Mule deer hunting Barriere

[walks with deer]

would like to talk to the hunter that left all the garbage at the end of the road however..pretty ignorant..

[GreyDog]

I can tell you there weren't a lot of deer in the area in the 1970's either. Oh, there were deer but not great numbers. I suspect over-harvesting had more to do with it than any thing. I recall being shown pictures, from the fifties, of a pickup truck piled full with a half dozen deer and was told this was commonplace for a time but there just weren't the deer there used to be now (this was in the early 70's).
Cougars always were pretty hard on the populations. A cat would kill a deer a week or more until the numbers were down enough it had to move on. I don't know what the cougar populations are like now. There were always a few wolves but, for some reason, the old-timers hadn't thought to blame them for the reduced deer numbers like we do today.
For three years, in the early 80's, I covered every backroad from Fishtrap Creek up to Bonaparte Lake on the west side and east to Adams Lake, as well as the Barriere lakes, Johnson, Saskum, and Dunn. I drove about 250-300 miles a day, every day, May through September. I saw lots of bears, some cats, and coyotes but very few deer and moose. Saw one wolf and the occasional track. I always found it a bit strange that I could see so many predators and so little prey. Plainly, they were better hunters than I or they would have starved to death! GD

[walks with deer]

lol have had many days where i have seen more cats than deer.
saw 7one night last june..imo should increase limit and season time espeacialy during fawning..

[Big Lew]

I can personally attest to there being a lot of deer, lots being decent bucks,as well as quite
healthy populations of both cow and bull moose, many mature, in the area encompassing
Sulfurous Lake, Bonaparte Lake, Allan Lake, Smith Lake, and the whole area around Caverhill
Lakes. I took several bucks and bull moose between the middle 70's and up to around 2012.
I noticed a big change starting about 2000 with more hunters and a lot more wolves.

[LuckyHorseshoe]

Was up there with the family oct 8. Saw a nice 3x3 at 400 yds. I would have chased him but he was across an ugly ravine, too ugly with a baby and toddler to entertain in the truck!!

[blackbart]

There are a few good ones. I hope your second post on this site is a picture of the 240" double drop tine buck that we saw there yesterday but had to leave to get the toddler down for a nap.

[Conch]

Thanks for the info everyone. Obviously not the news I wanted to hear, may have to go back to the drawing board and try some spots in mind around Kamloops.

Anyone have any idea how much of the rolling hill country surrounding the road that heads up just east of Savona is private property?

[markomoose]

Funny how Barriere & Little fort was full of deer late nineties & early 2000 then the wolves got real thick.*******s ate everything!

[RyoTHC]

Thanks for the info everyone. Obviously not the news I wanted to hear, may have to go back to the drawing board and try some spots in mind around Kamloops.

Anyone have any idea how much of the rolling hill country surrounding the road that heads up just east of Savona is private property?

not sure what you expected tbh, hunting around and between the 3 of the if not the largest cities in bc (van kam and kelowna) will continue to decline as the populations increase.. I see hundreds of trucks every weekend gassing up their quads and trucks going to hunt the areas you’ve mentioned and asked about, the number one reason I see for new members not having success is lack of creativity, trying to hunt the same spots the hundreds of other lower mainlanders pound because they don’t want to drive more than a couple hours from home.

every single KM you go north of Kamloops or Kelowna not only has the potential to hold more game, I’m confident it does.

by no means let me discourage you from hunting locally if it’s close to home for you and easy, but if you’re already loading up everything and driving a couple hours you might as well go a couple more and get into areas that hold more game than hunters. The way it seems is that south of Kamloops, south of Vernon, grand forks, cranbrook etc get pounded by all the transient hunters and the locals, so the animals end up in pockets affording more of an opportunity to those who live locally and can figure out specific herd behaviours. So there’s still animals and success to be had but you really need boots on the ground and actual experience in the area to find them, odds of picking a road driving and being successful go way way down if you’re close to any of the aforementioned cities.

food for thought.

[Conch]

not sure what you expected tbh, hunting around and between the 3 of the if not the largest cities in bc (van kam and kelowna) will continue to decline as the populations increase.. I see hundreds of trucks every weekend gassing up their quads and trucks going to hunt the areas you’ve mentioned and asked about, the number one reason I see for new members not having success is lack of creativity, trying to hunt the same spots the hundreds of other lower mainlanders pound because they don’t want to drive more than a couple hours from home.

every single KM you go north of Kamloops or Kelowna not only has the potential to hold more game, I’m confident it does.

by no means let me discourage you from hunting locally if it’s close to home for you and easy, but if you’re already loading up everything and driving a couple hours you might as well go a couple more and get into areas that hold more game than hunters. The way it seems is that south of Kamloops, south of Vernon, grand forks, cranbrook etc get pounded by all the transient hunters and the locals, so the animals end up in pockets affording more of an opportunity to those who live locally and can figure out specific herd behaviours. So there’s still animals and success to be had but you really need boots on the ground and actual experience in the area to find them, odds of picking a road driving and being successful go way way down if you’re close to any of the aforementioned cities.

food for thought.

RyoTHC sent a PM