finman,
nemont is right; the area you hunted by Winnett maybe, maybe, has 25% of the deer that area had just one year ago. How do I know this?? Because I saw your posts on the HuntWA website and have hunted this area for years. In fact, I know right were you camped thanks to your detailed messages and pictures. The area you hunted has never held big bucks, but, had great deer numbers, and great numbers of medium sized bucks. I have hunted montana for years, in many different areas, including the broadus area that "hotwife" used to hunt. That area was heaven in the 1990's; and now, is completely overun. MFWP blasted roads through and labled every good chunk of BLM ground around there. It practically provided a roadmap for everybody. What used to take a little work and investigation to find can now be found by anybody.
Unfortunately, the "Breaks" are now that way. I swear half of WA state is in the Breaks now. I can guarantee you that there are WA guys already pulling the landowner maps off of the FWP website and, with a little investigative work, they will find your 16 sections of land owned by a little old lady..........
Montana can be a mule deer paradise, but, I can tell you certain areas of the Breaks got hammered by winter kill last year. Unit 410 (winnett) was one of them. I cannot believe the irresponsibility of the MFWP in not reducing the mule deer doe tags entirely in this area. They gave out 600 mule deer doe tags for this area alone. That is ridiculus given the winter kill. And, your normal buck tag can also be used for either sex, so we saw tons of people filling their buck tags with doe tags. This happened in an area we used to hunt in SW mt in the late 1980's. Winter kill; plus increasing hunter numbers; plus doe tags; plus any deer tags; and this area went from seeing 100 deer a day and 25 bucks to 15 deer a day and 2 bucks, and still to this day has never been the same. Because the mentality of a non resident, is that: "I paid $300 for a deer tag, and drove a 1000 miles, I'm not going home empty handed".
Nemont is right, if Montana is not careful, it is going to have a WA on its hands. In unit 410, the specific area you hunted is one of the areas that, due to higher deer densities last year, came through the winter kill better, but it is still a disaster compared to just one year ago. It is just that WA is a much bigger disaster so its seems good........ You wait, give it another year, or two, and all the hunters in 410 will get concentrated along the Lower River Rd because that is the only place the numbers are still even remotely close to what they used to be. After that happens, then even the small remaining pockets of decent deer densities get hammered. Instead of 3 or 4 trucks driving up and down that road in the morning and evening, there will be 10 or 15.
You just need to find a new place where people aren't hunting. There's plenty of it in Montana, that or you're just used to your new home in AK.
