[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

We have never enjoyed much of a deer population here in Washington. Nor elk. Our climate, lack of mast crops, and other factors contribute to our notable lack of ungulates in general. Even Lewis and Clarke made note of this situation after they crossed the Snake River, putting the expedition on starvation rations at one point for a lack of game.

As a hunter, this lack of game in my home state has made things rather inconvenient. I've pretty much given up on hunting my own state, choosing instead to travel to where the rest of you folks are having problems with them. Our general deer seasons are only two weeks long, elk maybe ten days. Our hunter success runs at about 20% on deer and 8% on elk. We only get one each per year. I've hunted other states where the seasons run three months or more, and the limit is more like our fishing limits - seven deer per day, for a three month season, is the most generous I can recall. That is simply unfathomable here in Washington. But, I guess they are a "real and present danger" elsewhere. Just not here.

Weird, I was in Seattle in 2000. We had no work to do one day, and decided to drive to Mt Ranier since we had seen it from the space needle on another day. We got to Rainier and then drove to Mt St Helens and then back. I saw what seemed like tons of deer in that drive that day. I think it was 10-12 hours of driving. I probably saw 30-50 deer from the road that day.