Deer dieoff in eastern Washington

[Jim22]

We live in an area where there are normally a lot of whitetail deer. Hunters from the west coast come here because of them. This past summer we experienced a serious drought. It lasted all spring, summer, and fall. The vegetation that the deer rely on was killed by the drought in June and July.

My wife did what she could to feed the local deer but they ALL disappeared a couple months ago. I have talked with others - farmers for instance. They tell me they used to see 20 to 50 deer a day in their fields. Now they are seeing only a few a day.

The predators have moved in to take advantage of the weak or dead deer.

We don't have the ear of game and fish on the coast. They have become politicized. Either they don't know about the winter kill or...

The deer take around here will be greatly reduced.

We have seen incidents of Blue Tongue but they are telling us that Chronic Wasting disease has not been a problem here. I wonder if others in this area have seen anything similar.

Jim

[memtb]

I hope not.....it’s pretty devastating here! Between the “Blue Tongue” and CWD, our Whitetails don’t stand a chance! I live in a river bottom, great Whitetail habitat.....it’s pretty sad to witness the recovery/death cycles! memtb

[Winger Ed.]

Here, when there is a drought, they don't make nearly as many new deer as usual.
That might have happed to the herd there too,
and the others that didn't get lost to normal predation moved on to where the grass is greener.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I hear you about the drought. I'm in central Oregon and most of the local wells including mine went dry last summer. A few deer persisted, but there weren't as many as usual as the nearest water was in a lake about 10 miles away. The ones I did see appeared healthy. I don't know what the situation will be this year, as the wells haven't come back, so most folks will be unable to put water out for them.

DG

[atr]

Hi Jim22
I have place up near Muckamuck Hill. There has always been a small heard of whitetails around my place, but this year we had the Muckamuck Mountain fire and it pretty much destroyed many thousands of acres of the surrounding Okanogan National Forest. The forage in my area is pretty much gone. I am sure lack of forage will be affecting all the critters; whitetail, mule deer, grouse, turkey, elk, bear...etc.
Yes, last summer was brutally dry.296886

[megasupermagnum]

That certainly wasn't the case in the bighorn mountains, WY. If it is happening, it is happening locally. I put on about 15,000 miles hunting this year, and I never found anywhere with huge die offs. Not anywhere in SD, Not in eastern WY. Not in eastern ND. MN drought wasn't that bad, despite the complaints. The best thing to do is to not feed animals, and do what you can to keep anything from spreading. Don't dump carcasses from a different place in your backyard for instance. Other than that, it's just nature.

[Shawlerbrook]

Here especially in the Hudson Valley we lost hundreds of deer this past summer due to EHD.

[waksupi]

I hadn't seen a deer here for over a month. They have been keeping tight to the wintering grounds. This morning, I had seven in the yard. Sign of spring, hopefully.

[quilbilly]

Blue tongue that follows drought wiped out most of the mule deer in my favorite area in Central Washington 5 years ago so I have been staying away and hunting my local area. Now we have so many lions on the Eastern flank of the Olympic Mountains that even the deer in my neighborhood are almost gone. We used to have half a dozen just on our property and by this fall the number dwindled to 2, the only ones left eating fallen apples from our trees. We haven 't seen a deer in months now on our trail cams near the house but several different lions are regulars, coyotes (of course)daily , and most recently a hefty bobcat at least once a week. Something similar happened in an isolated peninsula not far from here five years ago when several lions suddenly appeared (I saw them while driving around in broad daylight) and the deer are just now recovering. As a result, I will go back to that place in Central Washington this spring to do a mule deer "census" hoping for the best.

[Moleman-]

There was an outbreak of EEE where I hunt 2+3 summers ago. This past season there were basically 6 does, and 4 small bucks where I hunt which is way down from any other year I've hunted there. Season before last though was terrible. I hunted more that year than I ever have in 40 years of deer hunting. I saw a small 6pt on day 2 which I passed on, then nothing the rest of gun season, nothing in muzzleloader, then on the last day of late winter doe, I saw two does 500+ yards out. Nothing on the trail cameras either that year other than the 2 does and 1 6pt. Clearly some moved into the area, hopefully next deer season will be better.

[Beaverhunter2]

Blue tongue that follows drought wiped out most of the mule deer in my favorite area in Central Washington 5 years ago so I have been staying away and hunting my local area. Now we have so many lions on the Eastern flank of the Olympic Mountains that even the deer in my neighborhood are almost gone. We used to have half a dozen just on our property and by this fall the number dwindled to 2, the only ones left eating fallen apples from our trees. We haven 't seen a deer in months now on our trail cams near the house but several different lions are regulars, coyotes (of course)daily , and most recently a hefty bobcat at least once a week. Something similar happened in an isolated peninsula not far from here five years ago when several lions suddenly appeared (I saw them while driving around in broad daylight) and the deer are just now recovering. As a result, I will go back to that place in Central Washington this spring to do a mule deer "census" hoping for the best.

Sounds like it's time for some predator hunting!

Have fun!

John

[Grayone]

Sounds like it's time for some predator hunting!

Have fun!

John

I was thinking the same thing when I saw your post. There must be a balance between predator and prey to maintain a healthy balance in nature. The PETA people operate on emotions and not common sense. The politicians should let the biologists that the state has do their job.

[atr]

just remember, we...the human species...are also the "predator". Perhaps letting the deer population regain some balance by less human predation might be considered.

[quilbilly]

My butcher wants me to bring in a lion. He says they make the best sausage of anything (that is his shop's specialty). The problem this winter has been that between the slow melting, low elevation snow and stormed downed trees, it has been tough to get off the main highway. On the bright side, lots of free fir and hemlock firewood is to be had.

[Plate plinker]

I hadn't seen a deer here for over a month. They have been keeping tight to the wintering grounds. This morning, I had seven in the yard. Sign of spring, hopefully.

Same here, the deer are still yarding up. Seeing groups of 5-20 at a time.