Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: mmullins on July 05, 2020, 11:51:18 AM
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Hey folks. I moved to Chelan back in April. Just wondering if any of you guys have some pointers. I’ve hunted Eastern Montana for Mule deer before but that’s about it. I’ve been scouting the Alta, slide ridge, and Manson units. Seeing some deer. Saw a bear that I would love to see again come August. Anyways. If any of you guys have some pointers I’d love to here them. Also I have some good west side mushroom, and elk spots if you guys want to read some info.
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Welcome to the area. Chelan is a pretty awesome little town with lots of opportunities around you. What weapon? What are you after?
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Rifle. And my 12 year old daughter passed her hunters safety and would love to get her a buck. But unless I find some friendly farmer up in Waterville I doubt she will want to hunt up in the mountains just yet.
I did pick up a muzzle loader and my wife is going to use that this year. Mainly mule deer and bear is what I’ll be after on this side of the state.
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I love the chelas area too. Bear season opener in one month. I will be up in those hills then.
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if you have onx hunt maps you can look at areas up on the waterville flats. they even tell you land owners name and some times addresses . just fyi there are alot of deer up there for your daughter but many more hunters. alot of them dont get permission and hunt it anyways. as you probably noticed since you have been out and about in this valley there are what i call two types of deer. the locals and the migrators. the locals hang out in the orchards down low and same in the winerys, the migrators stay up high out of any sight of people. there are a lot of locals and few migrators. the best advise i can give you is look for areas low around wineries and orchards. places that butt up to dnr, or public lands. those locals will get pushed out of the orchards and vineyards due to harvest. try and catch them moving in and out early morning late evening. as far as hunting the migratory deer they will be found in deep canyons, heavy timber and no roads. places like end mnt, black canyon, and even further up grade creek rd. look for a spot with thick cover, year round water and away from the roads. we had a major kill off the winter of 94, then we have had 4or 5 major fires in the last 10 years. the deer just have not come back like they were in the late 80's. the methow has been hit even harder than we were. we have had a couple of mild winters and i have noticed more deer in areas were there were only a couple so maybe they will make it back to solid numbers. good luck and let me know how your daughter does. my 13 year old daughter will be hunting for her second year this year. missed a big 4 point last year.
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Thanks for the awesome advice! I hope we get into some action. Regaurless it’s going to be fun finding new land and critters. Will be hitting the scouting pretty hard come bear season. Hopefully stumble across some bucks pre season.
if you have onx hunt maps you can look at areas up on the waterville flats. they even tell you land owners name and some times addresses . just fyi there are alot of deer up there for your daughter but many more hunters. alot of them dont get permission and hunt it anyways. as you probably noticed since you have been out and about in this valley there are what i call two types of deer. the locals and the migrators. the locals hang out in the orchards down low and same in the winerys, the migrators stay up high out of any sight of people. there are a lot of locals and few migrators. the best advise i can give you is look for areas low around wineries and orchards. places that butt up to dnr, or public lands. those locals will get pushed out of the orchards and vineyards due to harvest. try and catch them moving in and out early morning late evening. as far as hunting the migratory deer they will be found in deep canyons, heavy timber and no roads. places like end mnt, black canyon, and even further up grade creek rd. look for a spot with thick cover, year round water and away from the roads. we had a major kill off the winter of 94, then we have had 4or 5 major fires in the last 10 years. the deer just have not come back like they were in the late 80's. the methow has been hit even harder than we were. we have had a couple of mild winters and i have noticed more deer in areas were there were only a couple so maybe they will make it back to solid numbers. good luck and let me know how your daughter does. my 13 year old daughter will be hunting for her second year this year. missed a big 4 point last year.
