Public land west side general archery hunt

[Elkcollector82]

  Little bit about myself. Moved to Washington few years ago. Never hunted in this state tell I moved here. Grew up in Oregon. Been hunting Roosevelt since I was knee high to a grass hopper. Had my best friend in Oregon and my dad to hunt with. Been hunting Washington solo. Tell this year. My new hunting partner just started hunting a couple years ago. He pretty much new to all this. We started talking hunting and hit it off pretty well. I offered up and he took the chance.

 I stayed local for the first few years hunting in Washington. Not venturing to far in the backcountry. I studied maps and reports and did a lot of hiking and scouting in the off season during those years. Well this year I found a hand full of spots and all produce a lot of animals. Picked my favorite spot and me and my partner headed off first of June to hang cams.

  He thought I was nuts when I told him we hiking in 8 miles snow covered ground to get into the area we were gonna hunt. I checked hiking reports and road conditions. I read a report that said we could get few miles from the trailhead we wanted. So off we went. Got up to the area that the report said we would hit the snow. Boy they were right. Come around the corner to 4ft deep snow drift. So we packed the packs and off we went. We got to the trail head and decided to stay on the upper part of the area we were gonna hunt.

 So we walked the ridge line out and started placing trail cams and trophy rocks. We covered a lot of ground. We left the truck just at day light and returned few hours before dark. Just over 16 miles in snow covered roads and trails. Needless to say both of our legs were trashed. I've never been so excited to see the tailgate of the truck.

We let the cameras soak for just over a month before we ventured back up to check the cameras. Now this trip was complete opposite. Roads and trails wide open. Temperature was in the 80's that afternoon. Mosquito's and deer flies that could pack off a full grown man or drain him dry. We checked the first came. We both had a number out their on how many suppose pictures where gonna be on the cam. I said 250. My partner was around 300. Needless to say when we opened the box and seen 2,040 pictures taken. I had mix feelings and started talking like a sailor. I just knew a limb or grass was blowing and had a bunch of screen shots with nothing in them. Boy was I wrong. We had bulls, cows, calfs and bears in pretty much every picture.

 Getting pictures from the very next day that we set the cam. tell that morning when we walked into it. Had a awesome feeling. We have bulls from when they had main beams and eye guards to dang near full blown developed. We can scan throw and watch the antler growth. Just amazing how fast they grow during that time. So we left some cameras and we moved some others. Ones we moved are in the main area we wanted to hunt.

 We let these soak for just over a week and went back in and checked them. We decided to leave one camera cause the bears were coming in like clock work. We pulled the trophy rock and moved on to the main area. We faught our way through the mosquitos and deer flies. We bumped two decent bulls on our way through a meadow. Finally getting to the camera. Both of us couldn't be more excited on what was on it. We reset the camera and hiked out. Battling the mosquito's and deer flies. Finally made it back to the truck.

We are headed up during the weekend and gonna check cameras and do some bear hunting. Hopefully we can seal the deal on a bear. My new hunting partner is great. For never being in the outdoors with him nor around him outside of the work place. He is a go getter and hard worker. I am no expert hunter and will never claim to be. So it is great that, what I have been taught and what we both read about. We can come up with some great tactics.

[idaho guy]

 

[Kokanee]

Impressive!  Looks like all the planning and hardwork is panning out for you two.  Hope you have the hunt year of a lifetime 

[Gonehuntin01]

Nice job getting out there and putting it together.  Wishing you guys the best of luck.  Looking forward to see your success pics.

[Jpmiller]

I was pretty sure when I clicked on this it was going to be a "I need help a month before the season" thread. I'm pretty impressed. I've never really ventured too far away from the areas I grew up hunting cause it always seemed pretty intimidating to learn a new area from scratch. Good for you guys and hopefully you can keep us updated on how your season goes.

[Elkcollector82]

I was pretty sure when I clicked on this it was going to be a "I need help a month before the season" thread. I'm pretty impressed. I've never really ventured too far away from the areas I grew up hunting cause it always seemed pretty intimidating to learn a new area from scratch. Good for you guys and hopefully you can keep us updated on how your season goes.

Haha. I was thinking the same thing after I posted it. With a title like that.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Kudos!  I think a 16 mile round trip is an excellent method of vetting the new partner!  I predict you two will have a great time!

[Bigbadweston]

Good luck. I sent you a PM

[bowhunterforever]

Nice

[duckmen1]

If hes sticking with you throughout those types of scouting trips I'd say you will have a great hunting partner for seasons to come. Good job on putting in the work and even though its already paying off I hope you guys do well on filling some tags in the upcoming seasons.

[The Fin]

Nice   Good luck on your hunts.  Can't wait to see photo's of your success.

[Elkcollector82]

Nice   Good luck on your hunts.  Can't wait to see photo's of your success.

Hopefully we will have a some bear pictures to share after this coming weekend. Going up to check the cams one more time and then bear hunt for the remainder days. Thanks for the positive feedback. 

