Whitetails, mule deer rebuilding

Whitetails and even mule deer in northeastern Washington are showing encouraging progress in population building. That means more bucks for hunters this fall, but more favorable hunt regulations are still a year away.

Steve Zender, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife area wildlife biologist, said he’s supporting more liberal whitetail hunting seasons starting next year because the numbers of 2-, 3- and 4-year-old bucks has increased noticeably in the past three years.

“When we went into our current three-year regulation cycle we had just come off three years of relatively poor recruitment of mature bucks,” he said using terms that mean too many big bucks were getting killed and fewer does were getting bred.

“We went to more conservative seasons, ending the late buck on Nov. 19, which was earlier than in the past and just at the peak of the rut.” The calendar was like salt in a wound to some ardent buck hunters last year as the 19th was in midweek. Hunters complained about not getting to hunt through the weekend, Zender said.

This year the late season ends on a Monday.

“But with those conservative seasons and three years of easy winters, we’re seeing much improvement in the percentage of middle-range bucks,” Zender said. “Last year, 17 percent of the bucks we checked were five points or better.”

Hunters should find an even higher ratio of mature bucks in the northeast corner of the state, especially Stevens County, he said. “Not necessarily trophy bucks, but a lot more in the 2- to 4-year-old range.”

The deer are there, he said. Now it’s just a matter of finding a good place to hunt and getting good hunting weather before the season ends.