East Okanogan Late Whitetail

[skidynastar33]

My Dad drew the late okanogan whitetail tag and dad, my brothers and I are headed over for the last 4 days to hunt it. With the big snow we changed our plans and rented a place down in tonasket. We have some areas we want to hit but not sure how that bid snow will effect getting to some of the places.

anyone have any info on what the Rut is doing? as well as did this push whitetail down in elevation? is there a certain elevation we should focus on? thanks for any pointers!

I will post how we do!

[Rodney107]

Definitely bring chains  was up there today between Tonasket and republic  seen 4 3 points all on private nothing up in the hills

[skidynastar33]

Yea my concern is them all being down on private cause of all the snow and not being able to get to our spots. Anyone else have any insight?

[boneaddict]

It’s fairly difficult to get around

[greenhead_killer]

There’s a ton of snow but it didn’t push the deer out of where they normally are. Def take chains if you have them. The snow is so dry and does not compact worth a damn. Snow shoes are/worthless too. Maybe a bit lower in the unit, with less snow, you’ll get around just fine. Wts weren’t really moving a bunch last week but I’d imagine that has changed by now

[Birdguy]

Just spent 4 plus days in 204 at our place. We are 2600ft and had just at a foot of snow. The deer were still around, we saw roughly 10 does and fawns every day. While I looked constantly for any rut activity I saw only one small spike with two does on Wednesday. We have 6 cameras up (3 cell cams) and the big boys are not showing at all yet getting up to 50 pics a night of the does. I am waiting patiently but not much yet. Best of luck on the hunt. Definitely recommend chains, a shovel, chainsaw, tow strap, etc. Weather was sunny most days with full moon at night on the snow made visibility great at night too, pics from today show it was much less bright with low clouds and fog.

[Mulie87]

Yea my concern is them all being down on private cause of all the snow and not being able to get to our spots. Anyone else have any insight?

If your seeing them on private then I’d hunt the edges of private/public if you can. This helped my wife and I bag our buck in Montana last year during the drought. Best of luck and I hope you fine em.

[skidynastar33]

thanks for the info!
Dad and brother headed there tonight. ill be headed over in another day. we will keep you all posted on what we see and do. going to start around harvillah and see what we see and whats happening.

Kyle

[greenhead_killer]

That’s a good place to start. The deer should be moving pretty well. Bit of snow there but not as much as what was up higher. Should be able to get around fairly well by now

[kramman]

That's a great place to start. Just past havillah along to the lake I haven't been able to find.   Hint hint..hints...

[skidynastar33]

Not much to report for day 1. Hiked into an area, overlooked that the snow park with snow is going to have people using it. So probably not the best spot to start. Drove some to get a lay of the land. Seen a few does but no bucks spotted, even on private. There headed to toward the lake that can’t be found tomorrow, I am leaving at 3am to join them. Will keep you updated!

[bustedoldman]

PM Sent

[skidynastar33]

Well unfortunately not a lot to report, snow was deep and made it difficult to get to places we wanted to try. Tried hunting the edges of private down lower, mainly cause that’s what we could access. Say some good bucks on private but struggled to see much on public. We are also mainly mule deer hunters so that probably didn’t help. Got some good tips from you all on the forum but just ran out of time to check them out.
We ended up getting permission on some private land in the valley and my dad shot a last minute meat buck on the last day.

[boneaddict]

THanks for following up.  I'm glad your Dad was able to put some meat in the freezer for his efforts

[kramman]

 I was wondering how the snow was gonna affect this hunt. You were in areas that held whitetails on public land. Glad there is meat in the freezer.