1st time hunter introduction

[oysters00]

Ive been researching through this forum for the last couple weeks and figured i'd start an account and introduce myself. born and raised in spokane washington i have never gone hunting. love hiking... love camping... love the outdoors... been getting into fishing the last 3 years and just picked up a salmon drift rod this last spring (lots of fun). so im pretty excited to get my feet wet. getting into this for the meat and hoping the hobby/work brings me joy as well. not going to lie, i have a hard time watching animals die and know im going to have a rough time taking ones life. still have reservations killing fish and things like razor clams...  yeah no joke. i never even shot at birds as a kid and dont smash all the spiders i find either haha. but of coarse, im a great home cook and i buy all the 'cheap' mass produced meat from the grocery stores and supermarkets... so morally speaking at this point its get rich, become a vegan or get to hunting for me, and like i said... i love to cook and eat. i figure after i find some luck and put something in the freezer i should be able to afford to supplement what i hunt with local meat instead of the chain stores.

I will be taking the hunter education coarse in cdl on the 7th of november which i will parlay into a washington state hunting license and late archery season deer tag. tore my right rotary cuff twice, pretty bad too i think, 4 years ago and it still gives me problems but i dont think it will effect me pulling back, now days it only makes appearances when i extend it straight up in the air.

bear in mine i have never shot a compound bow...i got a good deal on a new bear authority. i decided to get the 60lb version. at just over 6' and 195 lbs (180 very lean) i almost went with a 70lb but took many peoples advice here to not go macho man randy savage with it... thanks. i have not been professionally measured for my draw length but i have measured it myself multiple times and i believe it is just over 29.5". found 6 gold tip pros on clearance (bad idea??) from midway... they were only $42 with 2 inch vanes. hopefully not too good to be true. decided on 125 grain slick trick viper fixed broadheads. now i dont know exactly how long i will have my arrows cut too but at 8.9 grains per inch and 30 inches my foc was sitting around 10.5. i also ran all the numbers on the speed and kinetic energy calculators with the 449.5 grain arrows. assuming the 60lb authority will tighten down to 63 lbs, my draw length is 29.5 inches and arrows cut at 30 inches, my arrows should fly out the gate at 260 fps with 67.5 ft/lbs. with 63 ft/lbs at 30 yards this should tackle the job at hand well.

i had bought a scent away kit and small saw for an early present for my brother (his 2nd season) who lives on the west side of the state. we had plans to hunt for black tail north east of marysville this weekend coming up, but unfortunately plans just fell through... so now i need to get him something else . i bought a pack rack and uproar for deer calls. i also bought a cheap used tru flight wrist release off ebay. it seems like it should have less play before release... i understand i have to pay for the sensitivity releases, but this seems a bit ridiculous. is it possible its just worn? action doesnt even start until its been pulled close to 1/2 inch back.

ive been doing extensive research from my computer. my plan is to stay close to home so i can go out as man days as possible. regardless i might try an early day or two just west of curlew in gmu 101. i'd be driving there and back each time i go so id rather not but its the only unit open during the rut,from what i can tell, and the deer are more active in that unit late season as well. gmu 101 starts on nov 7th instead of the 25th like gmu 124 and 127 closer to home. but i plan on making my base at mica peak. i figured id shell out the 40 dollars for a little more elbow room. i have already printed off and detailed a topo map of the area as well as studied the area on google maps for hours on end.

i hit my speedbag, doubleend bag and heavy bag pretty regularly and that keeps my upper body in decent shape. the lady and i recently bought a pair of decent mnt bikes. ive been riding at beacon hill and up and down the south hill getting into good shape. i plan on mnt biking from star rd at mica peak on up... does anyone know about how far up i should i ride before i start? what are the chances that even stays feasible through november and early december? it looks like a lot of the hunting can be had below 3600 feet. i do a lot of snowboarding (plan on wearing old gear to hunt with) and i know 4000 ft around here can be sitting with 2 feet by december... so maybe ill be hiking in... if anyone can chime in who knows the area during that season it would be greatly appreciated.

i plan on making a couple trips to get a feel for the area as i havent been there for about 20 years. i might try making a natural blind or two as i hear spot and stalk is quite hard for whitetails round here. tree stands next year hopefully. i also plan on deboning the deer in the field. for the people who have packed out a deer with their bike and a backpack... about how many lbs was it safe to ride with?

one last question... anyone know if you can bowhunt at beaconhill by minihaha park? its in the no shooting zone and deer area 1050. i see a group of 20-25 turkeys nearly every time i go mnt biking on the selkani side.

well shoot i rambled on long enough...

if anyone has any tips or pointers for me im all ears, otherwise wish me luck and send up the prayers for a safe and beneficial hunt.

and to everyone who adds their two cents to this website, i learned a lot by simply reading numerous threads. again thanks.

[wannabhntr]

Welcome. Sounds like you have done your research on your archery equipment. I would suggest taking your arrows to White Tail Plus in Deer Park to have them cut. If you haven't shot your bow I would also suggest maybe shooting regulary and maybe skipping this season. You really want to make sure that you are comfortable with you equipment before you start throwing arrows at animals. I don't believe that you can hunt Beacon Hill. I believe that it is a county park now. Check on the Id hunter safety too. Not sure how that works transferring over. That being said I've nevr looked into it. Good luck if you decide to go and shoot straight.

