Up next: Archery deer and elk!
Tips and tactics for early season success; bears and grouse too
By Tom Ryle/WDFW
Setting the stage
As spring brings new life to the landscape for all wildlife, in turn, deer and elk populations increase with fawns and calves celebrating their long legs and enjoying lush, abundant food sources. As spring is squelched by the summer heat, tender food sources of spring mature and begin to dry up, causing ungulates to shift their diet toward other foods and proximity to water sources. And to escape the heat, deer and elk need thermal cover to stay cool and help regulate their body temperature.
Take note of these three key elements – food, water, and cover – as they are foundational elements to any big game hunting strategy.
Deer are primarily browsers which means the eat a variety of food types, including browse (leafy parts of woody plants), forbs (herbaceous broad-leaved plants, including agricultural crops), hard and soft mast (seeds), grass, and mushrooms/lichens. Elk are primarily grazers, eating mostly grasses but also browse, and they consume a variety of other plants and some fungi.
Preferred food sources for deer and elk change in response to seasonal changes in forage abundance, quality, and metabolic needs of the animal.
Deer will drink water several times per day whereas elk may drink less often but consume more water at each visit to a water source. Much depends on the specific location and habitat in question. A lush, cool creek bottom in Western Washington might provide plenty of food, cover, and water all in one location. However, in Eastern Washington, game may need to travel some distance between preferred food sources, bedding/thermal cover, and water.
With these considerations top of mind let’s dive into some specific hunting strategies for deer and elk, starting with deer.
13,260 archers tagged 2,975 deer in 2022
Columbian black-tailed deer are our most common deer subspecies. They occur from the crest of the Cascades west to the ocean, preferring brushy, logged lands, and mixed and coniferous forests. Many of the physical characteristics of black-tailed deer are similar to those of the larger mule deer, with a couple exceptions: body size, antler size, and a distinctly different tail.
Opening day 2019 was successful for Miah Anderson, who shared her first bowhunt with her daughters. (Miah Anderson)
I’ll offer an early season playbook that has helped me fill a handful of September tags when the dog days of summer deliver plenty of heat and available shooting light.
September is hot and deer need to regulate their body temperature, so they will key in on places that provide close proximity to food, cover, and water. Donning a full camo outfit and hiking hills in search of deer is not recommended. Instead, leverage online mapping tools such as Google Earth, onX Hunt, and WDFW’s Hunt Planner to locate potential feed areas next to bedding areas, and likely nearby water sources. I try to find places where a deer can maintain security cover while both feeding and transitioning from feeding to bedding, and from bedding to water since deer typically will drink before feeding in the evening. If you focus on these required movements that all deer make daily, rain or shine, you can quickly eliminate a lot of less productive areas without breaking a sweat.
Another good tactic if you’re starting from scratch is finding a large clearcut that you can glass at daylight and just before last light. You can pick up deer feeding about or entering/leaving a cut. Using optics to cover large expanses of land saves your energy, keeps your scent out of your hunting area, and lets you observe undisturbed deer.
Creating a natural ground blind or popping up a treestand in key locations described above are my go-to approaches for September. I don’t like the heat and can’t stand sweating, so I’m very surgical in my approach. For an overview of treestand use and safety, check out a video I put out last fall.
White-tailed deer
Whitetails are creatures of habit when undisturbed and highly adaptable otherwise. They are masters of their home ranges and leverage strength in numbers when it comes to evading predators. In Washington there are two general types of hunting experiences to be had for whitetails: big timber bucks in conifer forestlands or edge habitats around ag fields and farmlands. Both produce good numbers of bucks each fall, so if you’re more adventurous and want to cover ground, there are plenty of National Forest lands in the northeast corner of the state. If a low-impact hunt is more your style, you can leverage WDFW’s private land hunting opportunities to secure some private land or leverage onX Hunt to research good-looking areas and contact landowners for access.
