Spring’s Low Deer Count Reflects Harsh Winter

Recently completed spring deer counts in Okanogan County have found only 15 young deer for every 100 does.

That ratio of fawns surviving the winter is “the lowest I’ve ever seen,” said Jim Mountjoy, a Washington Fish and Wildlife Department enforcement agent for 26 years.

Normally, department employees count 40-50 fawns per hundred does in the Okanogan during late winter and early spring, he said.

The ratio had been down to 20-30 following the previous hard winter of 1992-93, but the recent bitter winter was more than most young deer could handle, he said.

“In my opinion, we’re down about 30 percent of the deer we had five years ago,” Mountjoy said. “It will take time and some easier winters for the herd to recover.”

Winter feeding conducted by the state and volunteers helped save some breeding stock. But adult deer often will butt fawns away from food during tough times.

About 40 feeding stations were maintained in the Methow Valley alone.

“We can’t feed all the deer,” Mountjoy said.

The fall hunting season in the Okanogan will be the most restrictive in Mountjoy’s 26-year career: A nine-day season, only bucks three points or larger will be legal; no antlerless permits.

Idaho guide available

Rules and issues regarding access and trespass laws on public and private land are explained in a new pamphlet, “Idaho Access Guide.”

The pamphlet is available at offices of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, as well as the Idaho Association of Counties and state departments of Public Lands, Commerce and Fish and Game.

The guide deals with issues in a Q&A format and includes listings of offices, phone numbers and Internet addresses for all land managing agencies in Idaho. It also deals with trespass law, access to navigable water and roads.

, DataTimes