Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Muzzleloader Hunting => Topic started by: Coweemanslayer on October 03, 2011, 08:15:35 AM
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Headed up this weekend to East Okanagan and found what I thought was really strange. NOT MANY DEER? Has anybody been up to this unit this year? It's very dry and I didn't see much sign of anything. I did see a few doe but other than that nothing. I usually see about 3-4 bucks a day up there during the rifle season.
I've been told that a lot of the mulies migrate from Canada to there? It seems to me that this unit is terrible or really good. I've found that the only time it seems to be good is late in the season. What has everybody else experienced in this unit this year????
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I spent the first 2 days of the muzzy hunt up there-same results as you. It was hot and dry and deer (what few we saw) moved right at dark and were out of site at daylight. Not much sign anywhere. Lot of grouse up higher which was somewhat of a saving grace. First time in the area, but I was not impressed with the deer numbers. Pretty country to hunt though.
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We have property up there. I had the same experience. Not many deer around. One of the local farmers said there was a cougar in the area. Had attacked a few horses. Where were you? I talked to several guys up there that were saying the same thing. I know it does get better later in the season. Hopefully with the colder weather, modern will be better. Glad I have the multi tag.
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I also have the multi tag which is nice! I normally head up Gardner creek rd and hunt all back in there and it seems to be pretty good. I know the first week of modern always is terrible too but the last part of the season is always good. I was very surprised by the lack of deer sign though which worried me.
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Have hunted 204 and 101 quite a lot over the years and that is usually the way it is when it is hot and dusty, or still dry from the summer they don't seem to be there. If you happen to be there when the weather changes and a rain storm comes through you will not believe your eyes have seen what seemed to an empty forest turn into dozens of Deer (both species) in a matter of an hour or two
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I plan on hitting it for the modern season. The methow was pretty much the same story with the weather. Deer were hard to find. I'd really like to find a whitetail this year. Hitting the 101 for late archery if I don't have any 204 luck. First time there in a while so I have some scouting to do.
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I am very curious about rifle season opener soon.
Mulehunter
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We were up there for archery, the deer are there, they just move at night or early am. Me and my dad both got does but we saw 12-15 deer a day, only saw like 7 bucks though, well 7 over the 3 pt min.
Goes as high as u can and they are up there
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Spent 5 days huntin muzzle and we saw deer everyday but we had to work to find them lots of grouse up high .10 yr. old son passed on a wt spike only legal buck he and I could get into muzzle range. Go high and go SLOW then go SLOWER with it being so dry find a game trail or cat track and move extremely Slow.Take 3 or 4 steps then stop watch and listen they r there.My advice is hunt all day and move through woods at a snails pace maybe slower covering a couple hundred yds in an hour.Do this in the thick areas of 204 during rifle and you will see and have shoot opps on bucks during modern.Goodluck and slowdown
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Spent 5 days huntin muzzle and we saw deer everyday but we had to work to find them lots of grouse up high .10 yr. old son passed on a wt spike only legal buck he and I could get into muzzle range. Go high and go SLOW then go SLOWER with it being so dry find a game trail or cat track and move extremely Slow.Take 3 or 4 steps then stop watch and listen they r there.My advice is hunt all day and move through woods at a snails pace maybe slower covering a couple hundred yds in an hour.Do this in the thick areas of 204 during rifle and you will see and have shoot opps on bucks during modern.Goodluck and slowdown
Thanks! I get a buck up there almost every year during rifle season but I think you're right. I seem to cover a lot of ground. Must be walking right past them....Thanks and good luck!
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The weather is changing guys. Raining and crappy all day today. Clearing off right now, but still pretty cool compared to last week.
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The weather is changing guys. Raining and crappy all day today. Clearing off right now, but still pretty cool compared to last week.
Well gonna be back at it next week. You get that bear yet?
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The weather is changing guys. Raining and crappy all day today. Clearing off right now, but still pretty cool compared to last week.
Well gonna be back at it next week. You get that bear yet?
No bear.....no deer hanging around like we saw last week. It's coming though, fast and furious for the rifle hunters.
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Yeah...pretty slow up there the first two days of muzzy. It was just way too hot and dry. As soon as that weather front moved in the deer started moving as well. Saw lots of deer the third day when the rain came but only two shooters. Did see a bunch of two points playing around and sparring...stalked to within about 30 yards trying REAL hard to put on a third point...: ) We found plenty of deer overall but not a lot that fit in the legal category. Modern might be better this year, I just hate dealing with all the damn people up there during modern season. The only good thing about modern season is all the road hunters pressuring the deer up to where we hunt. Not too folks many have the "intenstinal fortitude" to hunt where we hunt. My opinion, muzzy season makes for a much better hunt overall.
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I hunted the early archery season in 204. I saw lots of muley does up high and 3 legal bucks the two weekends i was up there. The deer seemed few and far between....I think the weather had a lot to do with this. It seemed the only time they were moving was early in the morning and damn near dark. It made it extremely difficult to spot and stalk with how dry it was this year. Modern hunters should be fairly successful........move slow and get high. :twocents:
204 East Okanogan 2x3 muley buck
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi46.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff126%2Fsweetlatinoheat2%2FGOPR0094.jpg&hash=ac0fa9e2582f38dd907ca70eb5788c0a6bb7075b)
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I would agree with the general consensus of not many animals. My father and I usually get our deer every year over there come modern season, but doing muzzle this year it was rough hunting. We assumed it was the weather, but by late the second day the weather changed in our favor and still not much success. Saw some small bucks, one big boy, a fair share of does, and one bear. We tried hunting high, low, in the fields, and deep in the timber but it didn't seem to get much better anywhere we went. It was as if the deer weren't in town yet :dunno:. Its hard to believe the amount and the quality of deer can change so much two weeks when modern opens.
Side note; after doing some drinking at a friends house 2.5 miles down the dirt road from my Aunt's place (where we stay every year), we did see probably the largest buck we have ever seen over there. He was only 60 yards from my Aunt's driveway, and 8 hours from the legal hunting hour opening day :bash:.
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when i went up there with my grandparents we were seing if we could see any elk just for the hell of it and came across 5 legal bucks tho they were small i would of taken them they were up by bonaparte
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29 degrees and frost this morning in Curlew.... :tup:
