Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: River on October 08, 2009, 09:04:27 PM
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"Tough Odds for Bucks"
http://www.columbian.com/article/20091007/SPORTS04/910079989
and
"Whitetail numbers waning in northeast Washington"
http://www.columbian.com/article/20091007/SPORTS04/910079992/Whitetail+numbers+waning+in+northeast+Washington
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I disagree a little with Holman about some of the aspects of logging. I totally agree with him on the herbicide use, they really need to get rid of that practice, there are other ways to control weeds with a little imagination. As far as the density of the evergreens now it is true, but some of the deer's primary foods like blackberry don't really need much of any light to grow and the dense stands offer the deer more cover than does old growth or fresh cuts. A ton of the roads in the area's listed are also blocked. I do agree growth in this State will soon need to be discouraged, not encouraged.
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The whitetail population in northern Lincoln county seem OK. I have seen about the same numbers for the past three years. Last year I saw more whities than muleys. Several years ago the whities were hit hard with "blue tounge".
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Before the herbicides the blacktail population exploded anywhere there was continually ongoing logging operations. I remember the early to mid 90s up on the Yacolt Burn. Weyerhauser was logging like crazy, as the clearcuts started to mature, the deer population exploded. It was nothing to see 150 deer in a day if you were actually hunting. I had many years, that my season was less than 2 hours long. Had my buck in the truck and headed home. The drop in population in the NF is caused by the logging moratorium in Gifford Pinchot. There used to be tons of deer all along the N. Fork of the Lewis, up around St. Helens and the surrounding areas. Still are for the most part, just takes a bit more hunting to find the good ones.
