Washington 09 (huntnphool)

[huntnphool]

I will do this as I have time and keep it locked until its done to keep the story all on a couple posts, too many pics to get it all on one.

 I packed up the car Friday while my daughter (Shorty) was at school, intending to head out soon after she arrived home. Packing, as always, went a little longer than expected and when she came walking up at 3:00pm I wasn't quite ready. I had her grab her lats minute things, piled them in the car as well and we were ready.

 I made a couple phone calls to my brother and M-Ray, who were following us over, to get their ETA but they too were running behind. Shorty and I decided to top off the tank and head out, we would meet them in the North Bend McDonald's so I could get my ice-T's for the road. They called and told us to go ahead and head east, they would be about an hour or so behind us so we hit the road and headed for the beautiful Methow Valley.

 About halfway over Blewitt the rain hit, and it came down in buckets. As a prepared hunter its really not a big deal but as a father you immediately start running the checklist over in your head. Did I remember her boots, plenty of socks, raingear etc because the one thing that will keep a child from enjoying their experience, and keep them from wanting to come back is bad weather. Keep them warm, dry and comfortable and you've won 90% of the battle.

 We rolled into town at about 8:30pm and hit one of the local restaurants. After a quick burger I called the boys and they were on schedule to hit town about 10:00. With Shorty being only 11 we couldn't stay past 10:00 so we payed our bill and headed for our camp spot. We parked, got things organized for the mornings hunt and crashed in our bags, the boys rolled into camp a short time later.

 5:15am came early and I noticed the rain had stopped. Being about 42 degrees I knew we were in for a foggy day, spotting deer was going to have to come very early at first light before it rolled in.

 We headed up the hill about 5:45am and hiked to the spot I have been sitting at for years, getting there at about 6:30am. By 7:00 we had spotted a few does and a couple small bucks, one was a 12” wide first year 3X2. We watched as they fed down in front of us at about 150 yards and on into the bottom of the draw, where a couple of the does bedded and the rest just kept feeding. Shorty took a good long look through the spotter at the little buck and decided he was too small for opening day so she passed.

 Glassing some more I had picked up a couple other guys sitting below us but neither of them had spotted the deer move into the bottom, within a couple hundred yards of both of them. About then the fog rolled on up from the bottom and we were engulfed in pea soup, with only 40’ of visibility.

 Once the fog rolled back out, 20 minutes later, we started glassing the whole area again, knowing deer could have moved in undetected under the fog cover. We spotted a few more does but no big bucks. I kept watching the two guys below us wondering when they would finally spot that little 3X2.

 It didn't take long, I watched the guy on the opposite ridge put his gun on a bi-pod and take aim,………kaboooooooooooom, the buck was down. We watched both the deer and the hunter for another 5 minutes and then the buck got up and started staggering up the hill. The hunter walked down and put one more in him and that was that. The look on Shorties face was confusion mixed with questions she didn't know how to ask.

 Shortly after that the fog moved back in and really took hold. We packed up our gear and headed back to the car to go have breakfast, but not before I got the pic of Shorty standing in the fog.

                               Click On Image For Full Size

[huntnphool]

 That evening we hit a different area I like, a bit of a hike again but if the fog stayed down we would have lots of glassing area. Well as luck would have it the fog rolled in again just after we got there so although we could still glass it didn’t allow us as much area as we had hoped. It didn’t take long and I had spotted several does and a couple forkies working a hill, I pointed them out for Shorty to take a look at in these other pics. That’s about all we saw for Saturday, we had dinner and hit the sack.

[huntnphool]

 Sunday morning again came early but with sprinkles. We made our way back up and across the hills to my spot. I decided that although it is a good spot for me it might make for a longer shot than she would be comfortable with so we moved lower on the hill. A quick survey with the range finder and I picked a spot that would have the deer in 90% of the situations less than 200 yards, its now known as “Shorties Spot” The sun rose with some incredible colors so we broke out the camera and got some sunrise picks.

