Methow twice as good as last year?

[wsmnut]

This from the Methow Valley News:

By Patrick Hannigan

Torrential downpours and dense fog is not the weather most hunters wished for on opening day.

But despite a soggy start to the season, many deer hunters had decent success in the first few days of the general modern firearms season, which began at dawn Saturday (Oct. 17) and will run through Sunday (Oct. 25).

According to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Scott Fitkin, hunters took approximately twice as many deer as last year as measured by numbers from the WDFW check station on the East Chewuch Road. Fitkin and other biologists checked about three dozen deer at the checkpoint on Sunday and Monday (Oct. 18-19).

“I think the wet weather and the later start to the season this year helped hunters a bit,” said Fitkin. “The deer that were taken were really healthy, fat, big-bodied bucks.”

Not all hunters appreciated the heavy rain or found success on opening day.
“I think the rain has the deer hunkering down and so are we,” said Robbi McAllister of Grangeville, Idaho.

McAllister was staying warm and dry in camp during the heaviest afternoon rain on opening day and speculated that the bucks were probably holed up too.

“The bucks got lucky with the rain and the fog because if you can’t see them you can’t shoot them,” said Von Miller of Seattle.

After four days of unsuccessful hunting, they had to return to Seattle so his 17-year old son Chris could go back to school after playing hooky for two days. Chris has shot a buck every year since he was 12 years old – but not this year. The hunters said all they’d seen in four days of hiking the hills were a lot of does and some two-point bucks.

Some hunters had great success on opening day. By mid-afternoon on the first day of the season, Cullen Smith and his party already had three mulies hanging in their camp in Elbow Coulee. Smith, who is from North Bend, has hunted the Methow for 13 years.

“This is not a year when the lazy hunter is going to find success,” said Smith. “You’ve got to get out there and put in some miles.”

Some hunters have different ways of putting in miles. For example, Bruce Brackett and his son Brad have been using mountain bikes to quickly get five or six miles back into the woods on old roads that are closed to vehicles. Still, the Bracketts said they had not yet seen a buck in three days of biking and hunting.

Different hunters take different approaches to the hunt: some walk around, some bicycle, and some hunters, like Boyd Phillips of Silverdale, prefer to sit quietly and wait. He and his partners generally get up around 5:30 and find a place to sit and wait for dawn. The idea is to rely on other hunters who are moving around to spook deer past their hiding spots.

So far, the approach has worked OK: one of his party of four got a buck on opening weekend.

While there are not yet any official numbers, the consensus among hunters during opening weekend is “slow and lots of does.”

But that doesn’t deter hunters from hoping. Ten-year old Louie Ketchum Jr. of Concrete had his first-ever shot at a deer on Sunday, but missed. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving up just yet.

“When I get my first deer, I’m going to enter him in the Antlers’ contest,” said Ketchum.

[NRA4LIFE]

Wowwwwwww, 3 dozen deer in 2 days.  Sounds like a slaughter fest up there.

[yelp]

Last year gmu 242 and GMU 231 combined for 177 bucks during modern firearm seasons..2008 game harvest reports

That is an interesting statement to make at this point in the season..

[KimberRich]

This statement is from Fitkin.  Need I say more.

[twisp_river_slayer]

that check point is a joke. The only good that comes out of it is watching him put the road cones back up that we knock down

[MtnMuley]

This statement is from Fitkin.  Need I say more.

Exactly.  I sure havn't seen many deer hanging in camps around...........

[SHANE(WA)]

oh he is a great guy  dept finest

[wolfbait]

Did you say fulla----fitkin, isn't he the same guy who said most wolves don't kill livestock? Can't be the 9 er so wolves that have been hittin the deer herds for say a little over a year,, you know, the first wolf pack in Washington in 70 years.

[mulehunter]

I think Scott Fitkin is such a FUNNY GUY! he just want to clean up his whole LIES he have done over year. No wonder why he is trying to be Famous in Methow Valley News and repeat and repeat his Side Soo many times.


Nice Try Scott Fitkin.

Mulehunter  

[wolfbait]

So, how was the "Twice as good as last year" hunt in the Methow?

[huntnphool]

BS!!!!

[Gobble]

So, how was the "Twice as good as last year" hunt in the Methow?

