Any one hunting GMU 381 for late Muzzy??

[janttihunter]

Ya Im thinking 381.Think it will also be crowded??

[adamR]

Probably won't be as bad as the hanford reach area if you find some private land to hunt.  The problem with "feel free to hunt" areas from my experience is the animals are hunted so hard they don't come back there.

[janttihunter]

Went out today picked a random feel free to hunt spot, saw 6 does in three hours. Any advice on how to hunt this area. Felt kinda lost. Just found a ridge and a natural funnel and glassed..

[splitshot]

i hunted kahlotus yesterday and today.  saw more hunters than deer.  there were pickups at every nice pulloff.  i think the rifle guys shot most of the bucks .  had to quit by noon today cause of the wind.  a big tumbleweed hit me in the back when i was returning to the truck and scared the hell out of me.    mike w

[teanawayslayer]

Went out today picked a random feel free to hunt spot, saw 6 does in three hours. Any advice on how to hunt this area. Felt kinda lost. Just found a ridge and a natural funnel and glassed..

find a spot where they funnel and sit.  stay low and use the wind to your favor. It isn't an easy unit to hunt with a muzzle loader

[janttihunter]

Saw 8 more does and a shooter buck yesterday. Also saw 10 Coyotes lol,  Didnt see one hunter at my spot in two days.

Spent 120 bucks on gas and motel but well worth it to me being from New England and never setting foot in Dessert or vast farming area.Tottaly new experience 

Walked about 20 miles up and down canyons and found allot of sign in a small canyon way out in the middle of this farm land. Went from winter wheat way in to the horizen where I could see green (figured water of some sort) But anyway the canyon was full of sign, well used trails FRESH tracks, deer dropping and buck. I made a tumbleweed blind on  an old bobwire fence line about 50 yards from the trail and had another small canyon directly in fron of me with trails and sign also. Wind in my face. About 30 min after light 4 does come strolling through prob 40 yards, I could have shot one...Kinda wish i would have but let them pass..(Ive only shot one der in my life so it was tough to pass) an hour later of glassing, seeing coyotes and continplating shooting them...I saw three more Deer on the horizen, prob 1/2 mile, I decided to try to chase them to see what hapens lol..Well Mule deer can climb a hill in 5 sec that takes me 10 min and Im in pretty good shape (personal trainer by trade) I tried to cut them off but no luck..
After glassing and ridge walking the rest of the day I decided to set up another blind in the spot I saw 6 does on Tuesday. Waited 2 hrs and it was cold, windy.. I glassed, canyon line to the left (where I expected the deer to come from) Wind i my face, In front of me flat ground as far as I can see except 1 little patch of low brush that had a game trail heading my way, and I already checked earlier and also had been glassing (nothing taller than 2 feet...) So I decided to slowly make my way back with my half hour of light left. I stand up to throw my backpack on and I see something white pop up in the patch. I sat back down and threw up my binos. A 3 x 3 that nknew I was there...If I would have waited he prob would have walked out in fron of me   Where the Heck did he come from lol..

Just wanted to post this as a inexperienced hunter that has been reading all your posts, Felt like a did a good job, but learned the hard way!!!!

Thanks everyone for all your help!!





Wish I had a couple more days to hunt it.. Back to the Westside on the quest for my first NW Deer...

[teanawayslayer]

Well now you know some new area and know the lay of the land for next time you go out.  Sounds like you did all the right stuff.

[splitshot]

i live 32 miles from where i hunt and today was another gooseegg but did see a 2 point with a doe.  lots of road hunters, few people walking which is fine with me.  need to find a new spot to hunt.  in the am will work off some turkey and then look around.    mike w

[janttihunter]

where do you live Mike?

[splitshot]

i live in othello.  went out again today and did not see a deer. did go to another place that looked nice but a zero.  think everyone was to full from turkey cuz i saw all roadhunters and no walkers.  am trying to figure out how to get into the juniper dunes area.  mike w

[bobcat]

http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/site_info.php?siteid=270


http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/08/26/2268419/juniper-dunes-access-project-hits.html

[teanawayslayer]

well we hunted for 3 days. The cousin missed two really respectable bucks. . and missed several doe's.  He ended up shooting a doe this morning in the pea soup fog. . it was a great hunt as usual saw hundreds of deer and 15-20 legal bucks. Until next year.

[buglebuster]

Saw a pic of a buck killed in there the other day that is really close to the state record muzzy mule deer. If it had eye guards it probably would have took the spot.

[Maverick]

i know a few guys that have been hunting it and not seeing much. theres way too much private land and a lot of the farmers hunt or have family that hunts. good luck to anyone out hunting the late season. im close to the kahlotus unit and not far from 379.

[400out]

Heath, glad you got it done, we are going back there in the morning to try and finish the year 

janttihunter, Hope the info helped, and you are learning chalk it up to that