Well this year was "average" for me, nothing great.. nothing awful... had some great times in the woods and some that still bother me as I am typing this.... as always I learned more about the animals we hunt, what to do and not do in certain situations and got to spend time with my amazing wife and some good friends. Here we go -
WA ELK- We doubled on opening day... We called in a 4x4 that my wife killed, and later that day our buddy killed its twin in the next timber patch up.... GOOD START! I then proceeded to mess up 4 chances at bulls, had to pass on many cows/spikes and ended up rushing a 60 yrd gimme on a nice 5x5 that was fighting with a 4x4.... my first ever miss on a elk and first miss on anything in a long long time with my bow. Late Season- I played guide more or less and tried to get my buddies into their first elk... had a buddy miss a cow and we were into em daily, just never could quite close the deal.
OR ELK- I killed a rag 4x4 on a killer stalk with a good buddy and my wife... the next day my buddy called in the biggest Rosie I have ever seen a huge 7x7 to 6 yrds..... on the side on a mountain in ungodly thick crap... needless to say the wife had no shot. Still a great hunt in a new area with a new buddy.
WA DEER- I literally did not hunt a single day solely for deer in WA, that is the first year I can honestly say that. The last day we elk hunted in late season.. we jumped 2 deer and 5 elk in a cut... the elk said later man, but the deer stuck around.. one of which was a buck... a spike buck... typically a deer I let walk, but it was my last day, tag in hand and I have 17 seasons in a row with a deer in WA.... so I said.. ok.. hes tasty.... short stalk and a 67 yrd shot later he was on the ground. Amber did not have a WA deer tag this season.
OR DEER- I hunted my butt off late season, but it just never happened... I had a chance at a killer buck on day 1 in SO Oregon, but after that.. nothing.. the rut was over and we got nothing coming to any calls for 3 days and many miles on the boots. I hunted in the valley as well and passed on a few smaller bucks in hopes of killing on of the better ones we had on cam.... that also never cam to be. Amber however, still has till the end of FEB on her tag so we still have hope of adding another head on the wall. Just not in 2014.
2 bulls and 1 buck for the lady and I... not a killer year in terms of game on the ground but fun none the less... hoping to hunt more next year.
