Broomd
WKR
Deer season is over around here .....Just a few observations from this year around the farm, purely anecdotal....
Deer numbers were down this year to start the season, last year's Winter was tough. I'd say 35-40% of our local herd was lost--again, my observation. There were deer around though, and I was surprised to see more deer keeping to heavy cover, I think it really helped them in the long run. I heard very few shots as opposed to most years. The rutting deer seem to know where safety is more than ever and they seem to be fawning in more 'human' areas too to avoid predation.
We had about five bucks around/on the place, four for sure per the trail cams....we took one. My wife passed on a fine 2.5 y/o 4x5 that I saw with the buck I killed.. Our freezer is tight, and she figured she'd pass. I'm proud of her. I think he lived, I jumped two bucks/some does a couple days ago grabbing the trail cams and he was likely one of them, it was thick.
We had some very cool deer activity, lots of grunting, rattling/fighting bucks were common; most years we never hear that other than the still of night. My neighbor rattled up three bucks this year but passed on all of them. Dunno if he finally found one he wanted.
Road hunters were still awful. This is the first year (and can say this with 100% honesty) that I actually looked at license plates as trucks crept down the road. This forum has made me so much more aware of the issue. The majority of the scourge was from Washington, followed by Oregon and then California. We had some local Idaho idiots but they were mostly Thanksgiving weekend warriors. My wife and I were in our truck heading to town when a Boise truck swerved in front of us and immediate bounced off-road and parked (on private property!) We figure the fool spotted a buck and didn't g.a.s. where or what else was going on around his vehicle. His barrel was hanging out the d.s. window. I sat up the road from him watching as to preclude him from illegally shooting from the vehicle. He finally left when the deer he was anticipating didn't appear. This was all literally 300 yards from our house front door. We recently fenced more for cattle and that seems to have helped with guys shooting/trespassing onto our place.
Overall, I suspect that guys had a tougher year than normal, it seemed quieter than most years with the shooting, and like I mentioned, thankfully the deer were a bit more wary and cover-oriented. Some years the does are running all over. And when the numbers are down, those does are so important to the herd.
Weather was tough for much of the season, high winds, rain, fog....The rare shots heard were when things cleared for a spell.
I spoke with our local sporting goods store gal when I was picking up my deer tag. She was pretty pissed (I was surprised, she's low key) I asked her why she was upset and she railed on about non-residents buying nothing from the store but licenses/tags, particularly WA guys. When she ran out of non-res tags, they were total jerks to her. Her words not mine! I have WA friends here and they are good guys.
I'm anxious to read what the state harvest was overall and how it compared with other years. We had planned a muley hunt but didn't go with the low numbers and '16 Winter kill.
I'll add here: it's a blessing to have a place/property to hunt and for us, it took a lifetime to get it. Work hard guys, nothing like a place to call your own to hunt or fish.
Some fellas want $70,000 F150's and $20K UTVs, there are loftier and more intrinsic goals, imho.
Deer numbers were down this year to start the season, last year's Winter was tough. I'd say 35-40% of our local herd was lost--again, my observation. There were deer around though, and I was surprised to see more deer keeping to heavy cover, I think it really helped them in the long run. I heard very few shots as opposed to most years. The rutting deer seem to know where safety is more than ever and they seem to be fawning in more 'human' areas too to avoid predation.
We had about five bucks around/on the place, four for sure per the trail cams....we took one. My wife passed on a fine 2.5 y/o 4x5 that I saw with the buck I killed.. Our freezer is tight, and she figured she'd pass. I'm proud of her. I think he lived, I jumped two bucks/some does a couple days ago grabbing the trail cams and he was likely one of them, it was thick.
We had some very cool deer activity, lots of grunting, rattling/fighting bucks were common; most years we never hear that other than the still of night. My neighbor rattled up three bucks this year but passed on all of them. Dunno if he finally found one he wanted.
Road hunters were still awful. This is the first year (and can say this with 100% honesty) that I actually looked at license plates as trucks crept down the road. This forum has made me so much more aware of the issue. The majority of the scourge was from Washington, followed by Oregon and then California. We had some local Idaho idiots but they were mostly Thanksgiving weekend warriors. My wife and I were in our truck heading to town when a Boise truck swerved in front of us and immediate bounced off-road and parked (on private property!) We figure the fool spotted a buck and didn't g.a.s. where or what else was going on around his vehicle. His barrel was hanging out the d.s. window. I sat up the road from him watching as to preclude him from illegally shooting from the vehicle. He finally left when the deer he was anticipating didn't appear. This was all literally 300 yards from our house front door. We recently fenced more for cattle and that seems to have helped with guys shooting/trespassing onto our place.
Overall, I suspect that guys had a tougher year than normal, it seemed quieter than most years with the shooting, and like I mentioned, thankfully the deer were a bit more wary and cover-oriented. Some years the does are running all over. And when the numbers are down, those does are so important to the herd.
Weather was tough for much of the season, high winds, rain, fog....The rare shots heard were when things cleared for a spell.
I spoke with our local sporting goods store gal when I was picking up my deer tag. She was pretty pissed (I was surprised, she's low key) I asked her why she was upset and she railed on about non-residents buying nothing from the store but licenses/tags, particularly WA guys. When she ran out of non-res tags, they were total jerks to her. Her words not mine! I have WA friends here and they are good guys.
I'm anxious to read what the state harvest was overall and how it compared with other years. We had planned a muley hunt but didn't go with the low numbers and '16 Winter kill.
I'll add here: it's a blessing to have a place/property to hunt and for us, it took a lifetime to get it. Work hard guys, nothing like a place to call your own to hunt or fish.
Some fellas want $70,000 F150's and $20K UTVs, there are loftier and more intrinsic goals, imho.
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