First Year Hunter

[geo]

My first year hunting in Washington.

Born and raised here and been a fisherman my whole life, but always wanted to hunt and never knew how or where.
My son turned 14 this year so I took him to the hunter's ed class and we got our licenses. I've been putting in some time trying to "learn the ropes" so when I take him out it will be a good time--want to make sure I've got a hunting buddy for life!

Early modern rifle I went out to Forks and hired an old guy to give me a clue as to where to look, what to look for. Spent my life camping and hiking so I know signs of deer.  This guy drove us around in a truck all day? Been reading the forums and know that "truck hunting" is not the way to get deer. Still managed to see about 20 does, but where are the bucks? Well, I learned they should be somewhere nearby so instead of sitting in the truck I follow a doe and a fawn over a small hill in the clearcut to a stand of trees. It's still just a few mins after sunrise so it's hard to see into the trees but I see movement. Glass in that direction and there he is! I had to look again, but sure enough a beautiful 4-point. I hit one knee and swing my Tikka off my shoulder, pop the covers off my 10x scope and try to locate him. Can't find him! Rifle down, scanning. There he is! Back in the scope--can't find him! I peek over the scope, get things lined up and finally put him in the crosshairs.

Now I'm hoping a lot of you can relate to this: it was such an adrenaline rush to finally see my first buck that I'm shaking like a tambourine. I've got buck fever! Crosshairs are bouncing like I'm on a trampoline. Okay, being a former military man I know I need to slow my heart rate so I start taking nice, slow breaths. In the mean time this buck has caught wind of me and is turning from broadside to backside. I finally calm things down and decide not to take the shot. I may have been able to knock him down, but for my first buck I wanted to make sure of a clean shot. Spent the rest of the day chasing him and unfortunately came up empty.

Went out Thur to GMU 627 near Tiger Lake. Hiked a good 3 or 4 miles that day but the fog was so think it was impossible to see anything. I attached a couple photos of the pea soup. Thinking of headed back out to Bear Creek/Dewatto Rd as I saw a couple of gates where I can hike into the thicker stuff. Am I in the right area for a late season blacktail? Any help is appreciated.

Go Hawks!

Geo

[Crunchy]

For late season you stay on the does, and will find the bucks.  I hunt an area that sees decent pressure.  I know of a couple of clearcuts that I like, so I normally set up on one and glass for a few hours.  Let the other hunters push them to you.

[Mike450r]

A few hints I can give from your story are,  10x May have been too much magnification and made it hard to pick the deer up right away,  if your scope is variable try leaving it on 4-6.  And when you bring the rifle up keep both eyes open looking at the deer then close the off eye and deer should be right in the scope.   Sounds like you are getting it.

[geo]

Thanks Mike450r, you were spot on. Cranked the magnification down and actually practiced acquiring targets from my shoulder. Having learned to shoot on open sights (military M16), I overlooked training on target acquisition with the scope, although I spent some time on the range with it.

Went out to GMU 633 on Saturday and scouted/hunted. Ran into a guy who said his buddy had harvested two deer right out of the spot we were in, but alas I only found mushrooms (see pic). Was a great learning experience this year, next year: scouting, scouting, scouting.