Post by: akirkland on December 07, 2011, 07:51:34 PM
Post by: Humptulips on December 07, 2011, 08:10:02 PM
It goes down hill every year since they stopped hound hunting. Not sure what I will do next year.
Post by: jwroberts on December 07, 2011, 08:30:31 PM
Post by: SI Eagle on December 07, 2011, 08:46:05 PM
Post by: OEFvet1986 on December 07, 2011, 08:59:54 PM
Post by: DBHAWTHORNE on December 07, 2011, 09:07:01 PM
Post by: buck man on December 07, 2011, 10:42:11 PM
I have been seeing a ton of deer...and even a handful of P&Y class animals...just not the ones I want.:yeah:
Post by: bearpaw on December 07, 2011, 10:46:42 PM
I hunted 653 for a week with my buddy and we only saw 2 dead does (poached). We hunted all week there and did not see one deer, I saw 3 rabbits and that was all. It was very depressing. Also i would like to add we heard a cougar one night we were camping up high. Pretty creepy when your taking a piss in the dark and hear one for the first time in your life.
Did it scare the Piss out of you... :chuckle:
Post by: kglacken on December 07, 2011, 10:47:47 PM
Post by: Houndhunter on December 08, 2011, 12:36:54 AM
Post by: DBHAWTHORNE on December 08, 2011, 12:43:59 AM
Post by: elklover on December 08, 2011, 01:16:23 AM
Post by: akirkland on December 08, 2011, 06:20:12 AM
If you are looking for deer those are the wrong units. There haven't been many deer in there for years.I was elk hunting in the Winston and Toutle. Not expecting to trip over dear but when you spend as much time in those units as I have, you kind of expect to see at least a doe. Now Lewis county and Ft Lewis?!?! I don't understand :dunno:
Post by: singleshot12 on December 08, 2011, 06:39:31 AM
I hunted 653 for a week with my buddy and we only saw 2 dead does (poached).
Lots of poaching sign in all the westside units I've tried hunting the last couple years, so bad to where i'm done with deer hunting :bash:
Post by: bullcanyon on December 08, 2011, 08:27:27 AM
Post by: blacktaill on December 08, 2011, 09:06:22 AM
Post by: XJcoug13 on December 08, 2011, 10:11:06 AM
Post by: JimmyHoffa on December 08, 2011, 01:50:41 PM
Worst year i have ever had. We hunt 621 and pull nice deer every year. This year we saw no bucks and 4 does!! Some of our problems are two years ago they started opening the gats :bash: and that has made all the deer go nocternal! Looking for a new area!Yep. I as well as most I talked to in 621 said the same. There was a lot of pressure in there this year, but most thought the weather was keeping them nocturnal for the first 10 days or so of the season. Fewest number of deer I've seen in there. I did hear that lots of bear and bobcat were shot in 621 and 624 this year. Also seen more cougar and poached deer in 621 than in years past. But for the westside OP units I saw more deer than have ever seen over there. :dunno:
Post by: OEFvet1986 on December 08, 2011, 04:45:51 PM
I hunted 653 for a week with my buddy and we only saw 2 dead does (poached). We hunted all week there and did not see one deer, I saw 3 rabbits and that was all. It was very depressing. Also i would like to add we heard a cougar one night we were camping up high. Pretty creepy when your taking a piss in the dark and hear one for the first time in your life.
Did it scare the Piss out of you... :chuckle:
Yes it scared it out of me, the really bad part was i only had one boot on. So i had to quickly hop back to my tent and grab the rifle.
Post by: OEFvet1986 on December 08, 2011, 04:47:09 PM
Post by: PlateauNDN on December 08, 2011, 04:50:05 PM
I think this means i have to kill alot more coyotes, maybe that will help the deer population. But probably not considering once the deer repopulate the mucks will probably poach them.
Maybe, if the population rebounds maybe they'll leave the east side alone for a while and go back across the mountains. :dunno:
Post by: Armadillo on December 08, 2011, 08:42:10 PM
Post by: sirmissalot on December 09, 2011, 08:46:48 AM
If you are looking for deer those are the wrong units. There haven't been many deer in there for years.
:yeah:
Areas with a lot of elk there are not a lot of deer. I saw several deer sunday when I was going up to check trail cameras, one of them a dandy buck (blacktails) he was bedded in a clear cut enjoying the weather, he finally got up from his bed when I was within about 30 yards.
