Possible Blacktail Record Youth Archery GMU 454 Strong deer population

[Palmer]

On September 28 my buddies 11 year old son got his first buck, a 114 2/8 blacktail.  I believe its the state record for youth in the archery category, maybe even the nation.  I was in a deer blind 30 yards from theirs.  It was late and getting dark.  The deer were in a neighbors horse property and we needed to get them torward his blind quickly so I pulled out my rattle bag.  I rattled lightly as if antlers were touching loud enough to be heard from 100 yards away.  The deer, 3 bucks and a couple does, came straight toward my blind so I quit rattling.  At this point they had gotten downwind of my buddies decoy which had scent all over it.  The biggest buck had a sway back and a belly.  He went for the decoy, stopped, and Robbie, the 11 year old, released his arrow dead center of the buck.  The arrow went in diagonally and caught a lung on the opposite side.  The deer went about two properties over and into the woods.  My buddy knows the neighbors.

Meanwhile, I was hearing what I thought was a raccoon in the tree behind me so before going after the deer, I told my buddy and his son to check it out while I went to my truck.  They yelled to me at my truck and said grab your bow there's a bear in the tree.  So I walked over and put an arrow through him.  It took us a couple hours to get him out of the tree.

Then we went looking for the deer.  We followed the blood trail straight to the neighbors house.  It had gotten a little late to knock on their door and we didn't want to shine our flashlights too much around his property without talking to them first so we decided to come back in the morning.  The next morning we found this 225lb+ monster right in front of their dining room window.  The neighbor congratulated us, showed us pictures of his hunts and took us to an area where we could clean the deer.  Unfortunately, the coyotes ate out his hind leg before we recovered him.

[Dman]

 Great buck, but I'm a little confused by your post. Was this buck harvested in GMU 454? You have seen a lot of deer in 454? Was the deer scored SCI, or B&C?

Congrats

[Palmer]

The deer was taken in 454 on Sept 28.  It will most likely be scored by SCI.  Cascade Taxidermy is taking care of the head mount and privately scored it so the score isn't official but close.  I believe there is a 6 month period before they will officially score it.
In unit 454 I've been seeing alot of deer in the rural areas on private property and DNR property adjacent to private.  The deer seem to have adapted very well to larger plots of privately developed land.  There are large parks around the Bellevue area (of course no hunting in parks) and the deer seem to thrive by coming out of park land and grazing in peoples yards.  I'm concerned about Bridle Trails park, I haven't seen any deer in over 5 years but I have seen a couple sets of tracks.  North Seattle even has a pop of deer and cougar sightings near the golf course at Highlands.

I hunt gmu 113 for whitetail but am enthusiastic about the blacktail pop around the eastside of king county.  I'm also interested in enhancing habitat when I can afford it.

[jwroberts]

nice buck.   do you know of any public property in that area?

[Palmer]

We did our homework by looking up property lines and DNR property on the Parcel Viewer for Metro.  Here is the website:  http://www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/index.htm
Much of this unit is open for shotgun or archery only.  I prefer archery to stay under the radar - too many antihunters around to harass you.

[Dman]

 Thanks, nice buck.

[Ridgerunner]

Great buck, thanks for posting up the picture.

[WDFW-SUX]

Sweet Buck.

In the last 4 years I have seen 4 bucks that top 130 in east king county, and one in the last two weeks.  Tremendous trophy potential in the burbs.

Imap is great

Ive been pounding some "public stuff" the last week or so and have found a huge buck. I agree about staying under the radar though lots of folks would freak if they knew what I was up too. 

Even talking about urban hunting is touchy around here.....glad to hear I'm not alone

[Palmer]

more pics

[coonhunter]

Hey you see those pic hanging up with BIG hole on one side, Is this your first deer? maybe you pick up from road?  ....are you sure you did cut this way? Never seen anyone done that, by the way congt on a nice buck. 

[Palmer]

Hey you see those pic hanging up with BIG hole on one side, Is this your first deer? maybe you pick up from road?  ....are you sure you did cut this way? Never seen anyone done that, by the way congt on a nice buck. 

If you read the thread you'll catch the part about finding the deer the next morning after the coyotes had there way.  You may have read it already and are yankin' my chain. 
Two magazines want to write this one up.  It was taken by the 11 year old in the photo with a bow.

[jackelope]

Two magazines want to write this one up

are they gonna leave the coyote part out?

[Palmer]

Two magazines want to write this one up

are they gonna leave the coyote part out?

They've sent them other photos.  Peterson's Bowhunting is also covering the young man's hunt.

[billythekidrock]

Great buck and story.

Though I would have been concerned about spoilage in Sept.

[boneaddict]

Congrats to the young hunter.  I hope he gets his story published.