Anyone hunt 328 Naneum? ?

[GreggHunts2hard4u]

Hunted 328 pretty hard this last weekend. started up colockum pass and hunted cook canyon hiked from the powerlines all the way to the bottom and back up saw nothing cut no track till later in the evening all does and a few spikes no shooters. moved camp to schnibly canyon hunted it pretty hard saw a few deer no shooters. drove the big loop up schnibley to coleman rd up to jumpoff rd and down colockum pass saw 0 deer. anyone have any success? have been hunting 328 for 15yrs and been noticing a drastic decline in deer population.

[bobcat]

Well I hear the Natives kill a lot of elk up there; I imagine they do the same with deer.

They're probably in there in December killing them on their winter range.

Not sure if hair loss has been much of a problem yet that far north.

[GreggHunts2hard4u]

I heard the same about the natives. ihate bringing it up cuz its such a sore subject to alot of ppl.  i know for damn sure theyre in there killing the elk. went to the usual spot up colockum pass where we elk hunt to scout and couldnt believe it. it was a ghost town up there where we usually get into hundreds(for the last 15yrs) we only got into 4 cows. did see 3 huge bulls hunkerd down deep in cook canyon all together and very spooked. all in all wasnt too impressed with whats happening in 328 & 329 for both deer and elk. took a drive down little caribou to scout and saw a few deer not like it used to be.

[Dustin07]

oh man the last thing the naneum needs is publicity on the internet. That GMU is horrible. Farmers could make a killing around halloween as this has got to be the biggest pumpkin patch in WA. Maybe second only to the Omak-Conconully area for over hunted.

I went to the 328 for YEARS before giving up. There used to be a TON of game up there, but it got really bad like 5-7 years ago because an asian louse (tick) wiped out the local deer herd. game department says the herd has still not recovered fully I believe. I'll check for the review and post.

i used to see huge herds of elk up there too. been 5+ years though I think? roughly.

there used to be so many deer in 328. my brother drew a doe tag one year right when the hairslip first started. we thought "oh man easy pickins!" we were wrong, that next year we actually came close to not even filling a doe tag. we used to count 50-100 easy opening weekend while trying to find a boy deer.

[Dustin07]

here you go, they say that GENERAL area is still 30-50% down in deer population.
but this includes not just the nanuem, but a larger region that goes south of it. I know when I was in Yakima it was like a barren wasteland in one of the wdfw lands down there. no deer, birds or anything a month ago. (of course I know there is lots of wildlife in the general area, but there is also a decline in areas where it used to be great).

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/prospects/files/2010/district08.pdf

[Bigtine96]

Not to many deer especially with all the indians opening fire up there. Your pretty hard pressed to see a shooter up there.

[pjmcbride]

not to bring up the subject but i have heard that the natives go up there all the time and shoot them up.the clockum and green can .a family member of mine told me that there was a bunch of spikes from elk and deer on fence post's at the bottom as you go in to green can.and this year they did that to the weanas area as well.

[Bigtine96]

Yep they do all sorts of shooting up there, and hunters like us have to put in along with 1500+ people for one tag.

[whiteeyes]

Heard theirs a bunch of elephants up there as well. You idiots and your hear say gets old.
Cougars and hair loss is pretty much whipping the deer population out in that area. Find a new deer kill every 4 days on the ranch that happens to be very close to the Naneum.   

[labguy]

We hunt this unit every year and this year was by far the worst we have seen in many years.  Typically our group gets 2-3 good bucks per year, but this year we didn't even see a legal buck.  I have heard from the ranchers that the cougar kills are starting to escalate, they have counted over 18 carcasses in the past year.  The coyotes have populated like mad as well and we saw more bear sign than ever this year.  Lots of predators that need to be controlled in this unit. We plan to take a year or two away from the area.

[littlemac]

Heard theirs a bunch of elephants up there as well. You idiots and your hear say gets old.
Cougars and hair loss is pretty much whipping the deer population out in that area. Find a new deer kill every 4 days on the ranch that happens to be very close to the Naneum.   

That's my take for the past 5 to ten years.  I hunt mostly from the Deer Gulch side and consider it a family tradition and camping trip.  Great to be out there but little concern of getting bloody cleaning an animal.

In talking with the local miners and a few that live year round above Liberty the cats have been all over the place up there.  Easy to see in the snow of winter.  I have hunted with family there for the past forty years and we used to get deer annually, but that was a long time ago.

Occasionally the elk harvest rate goes up but usually the harvest is pretty low. 

I guess as the deer and elk die out the cats will move on, but it is a long and arduous process that isn't helped at all by the WDFW IMHO.

[pjmcbride]

shoot all the cats and yotyes. then well have fun agian i got my tag and so does my family.

[bankwalker]

way way to many cougars in central washington...and all of washington for that matter.

but cle elum/ellensburg is over run with cougars. every year i see more and more cougar kills (around 15 on an average year for the 5 areas i hunt) i would say its 500% increase over the last 5-6 years in the areas i hunt. not to mention i have seen 5 in the last 6 years while elk hunting in that general area

unit 460 is also getting hit extremely hard by the cats

[bobcat]

I think I'm going cougar hunting over there in January or February.   

