slayfest 2012 was a good one!

[Karl Blanchard]

     We aren't very far out of hunting season and already most topics on here involve arguements and whining so I figured I would change gears for at least one thread.

     2012 was a good year for deer!  Heading into the season I had one goal, and that was to shoot a deer with my grandfathers model 94 winchester .32 spcl.  He passed away last thanksgiving and I thought it would special to get some blood on his rifle! I worked up a good load and practiced all summer, with the peep sight a deer vital sized balloon was not safe within 300yds! 

     My first outing was opening weekend of muzzy season when I accompanied my boss who had a muzzy tag.  It was his first year muzzy hunting in quit a few years so his standards were not very high.  Right off the get go we got on a bachelor group of bucks with three legals so we set to work on a game plan.  It was a pretty simple plan, dog them from a distance until they bed down then get the wind right and shoot one.  All was going well until the side by side came mobbing down the ridge (no road) and blew them out!  These two tards would ride up to the edge of the canyon glass for a second and repeat process down the canyon! All the while yelling to each other along the way!  Well we looked for those deer all morning with no luck.  We decided to go try a different spot so we started up the canyon back to our side by side that was parked ON THE ROAD!  Next to the road about a 1 1/2miles from our rig there is a shallow sage finger that runs right up to the road and ends and all be danged if those bucks weren't laid up in it!  We bumped them and they ran up that finger but stopped short of crossing the road and he put a great 140yd shot on the biggest of the three!  Just a 3pt but we were both happy to have one down within 15miles as the crow flies from our houses.  The best part is that after about a 6 or 7 mile day I can call him a road hunter because that buck to 3 or 4 steps before dying and he fell literally on the side of the road.

       Rifle season came and I found myself once again in the company of my two buddy's Dan and Ryan.  My standard for this hunt was any legal buck I could put a killing shot in with the .32spcl and I didn't have to wait very long because the very first canyon we entered Dan and I jumped a little whitetail buck.  It was a 185yd broadside trotting shot and he went down without a fuss!  We got up to him and Dan wanted to poke his head up over the next hill to check a little eyebrow that sometimes holds deer so I dropped my pack and gun and ran up there with him and out comes 2 nice whitetails!  Boom down goes another whitey 150 yds from mine!  Done by 7:30!  Little did we know that ryan had had a good day also by putting a great shot on a little muledeer buck!  Well back in camp with our three bucks the guys that camp across from us didn't do so bad either.  All 4 had tagged out as well so we had a 7 deer pile up! 

     With our bucks out of the way I set out to fill my second doe tag and it took about 10miin.  Put a good stalk on a fatty and one more shot from the .32 at 40yds and I was done.  With another day and a half to hunt we called our wives (who had late palouse tags so weren't hunting the general this year) and told them to jump in the car and get down here!  Sunday morning came and right off the bat we spotted a group of does so I took the girls and Dan entertained my 5month old son Wyatt.  Well the does dissapeared on us but the 3pt muley stuck around and one shot from my wifes .270 and buck number 4 was down.  I never even got to look at it when I spotted a group of deer with 2more legals in it so off I went with Dans wife and 4hrs later and over 500yds on our bellies through a tilled field nicole put the hurting on another 3pt!  That evening they doubled on their second doe tags!

   Idaho was tough this year for us.  We all shot bucks but nothing of the caliber that we are accustomed to taking out of that area.   I passed up many many bucks and actually ended up shooting a meat buck on some state land on the way home.  I have no kill pics from that trip.  However my new 14x17 montana canvas wall tent was the most amazing thing ever!  A big step up from the 12x12 with 4ft walls we have been cramming into for a lot of years!

   Last hunt of the year was late palouse.  I had a co-worker and his 2 boys and a buddy  with a buck tag.  Phil shot his buck first morning and the boys hunted hard to get their first deer the last evening right at dark! 

   Grand total for my year I was able to take part in 17 deer kills and 6 elk!  I see meat in my sleep!   Muzzy elk season is a blurr of deboning that I will let my brother tell.

[Karl Blanchard]

my buck and dans

[Karl Blanchard]

The pile

[Karl Blanchard]

the girls

[Karl Blanchard]

nicole's

[Karl Blanchard]

more

[Karl Blanchard]

my doe and phils late whitetail buck

[Karl Blanchard]

first deer!

[Karl Blanchard]

almost forgot. muzzy buck

[MLBowhunting]

Lol yeah looks like a good one 

[doyourtime89]

That is AWESOME.....that is what I call whack and stack....I really love to see the whole family out there!!!  That makes it so much better...GREAT job to you all!!!   

[PlateauNDN]

Thanks for sharing and some nice looking animals!  Does my avatar meet your approval?!

[blackveltbowhunter]

Awesome Year!!!  Thats alot of deer!! Congrats!   And thanks for a much needed change of pace!

[colockumelk]

Thanks for sharing and some nice looking animals!  Does my avatar meet your approval?!

Anything is better than that half naked fellow you had.  The only person who approved of that one was Run. 

[PlateauNDN]

Thanks for sharing and some nice looking animals!  Does my avatar meet your approval?!

Anything is better than that half naked fellow you had.  The only person who approved of that one was Run. 

 

[runamuk]

Thanks for sharing and some nice looking animals!  Does my avatar meet your approval?!

Anything is better than that half naked fellow you had.  The only person who approved of that one was Run. 

 

congrats BLR looks like a good season I would just ignore these two clowns 

[buck man]

Great story and lots of meat in the freezer! 

[Karl Blanchard]

Thanks for sharing and some nice looking animals!  Does my avatar meet your approval?!

Huh! I never knew Yoda was a Yakama.  You learn something new every day I guess!   I would like to know how you find half that stuff!  I agree with my brother, the half naked guy was a little creepy.

[carpsniperg2]

Great bunch of critters and pictures

[buckmaster_wa]

If my phone works I will add a few pics from the 2012 season.

[buckmaster_wa]

Okay it worked. That was a picture of a nice set of sheds I found while I was on my spring bear hunt.

Here is a pic of my spring bear. Not huge but it has no rubs and great color. We spotted 8 bears the day that I got mine. Karl got 4 of the bears on film. Including great video of me shooting my bear. It was a great hunt and I cant wait to draw the tag again.

[buckmaster_wa]

Deer season came upon us and as Karl said it was a busy one. I ended up seeing 18 legal bucks during my five days in the field of the general season. I then took a friend on a two day hunt during the late season. We saw 8 legal bucks during that hunt.

First pic is me holding Andrews mid week general season buck. We planned to hunt two days. The hunt only lasted 15 minutes. lol.  This nice 3pt was the first deer we spotted as the sun came up.

Second pic is my Idaho buck. I passed on a few bigger bucks. Put the sneek on a heavy,tall 165-170 buck on the first day. He snuck out without allowing me to give him lead poisoning. This buck was good
enough to get me to notch my tag late in the week.

[buckmaster_wa]

Here is a pic of a nice 7pt elk shed I found during ML elk season.

And last is a pic of my wifes buck. Taken about 10 min before she dropped him.

[colockumelk]

You are truly a master of the long arm. 

[buckmaster_wa]

Actually I should of made Andrews buck look a little bit bigger. It is actually a big 3pt buck. But when your 6'5" it kind of makes all the animals look smaller. Colockumelk does not have to worry about that. Coming in at 5'4" 155lbs. lol

[Karl Blanchard]

Thats not even a real buck those are just sheds!

[RB]

Awesome!