Swakane Early Archery Whitetail

[TheCrushFan]

Was wondering about some advice on Swakane archery whitetail hunting.

[halflife65]

Are you joking?

[TheCrushFan]

No.. its a gmu in the game laws

[jackelope]

I've seen a pic of a whitetail from the neighboring unit 1 time a couple years ago.....

 

I've been in there a bunch and never actually seen any whitetails. Have you ever seen the Swakane unit?

[TheCrushFan]

Yeah its mule deer country but apparently there are a lot of them by the apple orchards

[MtnMuley]

There is NOT a lot of them.  To specifically hunt them would be a total joke in my opinion, unless you had one of the handful that lived there pinned up in an orchard.

[TheCrushFan]

ok thanks..thats why i was asking. I know that whitetail are moving this way but wasnt sure if they were that far west yet.

[gasman]

Yeah its mule deer country but apparently there are a lot of them by the apple orchards

Say's who?

WT are far and few between over there. I have been hunting it for years and never seen any around.  I know of guys that even make trips over to see the deer on there winter range and have never seen any WT. You will see many more MD then Wt, but there are a few guys that live closer and spend more time up there then I do and I would like to see what they say about the WT population in the area.

[UBA]

I would bet there are atleast 10 whitetails in the whole unit. I know of atleast one i have actually seen but he is just a spike. I have heard rumors of some spotted behind a orchard on the west side of the unit. Good luck figuring out which orchard thou. I've tried 

[TheCrushFan]

Yeah.. i wasnt planning oin just going over there to hunt whitetails but i was just wondering if there were even any over there but it sounds like there isn't.

[UBA]

If your set on it...give it a try. Who knows those whitetails could hole up in a spot nobody would see them...even in winter. I know the valleys behind Manson and Chelan hold more whitetail. You might look in that direction.

[TheCrushFan]

Thanks..yeah im only fifteen and im bowhunting so my dad and I were just looking for a place to whitetail hunt in this state because we do so much blacktail and mule deer hunting.

[UBA]

If you search the forum there are lots of threads about whitetail in the northeast and far eastern part of the state. Thats were i would go.

[gasman]

If you search the forum there are lots of threads about whitetail in the northeast and far eastern part of the state. Thats were i would go.

 

[TheCrushFan]

Ok..yeah on Realtree Outdoors yesterday David Blanton hunted Colville for whitetail with his bow and shot a really nice 10 point so that would probably be a good area.

[MtnMuley]

David Blanton shot a 4 point with eye guards.  Southern "Realtree Boy" talk drives me nuts.

[Elkstuffer]

Or a 5x5.

[remington300mag]

Yeah its mule deer country but apparently there are a lot of them by the apple orchards

Say's who?

WT are far and few between over there. I have been hunting it for years and never seen any around.  I know of guys that even make trips over to see the deer on there winter range and have never seen any WT. You will see many more MD then Wt, but there are a few guys that live closer and spend more time up there then I do and I would like to see what they say about the WT population in the area.

Says me!! I live right here on the edge of the Swakane unit and you would be surprised by the number of whitetail that have moved in over here! Yes targeting the groups of them would be a waste of time unless you know exactly where they are at.....but there are getting to be more and more of them. I had a friend back in 96 and 97 kill 5x5 white tail bucks in the same general area of the Swakane......I know of one guy that has been feeding a group of them for the last 5 years and a couple of the bucks are actually getting pretty big......Also, I have watched the whitetail bucks run off smaller mule deer bucks during the rut and breed the mulie does in one field out of Leavenworth......All the ones I have seen have been low land deer though....

[jackelope]

David Blanton shot a 4 point with eye guards.  Southern "Realtree Boy" talk drives me nuts.

Come on now dude, that there is a 10 pointer.
 

[shedcrazy]

Whitetail's in Leavenworth?

[remington300mag]

Whitetail's in Leavenworth?

Yep! Actually seen 3 this year while fishing the Icicle....This is the first year I have actually seen them in or around town......other than that, I have been seeing them around the Chumstick and Eagle Creek area for about the last 20 years.....There are a couple orchards along North Rd. that have groups of them living there as well......

[UBA]

Whitetail's in Leavenworth?

Yep! Actually seen 3 this year while fishing the Icicle....This is the first year I have actually seen them in or around town......other than that, I have been seeing them around the Chumstick and Eagle Creek area for about the last 20 years.....There are a couple orchards along North Rd. that have groups of them living there as well......

I agree, I have a buddy that showed me pics of soom up Eagle creek and few years ago. They were just does but where there is one, there are more.

[Armadillo]

yup, they're there...slim pickens though

[Scottystyle]

This past winter there were 2 wt does in with 9 mulies. Not suprised... There moving west.

[Bearmtn]

sure is alot of here or there say about whitetails in swakane and entiat, try walking around and looking for them and you might be suprised.

hopefully you know what your looking for?

[jstone]

Been hunting the swakane for many many moons and have never seen a whitetail.. But i have seen a couple whopper WT bucks in the Entiat Late Archery

[herdbull33]

I live in Wenatchee which is about 10 minutes from the swakane area. I've lived there my whole life and have never seen a whitetail.  I'm sure there's some in there but who knows?  I do hunt up north during the late season near Loomis in the Sinlahekin Valley and there is quite a few WT in there.

[remington300mag]

Guess some of you just aren't looking in the right places.....I don't think I could have been any more clear about where they live.....

Kind of like the people that have fished Curlew their wholes lives saying there are no small mouth bass in the lake....I make my first trip up there last week and the first 3 bass I catch are small mouth.....

Just goes to show ya, if you are looking in the wrong places you cant find what your looking for!

[Heredoggydoggy]

Never saw a Whitetail in Swakane, but this spring I saw what looked like a WT/MD cross.  Big sucker!  So they are there.  Whitetails are more secretive than Mulies, so it's not surprising that you don't see them very often.

[gutsnthegrass]

There are a few of them around.  I shot a small 3 point WT in the Entiat unit 2 years ago that was running with a much larger 4 point.  This was up above the Mud creek area.

[jstamp]

i've seen whitetail every year since 2007 in the entiat. i've only seen 2 bucks one was a spike and the other was a dandy 3 point, or as jackelope would say 8 point. all the ones i have seen have been in the same general area. so, i don't see why there wouldn't be some in the swakane. giving that, i still would never hunt whitetail there.

[UBA]

There are a few of them around.  I shot a small 3 point WT in the Entiat unit 2 years ago that was running with a much larger 4 point.  This was up above the Mud creek area.

I would love to see a pic and story

[Bigshooter]

i've seen whitetail every year since 2007 in the entiat. i've only seen 2 bucks one was a spike and the other was a dandy 3 point, or as jackelope would say 8 point. all the ones i have seen have been in the same general area. so, i don't see why there wouldn't be some in the swakane. giving that, i still would never hunt whitetail there.

I was with you when I spotted that dandy 3 point.

[Deep Forks]

There are definately w.tail in the swakane, been seeing them since the mid 80's.  I know of 5 that's been shot in the unit and like 300 mag said they have all come from the north/west side of the unit.  I have only seen 3 does in my life in the rest of the unit and that was in the winter.  They are also starting to show in the mission unit and only in certain area's.