Where did all the whitetails go?

[Savage Hunter]

Maybe it was just me and my hunting buddy, but we hunted the Tucannon/Blue Mountain area and noticed a considerable drop in whitetail numbers from last year.  Saw zero whitetail bucks and a noticeable drop in doe numbers.  Even the mule deer numbers seemed down.  Never saw a legal buck to shoot.  We hunted hard for four days.  Maybe it was the weather which was windy and unseasonably warm, but just wanted to know if anyone else experienced or noticed the same thing?

[ICEMAN]

Seems to be a bit of a trend after reading alot of threads.... 

[Bulldozer]

We hunted the Blues for 9 days and I only saw maybe 15 deer on the mountin. We saw no legal bucks and only 4 whitetail does. 9 tags in camp opening weekend and only filled 2 youth tags on whitetail does. This was by far the worst year ever in the last 22 that we have been hunting down there. Usually we at least see some bucks. Even just seeing deer in general keeps your spirits up. I was ready to pack up and go home after the first couple days.

[CHUCK S]

We were up north of Davenport and also noticed far fewer whities than ever before. The boys ended up getting a couple does but it was hard finding them???

[kckrawler]

We've been hunting the foothills, wheat fields, of the Tucannon for about 15 years. Usually very strong number of whitetails but only a few mulies. This year, we saw probably 150-200 head of mulie does and fawns and 10...10 whitetail total. My dad's disabled so he can shoot a whitetail doe, nope, couldn't put him on one this year.... It took me 4 days to finally get on a small 3x4, the only legal buck all weekend, which normally takes about 3 hours on opening morning.

Don't know what's up but I certainly hope it's back to normal next year.

[GEARHEAD]

Same here in the northern half of the Palouse... we are having the same conversation.....maybe global warming lol, somewhere on some distant sunny island its probably overcrowed with whitetail.  or more likely winter kill also hearing of that tongue desease too, did see an abnormal amount of bones this year.

[bigpaw 77]

The whitetail numbers are down here where I live in the Nine mile area. After hunting 3 days in the blues and not seeing much I came home to hunt, I seen a couple bucks one I let walk and one never offered a shot. On the last evening of the season I seen a monster, but he never gave me a shot. I hope to find him in the late muzzy season. I know I need to do some coyote hunting this winter, they are thick.

[mkcj]

At my cabin in Winthrop I have 50% fewer whitetails this year from the past. Maybe more will show up when the snow flies as were on the river.

[jackelope]

We hunted the wheat country just south of Pomeroy. We were into mule deer all day when we could see. The fog is what killed us not being able to see opening weekend. I passed on at least 6 legal muley bucks and there was lots of sub-legal bucks running around. We did however see -0- whitetails. One of the old guys that hunts down there with us said he passed a whitetail doe that he could have shot and couldn't put a 3rd point on a small YT buck. Last year when I was hunting my Tucannon permit the river valley was crawling with whitetails. They were everywhere. Also saw some higher up off the 40 road. Certainly no shortage of them less than a year ago in the Tucannon unit. I just figured we didn't see the deer we normally see because we couldn't see due to the fog. The same was the case with the fog in the Tucannon opening weekend. We drove over there Sunday, saw 1 deer hanging in a camp on the Lick Creek side of the 40 road and tons of people headed for home.

[BLUEBULLS]

I haven't noticed a shortage in Dayton/tuc/blue crk. I've been thinking all year that the numbers were great and we've seen a lot more good bucks than most years. Most areas I know were foggy opening w/e but the guys from our group that hunt whitetail country saw plenty of deer. I do think the moon played a role.

[asl20bball]

I've notice the same thing. 2 bad winters, local poaching, too many doe tags for 65+ and youth = bad WT numbers. 

[The100Road]

Yup. no more deer in the blues. We should probably find a better place to go next year. 

[kramman]

I was in Montana this summer and picked up a free magazine at a truck stop and it was saying that in some areas the wt pop. is down 50%+ due to blue tongue disease.Seems to hit a local area really hard while sparing others. :dunno:Maybe this is something happening here?

[tikkahunter]

The only whitetails I saw in the Dayton/tucannon area was driving up the night before opener.  There was no shortage of mulies IMO on the opener.  Saw atleast 80 even with the fog.

[Cascade]

I hunted out of Dayton and noticed a large drop in whitetail numbers, but did see more muleys than usual where I hunt.  Also found 2 2pt muleys shot with only the backstraps taken, both in the same draw on private property.

[yelp]

I hope there is a big one left in there for me!   

[wreckerman5357]

I think the weather combined with the moon was the problem. Our property up on Patit scouted good and we saw 10 or 12 WT does a day and some illegal bucks, but no shooters, they were all next door at Kelly Allen's place. The fact that he didn't hunt opening weekend hurt us to, last year he pressured them off his place and onto our place.

[Muskrat]

Hearing the same story from lots of different areas. We hunted the 101 where last year and previous years the whitetail deer were like fleas on a dogs back. Everywhere. Out of 9 days of hunting we saw 5 or 6 whitetail does in the woods (we took two of them). We saw inumerable
muley does, most of them in the private property in peoples front yards. No muley bucks at all.
The highways at night had a few whitetails trying to commit suicide by running in front of the truck.
We hunted last year in the Steptoe unit along the Palouse River. There were tons of whitetail deer both bucks and does. A friend who owns and ranches the area, says the deer population
this year was down at least 40 percent. He believes the many wolves they are seeing is taking a toll on the herds.
I just feel lucky to have had the whitetail doe I took in the 101, just walk out and stop 98 yards from me. Maybe next year the bucks will be around. Muskrat

[yelp]

My personal opinion is that this year was wetter/greener than in previous years meaning more habitat and it stayed greener longer.  In several areas its still green.  Some ponds/lakes also didn't dry up as fast like in years past.  Most of the whitetails are there but they don't need to go anywhere to find what they need.  I feel there was less of a need for deer to hit green winter wheat for example due to the amount of water and natural forage.   I also believe this was the case with some Mule deer populations.  They didn't have to migrate back as far to find what they needed from the winter range due to the greener than normal habitats.   

I haven't heard of any bluetongue.  Predators in the blues are alive and well.  Cougars definately take thier share.  Has anyone seen any winterkill? 

I am heading to the Tucannon/Dayton Area for late muzzy and I hope I can find a bruiser! 

[Alaska316]

I was hunting the Touchet area out of dayton and saw lots of deer. First day was 50 plus doe's White tail, and lots of Mulie's. Saw a few legal bucks. But the biggest was a 5x5 white tail standing on Private property. talked to a few home owners as well, and they had seen lots of deer also. The numbers are down from 5 years ago. But I still have my 2nd deer tag to fill over there. Come on Nov 9th.