More deer means more opportunities in Washington

The region from Spokane to Colville is Washington’s deer hunting Mecca, producing far more bucks and does to hunters than any other region in the state.

The overall harvest in Northeastern Washington dropped last year from the numbers recorded in 2005, possibly because of varied weather and hunting conditions.

Nevertheless, 4,900 deer harvested last year by hunters in the Mount Spokane, Huckleberry and 49 Degrees North game management units matched the number of deer killed in all of the Columbia Basin, Okanogan and Yakima regions combined.

Mule deer have curbed their downward trend to make slight increases in Northeastern Washington, but whitetails are the bread and butter for hunters and there’s plenty to go around.

“We basically have hunting seasons from Sept. 1 through mid-December with one group or another, be it youths, seniors or permit holders, being able to hunt antleress whitetails throughout that time,” said Steve Zender, veteran Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Chewelah.

“We have a lot of deer, more than last year, and a lot of opportunity to hunt them.”

Mule deer numbers were higher in 1977 and whitetails were more numerous in 1990, but Zender said the current number of deer feels just about right. Booming deer numbers are not healthy because they’re generally followed by a bust, such as the ones the region suffered in the 90s, he said.

“We’ve had no winter or disease problems for a while and we have decent buck-doe ratios and a good number of older bucks in the population,” he said.

Ferry, Pend Oreille, Spokane and Stevens counties have plenty of public land or private timber company lands open to hunting. Much of the best hunting, however, is on private land, especially in the very productive Mount Spokane unit (124).