Hiker of the Woods
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I found a pretty interesting article about Lewis County Blacktails if anyone is interested in reading it.
https://www.columbian.com/news/2012/nov/07/why-does-lewis-county-produces-big-blacktails/
Ray Croswell of Washougal, a serious deer hunter, Boone and Crockett Club member, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation consultant and former lands agent for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, has a pair of theories regarding Lewis County and big blacktails.
First: The county has good deer habitat.
?Lewis County is a blend of private lowlands with excellent habitat and some high semi-alpine ridges with good summer range,? Croswell said.
Second: The county is home to the Lewis County Game Farm, where the state rears pheasants in pens for release at hunting sites.
?In the 1930s to the late 1960s, the game farm took in fawns that folks had picked up and the Department of Game took away,? he said. ?Some of these were mule deer fawns.?
The young fawns were bottle fed and allowed to mature before being returned to the wild. Croswell has copies of 1936 to 1939 biennial reports from the Department of Game showing ophaned fawns, bear cubs and raccoons being fed and cared for at the game farm.
?I doubt they hauled a mule deer back to the east side to kick it out,? he said.
Mule deer are larger than blacktails. Adding mule deer genes could result in larger blacktails, he added.
?I think there is plenty of speculation as to why Lewis County cranks out large blacktail bucks including the blacktail-mule deer hybrid theory in eastern Lewis County,? said Dave Ware, game management chief for the Department of Fish and Wildlife in Olympia. ?But I really don't know.?
https://www.columbian.com/news/2012/nov/07/why-does-lewis-county-produces-big-blacktails/
Ray Croswell of Washougal, a serious deer hunter, Boone and Crockett Club member, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation consultant and former lands agent for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, has a pair of theories regarding Lewis County and big blacktails.
First: The county has good deer habitat.
?Lewis County is a blend of private lowlands with excellent habitat and some high semi-alpine ridges with good summer range,? Croswell said.
Second: The county is home to the Lewis County Game Farm, where the state rears pheasants in pens for release at hunting sites.
?In the 1930s to the late 1960s, the game farm took in fawns that folks had picked up and the Department of Game took away,? he said. ?Some of these were mule deer fawns.?
The young fawns were bottle fed and allowed to mature before being returned to the wild. Croswell has copies of 1936 to 1939 biennial reports from the Department of Game showing ophaned fawns, bear cubs and raccoons being fed and cared for at the game farm.
?I doubt they hauled a mule deer back to the east side to kick it out,? he said.
Mule deer are larger than blacktails. Adding mule deer genes could result in larger blacktails, he added.
?I think there is plenty of speculation as to why Lewis County cranks out large blacktail bucks including the blacktail-mule deer hybrid theory in eastern Lewis County,? said Dave Ware, game management chief for the Department of Fish and Wildlife in Olympia. ?But I really don't know.?