Not from what I saw  

We saw a few small bucks and some does but I didn't think it was much better (if any) than any of the other recent years (than again we hunt more remote, less crowded areas)

I hold the Alta B muzzy tag which is from Nov 25-30, Its an any deer tag so I am pretty excited to see the early snow dropping in the mountains, We should see some decent animals if this trend continues, just got a pic from my partners buddy of one that got away and its a dandy. Hope he's still there when we get to go.  

[bearpaw]

I have seen some guys post about getting deer, but I thought it sounded like at least as many hunters are disappointed than thinking it's twice as good.

[WDFW-SUX]

Have fun with it this year because next year is going to be worse than anyone can imagine..

Im contemplating sharing where I hunted this year and what I saw because I think it would seriously SHOCK most of you guys.... Its beyond scary..  

I also had a conversation with Scott and I dont feel like he is being honest with his assessment of the overall situation.

He readily admits that there has only been 30% fawn survival in the Vally over the last 4 years and that "issues" with the wither range are the likely culprit....however he could not pinpoint any one reason for the complete decline in the younger age classes 0-4 year olds.

 He does not think that the wolves have ANY effect on the deer.  I didnt bring up the issue he did and was completely defensive about it.  I didnt think my personal preference of zero wolves would have been productive in our conversation.

Still the questions need to be asked If the winter range is in such poor shape that fawn survival is not meeting objectives without any wolf predation. How are the deer herds going to fair when the wolves numbers inevitably increase?

How does a deer heard with a small area that it depends on for winter range Twisp/ Carlton co exist with a growing population of predators that will be in the same area and have zero management?

90% of the deer that I saw harvested where 4+ year olds and very nice bucks.. there were very few 2-4 year old bucks or deer....as soon as the older deer are not around the population is going to become unhuntable

[WDFW-SUX]

 

[huntnphool]

Its all fu@%ing BS Sux!!!  I found 7 dead deer this weekend and all of them appeared to have been killed this last summer, not last winter. Mark and I heard wolves every morning in the Smith Canyon, and for those of you nay sayers I do know the difference between coyote and wolf howling, these were not yotes.

[WDFW-SUX]

If I shared where I hunted and saw ZERO deer people would cry...

And yes I literally mean ZERO dear

[Skyvalhunter]

That whole deer situation up there is depressing. Then they go and throw out more special permits. What a mistake

[WDFW-SUX]

The number of late tags is a disaster...same as the rest of the situation.

[saylean]

I did see some more hanging than normal...

but it was still par for the course for our camp...we average one deer a year....sometimes two.

This year, out of 16 people off and on, we got one.

MOST of us put on lots of miles on the legs. I was the only one with a shot op. I do think the later start helped, but I didnt see hardly any shooter bucks...all does or spikes/2 pts.

[wolfbait]

Its all fu@%ing BS Sux!!!  I found 7 dead deer this weekend and all of them appeared to have been killed this last summer, not last winter. Mark and I heard wolves every morning in the Smith Canyon, and for those of you nay sayers I do know the difference between coyote and wolf howling, these were not yotes.

Wellcome to my front porch huntnphool, whats even worse is when the wolves are howling just beyond our corrals, the dogs which we have to keep in the house go nuts. I am thinking of just selling out to wdfw let them have their wolf habitat area. Last year I think it was s.fitkin said there was a 70% fawn mortality rate,( can't think of the word). So the wolves, bears, cats, get on the fawning grounds. But I would have to say from what I have seen, the wolves are making the difference between deer and no deer. I have rode through the killing fields of the wolf, and it's not a pretty sight. I always carry the camera now, so the next time I see one, you folks will too.

I took my daughter to the place I have hunted for 35 years, this is where if I only had one day off work to go huntin I could get a nice buck. No deer! So then I took her to another great spot, same thing. So then we went home to hunt where there are some deer. We saw one whitetail doe, four muley doe's and three wolves.

[WDFW-SUX]

Can't wait to see this years photo's should be plenty horrific

[SkookumHntr]

--The units north of the methow was the same story, The mule deer herd seems to be in big trouble!

[Skyvalhunter]

Same damn wolves that run up Booth Canyon. They run that Twisp River to Chelan area quite well. What a shame.

[Okano-gun]

Well if you go by the antlers saloon, antler contest it was much better this year. last year they only had 50 entrys this year it was close to 80.

[Skyvalhunter]

Yea but that was with alot of little 3 points or 2 point with eye guards. Soon enough there will just be alot of 2 points running around.

