Northeast Washington Winter Kill

[buckreaper]

Hunted in 105 & 108 for 5 days (13th thru 17th) and saw 9 deer.  First time I haven't gotten one in 7 years up there.  Usually see alot more animals.  Found 6 sets of bones.  Also cut wolf tracks, looked to be 5 of them, just NE of Colville.  I know 2 guys that got their bucks and both were dandies.

[Mossy]

Past few years in colville on my grandparent's property haven't seen more than a few does.  Buddy of mine hunted in usk last year and got stopped by a warden and a fed. biologist and by his accounts the winter kill was around 42 percent in that area.

[phishisgroovin]

we hunted it hard for a week, didnt see a buck one the whole time.
seen tracks here and there but none would show their pretty face for me to shoot.
No bucks on the road in or out from stevens pass all the way to colville.
None on the way back either.Seen two huge Mulie does lying down for the night in a city park right downtown near freeland or one of then little towns on 25.

Next year i will be more prepared and have a better gameplan.
Hunting again for the first time in 20 years I really didnt expect to bag anything anyhow.
Could have stayed another day or two, but we beat feet out of the east to avoid the heavy 10 day snowstorm that was slowly moving in.

[runningboard]

definitely seeing less deer than in past few years. a friend who hunts often says he only saw 1 buck this year. I saw a few shooters but my shooters (10 & 13 year old kids) were too slow on getting lined up. saw 2 nice bucks today though, 1 was running all over & we didn't get closer than 250 yards. "day ain't over yet!"

[benbo30]

just got back from my week of hunting the north east , hunted in huckleberry unit , with my brothers , we didnt get nothing but had 4 missed opportunitys , 4 good sized bucks , only seen a few does , i think the winter has caused some deer killings but none the less we seen the bucks but didnt come home with them every single buck we seen only stuck around for 2 seconds after we found them so we wernt able to get a shot , but on the good side i found my first antler shed whooooo  only found the right side couldnt find the other

[Special T]

Winter kill huh? whats the WDFW definition of that? they die from exposure or from running with Wolves?

[hunt4]

Just got back from a 6 day hunt in 101.  The thing that i found shocking was the lack of fawns or the non existence
Out of all the does seen on forest service land a total of ONE fawn.  Private land down in the fields a few more but still was way out of whack.
Not sure if the does aborted or the predators are smacking them up.  Did see allot of yote tracks and it seemed every deer track had a yote track in it.

[Kent Hunter]

We hunted GMU 121. We both got our bucks, but it was tough hunting. We know a few people that own ranches in Hunters and Fruitland. All the locals over there will tell you without a doubt, the last two winters have taken quite a toll on the deer. I do agree that the strong have survived. We saw other bucks that were alot bigger than the ones that we got. We just coudln't get on any of them quick enough.

[fishseeker]

Just got back from a 6 day hunt in 101.  The thing that i found shocking was the lack of fawns or the non existence
Out of all the does seen on forest service land a total of ONE fawn.  Private land down in the fields a few more but still was way out of whack.
Not sure if the does aborted or the predators are smacking them up.  Did see allot of yote tracks and it seemed every deer track had a yote track in it.

Perdators did a number this spring! Rancher I talked to said plenty of fawns this year, but none now. Yotes, bears and wolves did a number on them!

[Gobble]

Just got back from a 6 day hunt in 101.  The thing that i found shocking was the lack of fawns or the non existence
Out of all the does seen on forest service land a total of ONE fawn.  Private land down in the fields a few more but still was way out of whack.
Not sure if the does aborted or the predators are smacking them up.  Did see allot of yote tracks and it seemed every deer track had a yote track in it.

We went last weekend on a 4 day hunt but was cut short due to my buddy breaking his temp crown and I can tell you we saw LOTS of Coyote sign chasing and following deer. We were just south of Collvile

[boneaddict]

Coyotes are having a huge impact on them.  They seem to be exploding and need some serious thinning.

[Big10gauge]

Coyotes are having a huge impact on them.  They seem to be exploding and need some serious thinning.

 BullElk and I will be up there for a week or so and we'll probably take a break from archery hunting to call in a few coyotes. I have to agree that there seems more up there than the last few years as they are pooping in my yard now. 

[bearpaw]

I live near Colville and know the whole NE corner of the state extremely well. Years ago I used to take my guided hunters on public land but would never do that now as the deer numbers are so low. Even on the private properties that we lease, the numbers are about half what they were two years ago. Fortunately there are still quite a few deer on the leases, but each of the last two winters has had a detrimental effect and especially on the herds which winter in higher ground or more remote areas on public land.

Fawns
I think there are two problems affectng the fawn crops. First, these harsh winters cause a higher percentage of doe deer to not bear fawns in the spring. Their bodies simply do not have enough nutrition during a hard winter to support a growing fetus.

Second, the coyote population is the highest I have ever seen it in this area. The coyotes get a large number of the fawns. We have watched numerous coyotes working groups of deer this spring, summer, and fall. Come winter, when we get a deep crusty snow, there is a slaughter on the deer, the coyotes can kill as many deer of any age as they want.

I just had a conversation yesterday with a rancher about the coyote situation. He wants me to organize a hunt to get some of them killed and says he can get other landowners to allow access for coyote hunting.

If I can get something organized, I will post it on Hunting-Washington...

[boneaddict]

as they are pooping in my yard now. 

Don't you hate that.  One pooped on my porch last year just to make a statement I think.  I killed one about 3 days later off from the porch so I hope I made a statement too.

[benbo30]

I live near Colville and know the whole NE corner of the state extremely well. Years ago I used to take my guided hunters on public land but would never do that now as the deer numbers are so low. Even on the private properties that we lease, the numbers are about half what they were two years ago. Fortunately there are still quite a few deer on the leases, but each of the last two winters has had a detrimental effect and especially on the herds which winter in higher ground or more remote areas on public land.

Fawns
I think there are two problems affectng the fawn crops. First, these harsh winters cause a higher percentage of doe deer to not bear fawns in the spring. Their bodies simply do not have enough nutrition during a hard winter to support a growing fetus.

Second, the coyote population is the highest I have ever seen it in this area. The coyotes get a large number of the fawns. We have watched numerous coyotes working groups of deer this spring, summer, and fall. Come winter, when we get a deep crusty snow, there is a slaughter on the deer, the coyotes can kill as many deer of any age as they want.

I just had a conversation yesterday with a rancher about the coyote situation. He wants me to organize a hunt to get some of them killed and says he can get other landowners to allow access for coyote hunting.

If I can get something organized, I will post it on Hunting-Washington...

let me know on the coyote thing i would love to get out for some predator hunting