Repeat of "88" The end of the Entiat deer herd

[Antlerking]

Well the ol Wen. World stated in the paper that they are already talking about exrta harvest because of the winter range getting burned. Take another 15 years to bring ti back to were it is now, which is not much. Very very sad deal. They are also talking about the fact that they cant find the group of rams that they are lookin for, they found some ews and baby's but no rams. It might not be goods news for that lucky Wen. fellow that drew the tag this year.

[ing]

How far is that fire from the Chiwawa unit?

[WAmuleyHunter]

they had a picture of a group of young rams from tuesday in the paper with the article.

[WABONEHNTR]

The entiat started going down hill when they turned nearly 500 bow hunters loose in there during late nov-dec.   

[WAmuleyHunter]

agreed.

[WAmuleyHunter]

dont forget the 65 rifle tags as well that were once in there.

[WABONEHNTR]

Yup those too. 

[Ridgerunner]

Don't forget it was unlimited bowhunting for a few years, then it went to permit only.

[Lowedog]

The Entiat unit is not on fire.  Also that herd was doing very well 10-12 years ago, it has been the last half dozen years or so when the numbers of quality animals has declined.  Several factors contribute to that, you can throw tribal hunting in with what has already been mentioned.

If they do have some extra harvest this year lets hope they don't have a free for all like they did before. 

[Ray]

I don't see the archery mismanagement when I look back at harvest numbers. What is the basis for that idea? It looks like the modern firearms hunters are taking deer out of there quite often according to some numbers. For example: Look at 2004 season where archers took 46 deer in both general and special whereas modern gun hunters took over 300 deer.

Archery 2003 General
247      ENTIAT 166 Total
Archery 2003 No reports of anything in 2003 for archery Special
Modern 2003 General
247      ENTIAT 138 Total
Modern 2003 Special
1041 Entiat A 48 Total

Archery 2004 General
247      ENTIAT 1 Total
Archery 2004 Special
1137 Entiat B 29 Total
1138 Entiat C 16 Total

Modern 2004 General
247      ENTIAT 264 Total
Modern 2004 Special
1041 Entiat A 43 Total

Archery 2005
247 - ENTIAT
PMU: P26 3 Total

Modern 2005 General
247 - ENTIAT 164 Total
 

2005 Special Permits (it's hard to tell what hunt belongs to what user group)
1040 Entiat A 37 Total (100% success)
1135 Entiat B 81 Total
1136 Entiat C 41 Total

Archery 2006
247 - ENTIAT 22 Total
Modern 2006
247 - ENTIAT 97 Total
 
2006 Special Permits
1042 Entiat A 45 Total
1151 Entiat B 54 Total
1152 Entiat C 45 Total



Archery 2007
247 - ENTIAT 29 Total

Modern 2007 General
247 - ENTIAT 174 Total
 
2007 Special Permits (it's hard to tell what hunt belongs to what user group)

1041 ENTIAT A 54 Total
1149 ENTIAT B 53 Total
1150 ENTIAT C 32 Total
1169 ENTIAT E 4 Total
1206 ENTIAT F 14 Total

2008 General
247 - ENTIAT
Archery 26
Modern Firearms 116 Total

Special Permit 2008

1039 Entiat A GMU 247 38 Total
1147 Entiat B GMU 247 40 Total
1168 Entiat E GMU 247 5 Total
1206 Entiat F GMU 247 9 Total
1245 Entiat G GMU 247 23 Total

2009 General
247 - ENTIAT
Archery 31 Total
Modern Firearms 162 Total

2009 Special Permits
247 - ENTIAT 72  Total for all weapon groups

[WABONEHNTR]

Harvest reports mean nothing to me in this state.  I have seen OIL tag stats from last year that are way off from the real thing. In my mind it is not always about the harvest.  Pressure is the worst thing in there.  Those deer are being harassed from sept 1-mid dec.  By all user groups but by bow hunters when they are most critical.  After a 40 mile walk, the last thing I would want is to be CHASED around for 3 more weeks. I am not against bow hunters, just against the number of tags that were given out. Just very sad to watch a awsome unit drop to average.   

[Ray]

That's understandable.  But I think that harvest numbers do mean something. If we throw them away then we might as well just forget about how many animals are known to be harvested altogether. People will lie but I believe most people are honest.

[50CalJim]

Lets not forget about the Snowmobile/Shed Hunters chasing Deer around at the most critical time either.

[WAmuleyHunter]

i second that and would hope there would be a law or more roads shut down to snowmobiles on the winter range. It is definitely a serious issue.  Most of us on this site know people that run snowmobiles and or dirt bikes chasing deer/ looking for sheds or at least harassing them while in a desperate time. Shutting down roads to motorized traffic during a set period of time on the winter range might help another issue we have as well........    Also just us, as outdoorsmen can do a big help by turning in these people that are observed doing these things.  Its not always fun to deal with it but it's what needs to be done.

[gasman]

Always blaming the Archery hunters 





It really gets the blood boiling when the archery hunters get the first blame at most every thing. Some people just don't get that there is no way one thing is going to be the down fall, unless it's mother nature.

Never mind, you would not get it