[Elkcollector82]

Well we went up and gave it our all for 5 days. My partner could only stay for the weekend cause the whole work thing. So it was me and the son. Had a blast. Even though we didn't see a bear during day light. We still had fun. Hiked our tails off for the first 4 days. Day 5 was a hike into a high lake and just relax and enjoy the moments. Weather was hot and air was full of smoke. Felt good jumping into the lake after that many days on a baby wipe bath  learned a bunch of ground and got more trail cam pictures. The cougar came into the cam two hours ahead of us. If only it was September 1 and our paths crossed then.  Now since I know the son can do the backcountry thing. Gonna make it our yearly trip.

 It's amazing how much fun a kid has when it's just them and the woods. We spent hours at some little creek catching and releasing frogs. I mean it looked like the water was jumping.  their was so many. Fish wasn't biting. But the water was so clear you could see them swim up to the lure and just look at it. Man that just made the boy build up with anticipation hoping one would take the bait. Never happened. Then him betting me I wouldn't jump in the lake before him. Haha. Never make a bet with your old man. No matter how cold that water is. You will loose. 

 So now we just count down the days tell the buddy and me hike in and give it all we got. Their will be ups and downs. But you know what. It's all about being out there and enjoying yourself. Like we both said. Punching tags would be amazing. But just the encounters are pretty sweet. So here's to you all and hope you all have empty quivers and full freezers by seasons end. I will update once I return from the hills. Every hunting story is a success story. They just might or might not involve a punched archery tag. Opening day can't come soon enough. Four work days left. I can get through them.

[Elkcollector82]

 

[Elkcollector82]

 

[Elkcollector82]

 

[2MANY]

Congrats on your efforts.
I'm sure it will all pay off.


Did you guys try a Rooster Tail???

[Elkcollector82]

Congrats on your efforts.
I'm sure it will all pay off.


Did you guys try a Rooster Tail???

Tried every color in the box.  I do know his first few cast. The rooster tail looked like a water skipper going across the lake. Thought he was gonna smoke the bearings out of the reel. He was reeling so fast.  his first time using rooster tails.

[2MANY]

We had some good success on a yellow body recently.

[Elkcollector82]

We had some good success on a yellow body recently.

Next time we go in. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you. 

[jae]

Great memories for you and your boy. what a trip. Beautiful pictures!

[Kit Carson]

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing with us.
Good luck out there! 

[Bigbadweston]

That's awesome being out there with your son. I'm sure it was blast. And great pics too. Good luck man. Hunt'em hard.

[Harbor_hunter]

Man those are some pigs on your cameras!  Good luck.

[coastalyeti]

Great pics! Fantastic post. Thank you for sharing. Animals, family and wild country is what it's all about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Elkcollector82]

I am another one nestled around the early archery tag soup table. What a season for the books. With all the scouting and preparation for this season. I'm still walking away with a smile on my face. I've encountered some obstacles mentally and physically. I've put easily 150 miles on my boots during the 12 days I hunted. I've been mentally drained not understanding why I haven't heard one bugle or cow chirp all season  I've crested ridge after ridge just for that one chance. Season started out thick in smoke and ended with snow covered ground 

 I've lost my partner. Yet I regained another one. I met this guy on the trail while scouting and trying to find a bear. We talked for about 15 min. to never exchange contact info. Just asking if we were members on huntwa. Well come mid season are paths crossed again with a message and a response. I didn't know him, know more then he knew me. Met at the trail head and started pounding the ground. We both had game cams in the area and knew what was in there. So it was gonna be easily to see how honest each of us was gonna be. Well I shared my info and he shared his info. Pretty much same intel. From that Sunday on we hunted like we been hunting together for years. Sharing stories about hunting and family. Thorny it was with great privilege to have hunted with you. I see many hunts in the future.

  I've also tried to help a few others on here and look forward to hopefully hearing how successful they were. I might not have bagged my #1 bull nor my #99 bull.  But I did start a friendship with many and that makes this seat at tag soup table all that much better. So here's to late season and hopefully full freezer.

 

[Elkcollector82]

Pictures of my hunt

[Elkcollector82]

.

[Elkcollector82]

.

[Thorny]

"A hunt based only on the trophies taken falls short of what the ultimate goal should be... time to commune with your inner sole as you  share the outdoors with the birds, animals, and fish that live there." "I feel like one of God's chosen people, having had the opportunity to share, with many fine companions, these varied and lovely realms of our natural world" --Fred Bear--

Lots of homework went  into this hunt, and it definitely shows.  150 miles of rugged backcountry terrain during the hunt would be the low end estimate.   Good times...great to meet new people....and to get to have a burger and beer with a new friend...is what it's all about!! 

[Milkman]

Great pics!
This tag soup seems to be all you eat. I'm with you all on that lol

[E35alex]

Wow! Those are some awesome pics!! and thanks for the story.

Here's to late season!

[kball4]

Packwood Lake?

[tonymoe]

Spent lots of time in that area. Packwood lake .....hmmm🤔

[Elkcollector82]

Spent lots of time in that area. Packwood lake .....hmmm🤔

Then you should know what that area holds. 

[cem3434]

Not a damn thing....shhh!