How much snow is too much snow?

[Steeliedrew]

WA modern firearm season starts this Saturday. Forecast is calling for high mountain snow. The basins I hunt are up in the 7,000-8,000' range and the snow level is forecasted to drop into the 5,000' range. So how much snow is too much to where you'd give up on the high country?

Thanks,

Drew

 

[ianpadron]

I hunt WA too and am planning on being at around 6500 feet regardless of the weather. That's insane that you hunt up at 7-8k this late in the year! My high hunt spot has a few 7k basins and I was advised by a pretty seasoned hunter not to venture up there for modern season due to the unpredictable nature of the weather, specifically snow and ice.

Like you though, I'm pretty damn curious because I saw some absolute mega bucks up high less than 3 weeks ago during the high hunt and have a hard time believing they're not up there anymore.

I've heard a couple guys say that the biggest bucks won't head down until they're dragging their transmissions in the snow, and I totally believe that.

 

[Clarktar]

Lots of older high country hunters from WA that I have spoken to over the yesrs have all pretty much said the same thing, hunt the snowline....

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[Steeliedrew]

I should say that until this year I've always hunted archery deer so the basins that I hunt I'm finding deer in from July through September during archery season. This year I drew multi season though so I'm going to give the rifle season a shot. Last year during modern, someone killed one of the bucks I had pics of and encounters with but it wasn't snowy up there yet. I did get a chance to get out last year during WA's late archery Muley hunt. I was in a new to me area and got up into a foot or more of snow and found a deer highway up there. My guess is I had found a migration route.

 

[fiskeri1]

I was wondering about this point as well. Last week in Wyoming the area I was hunting (9600 feet) got about 8 inches of snow and I kept checking on a spot where I had spotted two bucks right before the storm. After three days of this I went in for a closer look and found their tracks headed straight down the mountain into the timber/transition areas (with all the does and fawns).

 

[greyghostnw]

have had the same thoughts in the past and still do. i have chosen to go up and see for myself and have seen big buck prints in the elevations 6500-7000' spoke of. imop visibility is the real problem with weather as we will have for modern rifle season here in WA. lots of time starring at fog is what ive mainly experienced with brief windows. if it matters about 18'' of snow is the most ive been in october wise in washington around 6500-7000' in el and still see big prints, good luck.

 

[5MilesBack]

When I hunted the rifle seasons we'd always camp and hunt above 10k feet even during the early November seasons, until the snow pushed us out. There were always deer up there. I've hunted muleys in 2 feet of snow before, but I'd guess that's borderline to pushing them down. There always seems to be deer down low regardless of the season or amount of snow. When archery hunting elk, I rarely ever see any deer until I'm driving through the lower areas.

 

[Steeliedrew]

Thanks for the info everyone. I'd love to hear from Robby D. on this topic. I'll have to go flip through his book tonight. It's been a while since I have read it.

 

[greyghostnw]

as of now there is barely measurable snow at those elevations at least what i saw on sunday. will be what it will be but amounts are predicted to be 7-22'' according to what i looked at just now at 7000'ish elevation between thursday nite and saturday nite with snow everyday at that elevation through next week. high winds and lack of visibility are my only deterrent. migration distance is fairly short in comparison to other states so i think bigger bucks wait longer here to head down if there a high country buck that returns to the same area each summer. be curious what others have to say as well but cant beat personal experience. dont know unless you go.... ill be up there because its where i want my challenge to be.

 

[Steeliedrew]

Well said greyghostnw. What website are you looking at to find snow precip totals for a given elevation?

 

[greyghostnw]

i look at a few throughout the day scoutlook etc..... i pulled the snow accumulation in this spot due to the elevation is similar to the spot ill be. its location is not relative but figure its weather is another tool in the kit to try and decide.http://www.methownet.com/weather_hartspass.php

 

[greyghostnw]

scoutlook is great for you given spot as well for temps but does not show precip amounts. i have found scoutlook is for the most part spot on for the years ive used it. i have pins pretty much right at my camp spots. in the end its a gamble and if its all correct then this weekend could be a last chance for that buck you watched all summer befor its deep and hes moved on. then again the temps could be a degree off and rains will be all we get and thats misery in the making up high, as is it sounds like it could go either way at our highest areas. nothing worse than having zero vis and locked down. just a part of it all.... good luck.

