Bad year for whitetail in Region 8-1 osoyoos?

[dawn2dusk]

Well i got back from my hunt 8-1 couple weeks ago. Dont know what has changed since last year but my god there was a lot of hunters and little game around. THe deer i did see were so sketchy. Trailcam got no pics of any decent bucks. Saw many hunters each day even on trail cam. I found garbage (granola bar wrappers, beeer cans) in some of my remote honey holes were i thought no one else had been for years. A trail i used to hike up (small single track/game trail) has been converted into a quad trail with a chainsaw and then they cut through a cattle fence not sure if rancher was ok with this maybe it was the rancher. But so much for my remote hike in spot. But anyways, my question is has any one else in this area noticed the increased pressure and lack of game this year? is it just the weather this year?

I packed camp early and went east to a different MU on the prowl of more remote less pressure area. After couple days of exploring i got lucky and ran into a spike WT. Wasnt going to let him walk since it was first buck i had seen in 8 days. Some pretty coutry up the Kettle Valley. Here is pic of my faithful CT90 after towing my whitie out:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/hunt_2008.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11602&size=big&cat=500)

Came back to island went on a day hunt last week and dropped my first blacktail 2 hrs into my hunt the first day. And it was the third buck i had seen, let the first two walk as they were spikes. Maybe next year I save $$$ BC ferries and just hunt island deer.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/blacktail_cowichan.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11601&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=1261)
Too bad cause i sure like the bush in 8-1 and nice to get away from home. Maybe time to try some other regions/species next year.

ruger#1 how you do this year? did you get home to hunt some pheasants?

[ruger#1]

Hey bro i was wondering if you still were on here.`I was in 8-01 in Oct and didn`t see much but allot of hunters. Might be the high gas prices keeping them around there, went to 8-12 and shot a 3x3 mule deer second day there. Seen some nice elk and four turkeys.and very few whitetails. seen the same spike two days in a row. Glad your still around. Later . PS nice blacktail.

[spock]

Ya, I was wondering what happened to you as well Dawn2Dusk, I was up in that area in late August visiting relatives and we saw lots of whitetail around including a few nice bucks, much the same as every other year. I went up in the middle of November with a friend and his son we didn't see a lot of whitetails, but then in the area more towards 8-1 we definately saw a lot more hunters than the same time last year maybe the deer were just feeling more pressure I talked to guy that lives up there and he said he had seen about half as many as last year, sure did see a lot of crap lying around, my friends son got a muley buck in the late season so that was alright. Maybe your pictures of a 300 lb whitey buck drew more people to that area.

[dawn2dusk]

Eh good to hear from you guys. And that i wasnt the only one noticing the change.

Doah! I knew i should not have posted those pics...ah just kidding no worries. Seems like most hunters like to hunt from there trucks and there is lots of country out there. Although these ATVs sure seem to get into some narly places and really open up the access. I am sure next year 4x4s will be going up that quad trail that not long ago was just a game trail. Not far from end of quad trail I found a couple unspent 270 rounds and some cigarette butts where one hunter had setup for an ambush. was he smoking while trying to ambush WT? :-o

On the bright side, because it was slow I covered lots of ground via hiking, ct90, and truck. Went into some places that i had been looking at on google earth all last winter. Pretty cool to relate back to research and actually find some new honey holes only problem is they would be brutal hike in before dawn. Might have to try spike camp next year.

bought a used wall tent and got to use it this year. Wow what a difference. So civilized. I compare Woodstove as to a 45/70 when a grizz is chargin at you. Man it was nice and warm and dry. Lots of space. Comfortable. It was sad when i had to pack it all up and go back home to work.

But family is very happy lots of quality meat to enjoy and nice change from salmon/halibut.

[bckev]

It was tough year here. I live here and don't know of too many people that got critters this y ear. I was having a hard time finding them. All the sign was in the deep bush. Lots of hunting pressure, no new logges spots and all kinds of feed in the bush made it easy for them to stay home. I was lucky to get my whitetail.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Generally, it's tough to kill a whitey without snow.

Lots of people that would have tagged out earlier are still on the lookout=more hunters out at the end.

Finally snowing today:smile:.

SSS

[ohno]

The mild fall weather has really played havoc with most peoples hunts this year.

There is always next year.....

[spock]

I should add that while we were up there I did hear a few gunshots, so someone must have been shooting at whitetails as that is all that was open. I think the other thing I have to add is that with any kind of hunting is if you have to move or have lost faith in your spot that is one of the biggest negatives against you scoring as you generally won't put the patience, effort and mental concentration as you would if you were convinced the game was there.

[dawn2dusk]

Good point spock. that is what happend to me this year. I ended up roaming around like a hungry dog.

The bush was so dry and quiet was impossible to still hunt and very tricky to get into ambush spots without the game hearing you. Never mind smell you. Tough condition. The irony was the day i was packing camp it started to snow but i had to go.

O well I am already anticipating next year.....

[spock]

I had to relearn that the hard way this year, 9 days for moose not one spotted. 5 days for whitetails saw 1 small buck rattled something in that winded me and that was my season, but in hindsight I spent way too much time wandering around. My brother in Ontario got a 155" whitetail about a week ago, he sets up a few stands and ground blinds before the season starts and sits, he told me he'd been "on stand" for 10 days before he got his buck first one in three years, his first year back east he sat in a treestand for a week, he wouldn't even drink in the morning so he wouldn't have to pee all day came home at night near dehydration, saw one deer a four point he passed on, whitetail hunting can be a tough racket.