Mule deer
Mule deer offer a lot of opportunity for those living up and down the I-5 corridor because they are largely found within the middle third of the state, top to bottom. Again, with a focus on food, cover, water, and thermoregulation needs, I recommend using digital tools as much as possible to research and discover likely hunting grounds. If you don’t have access to such tools, traditional maps are still extremely valuable. Identify north-facing (cooler) slopes with timbered areas and benches along ridges adjacent to creeks or water sources. These are high-probability locations to find deer. If you can glass openings and hillside trails early and late in the day, you might be able locate a buck transitioning between feeding, bedding, or watering locations.
As mentioned above, locate from a distance, then move in for the setup. Always play the wind to ensure your scent isn’t blowing in the direction you expect deer to approach. As a rule with thermal currents, the air sinks when cool and rises as it warms. Sometimes (translation: most always) you need to be patient and wait for those changes to occur before moving into your setup location.
Wait, there’s one more!
Washington and Oregon are both home to a fourth deer species called the Columbian white-tailed deer. While Oregon has a very limited hunting opportunity, these deer are protected in Washington and cannot be hunted even if encountered outside their refuges in Southwest Washington. Surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated a low of only 545 deer in 2002. The population has now rebounded, with an estimated population of 1,296 deer in 2022.
This mature Roosevelt bull was taken in prime bedding cover. (Dustin Howard)
On average, only 1 out of 10 elk hunters will fill their tag.
Washington elk hunters have a choice to make before embarking on an elk hunt. Unlike our statewide deer tag, elk are broken into east and west designations delineated once again by the Cascade Range. So, you must choose which side of the state you’re going to hunt and purchase the appropriate tag.
Roosevelt’s elk inhabit the west side of the state while Rocky Mountain elk reside on the eastern side of the state, though they do not occur across the entirety of Eastern Washington.
There isn’t room to discuss all the nuanced differences between hunting these two subspecies, so for this post, we’ll focus on bowhunting elk in general.
Most bowhunters are enthralled with the elk rut, or breeding season, which peaks around Sept. 20-22. That means during the weeks leading up to peak breeding, there is a lot of rutting action going on. There are some great elk hunting resources online in the form of YouTube videos, onX Hunt masterclasses, newsletters, and paid online courses. These are worth your time to explore but don’t overlook the value of learning on your own as well. That is part of the journey, and nothing beats the rewards of direct experience.
Locating elk wallows between feeding and bedding locations can pay off when trying to intercept September bulls. The author has found that wallows located on benches can produce visits any time of day but especially after 3 p.m. when bulls are moving toward evening feed locations. (Tom Ryle/WDFW)
- Learn the vocalizations of elk. Early season elk hunting is one time of year when you can replicate the vocalizations of elk and create shot opportunities. Learning herd talk, cow sounds, and bull sounds will enhance your success while adding another level of excitement and satisfaction. There are plenty of online tutorials and videos to consume on this topic.
- Use a wind checker and keep the wind in your face. The wind is responsible for saving more elk during archery season than anything else. Getting inside 30 yards on a bull (or cow) elk requires that a lot of variables are aligned in your favor. You may fool an elk’s eyes or ears with small mistakes, but any whiff of human scent will send them crashing away in an instant. No questions asked, no second chances.
- Practice safety. Pack a first aid kit and go afield each day prepared to stay the night. Be sure to let your loved ones know where you’re going, especially if you will not have good cell coverage. Consider investing in a personal locator beacon (PLB) or satellite communicator such as the Garmin inReach mini. There are several manufacturers that offer proven products that could save your life in an emergency.
- Define success for yourself and enjoy learning. Elk hunting is difficult. It can seem impossible with a bow at times. But if you define your success in terms of learning and building on that knowledge year after year, you’ll enjoy the journey and find success. Successful elk hunters know this to be true because they too have lived it.
This late August black bear is following his nose to summer food sources. (Laura Rogers)
Before you go: forest grouse delayed
The traditional Sept. 1 start of the statewide forest grouse hunting season was moved to Sept. 15 starting in the 2021 season in order to reduce the harvest of breeding-age hens and ultimately increase forest grouse abundance and availability for hunters. For more information, read our blog on the change.
This shift remains in effect. For detailed hunting regulations for forest grouse and other resident game birds, please see the resident game bird seasons: www.eregulations.com/washington/hunting/game-bird/resident-game-bird-seasons.
Ruffed grouse. (Tom Ryle/WDFW)