 

[dirtytough]

I've hunted areas during regular season that hold bucks all summer long and during the high hunt. And I don't see much. I believe the bucks do move down just a little regardless of snow level. Like below treeline.

 

[Steeliedrew]

Thanks for the info greyghostnw. I'll give scoutlook a peak. Have fun up there!

 

[BroodBuster]

Please be careful. Saturday's storm is not one to mess with. The current models have it tracking to the north but at a low of 961 mb it's a very dangerous one. Hurricane Matthew was at around 955 mb so this isn't a cyclone to mess around with. Best case scenario, if it tracks north as planned, is 50 mph winds and 5+ inches of rain. If it tracks just a bit south and the low hits the OP/south Vancouver Island your looking at 100 mph winds and 10+ inches in the Cascades. If that's the case there will be massive amounts of windfall. This has the potential to be the biggest storm to hit the area since the Columbia Day storm. In that storm some valleys experienced a whopping 60% windfall.

I'll be running the smoker on Saturday and re assessing a Sunday day hunt. But I'm guessing I won't even be able to make it to the trailhead on Sunday.

Check out Cliff Mass's blog for his forecast which is typically the best out there.

 

[ianpadron]

Please be careful. Saturday's storm is not one to mess with. The current models have it tracking to the north but at a low of 961 mb it's a very dangerous one. Hurricane Matthew was at around 955 mb so this isn't a cyclone to mess around with. Best case scenario, if it tracks north as planned, is 50 mph winds and 5+ inches of rain. If it tracks just a bit south and the low hits the OP/south Vancouver Island your looking at 100 mph winds and 10+ inches in the Cascades. If that's the case there will be massive amounts of windfall. This has the potential to be the biggest storm to hit the area since the Columbia Day storm. In that storm some valleys experienced a whopping 60% windfall.

I'll be running the smoker on Saturday and re assessing a Sunday day hunt. But I'm guessing I won't even be able to make it to the trailhead on Sunday.

Check out Cliff Mass's blog for his forecast which is typically the best out there.

I'm shooting ducks instead! Thanks for talking some sense into a young guy like me. There's more to life to chasing big bucks...like being able to do it year after year. Live to fight another day.

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[robby denning]

if it's pre-rut, I've encountered bucks in belly-deep (so 18-24") of snow. If the rut is on, the does won't put up with that much snow if they can move to lower areas, so 12" and under, and the bucks go to the does during the rut.

Just look for the tracks, they don't lie. No tracks, no deer, or almost no deer.

 

[PaulBunyan]

Good to hear, Ill be right around the snow line in WA tomorrow as well, although it looks like the forecast isn't calling for much wind where I'm at (east slope). Never hunted deer in the snow before, should be fun, plus my rain gear is still a little sub-par so Im hoping to stay to avoid getting completely soaked.

 

[AndyJ]

I have probably the least experience of anyone else on this thread, but I have found myself hunting the snow almost everytime. If someone else has information that conflicts with mine-listen to them. I have always been surprised by how deep of snow deer will tolerate. Like Robby said, I look for track densities. In multiple areas in CO and the Wasatch Front, I have found the biggest tracks up high in deep snow. However, if it is windy and dumping, I would suggest staying low and in more sheltered places. Deer can cover terrain pretty fast. I don't think they like to take the brunt of a storm, when they can go lower and be sheltered. Snow condition also seems to play a big role. Nice fluffy powder-no problem. Hard breakable crust and they will go lower. I don't think there is an animal alive that has much patience for breakable crust. Including humans. I think condition has more of an impact than depth. 7" with a breakable crust might force the deer lower, while they may have no problem dealing with 14" of powder.

 

[Steeliedrew]

Thanks for the input everyone. we ended up choosing a new spot that seemed like it took some work to get into based on what I saw via google earth and onXmaps. No camps at the end of the road Friday night so we were pumped for the morning. When we got to the glassing point for first light though we soon realized that there was another, easier way in as we glassed up 5 or 6 other hunters above us glassing the same basin near a nice saddle. We found the road they had come in on and glassed up 7 rigs and a couple of horse trailers. the ridge we were on goes back into some higher basins in the 7,000' + range and we could see a lot of snow on those ridges back there and definitely heard some shots from those back basins. We talked to an old timer who said there was a bunch of horse trailers at the end of the road that accesses those high basins. We decided to stay lower in the 5,000' range. Lots of does, lots of hunters, and no bucks.