Ferry County tips? I think republic area?

[Ellensburg]

I was talking to my cousin who lives in Republic. I told him I was gonna hunt around Ellensburg for a muley and he told me im wasting my time. In his words: "Anyone can come up here and shoot a NICE whitey" Said he sees 150"+ deer everytime he goes scouting. "You would barely even have to get out of the truck".....

He doesnt have property but says the farmers and land owners are cool and are easy to get permission from. He said I should skip my season down here and just come up there and get an easy wall hanger. I can stay with him and his wife (maybe he will be gone for a day or two and the hot wife will get lonely?) jk but seriously i wish...

Is he lying to me or should is the hunting really that good up there? Long shots, short shots? What should i expect? Thanks for any tips!

[lazydrifter]

I think your cousin needs to lay off the wacky tobacky.  We hunt  the Curlew/Republic area.  True, we see a lot of deer.  But those big whitetails don't get big by being dumb and as far as property owners it is getting tougher and tougher.   Maybe he knows a lot of people.  How many big whitetails does he have on the wall? 

[SHANE(WA)]

During when lazydrifter? rifle or Bow? theres a huge difference in what you see between the 2 choices

[shorthair-on-point]

This is WA state bud. If there was some place that good in this state it would be covered in orange in nothing flat

[tazz]

i lived there for 30 years there are some nice deer there but they are not dumb and not all land owners let you on there property like shorthair said if it was that easy everybody would be there just my

[Skyvalhunter]

Do you still hunt up there?

[tazz]

yes i do

[boneaddict]

Its fairly easy to hang a tag on a little one, wallhanger, No, not likely.  As for property owners, good luck with that.  If you have an in, it would be a fun hunt to try.  Its certainly a new experience, and although whitetails aren't my thing they are fun to try.  They do some of the darndest funny things.

[boneaddict]

and.......the mule deer can be enormous. 

[Hornseeker]

That was funny... I laughed out loud! I think we need pics of your cous's wife...

[robodad]

I think this unit is so popular largly because the disabled hunters, senior and youth hunters can all harvest doe's on their general season tag which takes a lot of pressure off them to shoot a buck elsewhere, I see bunches of folks driving around with disabled hunter placards in their window when I am there, sure there are a few decent bucks there but usually in town areas where there are too many houses to do any shooting or they are in areas covered up with orange.

It really reminds me of hunting Wisconsin, (Maybe I like it cause that's what I am used to) where there are tons of hunters just trying to fill tags and not looking for the elusive wall hanger. We usually tag a buck each year cause one of our hunting party has a buck only tag but it's never a big one. Here is pic's of a couple....


 
Another:



 

[halflife65]

What did you shoot that buck with?  Is that one of those Thompson Contender things?  Still, nice job if you got it with a pistol - that's really cool.

[turbo]

It's all about private property and porch hunting.

[Buckmark]

I think your cousin is not telling the whole truth, yes there are some very nice whitetails in the area, (anyone remember the racks that were in the old gas/service station on the corner in republic?)  but they dont just stand there and during the rifle hunt they have been moved around by the muzzy guys, lots of little bucks but they are no pushover either, as far a seeing 150+ deer while scouting well get away from the fields and then start counting, your numbers will drop.
Landownership and or permission from farmers is key if you want to guarantee filling your tag, not a wall hanger but a legal deer and alot if most owners overthere will say no to you, especially if your just now asking permission.
The big boys dont start to show back up untill the late bow season (you should see the mule deer that come by my stand in november, not open for them then and i think they know it). Just look at the harvest data on wdfw, unit 101 which i think your talking about during general rifle, 2008 750 antlered deer taken compared to mnt spokane 2029, in 2007 unit 101 561 taken out of 3503 hunters, mnt spokane 1610 taken out of 6312 hunters, you have a better chance to fill your tag in mnt spokane and as far as wall hangers good luck.. And yes i hunt this area, yes i own land in this area..

[Dmanmastertracker]

 There's another Republic thread floating around here too. I can tell you this from 12 years of camping in the same spot of the NF opening week in Republic, branched muleys far outnumbered branched whitetail in camp every year. Spike and forky whitetails are very common though, most guys will shoot those over there, so not a lot have a chance to get bigger. The area grows some really nice whitetail, but even if you have access to private property, plan on spending all season chasing one down, they are just not easy to get out of the thick stuff, most of the time you hear them, catch a glimpse of them and they're gone for good. Whitetail never go back to an area they encountered a danger to them (so say bio's) and it seems to be true. In our years of hunting over there, I kicked out several nice whitetail but never found them again in the same spot afterwards, if you don't drop them that first time your probably out of luck.