[Gobble]

Yea but that was with alot of little 3 points or 2 point with eye guards. Soon enough there will just be alot of 2 points running around.

Yeah, MY buddies hunted the Methow a couple of days before I came up from hunting Brewster and saw a monster 2 point that was definately a mature buck, some other hunters saw him as well. Every 2 pr 3 years they need to allow the youth hunters tags to clean those out of the gene pool to prevent them from passing those crappy genetics 

[wolfbait]

Don't worry about those genetics, Gobble, the wolves will take care of them this winter.

[Alchase]

From our experience this year in the Methow, we actually saw allot more deer (non shooter bucks) then in the last three years (pre-fire) we also saw allot of fawn mortality by cats then in the last few years as well.
Though we saw less shooter bucks hanging?

[M_ray]

Its all fu@%ing BS Sux!!!  I found 7 dead deer this weekend and all of them appeared to have been killed this last summer, not last winter. Mark and I heard wolves every morning in the Smith Canyon, and for those of you nay sayers I do know the difference between coyote and wolf howling, these were not yotes.

Yeah I found quite a few when we split up too! Sounds like this Fitkin is blowing smoke!!!

[huntnphool]

I came up from hunting Brewster and saw a monster 2 point that was definately a mature buck,

Well I personally took care of one of them so thats one less in the gene pool

[M_ray]

I came up from hunting Brewster and saw a monster 2 point that was definately a mature buck,

Well I personally took care of one of them so thats one less in the gene pool

Make it two mature two points with trash were culled! 

[MagKarl]

Well I personally took care of one of them so thats one less in the gene pool
[/quote]

Make it two mature two points with trash were culled! 
[/quote]

You two going to share some pics and stories?  You're leaving us hanging.

[scoyoc5]

I came up from hunting Brewster and saw a monster 2 point that was definately a mature buck,

Well I personally took care of one of them so thats one less in the gene pool

been keeping something from us Phool  Mray 
did I miss the story  are you guys going to share?

[huntnphool]

I will post mine all at once when I have time to do the whole thing. I need one more pic first but need the head.

[mkcj]

Did anyone see the picture at pardners in Winthrop of the buck shot opening morning? If it's not the biggest buck it's in the top 3 I have ever seen shot there 26" wide 4x4 with great mass from the bottom all the way up. The story behind it is the guy was driving up the chewuch decided to turn around and the deer walked across the road then watched as the guy got out and shot him. On another note me and my 2 boys seen 2 moose on the last day a cow by herself and a bull about 7 miles away from her and talked to a couple other hunter's who said they had seen 6 moose in the last week total. i have 1 of the 15 late 218 tags so will be there next weekend and then the last 5 days if needed.

[alecvg]

Well, I did better than previous years, I didn't get a buck, but I saw 60 plus deer, and our group saw three BIG bucks, and killed one.  Sure alot better than last year, only seeing nine deer all season!

[M_ray]

I came up from hunting Brewster and saw a monster 2 point that was definately a mature buck,

Well I personally took care of one of them so thats one less in the gene pool

been keeping something from us Phool  Mray 
did I miss the story  are you guys going to share?

Well lets just say that we worked real hard for a big one and made something happen at the end again so we got home late and I had to end up taking Monday off from work! Still trying to catch up and I'm in Portland as we speak, but I too will post a story or add to Phools when I get a chance. 

[Alchase]

I came up from hunting Brewster and saw a monster 2 point that was definately a mature buck,

Well I personally took care of one of them so thats one less in the gene pool

been keeping something from us Phool  Mray 
did I miss the story  are you guys going to share?

Well lets just say that we worked real hard for a big one and made something happen at the end again so we got home late and I had to end up taking Monday off from work! Still trying to catch up and I'm in Portland as we speak, but I too will post a story or add to Phools when I get a chance. 

What a tease!

[h2ofowlr]

Winter kill and the HWY 20 get the most deers.  Most camps were empty that I passed.  I would say 30 camps 1 deer.  He must be talking to everyone that shot them on private property in the alphapha.

[boneaddict]

That checkpoint is a JOKE.  All you have to do is take the other road and avoid all the crap that goes with driving that way.  THey are almost identical in distance.  I won't comment anymore as I have said that the population up there is in a REAL HURT.  I saw more empty camps than normal.  Though I obviosuly still find deer, its jsut nasty compared to normal.  All these late tags 

[MtnMuley]

Late tags hurt, that's for sure!