Benchbucks

[buckbrush]

Anybody hear of "benchbucks"?  Just wondering if this was a local term used where I grew up or it is used in other areas. 

[boneaddict]

I guess I have heard of bench-leg but not just short benchbucks.

[sportsman002001]

I would have to guess they are meaning bench leg bucks.  They are found down around White Salmon and on the back side of White pass and I am sure many other places.  They are deer that are cross bread with Muley and Blacktail.  That is what I have always heard when I hear of a bench leg buck.

[archery288]

I would have to guess they are meaning bench leg bucks.  They are found down around White Salmon and on the back side of White pass and I am sure many other places.  They are deer that are cross bread with Muley and Blacktail.  That is what I have always heard when I hear of a bench leg buck.

Same meaning, and they are on the West side of the mtns as well.... I think the term is meant more for the ones on the west side then the ones on the eastside of the pass... Pretty much related to the deer around the Pacific Crest Trail...

[270Shooter]

In the state record books aren't they called Cascade Blacktailed deer? We have them in Klickitat county and most of western yakima county.

[boneaddict]

Just a classification of the deer harvested in that zone.  THey can be pureblood muley and or blacktail and still be considered that. At least in regards to the state, Boone hasn't gone that far.  Benchlegs are pretty obvious crossbred deer usually.

[fishunt247]

I don't want to start anythng, but in the washington books there is a buck that I heard was shot in the yakima canyon above roza dam (Peyser's wifes buck) that is entered as a cascade blacktail. And there are a bunch of deer entered from yakima co. Either I misread the boundaries or something, cause that doesn't make any sense to me. Does anybody know more on this?

[boneaddict]

As far as I knew, that wasn't in the boundary.  I killed one up on the top of Bethel and though it was obviously a benchleg...mostly blacktail, it had to be entered as a Mule deer.

[blacktail luv]

I live in White Salmon and i know our deer here are classified as the cascade blacktails, even though most of them look like pure bread blackies, to me.  I know the mule deer line is the greyback unit, which is more or less the klickitat river about ten miles east of me.  Once you get east of the town of lyle the deer definately have some mulie in them, there racks look different as do there bodies.  Most of them still have the "blacktail"  not a tail like a mule deer.

[270Shooter]

Nearly all of the deer I see in the cowiche unit are benchlegs. Look at the tail on this doe.

[Ridgerunner]

99% of the deer I've seen in bumping and rimrock units were benchlegs.

[flyguide]

I would say that the Ellensburg area is about 50% Benchlag/50% Mule Deer, lots of overlap here.

[bankwalker]

I would say that the Ellensburg area is about 50% Benchlag/50% Mule Deer, lots of overlap here.

ive never seen any buck or doe in the e-burg area that i would call a benchleg. but i have seen quite a few in the snoqualmie pass area that were a forsure cross.

i had a couple does and a small 3pt jump infront of me and a semi this season and the semi hit the buck. i had to stop and check it out and the rack was very small just like a blacktail 3pt but it had a mulie tail. ive never seen a 3pt or even a 2pt mulie with a rack so small. so imo it had to be a benchleg

[boneaddict]

HE is about right....depending on what side of E burg you are standing.  Those in the Naneum are muleys or tend to be, those up Manastash and Robinson are often benchlegs.

[Red Dawg]

Here is a roman nose with a black tail.

[270Shooter]

I think the deer in the Yakima Canyon are 50/50 benchlegs and muleys. Atleast thats what I saw. You don't get over to 100% muley until you are east of I-82, generally speaking .

[Jason]

I hunt the White Salmon area for deer and I have never seen any bench bucks there,you start seeing them more east of Goldendale.

[bankwalker]

HE is about right....depending on what side of E burg you are standing.  Those in the Naneum are muleys or tend to be, those up Manastash and Robinson are often benchlegs.

ive seen a couple of pure mulies in manastash, had a shot at a big 5x5 with my 44mag and missed. but about 80% of the bucks ive seen taken west/north of the teanum creek road (manastash-teanum boundry) have been benchlegs. its easy to tell when you see a pure mulie verse benchleg. i think anyway. we've seen some big benchlegs along the freeway by tinkham road on i-90 aswell.

[Red Dawg]

I have hunted bench's all over the place. I would say they are the most crossed up in the clemans area. When you are in G-dale and west of there you will see them once in a great while but not to often. Although I have seen some really good X bucks near the white salmon area up in the rattlesnake while hunting with a muzzleloader. Bench's are my fav to hunt because the big ones ( although few and far between ) generaly have great mass and dark antlers. that is my favorite rack. Most of you have seen this buck but I will post it again. The first pick looked more like a muley as this one has more blacktail traits.

[bobcat]

I hunt the White Salmon area for deer and I have never seen any bench bucks there,you start seeing them more east of Goldendale.

I thought east of Goldendale is where you first start getting into pure mulies. We just hunted in the Klickitat area a couple weeks ago and most all of the deer we saw appeared to be mule deer/blacktail crosses (don't really care for the term "benchleg.")  Some definitely appeared more like mule deer and some more blacktail like, but none that I could say were all muley, or all blacktail.

[fc2038]

Western Klickitat has been benchbucks for us. As long as my family has been hunting their we have always refered to the deer in that area as benchbucks. They have always seemed to us a cross. West of Goldendale and east of Trout Lake area. IMO 

[JBabcock]

Both of these came out of the Rimrock area. They looked more like Blacktails than Muledeer. We've always called them Hybrids or Blacktail/Muledeer cross. Big one was 1995, and the other was 1992. Nope, I don't smoke anymore 

[270Shooter]

Nice bucks JBabcock Those are really nice for the Rimrock area.

[fishunt247]

Both of the bucks I have shot the last two years in ellensburg (teanaway) have been as pure mule deer as I've ever seen. And I've hunted goldendale my whole life and it seems the farther west you go the more blacktail characteristics they have, but even east of 97 the deer still have blacktail in them. All three bucks my family killed in down there this year had mule deer type racks, but broad black tails. But who knows, mostly anywhere in central washington there is going to be some form of mixing I think.