Are you glassing a lot? My experience this time of year is the deer (including bucks) are bedded in clear cuts resting from the last few months of being chased around by hunters and chasing eachother during the rut. They are tough to spot this time of year but they are there :twocents:
Post by: ouchfoss on December 09, 2011, 09:27:14 AM
I went down hunting in Winston creek this last weekend and saw several fresh cat tracks in different areas over the weekend. I wouldnt mind if they allowed hound hunting to get the cat numbers down to alot lower numbers.
Post by: 44 Flattop on December 09, 2011, 09:53:45 AM
Next year I saw one doe and one little buck, which I killed. My hunting buddy killed a dandy, one of a couple dozen or so that he saw.
This year I saw 3 bucks, period. That doesn't mean there aren't any does anymore... ;)
Post by: jason4429 on December 10, 2011, 08:25:18 AM
I remember vividly about 15 years ago I saw 42 blacktail bucks during season and ended up taking an awful nice once. My hunting buddy the same year, we didn't have a chance to hunt togather, after season ended asked me if I had killed one. I told him about it and about seeing all the bucks that season. He was stunned as he and his two boys saw 2 does all season long and they hunt the same basic area that I do.:yeah:
Next year I saw one doe and one little buck, which I killed. My hunting buddy killed a dandy, one of a couple dozen or so that he saw.
This year I saw 3 bucks, period. That doesn't mean there aren't any does anymore... ;)
Post by: SkookumHntr on December 10, 2011, 08:56:08 AM
Post by: Turner89 on December 10, 2011, 09:05:36 AM
I take the last week off for blacktail evry year, and this year aside from a couple spikes i didnt see alot of deer, untill the last 3 days of mod season. Than it was back to normal (for my area). Ended up shooting nice 4x4 on halloween. I think weather was stange this year. Been out scouting every weekend since , and been seeing deer.
Post by: SkookumHntr on December 10, 2011, 09:15:46 AM
I remember vividly about 15 years ago I saw 42 blacktail bucks during season and ended up taking an awful nice once. My hunting buddy the same year, we didn't have a chance to hunt togather, after season ended asked me if I had killed one. I told him about it and about seeing all the bucks that season. He was stunned as he and his two boys saw 2 does all season long and they hunt the same basic area that I do.-I live in the middle of my unit and tromp around pretty much every weekend and its pretty odvious the deer numbers have been falling for a few years now! In 667 that is..
Next year I saw one doe and one little buck, which I killed. My hunting buddy killed a dandy, one of a couple dozen or so that he saw.
This year I saw 3 bucks, period. That doesn't mean there aren't any does anymore... ;)
Post by: Muskrat on December 10, 2011, 10:46:31 AM
Post by: Sitka_Blacktail on December 10, 2011, 11:13:18 AM
It does seem like deer numbers have consistently gone down around here (638 and 642 to be specific).
Bigger problem in 642 is access to good hunting lands now that Rayonier has closed all their land and made it lease hunting only. They seem to own the biggest chunk of 642. 638 has never been a great deer area. There are deer there and some dandies, but it is more of an elk unit. 648, now that's a different story.
Post by: ouchfoss on December 10, 2011, 10:48:23 PM
It does seem like deer numbers have consistently gone down around here (638 and 642 to be specific).
Bigger problem in 642 is access to good hunting lands now that Rayonier has closed all their land and made it lease hunting only. They seem to own the biggest chunk of 642. 638 has never been a great deer area. There are deer there and some dandies, but it is more of an elk unit. 648, now that's a different story.
Its been a while since I looked at Rayoniers website but I wasnt aware that any of 642 was leased. Around here the only leases I can think of are the southern chunk of 638. ( I'll have to look at it here in a minute). I does suck that they decided to close that off to the public though. It use to be one of my most favorite and successful spots to deer hunt which is probably the reasoning they put it up for lease. The 7950 road use to be one of those areas where you looked forward to the first rainy day in September because you knew you could drive out there and the deer would be everywhere behind every tree and down every spur. I miss those days.
Post by: Sitka_Blacktail on December 11, 2011, 10:40:26 AM
The Bernard Creek area is now gated, but you can walk or bike in. But I went in on my bike last year and what did I run into? A guy who obviously had a key and was driving all over in there. I guessed it was one of the loggers working in the area. And yes he was hunting. Had a gun and was wearing his orange vest.
But yah, go on the Rayonier website and you can see all the area that they closed off to public hunting.