 It didn’t take long and we soon had a few does come walking by at less than 100 yards, they were followed by a spike and another small 3X2 with one browtine. I gave Shorty the spotter and she got another good look but again decided this one was too small, although bigger than the one the day before. We watched them feed into the middle of the draw, about 150 yards, and continue to feed for another 90 minutes.

 About that time M-Ray, who is behind us about 1/2 mile on another hill, gets on the radio and tells us some guy just walked up his draw, right out in the middle of everything, and is heading over to us, he would be coming out above us on the side hill. He also saw 3 guys coming over the side below us and said they would be there soon. Sure enough we saw the guy above us come around the side about 200 yards above. He saw us and stopped, looking through his bino’s at us. Right then the deer began to look down at me and Shorty, which was weird because we hadn’t moved or made a sound. They started heading toward the top guy but he had yet to see them. Right then I looked to our left and three guys had come over the ridge, saw us and decided to sit right there, 100 yards to our left, I couldn’t believe it.

 Turning back to the deer we watched them pick up the pace and head directly at the guy above. The first doe spotted him about the same time that he spotted her. She bolted and the other does and bucks soon followed. The 3 point stopped and the guy finally saw him. He aimed and fired, the buck shot off around the side hil, out of the hunters sight. Shorty watched the buck finally drop and marked him with a mental note. The hunter worked his way over but it was obvious he had no idea where it went, walking right on by and over toward M-Ray. I got on the radio and we both talked and watched as this guy clearly had no clue where the buck had gone.

 Well with a shot going off, 3 guys perched 100 yards away, it was time to pack up and head for home, school for Shorty in the morning. We decided to go up and show the guy where his buck was laying but part way up the hill he found it. We continued the rest of the way up anyway to get a better look at it.

[huntnphool]

 Once we got there we congratulated the guy and told him we had been watching the buck for a couple hours and Shorty had decided to pass on it. I could tell the guy was a bit skeptical until I pulled out the camera and showed him the picture I took of it while it was feeding, the look on his face when he looked back at Shorty was priceless, of course she had a big o’l toothy grin on her face.

 We met my brother and M-Ray back at the cars and unloaded our gear. A truck came rolling up the road and stopped to say hi and chat. The older guy and his wife told us they had tagged out just one draw over from where Shorty and I were sitting, dropping the buck right before it came over the ridge to us. He let me take a picture of Shorty holding the head, very nice buck with lots of mass.

 I will get on to the rest later.

[huntnphool]

 Wednesday night M-Ray and I packed up and headed back over the mountains, we arrived at camp and got in the sack at 2:00am. Back up at 5:30 we dressed and hit the hills, hiking in the dark again to get to our lookouts before light. Once again I hit my usual bush and M-Ray hit one 1/2 mile behind me. The first couple days were pretty uneventful, loads of does and only small spikes and forkies.

 Friday evening we decided to hit the timber before our evening hike and spotted a doe with triplets, I have only seen this a handful of times myself so I got some pics.

[huntnphool]

 Saturday morning was much the same, lots of does but only a few very young bucks. We hit our evening location early and while M-Ray was on the cell I took some pics of the scenery. (first pic)

 After a long sweaty hike up the ridge I got to glassing. It didnt take long and I started seeing the deer getting out of their beds and feeding. I propped up my gun against some bushes and continued to glass when all of a sudden I heard a thud. I looked over and my rifle had fallen over, right on the scope Well with only an our of light left and the next morning I decided to stick it out, although not knowing if my zero was off as discussed in the thread yesterday.

 Glassing the ridge I spotted some does moving across the face of the hill so I got the spotter out. I saw a huge buck just inside the timber but couldn't make out his whole rack. It was tall, heavy and very dark but I just couldn't see the points. Finally he came out with about 20 minutes of light left. I scoped him out a long time but he ended up being a big dark superforky. About 25-26" wide and 20" tall but not a brow or sticker anywhere I watched helplessly as he fed across the face of the hill at 200 yards, with not a care in the world.

