District 5 Deer hunting prospects

This is a multi-part series about the 2015 hunting prospects.

Deer: General information continued

Game Management Unit 284 is dominated by private property. Hunters should plan to seek permission to access private lands and/or plan on hunting lands enrolled in the Fish and Wildlife Access Program, as little wildlife area land is available in this unit.

The number of deer hunters within GMU 284 ranges from about 650-1,100, with recent years hosting about 850-900 hunters. General season success rates in GMU 284 average 37 percent, 28 percent and 28 percent for modern firearm, muzzleloader, and archery, respectively. Permit hunters experience the highest success rates, ranging from 60-81 percent, with a long-term average of 71 percent.

GMU 290 is a permit only unit, thus all hunting opportunities in GMU 290 (Desert Unit) are issued through the public draw. With average post-hunt ratios of 45 bucks:100 does and 60 percent of bucks being classified as more than 2.5 years old, high success rates are expected to continue in 2015.

Forty-one percent of land in GMU 290 is managed by the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area, thus public opportunity is widely available. Public land in this unit consists of riparian areas that are associated with the Winchester and Frenchmen Wasteways, and is surrounded by rolling, sandy dunes with varying densities of shrub cover. The majority of the private agricultural land in this unit occurs throughout the western half.

Which GMU should deer hunters hunt?

With the exception of the Desert (GMU 290) and Wahluke (GMU 278) units, mule deer in the Ephrata District are largely migratory. Historically, radio-marked mule deer exhibited movements from neighboring GMUs into the Ephrata District.

These movements are largely weather dependent, with snowfall likely having the largest effect on fall and winter movements. Mule deer will reverse this migration and return to fawning grounds during spring. South and east movements of mule deer into GMU 272 from neighboring GMUs such as Big Bend, Saint Andrews, and Moses Coulee are also believed to occur, but these movements are not as well understood.

What to expect during the 2015 season

Most deer harvest occurs in GMUs 272 (Beezley) and 284 (Ritzville), where post-hunt buck:doe ratios typically range between 20–30:100. Fish and Wildlife observed 25B:100D (51 percent mature) and 33B:100D (38 percent mature) during the 2014 post-hunt survey ground counts for GMUs 272 and 284, respectively, which suggests that buck harvest should be good for the 2015 season.

The 2014-15 winter conditions were favorable for mule deer survival. Snow cover was minimal and the basin experienced a fall green-up of cool season grasses, which provided forage through the winter months. These signs all point towards a good deer season for 2015 in the Ephrata District.

Deer areas

There are localized areas in District 5 where deer congregate during harsh or prolonged winters and have the potential to cause crop damage. To address this issue, Fish and Wildlife provides limited permit only opportunities to harvest antlerless deer that occur in close proximity to these areas.

Fish and Wildlife defines such areas as Deer Areas. By providing these opportunities, Fish and Wildlife hopes to minimize crop depredation by deterring mule deer from congregating in Deer Areas. Deer Areas that occur in District 5 include Deer Area 2010 (Lakeview) located in GMU 272 and Deer Area 2011 (Benge) located in GMU 284.

Bear

The Ephrata District does not have a resident population of black bears. The establishment of black bear populations in this district is not expected in the foreseeable future.

What to expect during the 2015 season

The Ephrata District is not an optimal area to target black bears. An occasional bear may disperse through this district and the most likely places to encounter these dispersers are the Beezley Hills and Moses Coulee.

Cougar

Modeling efforts suggest a small population of adult cougar in the Ephrata District and annual harvest is very low. Cougar harvest comes mostly from GMU 272 (Beezley Hills). Populations are expected to remain stable in this area for the foreseeable future.

What to expect during the 2015 season

The Ephrata District is not an optimal area to target cougar. The most likely places to encounter these cats are the Beezley Hills, Moses Coulee, and adjacent to the Crab Creek drainage upstream from the town of Stratford.

Pheasant

Grant County was Washington’s top pheasant producing county in 2014. Hunters bagged 9,179 roosters in Grant County and 1,995 in Adams County for a total harvest of 11,174 pheasants in District 5, which was a 13 percent increase from the 2013 harvest.

The largest wild populations of pheasants on Fish and Wildlife lands in the Ephrata district are likely to be found within the Desert Unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area Complex between Potholes Reservoir and the town of George.

Mixed bags of wild and released birds are also likely to be had in the Lower Crab Creek, Gloyd Seeps, Quincy and Dry Falls units.

For wild birds, dense thickets of Russian olive and cattail associated with Frenchmen and Winchester Wasteways and ponds are likely to hold pheasants. Hunters will increase their odds greatly with a well-trained dog to both flush and retrieve the birds in dense cover. Pheasants are strong runners, so moving quickly and quietly can improve the odds of getting a close shot.

Conditions have been favorable for pheasant production, beginning with a mild winter with little snow cover, which allowed birds to survive winter in good condition. Spring conditions were very dry and lacked heavy showers that often result in mortality for young broods. However, dry conditions also limit productivity of invertebrates, which are a critical dietary component of young pheasant chicks.

Thus, pheasant production in the irrigated portions of the district should be better than average, while production in the dryland areas is likely to be slightly below average. Hunters can expect similar to slightly increased numbers of wild pheasants as was observed during the 2014 season.

Most hunters who invest considerable effort and cover a lot of ground will cross paths with a few wild birds and can increase their chances for a productive hunt by selecting non-toxic shot and diversifying the bag with waterfowl. Hunters may also choose to seek out pheasant release sites. Non-toxic shot is required at all pheasant release sites.

Next week: Hunting prospects continued.