[bucknbulls]

I have noticed a decline as well.  From 2005, thru 2007 I took a rifle deer, an archery deer and last one with my muzzleloader.  In 2008 and 2009, I took some time off from hunting due to our stellar economy.  This year spent a couple days and hunted it pretty hard and saw thirty or so deer.  One legal three point and a handfull of spikes and two points.  I know three people who have had success.  two during archery and one in rifle season.  I have seen the majority of deer down low and not much sign or deer up higher.  much of what I have seen has been on private land which is down low.  I did see no shortage of elk though.  I also have seen an increasing amount of cougars over the past five years.  In 2007, I had an encounter with two younger cougars while archery hunting off the wilson rd.  The cougars have been spotted from seven different people I hunt with and two of which were able to kill.  Every year the number of cougars have increased.  In the three years of success i had the multi-season tag and spent alot of time hunting and always saw abundance of game.  This year talking to friends who have hunted in there all have seen a decline of deer.  After my two days of hunting I was alittle discouraged by how little deer I saw.  Even though I only spent two days hunting, I covered a large amount of country and saw only a third of what i usually see.  The lack of sign on the miles of country indicates the truth that deer numbers are down.  I only hope that things will change.  As far as coyotes, this is the first year that I did not see one and normally will see a couple a day while out hunting.  here is My 2006, and 2007 deer from nanuem.   

[jstone]

co workers hunted deer for 9 days. Saw does, spikes and 2 points. and lots of live elk and dead elk. One spot they said 3 cow elk dead not much meat taken. Very said in that area

[bankwalker]

I think I'm going cougar hunting over there in January or February.   

you wont be disapointed. i shot a 200ish pound cat up there 4 years ago, ended up losing it...made a bad shot.  the valley i shot the cat in had 2 different cats in it (seen tracks) and about 10 kills ranging from 2 weeks to 2 hours old. 3 days before that there was a 160lb cat shot in the joining valley. i got to see pictures of it and the cat i shot dworfed that 160lb cat

tons of sign around teanum creek road/elk hieghts area. 2 years ago during late elk hunt i cut 3 sets of cougar tracks and had to leave due to my girlfriend getting scared.

[Dustin07]

I think I'm going cougar hunting over there in January or February.   

you wont be disapointed. i shot a 200ish pound cat up there 4 years ago, ended up losing it...made a bad shot.  the valley i shot the cat in had 2 different cats in it (seen tracks) and about 10 kills ranging from 2 weeks to 2 hours old. 3 days before that there was a 160lb cat shot in the joining valley. i got to see pictures of it and the cat i shot dworfed that 160lb cat

tons of sign around teanum creek road/elk hieghts area. 2 years ago during late elk hunt i cut 3 sets of cougar tracks and had to leave due to my girlfriend getting scared.

what kind of access is it at that point? snowmobile, snow shoe? or just boots? I know the gmu well but have not ventured up in anymore than an inch of snow. I've been told by elk season it can already get very deep.

[bucknbulls]

 you can access it by snowmobile

[Red Ryder]

Ths was my first time hunting the 328 Naneum GMU. The camp next to us got a nice 3X4. I talked with the game warden who said he saw a total of about 5 bucks taken but some had legal problems attached to them. One of our party almost had a shot on a 3X4 but it turned and ran back up the hill into the Quilamene unit. I hunted the whole season up there. I worked the Coluckum Road, the flats above, the sage below, Cooke Canyon, Coleman Canyon, Schnebly Canyon, and 1 brief Foray up Wilson Creek Road. I saw lots of does and 1 spike. The deer seemed to be active nocturnally moving across into the Quilamene unit on the wrong side of daylight.

[bucknbulls]

I also heard there was a legal issues as well.  Someone shot a fork horn buck with a eyeguard that quite didn't make it legal.  not sure is to what happened but man if your unsure don't shoot.  personally for myself i don't even count the eyeguard as a point and that eliminates any issues with forked horns.

[fremont]

Deer louse has decimated the herd.  Wouldn't be surprised with cats, either.

[GreggHunts2hard4u]

im glad ppl are seeing alot of everything in the areas. sounds like i better buy my cougar tag b4 friday when we're headed back up to 328/329 for the whole elk season!! 

[Elkaholic daWg]

I think I'm going cougar hunting over there in January or February.  

you wont be disapointed. i shot a 200ish pound cat up there 4 years ago, ended up losing it...made a bad shot.   the valley i shot the cat in had 2 different cats in it (seen tracks) and about 10 kills ranging from 2 weeks to 2 hours old. 3 days before that there was a 160lb cat shot in the joining valley. i got to see pictures of it and the cat i shot dworfed that 160lb cat

tons of sign around teanum creek road/elk hieghts area. 2 years ago during late elk hunt i cut 3 sets of cougar tracks and had to leave due to my girlfriend getting scared.

what kind of access is it at that point? snowmobile, snow shoe? or just boots? I know the gmu well but have not ventured up in anymore than an inch of snow. I've been told by elk season it can already get very deep.

Some great snowmobiling area in the Naneum area,whereas most of the Quilomine is closed for wintering elk. you must stay to the north of the Brewton area power line

  On the Wenatchee side of the Colockum,(Mission GMU) there  has been a drastic drop indeer and elk numbers since the early 90's, when the number of orchards in the Stimilt basin increased and thier workers started  thinning the herds. before then we used to see numerous herds from the blacktop....no more!! 

[littlemac]

Well, we beat the bush for all of the weekend before the torrents of rain hit.

We did se a monster 6X, only one side the other either got knocked of or never came in.  His main beam was as long a 6 as I have seen and he was older than dirt, nearly white.  He was with a 5X?, couldn't make out the right side as it was a twisted weird thing that looked like only a single point.

Saw four spikes hanging up top through Sunday.