[boneaddict]

Nice introduction.  Welcome to the outdoors and to this site.   I hope it continues to inspire you. 

[Blacktail Sniper]

  Howdy!

[huntnphool]

  Be sure to study up on field care of the meat. For someone just starting out, you don't want to make a mistake and end up with "gamie" meat and get stigmatized.

 Be sure to get the hide off and bones out asap, then get it cooled down. If you do this, it will go a long way in keeping you hunting for your own meat.

[bobcat]

Welcome. My suggestion would be to look into hunting some of the private farmland in your area. The deer will be much more plentiful and easier to see as well.  Although I guess numbers are down in some areas by quite a bit due to the blue tongue outbreak.

Good luck.

[h20hunter]

One comment has been made about meat care. I would second that. My suggestion is to get a few names to have a call list for after the shot. Tracking can be a slam dunk 40 yard stroll or it can be hours of tedious looking. If you have a few guys you can call to say ok, I've got a bloody arrow, now what, you could save yourself from possibly loosing an animal.

Best of luck, welcome, and looking forward to a success story.

[oysters00]

yeah i will certainly pass up the opportunity to huck an arrow at an animal... i pick things up quickly and i have the days off to put in some serious hours of practice. i read a good grouping at 25 yards can come quickly. however if i cant group my shots comfortably then yeah... ill leave the bow at home and just get a feel for things. thanks for the advice.

any decent but cheap targets anyone can suggest? should i dish out for a broadhead target or just get a fieldpoint target, sacrifice and tune my 4th broadhead on??? wood? i also love diy projects, specially if they save me cash. i'll google that sometime today but if anyone likes to make their own targets, broadhead or fieldpoint, let me know what you prefer to make them out of, please. 

and yeah i heard bad things about the archery place in spokane valley... i was planning on taking the whole thing to deer park to have it set up and tuned to me.

as far as the education course goes Washington accepts all state hunter education courses, or so i read. i never called up on that actually. there were no local field tests in spokane and the closest one was 45 miles and 9 months out.

i actually started down this path by studying the butchery of hogs, lamb and sides of beef first... there is a guy on youtube, the scott rea project, hes a butcher by trade and he puts out really well made videos, some on butchering the deer over on his side of the world. from there i watched the few field deboning videos on youtube and have memorized the process and the steps pretty well. one of those things that gets ingrained as you do it though. probably bring a notepad along too in case i draw a blank in the moment.

ive eaten deer before. cooked some backstrap steaks, given to us by my ladies nephew from white swan, over a fire while camping in glacier national forest. a place like that has a way of making anything you cook over fire taste amazing but that deer was the best meat iv ever had. i couldnt put a name on it... but it just tasted clean. i also like all livers, hearts, gizards, anything minerally. eatin some past its prime lamb too.... eh not too bad. as far as hanging or aging the meat goes. i read that i do not need to age/hang it, as long as i defrost it on racks, so that it does not sit in its thawed juices...

yah? nah?
 
if nah, then how do you guys like to age your meat if deboning it before the process.

blue tongue outbreak?  i'll have to google that

i honestly think ill be on my own, unless its on a weekend or morning weekday. im no stranger to huffing and puffing but i did pull my back this spring backpacking up to lil spar lake by the montana/idaho border (absolutely beautiful place btw.) i do have people who can help as long as they arent working. so ill try to have a back up plan ready to go. again thanks for the good advice guys!

[HankC]

Welcome and good luck out there.

[oysters00]

thanks

yeah you guys got me thinking about the shot now. im sure its one thing to hit a target you know is "x" yards away on a flat surface... and an entirely different thing to be able to correctly judge in the field. other than mixing up the elevation and angle of the target, is it smart to take shots from random distances when starting out? or should i focus more hours into controlled distance/s?

looks like i have some more studying to do. i was confident to start after reading people talk about grouping within a week at decent distances. i didnt really start to imagine the parameters involved with shooting in the field vs shooting at a fixed target in a controlled environment.

regardless, ill give it as much time as i can and feel it out from there.

question for everyone, how long or after how many hours of shooting were you confident and proficient enough to take a kill shot?

[bobcat]

You should be fine after a couple weeks of daily practice, especially if you have a pro help set up your bow properly and maybe give you a quick lesson on proper shooting form. You may have to limit your shots to 25 or 30 yards this first year, but by next year you could probably extend that to 40.

[oysters00]

cool, yeah i read the lady up in deer park is great and worth the drive.

i'll have just over 3 weeks to practice before the season starts at mica peak. i can probably put in 2-3 hours a day maybe more. i'll just save my mtb days for when i scout. 

[Mark251]

Welcome to the forum!

[oysters00]

thanks!

[mfswallace]

cool, yeah i read the lady up in deer park is great and worth the drive.

i'll have just over 3 weeks to practice before the season starts at mica peak. i can probably put in 2-3 hours a day maybe more. i'll just save my mtb days for when i scout.

Limit your practice sessions to the point of getting "sloppy". At first you'll want to practice for an hour or two but training your muscles in proper form and technique is more important than length of time shooting. So when u get a little bit tired take a few more shots then stop regardless of time. U don't want to develop bad habits. Like anything you practice you will be able to shoot longer the more you do it so take it easy at first  and develop proper form and technique...