If you guys think it's bad here, If I recall correctly last years' Deer Season in Pennsylvannia the hunters out numbered the Whitetail deer 5 to 1.

1. AHE - Gets you access to hunts not everybody can put in for, lessening the pool and increasing your odds.

2. Changed to ML - Early and late seasons equal about a month of hunting time. Much lower participation rate, I think about 5-10% of hunters go ML, depending on state. Lots of "any deer" hunts.

3. Ride a bike - Locked gates are my friend. I'll get back 3-4 miles in minutes, start hunting, and a while later maybe see the walk-in guys as I'm riding my bike/deer out of the woods.

4. Put in for specific hunts - I only put in for certain ML hunts for trophy tags. I don't need a trophy every year, as a doe eats just as good, or better. Right now there are only two hunts that I apply for deer, and two for elk. If I get drawn, great! If not, I just hunt locally.

5. Get off of the freakin' road - I can't tell you how many times I've bumped deer within 50 feet of the road, but they would have just sat there if I walked/drove by. Get out and get wet & dirty.

6. Barter - I have had more private land opened up to me with the use of a 5 pound pink gate key than any words I've ever spoken. This year I dropped off some salmon, smoked and frozen filets, to a guy who knows everybody in Ellensburg and I didn't hunt the land he has access to. I did it to keep the relationship alive. Even if they don't say yes, leave some fish, try again next year, leave some fish again, and they may change their minds.

15 deer in 15 years. 7 elk in 10 years. Hunt smarter, not necessarily harder. Horns are nice, but I'm out for meat.

One thing I failed to mention (not a "what did I do thing") is that Washington has less whitetail habitat than most states. Yes, the cover is there but the food isn't, especially on public/state land. Browse is in abundance is some areas, especially where logging once took place, but it's lacking in others. There are no mast crops like acorns and other nuts from trees that occur in high volume in northeastern states. Midwestern states have huge deer populations due to EXTENSIVE farmland. Rocky Mountain states are packed full of muleys because sage is everywhere. The lack of deer in eastern Washington is simply due to the lack of food necessary to support a large herd, hence the overall small numbers of antlered and antlerless deer. Combined with limited available land and it's a problem. That's my opinion after having hunted several states. Field and Stream or Outdoor Life had a deer density article a few years back, complete with a U.S. foldout map, which showed, if I remember correctly, whitetails at less than 10 per square mile in E.Washington. I can't recall the mule deer status. Pa's northern counties showed 30 and 40 per square mile. And having hunted both now, I submit that article had some truth to it! Anyways....good luck to all this coming season!

I Second the Mountain Bike, but also stay in shape, learn to read maps, and start reading books about game you hunt. I used to have drop camps in the past but that limited me to one area. Which a lot of the time is not bad but you never know whos been scounting that land previously and may find your self hunting an area with more hunters than you think. This happened to me a couple years ago and I still get mad at my self for this. (I should of known better). One bad hunter can send a heard of Elk a couple crow miles away in a morning. Then what are you going to do? I've noticed on this board there is alot of bashing the 95% catagory of hunters calling them dumb and lazy. Lazy I'll give you but dumb NO! Good hunting grounds are hardly a secret anymore, alot of it comes down to how bad do you want to reach them. A percentage of bad hunters will reach these spots and contaminate the ground for weeks to come,%$^#ing up your hunt for the season. With all this said buy a Mountain Bike do your research, Bike at least 4 miles back, then hike get to know the area (LONG BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS) Once youve figured that out find your BULLS in 3 different areas and treat them as if there your new best friends all summer long. You'll then know if anyone is eyeballing your area. Try hunting locally also, no body knows your back yard better than you.

I quit and focused on fishing.

I would like to get into some birds with the dogs, but that would cut into my fishing time.

Don't see myself ever going back to seriously hunting deer and elk, though I may start putting in for some local tags and prowling around the woods and riverbottoms again with either a ML or 30-.30 real casual like, wouldn't expect to get anything just a good excuse to walk in the woods.

drop camp -- horseback about 5 miles into a no vehicle area.

My grandpa has hunted in PA all his life, and I made the time to go with him this last year on opening day. You could see the orange of hunters everywhere, and shots were ringing out constantly for hours. It was nuts.

Same way in Michigan when I was growing up. Washington isnt so bad when you compare it to back east hunter numbers but there are more deer back east. In Mich. you could get 4 deer a year if did things right.

I was in the same boat until I figured out that if your willing to hike or bike your success rate increases but more importantly the quality of the experience is much better also.Don't sell AHE short, Ive been in since the beginning and they expanded the area I hunt last year into some great country. You just need to do your homework.

I quit hunting.

the past few years i have been hunting a small public patch of land surrounded by private property. there is one road in and its a good 2 miles of drving through some bad road. its very nice, right on top of a hill/mountain. and you can see everything

I started hunting walkin only areas that are within timber co. lands. During Elk season we camp at a gate and ride our horses into the walk-in area every day. My party of 3 has shot at least 1 bull every year for the last 5 years. We went 3 for 3, 3 years ago and see multiple Elk every day. Usualy the start of season sees several hunters ( 8 people last year ) by the end of season everyone disapears( 0 the rest of season last year). Ironicaly every bull we have shot in our area has been on the last 2 days of the season. We usualy hunt deer in the same area and I can't remember any of us not filling our tag with a self imposed 2point minimum. I would attribute our success to low pressure, hunting the same area and beating the woods every day the season is open. We also spend alot of time in our area during the off season. We can usually tell how many legal bulls are around by the time season starts. Works for us and we hunt modern firearm Western WA and see no reason to leave.