||| FROM TANJA WILLIAMSON for SAN JUAN COUNTY LAND BANK |||
Make some room in your freezer – deer hunting is open for early and general seasons only at Lopez Hill and Mount Grant Preserves. Specific dates for 2021 are as follows:
- Archery September 1-24
- Muzzle Loader September 25-October 3
- Modern Firearm October 16-31
- Special permit; Second Deer September 1-October 31
Be sure to review and follow all Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife hunting regulations and note that San Juan County is a Firearm Restriction Area. Written permission is required to hunt at both locations, and will be provided by Land Bank staff.
For Lopez Hill Preserve, please contact Amanda Wedow, Lopez Island Preserve Steward at amandaw@sjclandbank.org.
For Mount Grant Preserve, please contact Tanja Williamson, Outreach/Volunteer Coordinator at tanjaw@sjclandbank.org.
The only deers that I have seen are dead !
I have heard that the deer mortality has been widespread on Lopez Island as well as on Orcas. I know there are very few deer in my neighborhood because the tender new growth on their favorite browse plants, such as Madrona trees, is surviving.
Insult to injury. After a whole year of smelling and seeing dead deer due to the ADV now the very few left-presumably healthy ones-will be hunted. Sure doesn’t seem right.
No deer here on our deer highway. Always see deer, daily. Until August. NOTHING. No young ones sunning themselves on our rocks. No families going out for the day or returning home. Really weird.
I’m curious if WDFW has an idea what the current number of deer on the islands are since deer hemorrhagic disease was confirmed (see https://wdfw.wa.gov/news/wdfw-confirms-ahd-san-juan-islands-deer). I reported a couple dead deer last spring in my neighborhood through WDFW’s online form, but I’d imagine many others didn’t.
Are the deer still over their carrying capacity? I haven’t seen a deer in our neighborhood since June and I rarely see one anymore else on Orcas Island anymore, so I suspect the disease hit them particularly hard. If this is the case, it seems unfair to target the survivors – especially within our preserves.