WA)]

Whats even scarier with the wolf population expanding here in NE WA is the moose! this little corner of WA has turned into world class moose hunting if lucky enough to draw a tag.The elk have also began to explode up here in the last 10 yrs, all of this may be in jeoparody with a increasing wolf population, wrong word saying "maybe" it will!

[bearpaw]

Whats even scarier with the wolf population expanding here in NE WA is the moose! this little corner of WA has turned into world class moose hunting if lucky enough to draw a tag.The elk have also began to explode up here in the last 10 yrs, all of this may be in jeoparody with a increasing wolf population, wrong word saying "maybe" it will!

Re: maybe

I was trying to be politically correct so I didn't get blasted too bad....

If you check out my wolf page you will know exactly what I think....

[SHANE(WA)]

 
 I have looked at it several times 

[goosegetter79]

Mom and step dad live about 7 miles north of chewelah right along 395 and they've got 6-7 bucks every evening coming in by there house(1/2 mile away). I know where i'm going for my deer!