Deer Hunting in the Okanogan Valley with Okanogan Valley Guide Service
Currently, Okanogan Valley Guide Service has 30,000 acers of private land hunting. All of our hunting takes place on leased ranches through out Okanogan and Douglas County. You will be hunting one on one, or choose to go two on one with your guide to optimize your chances at harvesting a nice deer. All the ranches have been pre-scouted by the guides and they know the ins and outs of the deer’s daily routines. Mostly hunting in open sagebrush above agriculture fields to catch them to and from there bedding grounds.
During rifle season, a typical morning of hunting starts with your guide picking you up from camp and heading to one of the many ranches. Driving into the ranch and walking to a vantage point where deer will be coming through. Your guide will be pointing out deer and putting them in his spotting scope and letting you see if you would be interested in attempting to stock that particular deer. Your guide will never tell you to shoot a deer. The option to harvest a deer is at your discretion. The guide will suggest to harvest that animal or tell you that we can find bigger ones in the area and decide to pass. Once an animal is down, your guide will clean, hang and prep your deer for transport.
Lodging will be done from 10x20 foot wall tents. Each tent will sleep four people. We have a tent for cooking and a tent for eating. We will always have a camp cook there at all time. Breakfast in the morning, sack lunch in the field and a full fledge dinner once back at camp. Snacks and warm soup in between coming in early out of the weather or hanging deer will be provided.
During archery season, a typical morning of hunting starts with your guide picking you up from a local hotel or cabin that we have reserved and heading to one of our ranches. Most of the hunting will be out of ground blinds and tree stands unless we decide to try some spot and stock methods. Hunting out of a blind gives the archer the best opportunity to have harvest there deer. They will have shots ranging from five to thirty yards. This is great for disabled hunters that find it hard to walk. On normal winters, we could be hunting in up to six inches of snow. When the snow gets to crunchy, blind hunting is the only opportunity to harvest these awesome animals.
Lodging for late archery will be done from a hotel room or a cabin that we have reserved. Meals will be home cooked, sack lunch in the field with dinner being served by one of our cooks.
We take great pride in our work. All the guides work together to help other hunters succeed while in camp. Since 2004, Okanogan Valley Guide Service has run 100% opportunity with a 93% success rate. All we ask of our hunters is to trust us in our judgment, and give us four to five good days of hunting and we will succeed.
Deer Hunting Seasons:
We start off the deer season in September with the early archery which lasts up to five days. In this early season the bucks are really grouped up in bachelor groups. Coming off a food source like alpha or out of apple orchard are very predictable. Setting up double bull blinds and tree stands to get them going to and from bedding areas are the best way to hunt them during this part of the season. It can be hot and the ground can be noisy. If the weather permits, spot and stalk options are available. This is a good time of year to see many bucks and have them at really close ranges. Chances of harvesting one in velvet are also possible.
Next we jump into our muzzleloader hunts which last four days. This starts the last week in September and goes a week into October . Again we are hunting deer coming out of agriculture fields and spot and stalk. Glassing them from a distance and putting a stalk on them to close the distance. Typical range to shoot is 50 to 120 yards. We will get you as close as possible to make a good clean shot.
 Rifle hunts last four days. During this season starting mid October, you can experience all types of weather. Hot and cold days, along with some snow is very possible. Be prepared to have adequate clothing for all conditions. You will see many bucks to choose from. The chance of them starting the pre-rut chasing does and making the bigger and wiser buck come out are very possible. Shots ranging from 50 to 300 yards with many around the 200 range is very typical.
Special permit hunts. HAVE TO DRAW!! Starts November 1st-20th. Again a 4 day hunt. This is were you get to hunt the migration of deer coming out of the high country. You will be hunting deer in the rut seeing up to 50 bucks in a day looking for the right one. This is a permit you have to apply for in late May to be drawn for. Only so many permits are issued in so many units. Please contact us for units to apply for.
Then we have our late archery hunting which lasts five days. This can be really exciting! You will be hunting during the rut while they are chasing doe’s. You will be hunting the migration of deer coming out of the high country with the chance of hunting in the snow. Opportunities of seeing 170 class bucks are more numerous. Hunting out of double bull blinds and spot and stalk are our main ways of hunting. Rattling and grunting in deer is also very exciting during this time of year. Tree stand hunting for whitetails in the river bottoms over a scrape line! Can it get any better! Seeing bucks in the 130’s to possible 160’s are common. In all our hunts, we are able to adapt to the disabled hunter. Having blinds available to the hunter that is not able to walk or climb into stands are no problem.
Hunting with Jim Zumbo:
In 2004, we had to honor of showing Jim Zumbo the beautiful Okanogan
deer hunting scenery. In the process, Mr. Zumbo tagged a large 4x4 mule deer with owner/guide Jerrod Gibbons on one of the many pieces of property managed by Okanogan Valley Guide Service.
The story of this nice mule deer buck, which Jim Zumbo confided was one of
his largest bodied bucks of all time, will be featured in Outdoor Life
Magazine in the summer/fall of 2005 and can be seen on "Jim Zumbo's
Outdoors" in July 2005 on the Outdoor Channel.
Nobody has to battle the deer hunting crowds on public land where 1 in 10
hunters successfully find a legal buck. We guarentee you'll find a buck
you'll want to shoot. Please feel free to browse our website and give us
a call today if you'd like to hunt with us this fall.
Other Hunting Oppotunities
 Goose Hunting: These hunts are on a per day basis. Have you ever had big honkers, feet down, wings locked and just touching the ground fifteen yards away in the decoys and heard the guy say “Kill’em”. Having numerous flocks of five to forty in your face. Plane and simple, we kill big honks, all the time! Field hunting is the only way we hunt. Hunting out of Final Approach, pits, fence lines or the all famous “snow box” are methods of cover for our blinds. Hunting over Green Head gear decoys and experience callers.continues to be uncrowded and exciting as we shoot from camouflaged pit blinds, lay-down blinds and the ever famous "snow box." Bird numbers steadily increase through November and we have combined our Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday goose hunting trips with an optional steelhead fishing trip the following day for the ultimate Cast & Blast experiece!
 Turkey Hunting: Turkey hunts last three days. If you have never experienced the rush of a big Tom gobbler running into your calling, you are missing out! This is very similar to elk coming into your calls. You hear them gobbling and getting closer, then all of a sudden, they appear right in front of you. Hunting out of double bull blinds and walking on old logging roads while locating, then pursuing are the main ways of hunting. There will be some field hunting and some steep terrain. We are able to accommodate to any type of hunter. Mostly hunting the Merriam’s with a few Rio’s and every once in a while an Eastern turkey. Season starts mid April and runs thru May. The thrill of a gobbler calling 20 yards away is hard to beat. The turky population in the Okanogan is healthy and exploding thanks in part to the National Wild Turkey Federation and many conservation-minded landowners. You'll enjoy setting decoys below roosting birds at o'dark thirty and listening to them call and fly down into your spread. Like we said, it's hard to beat.
We're updating our site with new photos and more video clips are being added soon so check back often! Thanks for visiting and good hunting!
Jerrod Gibbons,
Owner/Guide
|