[huntnphool]

 Sunday morning, last day. M-Ray had decided to head in the opposite direction but I was heading back to my bush. Once again hiking in, in the dark, to get there with time to set up before light. It was overcast but not raining, cold but not quite freezing. I sat down and got situated. At first light I spotted a couple does come across the ridge about 500 yards in front of me and feed their way toward me, not long after I see a big body come over in the same spot. I put the EL's on him and couldn't believe it. He was a huge buck, dark antlers but again just a superforky I watched him and couldn't believe a deer that size could only be a 2 point. After about 10 minutes I decided to put the spotter on him and get a zoomed look.  he had a small sticker, I figured at least 1 1/2".

 Now comes the decision Last day, gun had hit the dirt, no little girl there to tag it, deer that needs to be taken out of the gene pool and a freaken bad place to drag a deer out of I watched him for a bit longer and decided that if he continued to feed toward me I would let him close the distance and in effect shorten my pack out

 He followed the two does into the draw and back up my side, passing by at about 60 yards. I let them walk by behind me and grabbed my rifle and sticks. I stood up, put the gun on the sticks and crosshairs low on the chest. They all spotted me but I didnt move so they were not sure what was going on. I squeezed one off and he dropped like a sack of rocks.

 I waited a minute to make sure he wasnt going anywhere and got on the radio to M-Ray. "I guess my scope is still on" He answers back, "Was that you?" I said yep, and asked him where he was. LOL, he was a couple miles in the other direction. He said he was on his way and would stop to get the frame and bags.

 He is 23" wide and has 23" mains with 5" bases, love those dark racks. He is one big bodied SOB too.

[huntnphool]

 Being so early in the morning when I shot, plus only taking the one shot I had a feeling the area would be okay. By the time M-Ray had reached the cars I had spotted another legal buck, when he called me on the radio letting me know he was there I told him to bring his gun too. I watched the buck and does feed up into the bottm of the draw and then bed down.

 M-Ray made the long hike up to me and I pointed out the buck and we came up with a game plan and route to get on him. It worked perfect, about 10 minutes later he was in position and taking the shot. I grabbed a pick of the buck when he got up after seeing M-Ray putting the crosshairs on him. Kabooooooom and donw he went, the only problem now was getting them both out of that hole.

 He dressed his buck and hiked back up to help get mine out. I caped mine out so not to ruin it, boned out the front half and strung up the rear half with drag ropes. M-Ray packed out the meat and his rifle while I packed out the head/cape, my rifle and all my gear, we also drug the rear half out at the same time. I shot my buck at 7:45am and we got it to the cars at 3:05pm

 A quick drink of water, pop an Aleve and we decided to go ask the landowner at the bottom of the draw if we could drag his out through their property. The guy was very cool, thanked us for asking and said go ahead. We parked on the main road and hiked up and in to his buck. A few pics and off we went. It was 90% downhill so we decided to lift it by the rack as we went to keep the cape intact. We were back to the cars at 6:15pm, just as it started to sprinkle and had about 15 minutes of light left.

 We hit the public showers in town and then got some food before hitting the road. All in all it was a slow season for seeing bucks but we managed to get a couple for our freezers. Good times for sure, heading to Montana in a couple weeks to do it all again.


CLICK ON PICS FOR FULL SIZE

[lazydrifter]

Nice bucks.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Nice bucks, and nice pics!  I love how clear they are, and the settings.

[EastWaViking]

great stories and pictures!!!

[saylean]

Quite the write up huntnphool. Congrats on the success to all involved. Great, gorgeous pics. Good bucks too. Very cool~

[Huntbear]

Great story phool!!!!  Great pics too, especially of the little one in your group.   Congrats on the nice bucks.

[Dmanmastertracker]

 That's seriously maybe the best hunting photo journal I've seen, and NOW you get to go to Montana again!


 Great job, thanks for the write up.

[beave]

nice bucks.