Author Topic: black powder deer fever, round two... (Read 7672 times)

elkboy · « **on:** November 10, 2014, 09:44:09 AM »

Well, my deer fever, temporarily cured with the blessing of a notched tag in September, is back. I have a second deer tag for a special unit out here in the rolling wheat fields, and I am beginning to feel the familiar symptoms returning: salivation and restlessness when I see deer or pictures of deer, obsessive checking of the topic list on HuntWA, inability to focus on work, and endless Google-Earth ogling of hawthorn draws and ponderosa pine stands. (OK, the inability to focus on work isn't just tied to deer season)

Any of my fellow muzzleloaders (or other hunters) experiencing the same thing? I know I have a problem, and late season cannot get here soon enough!

oneshot12 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2014, 11:40:06 AM »

best of luck to you Elk Boy i fully understand your point . a good start i think. so get yourslef all ready for the second go around and get on them

erk444 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2014, 01:11:31 PM »

I've been feeling that way since the day after I got my elk! I can't wait for my late hunt to try and fill my second deer tag! Hang in there man

n_mathews13 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2014, 03:19:28 PM »

Me too, me and my wife have tags to fill. Can't wait. Tough to beat the late season in the snake river

elkboy · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2014, 09:50:33 PM »

Right on, guys, thanks for the support! I'm feeling the good HuntWA vibes... Good luck to all of you!

Oneshot, you done for the year, or do you still have some late season action ahead?

kevinlisa06 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 18, 2014, 09:12:44 PM »

Can't wait to get in the woods with the trusty Hawkens and chase some Blacktails!

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bobcat · « **Reply #6 on:** November 18, 2014, 09:22:57 PM »

I'll be looking for a blacktail on Thanksgiving morning and will be packing my Lyman Deerstalker.

elkboy · « **Reply #7 on:** November 23, 2014, 12:55:40 PM »

Good luck,Bobcat and Kevinlisa! Blacktails are incredible game animals. I hope you are roasting a backstrap roast Thanksgiving evening...

I shot one more time yesterday... feeling good as ever. I'm going to be sitting under a hawthorn late afternoon Tuesday, waiting for a whitetail doe to head for the wheat fields above... We've got perfect deer hanging weather here, 35 degree lows and 40 degree highs. I think I'll hang the doe for a few days if I am successful.

Smokepole · « **Reply #8 on:** November 23, 2014, 01:10:00 PM »

I got deer fever & no second deer tag. It's gonna be a long wait until next fall. My wife still has a clean tag, so we might have to try some blacktail hunting during the late season. But I can't wait until next season! Good luck!

elkboy · « **Reply #9 on:** November 23, 2014, 01:36:30 PM »

Good luck to you and your wife, Smokepole! Hope you can notch November out of that tag of hers! Thanks for the good wishes. Pretty soon I will also feeling how far off September can be...

trophyhunt · « **Reply #10 on:** November 23, 2014, 02:32:58 PM »

looking forward to it for sure, been on some incredible hunts this year. In fact it's been a great year but, I still have yet to notch a tag of my own. I hope kapowsin has a few nice bucks left, that's where I'm heading. Good luck smoke pole hunters.

kevinlisa06 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 23, 2014, 08:28:54 PM »

I am hoping to tag out on a Blacktail in 407 then get the wife out there and try for one as well. I have yet to shoot a Blacktail so it would be nice to get one. Be hunting bout 15 mins from the house so I will get in as much time as I can before turkey dinner. Good luck to you all! Can I load the .54 cal yet?!?!?

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bendotti · « **Reply #12 on:** November 23, 2014, 08:34:31 PM »

Same here I can't wait the wife and I are leaving wensday for 5 days got my brother and niece meeting us on Friday to fill are tags feeling pretty same excited for this late muzzy hunt.

HornHoarder · « **Reply #13 on:** November 23, 2014, 08:46:17 PM »

I'm more than exited... It's about all I can think about lately. I've been hanging stands, checking trailcams, shooting etc... Gonna hunt the whole season if need be. Hoping for a real wallhanger whitetail this year. Good luck to all!

elkboy · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2014, 07:45:21 PM »

I realize some of you are already out there chasing them around... But for me and a few others... TOMORROW! And some of you are Turkey Day smokepole hunters... GOOD LUCK!

Today on my afternoon walk, I watched a very large and wide 5x5 whitetail chase a doe along a river flat. Nothing like that to stoke the deer fever!

elkboy · « **Reply #15 on:** December 04, 2014, 10:06:42 AM »

It took a few evenings, but it came together! Last night, December 3rd, was a beautiful evening here in the rolling Palouse, and mercifully a little warmer than it has been. After a weekend of hunting a friend's property in the special unit, I had gathered enough clues to be confident in a tree stand location in a fire-scorched ponderosa pine. I set the stand on Monday, and had some does work towards me, but did not arrive within range for me to shoot. Tuesday was a day where work did not let me get out, with the silver lining of letting my scent "cool off" around the stand. Last night I watched deer move all around the valley as a nearly full moon rose over the snow-covered fields. Finally, three yearlings work down a draw forty yards away, coming from the wheat fields above, not the hawthorn below. The largest (and most alert) of them tempt me, but I personally want to let such young animals live a little before they are turned into venison! I watch them graze their way down the draw, content with the evening's hunt as it was, when I hear more rustling from up the draw. I turn slightly, and there she is, an adult whitetail doe, exactly what I was waiting for, at 65 yards. She drops instantly into the crested wheat-grass at the shot from the Knight Mountaineer, more meat for winter, a beautiful gift from this land that I love.

Good luck to everyone with tags remaining! I am mentoring a new hunter this weekend- hopefully we can get her her first deer!

n_mathews13 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 04, 2014, 03:49:40 PM »

Congrats

Sabotloader · « **Reply #17 on:** December 04, 2014, 03:52:25 PM »

Great write - Great pictures - glad it all worked - and really glad that Mountaineer is doing the job for you!

Harleysboss · « **Reply #18 on:** December 04, 2014, 04:34:55 PM »

What a great feeling...Heavy pack board! awesome pics congrats.

Smokepole · « **Reply #19 on:** December 04, 2014, 05:33:44 PM »

Congrats. That whitetail ought to be tasty!

kevinlisa06 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 04, 2014, 08:16:47 PM »

Congrats to ya on filling that tag!

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Jonathan_S · « **Reply #21 on:** December 04, 2014, 08:33:07 PM »

I dropped a tasty whitetail doe in her tracks for my second deer tag too. Many is that some tasty meat

I enjoy every deer I shoot but there is nothing like a river-bottom whitetail doe

Soady · « **Reply #22 on:** December 04, 2014, 08:41:00 PM »

Elkboy,
Nicely done! Those little clues make it all the better when it all comes together.
I think it is great that you are taking the time to give of your skills by mentoring another hunter taking it full circle to teach another to begin a life and love for hunting and appreciation for the land from which our passions are rooted in.
Tomorrow I leave with my son to begin his late muzzy season in search of his black tail deer and continue to pass on what I have learned to him.

Nicely done indeed!

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