Wildlife Benefit From Special Hunting Privileges

The good ol’ days are back for mule deer in a 30,000-acre block of sage and wheat land in Grant County. But some people are still wary of what this means for the future.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will decide Friday whether to reauthorize the Wilson Creek Private Lands Wildlife Management Area.

The land, controlled by wheat farmer David Stevens and 13 other cooperators, is one of two pilot projects approved by the commission five years ago. The program gives large landholders special hunting seasons in return for major improvements to wildlife habitat.

The other project involves Western Washington timber land controlled by Champion Pacific International, Inc.

Although any landowner can charge hunters a fee to hunt on private land, the PLWMA’s are given special seasons and limited numbers of hunting permits. Profits from selling some of the permits produce income both for the landowner and to fund land improvements for a variety of game and non-game species.

While some sportsmen and landowners still are skeptical about giving big landholders special privileges, results from state research indicates the projects are an unqualified success for wildlife.

At a recent meeting in Spokane, Fish and Wildlife commissioners praised the project after hearing a report by Jim Tabor, state biologist from Moses Lake.

Following are the documented habitat improvements on the Wilson Creek PLWMA and the resulting benefits to wildlife.

Improvements

Livestock grazing was curtailed to restore native vegetation on 16,000 acres of land that previously had been overgrazed.

Stevens has planted 415 acres of irrigated food plots, 70 acres of dryland food plots and 60 acres of shrubs for permanent cover. He’s fertilized 30 acres of native rangeland and developed five additional springs for water.

Results

Helicopter surveys, most of which have been funded by Stevens, found 335 deer on the PLWMA during summer. That’s a 13 percent decrease from 1994, but a 137 percent increase from 1988.

In December, biologists counted 1,236 deer on the area, a 213 percent increase form 1988.

Tagging and radio-collar surveys show that 73 percent of these wintering deer were migrants. About 92 percent of the migrants were does and fawns.

The number of bucks in hunting units adjacent to the Wilson Creek PLWMA have increased by 27 percent. The number of bucks with four or more points has increased by 62 percent. These bucks are available to hunters outside the PLWMA.

The deer that leave the area migrate an average of 29 miles. One deer migrated a whopping 65 miles from the ranch, where it was struck by a car on Interstate 90 near the Fishtrap Exit.

Of the 15 deer fitted with radio transmitters last year, only one stayed on the PLWMA. Two moved to adjacent unit 272, five wandered to Douglas County units 254 and 248, seven went to Lincoln County units 130, 133 and 136.

Only two of radio-collared deer returned to the PLWMA by mid-October. The rest remained off during the general hunting season.

While aerial surveys clearly show an increase in deer on Steven’s land, the fruits are spreading beyond his boundaries.

Deer have always caused some deer damage complaints in the area, but Tabor said the Fish and Wildlife Department is receiving fewer complaints even though there are more deer.

“Most of the deer are attracted to PLWMA during the winter,” he said.

Most people who have hunted deer on the Wilson Creek PLWMA were required to enter a drawing and pay only the normal state tag and license fees. With the exception of one teenager a year, who is allowed to shoot a buck, all the other public tag holders must shoot antlerless deer.

Stevens raises his money by selling trophy buck tags at whatever price the market will bear.

The state allowed him 25 buck tags last year, but Stevens said he sold only 13 because he didn’t want to overharvest a trophy population he’s still trying to build.

The ratio of bucks to does on his place is roughly 1 to 1. In areas where unrestricted hunting is allowed, the ratio would likely be about 10 bucks to 100 does.

Of the 97 hunting permits the state allotted to the Wilson Creek PLWMA last year, 74 people hunted for no access fee under the state’s normal permit drawing program.

Stevens raised $77,000 from 13 hunters who paid between $3,000 and $7,100 to hunt trophy mule deer bucks.

“Our costs are about $55,000-$60,000 in out-of-pocket expenses like fertilizer, power, seed and diesel,” Stevens said. “In five years, we’ve never got into the black on this. But we’re finally starting to get some return.”

Stevens said a mule deer buck must survive more than five years to become world-class size. “With all the hunters and poachers, that’s pretty rare,” he said.

Before Stevens began curtailing grazing and planting special food crops especially for deer in 1988, only about 50 mule deer were on his property. Habitat restoration has changed that.

“We’re giving the public a benefit,” Stevens said. “We can’t tell the resident deer from the migrants. They stay on our place all winter, then they go off the place to have their fawns.

“If there’s a deer problem anywhere in this area, somebody will say it’s my fault, not the farmer out there who’s not providing for wildlife.”

, DataTimes