Deer season opens with special doe hunt area around Colfax

Deer hunting season opens Saturday with a special doe hunt scheduled around Colfax. The expanded area and increased number of tags made available are aimed at reducing the deer population inside Colfax city limits. Boundaries of the zone are listed on page 82 of the state hunting pamphlet under Deer Area 1080.

Many residents of Colfax have complained over the past year about deer eating plants and gardens inside city limits.

Mayor Norma Becker has pushed the city council multiple times to pass an ordinance to outlaw the feeding of deer inside city limits, but council members, citing the level of difficulty in investigating violations, have tabled the topic.

Modern firearm hunting for deer in the new special Colfax area coincides with regular deer season, which begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, Oct. 25.

Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the special second deer permit area at its April rule-making session.

Local deer population has been steadily rebounding since an outbreak of Epozootic Hemmoragic Disease killed off large numbers of Palouse deer in 2003 and 2004.

Bob Weaver, local game agent for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said deer have been especially prolific in breeding since then, and the state implemented the relatively new second tag concept to control the numbers.

In the area around Colfax, 100 tags were drawn that will allow hunters to bag a doe in addition to their usual buck permit. Two-hundred-ninety-two hunters applied for the special doe tags.

Weaver said the second deer tag idea is intended to cut the doe population. He said many hunters go for bucks out of habit, but a harvest of does has a greater impact from a game management standpoint.

Fish and Wildlife issued 450 second-deer tags for antler-less deer in three hunting areas: around Colfax and in the Steptoe and Almota game management units.

Another 350 second deer permits were drawn for the Steptoe and Almota zones. The Steptoe unit had an additional 200 tags drawn from 712 applicants. The remaining 150 tags for Almota were drawn from 677 applicants.

The Steptoe and Almota special seasons run Oct. 17 to 25 and Nov. 7 to 19.

Weaver reminded all hunters they must wear at least 400-square-inches of hunter orange, hunt only where they have permission, carry their licenses at all times and keep guns unloaded in vehicles.