Far Fewer NE Deer

[bearpaw]

great....feel free to pass around the link...

The sole purpose of that site is to expose all the info about wolves that the media will not show us so that people will hopefully ask for a balanced wolf plan.....

[boneaddict]

What got the moose, especially on the Idaho side were the trains.  Killed hundreds of them.  The snow was deep but obviosuly the tracks were open, and they wouldn't get off of them.  Ever follow a moose on the road.  They could go for miles before jumping off the road.  Trains don't slow down.

[SHANE(WA)]

I have a friend that works for BN, he was telling me sad stories about animals they had hit, ran over 5 herd bulls once, ran over a whole herd of elk! cutting them out of the axles later, trapped from snow

[Palmer]

I  was in the Priest Lake area of Idaho over the Labor day weekend and saw plenty of sign along with getting snorted at.  I also saw plenty of sign around Newport.  

Here is my report for last year.  The population did seem lower but the winter kill seemed to affect the younger deer that are easier to hunt.  

After hunting North Idaho and 113 I noticed the deer population was down.  So there were more hunters because many had not gotten their deer yet.  I heard less shooting and out of the shots I heard, they sounded like misses and several shots at a time (usually means they sort a missed or wounded).  We ( 3 of us) personally saw over a 6 day period:
6+ does, anterless                          Whitetail
1 buck   1 yo       2x3 point              WT
2 bucks  2 yo  4 point and 5 point      WT
3 bucks app. 5 yo  4 pt, and 5 pt      WT
1 buck  app. 8 yo   3 pt                   WT

Last year we saw 25+ does, anterless and 2 that were a year and a half old as well as 3 mature bucks 4 - 5 years old.  

So we saw half as many deer last year.  Furthermore out of the 25+ anterless some could have been male fawns.  Last year we saw fewer fawns or yearlings.  The older bigger deer tend to make it through the winter but they are wily and will hold in the cover if they know they are being hunted.  Sit still and be patient if you know where they are hiding out.

[boneaddict]

You should have seen PRiest lake about the end of January.  Its a wonder anything survives out there. 

[SHANE(WA)]

Alot of people dont say much about 2 years ago! I lived in Clayton then, double the amount of snow than last year 160" it was insane, people get all excited over last year cause spokane got a bunch finaly, but the outlying areas 2 yrs ago was BAD

[boneaddict]

I agree, the year before was worse in a lot of areas.  Hell there was 2 feet of snow ON the columbia river over there and there usually is none for long.

[batsquatch]

strange thing is if it is winter, kill where are all the bones? I do alot of hiking around where there used to be tons of deer and no bones.

[WAcoyotehunter]

strange thing is if it is winter, kill where are all the bones? I do alot of hiking around where there used to be tons of deer and no bones.

The deer population in NE washington has taken a hard hit the last two years.  We are currently at (estimated..not sure how accurately?) 40% of what we were in fall 2007.  I found lots of evidence of winter kill while I was hiking this winter and spring.  The coyotes also had a field day with the deer. We found far more coyote kills than lion kills.

[boneaddict]

SOme of that is that they are in yarded up pockets.  Where you find some bones it looks like a mass burial.  The whitetails have been taking some hits for several years now with the drought and black tongue then hard winters.  The type of snow etc.   The biggest hit was winter of 07 when the population hadn't been thinned.  That also put a dent into fawn recruitment (lots were absorbed, less twins etc)  Then you had strong robust animals going into winter of 08, which in some areas was another doozie.  Good strong animals though.  Again, hard on recruitment so the rebound didn't happen, but there were fewer bone piles.....

[Hornseeker]

I dont know how anything but moose and bears survive that Priest country...brutal.

Does anyone remember the deer numbers back in 93-96? Man...that was Unreal... I wish I was more serious of a whitetail hunter back then!!

[bearpaw]

strange thing is if it is winter, kill where are all the bones? I do alot of hiking around where there used to be tons of deer and no bones.

The deer population in NE washington has taken a hard hit the last two years.  We are currently at (estimated..not sure how accurately?) 40% of what we were in fall 2007.  I found lots of evidence of winter kill while I was hiking this winter and spring.  The coyotes also had a field day with the deer. We found far more coyote kills than lion kills.

 

I would say that is a fairly good average for the overall area. However, most whitetail counts are done by driving farmland areas. Those areas have fared better than the mountain areas the last two winters with cattle feeding operations helping out the deer. Some of our leases appear to be at 50% to 60% but I think some of the mountain areas may be at only 20% to 30% after hunting them the last two weeks.

There are still deer to kill, but you will not have it as easy as usual.

[bearpaw]

I was trying to organize a coyote hunt last winter through a local club but ran into some obstacles. We really need to harvest some coyotes, they are hurting our deer herds. I may try to get one going again this coming winter with some prizes, etc.

[MtnMuley]

A lot of people don't realize the numbers of deer killed in winter by coyotes.  Way more than cougars in my neck of the woods!  Sad thing is, you can kill and kill and kill those damn things, and it seems like they keep rebounding stronger!

[NWBREW]

Now this is strange. I own land and a cabin up by (the crossing up north) and me and my hunting buddies were there for 9 days the first week of sept. . We all limited on grouse and we saw a TON of deer, well over a 100, some really nice bucks too, a 6x6 bull elk, couple of cow elk, 5 bear and 3 moose. Most were in the evening. If any of you were up there you know the weather was as wild as I've ever seen it. Like I mentioned it was only the last 45 min. or so that we saw the bulk of them.


OH and the 6x6 elk was on the canadian side of the border