Sometimes hunts can take weeks or days, others just mere hours but one thing for sure they all have memories that can last a lifetime and this turned out to be one of those hunts.
If you remember (or don't i will catch you all up real quick) back in July i respond to a post made by DoubleJ regarding his 2nd deer tag for unit 204, doe only and private lands only limited to his weapon choice on his main tag (archery). He did not have the resources to go on this hunt and i offered to help him pull it off, after some PM's we put the plan together and waited for the weekend he had available to arrive.
We had a limited amount of time, basically Friday evening when we got to tonasket, Saturday if needed and sunday morning on the way out, we were to get to know each other on the ride over and hunt property we had not scouted (i had a little general knowledge of) i love pressure... We meet up as planned at my place at the time agreed (good start in my book as i am a time freak) i am loaded and ready so we through DoubleJ'stuff in the truck and head out, we have never met and i tend to make first impressions of people with mental images of famous people (actors, etc). Upon meeting DoubleJ i see both Edward Norton from American history x and Rob Halford of Judas priest with the short goatee...
We set off and since it is lunch time and need some food we go to 5guys burger (as DoubleJ had mentioned he wanted to try them), we get our food and head off, after mile or two into the food i ask what he thinks, we both agree not that good.
We make small talk, get to know each other he has never been over the north cascades so this should be a fun trip, he also has never ridden with me and soon learns i drive like an Indy car driver and must have a sign on the front of my truck that says MOVE, because people just seem to pull off on the right shoulder when i am behind them, either that or a large FORD emblem taking up the rear view mirror has that effect
.
We are making good time when all of a sudden a Large black wild bovine decides to play frogger as i am coming down loup loup i am forced to lift and slow down (from the legal speed limit
) only to stop within a inch or two of the wild bovine, i look over and Doublej is mashing the invisible brake pedal on his side and leaving finger prints in the oh sh*t handle. Nobiggie, but we just lost 10 seconds of time, gonna have to make it up.
Smooth sailing and we get to the property in time, we hit the first property and while heading up the driveway i spot the sickliest looking doe 20yds in the sage, ask Doublej if he is ready to tag out, we both agree that 1: we have not checked in so not a good idea, 2: we are not sure if she is on property we have access too, and 3 she looks really bad and don't want to waste the tag. We stop in, they are not home so we head out and i spot 4 more does on another hill, pass again based on above #1&2. We hit the second property and meet the landowner whom per DoubleJ's earlier phone conversation with her had reservations about having a second person along with him, i am a charmer and after 10 minutes we are pretty much invited to sunday dinner
and both are ok to be on the property. We do some quick recon of the area and since i have a little more sage mulie experience i check off the least likely draws and focus on the better chances, set DoubleJ off to a good looking choke point at the base off a draw right below an old orchard on the fringe of the alfalfa, i set out to make a push and see if i can persuade any deer his way, after making the 5 mile loop (OK about a 1/2 mile) i bump into 5 deer, 1 big doe, 2 fawns and 2 year old's, i am within 30 yrds and get them moving in his general direction, but they don't do as planned and avoid his draw, no big, we found deer, and i got a good lay of the land on my walk, i have a general idea what the morning will hold. Head to camp in the dark, i tried to fill his tag on a really small doe that wanted to also play frogger, i had to lift again....
Dinner, beer and sleep, i wake his ass up, quick bfast and we are off, i know those deer if out feeding in the field will be heading up and into the sage to bed right before the sun comes up, my plan is to get ahead of them and have DoubleJ be up on the tops of the draws to intercept them, we get there and i glass real quick, no deer they either fed elsewere or already are on the move, we drive the ranch road around the back side and see nothing, there is a draw i "feel" like they should be in but nothing, so i pitch him out of the truck and tell him to get up in top and i was gonna get higher and see if i could push something his way. He gets off and i get down and turned around, head back up and guess what, i look in the draw i had a "feeling" about and spot deer, get the binos up and start glassing, 1st deer 3 point , second deer big forkie possibly some stickers and dark antlers, does, fawns, spike, and a branched cant tell deer, 15 deer in all, i watch for a bit to see where they are headed and at the same time i still have an unnotched archery tag, making a plan to setup for one of the legal bucks (wait, this hunt is for DoubleJs doe, go get him...) damn conscious, i head back for him and after some persuasion (waving, flapping of arms, honking the truck horn, driving to a better vantage point, more waving) i get him to come may way, explain why i pulled him off stand and what we should to to set up, guess what in all that time they were gone, glassed some and found them 2 benches up and still moving, damn, the branched one turns out to be a 4x3, i glass as a big doe takes here fawns, year old does, spike and 4x3 on a rope with her up and up out of site. Dam, suns up they are gone but hey, were did the rest go? Don't see them so i decide to go up higher just to look around, i can tell DoubleJ is thinking were is this guy going, the deer are back there. I decide to turn around and head back down, get right were i was glassing and guess what, there they are on the right side of the ranch road, cross over, i squeak trying to stop them and notice 2 down the drop off on my side, DoubleJ makes a good shot, we watch her bed and expire. Load up and he turns out to be alright as he can field dress his own deer ( i have stories about others), get her hung and skinned, i am loading up to headout and helping him hold her as her cuts the rear quarters off, 1st one no problem, 2nd one he slips and kinda drops it to the ground and says *censored*e or something like that, i say no big not much dirt we can clean it off, he says no i just cut myself, i think i need stitches. Yep he cut himself, we then turn into stop the bleeding mode and dress as best we can which at one point i say don't die i don't want to have to get the backhoe and bury you with a smile that turns to serious, to which i see his expression go from haha to "hes not kidding", we head out and the drive home is uneventful but plenty of considerate people still pulling off as i come up behind them
. He gets loaded up and heads off for home.
29 total hours together, another good member experience for me, 1 tag filled, a few more gray hairs (if he had some hair) for DoubleJ per my driving, and 1 trophy scar he will have to remind him of this hunt in the future...
