Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: boneaddict on October 06, 2014, 11:46:27 AM
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http://methowvalleynews.com/2014/10/02/fire-floodwaters-alter-local-hunting-terrain-and-prospects/ (http://methowvalleynews.com/2014/10/02/fire-floodwaters-alter-local-hunting-terrain-and-prospects/)
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Interesting read
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I just finished up muzzleloader season in the valley. Very strange deal. Of course there was no sign in the burn areas. So, you would think that the deer population in the unaffected areas would have been much higher than normal. I saw a fair number of animals in the lowlands, but I wouldn't say that it was abnormal. Higher, but not necessarily unusual. The problem I had was the doe/buck ratio. Lots of does, lots of fawns, but few bucks. In the 9 days I hunted, I saw zero legal bucks and of the spikes and deuces I did see, none of them were quality. Up high, I saw exactly one doe. The weather was clear and warm and maybe that had something to do with it. Normally I can scare up something to get my blood pressure going but this season was just meh. Unless there's a monster storm up high between now and next week, or you've got a doe tag, you might consider not doing the Methow this year for modern firearms.
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I just finished up muzzleloader season in the valley. Very strange deal. Of course there was no sign in the burn areas. So, you would think that the deer population in the unaffected areas would have been much higher than normal. I saw a fair number of animals in the lowlands, but I wouldn't say that it was abnormal. Higher, but not necessarily unusual. The problem I had was the doe/buck ratio. Lots of does, lots of fawns, but few bucks. In the 9 days I hunted, I saw zero legal bucks and of the spikes and deuces I did see, none of them were quality. Up high, I saw exactly one doe. The weather was clear and warm and maybe that had something to do with it. Normally I can scare up something to get my blood pressure going but this season was just meh. Unless there's a monster storm up high between now and next week, or you've got a doe tag, you might consider not doing the Methow this year for modern firearms.
That mirrors what I've seen in the Chiliwist. Everything on four legs is down low in the farm land. A few tracks in and around the burn, but darn few.
Numbers down low don't equal a winter range problem to me... :twocents:
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I feel like it’s far too early to tell the impacts that the burn will have as we have not really had any migrations into the valley. Observing local deer, and the impact that it has on them, is not a very accurate gage on impacts...
Hopefully we have a very mild winter, so there's better deer distribution.
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I talked to the lady at Pardners in Winthrop this last weekend and she said that bow season was much busier than normal there this year, looks like a lot of hunters moved to the north end of the valley and I'm sure it will be the same for the opener this weekend. It's not the extra tags given to youth and others, I think it's going to be the farmers that do the most damage to the herd this winter. :twocents:
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My burned property in the valley showed hardly any sign. Even the neighbor's pet 5 or 6 does were gone..... Saw some does and a couple of spotted fawns down low.......Seems kinda late for small spotted fawns.
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When we went during bow season it seemed about normal to me. Seen the usual amount of does and one shooter buck we couldnt get on in Pearrygin. Then by twisp same deal with several small buck and does and one huge 5x5 we couldnt close the deal on. Nothing out of the ordinary. We where not excatly hunting the border of the burn yhou either
