Knowing I was only going to have 3 days to hunt the East side this year I decided, kind of on the fly, that I was going to make this year more of a journey and explore some country I haven't seen before. I started last Friday at about 1830, after work I hit I-90 and headed east. I thought about driving to Republic because that's the first place I ever deer hunted on the east side. As I headed north on Hwy 97 about 2300 I changed my mind and went with my original plan of heading over to the Chesaw area, somewhere I've never been. Got to pay $3.36 a galloon for gas in Omak, that was nice! Between Omak and Tonasket, I passed three different vehicles that struck and killed deer!! Including a little white car that rolled into Tonasket in front of me with their hazards on and a smashed hood and windshield, yikes! Rolling out of Tonasket on Havillah Rd at what was now 0100-0130-ish took on a new sense of focus, watching for suicidal deer on the side of the road. Jumped on the winding Chesaw Rd and continued East towards Toroda Creek Rd as I wanted to hunt the area around Lake Bonaparte opening morning. I turned up Lake Bonaparte Rd and pretty much just looked for a wide spot to pull over and sleep, watching my GPS the whole time being sure I didn't park on private property (thank you huntgpsmaps), I found one and was out in minutes!
Woke a couple hours later to the sounds of rigs driving by and heading up the hill in the dark, looks like I parked on a pretty popular road ha ha. I didn't know the area and didn't want to waste the morning hunt so I drove up the road only about 100 yards and headed up the hill on foot. Didn't see a lot of sign and only heard one shot that morning. At about 1000 I decided to hit the GPS and do some exploring. Continued up Bunch Rd to an area that showed a nice saddle on the GPS about 1 mile away from the road, so for the evening it was out and up. Only saw two whitetail does during the evening and heard no shots. I decided to stay and hunt the following morning for an hour or two and then continue on the trip. The morning produced nothing and I was back at the truck about 0900 restless to keep driving and exploring.
This time I drove east to Toroda Creek Rd and headed north to Nicholson Creek Rd to head back west. Heavily treed area but I did stop and go for a walk down one dead road near the top. I jumped something but could only hear it hoping up the hill, it was too thick to see what it was, sounded heavy and I found some good sign in the area but it was definitely thick! After roaming around there for a bit I headed back down to the truck and continued west. Said hello to the Border Patrol a couple miles later and continued to Bolster Rd and back south through Chesaw then west to Oroville, mainly to take a look at Lake Osoyoos as I am thinking about a smallmouth trip there next year?
I drove back south through Tonasket and Omak and then headed west on Hwy 20, stopping on top of Loup Loup Pass to check out Cook Rd. Great looking area! Driving west from there I went through some of the fire damage and mud slide areas...what a mess! It's one thing to read about it on here but a whole other thing to see it in person. I was headed for Mazama for my final night and the following morning but just couldn't get through Twisp without hunting a spot I hunted a couple years ago, this was almost the decision that notched my tag!
After listening to the Hawks inept attempt to win a football game (different subject) I used my angst to hike up and over about an 800' hill and drop down the other side. I had a 15-20mph headwind and was optimistic. I crested the hill and glassed the area for other hunters...nothing?? It's only Sunday night of opening weekend and it appeared I had this entire bowl to myself?...in Twisp!! NICE! I settled down about halfway down the hill on some rocks with a few bushes behind me for cover. Immediately I glass deer feeding below me and they have no idea I'm only 200 yards away! I count a doe, then another, then horns...a pickle fork two point, then another doe. I continued scanning the area hoping more deer would join them but didn't detect any other movement. After about 1/2 hour I noticed one of the does began making her way down the draw towards what I know is private property. I decided to side hill about 3-400 yards to get around some larger trees to see if I could head them off and see if maybe they picked up some of their friends?! Well, I'm slowly working my way down through the ultra dry crunchy foliage when I hear and see movement on the other side of some bushes about 75 yards below me, I freeze, pull up the binos and there, looking around is what appears to be a decent 3x4 and another doe! I have zero shot! All I can see though a hole in the brush is his head and horns and that's just not worth the risk to me. I stood there as they looked around on alert, then, as they calmed down, I decided my only choice was to side hill about another 30-40 yards hoping to clear the brush between us and get a clean shot. As I started to ease past the edge of the brush the doe hoped down the hill quickly followed by the buck trotting but dead away and again, I'm not taking an ass/unethical shot.... I continued to side hill hoping the wind would mask my movements and I could 45 down to cut them off and get a shot opportunity, unfortunately the 6 deer to my left had other plans! Two hopped down the hill towards the buck and the rest, including the biggest 2pt I've seen to date, took off away and stopped about 60 yards to turn, stare and wheeze at me. It was cool but sucked all at the same time. By the time those deer finally bailed it was near dark and I had to hump back up over the hill and down to my truck which took until well after dark. So close, so close.
I sat in my truck contemplating my next move. I figured those deer blowing out probably wouldn't return the next morning opting to take a different route out of the private area, so I fired up the truck and headed to my final stop in Mazama. When I arrived in Mazama I was surprised to see only TWO vehicles camped at the snow park at the bottom of Goat Creek Rd??! That place is usually packed! Not good. I stayed there for the night and in the morning drove back in to a washed out road I wanted to hunt last time I was there but didn't. I walked a couple miles back in only to find out there was another way in past the washout when a white Dodge rolled down to me. Chatted with the older gentleman for a few and got another "back in the day" story to add to my collection... FIVE WEEKS for rifle hunters!!!! WOW! Now we get 9 days, with people even wanting that shortened....sad. Oh well, by this time the temps were back up and I was out of time and had only spotted one doe and a yearling. A fun trip for sure and man did I get to see some beautiful country! What an amazing State we live in, if only the politics weren't so screwed up, we could really have it ALL! Oh well.
My trip was a success in that I learned some areas, answered some questions, saw new spots and crossed some off the list. I had my opportunity and am happy with that. Now it's off to another new area next week for blacktail and I'm looking forward to one more chance at some freezer fill before heading to elk country with my wife (her first trip) for that elusive spike.
I sure would like to thank everyone that contributes to this forum! It has indirectly and at times directly affected the way I hunt and where I hunt and I have seen improvement every year in my techniques and opportunities at successful hunts ending in notched tags. My deer hunting areas are far more focused for next year when I will have the entire season to hunt and my list of do's and don'ts have been honed as well. Thanks everyone
