621 Olympic Quality Deer Muzzy permit

[Shaqdiesel]

I drew this year and have been counting the days till it starts on November 1-14, I know the southern half of the unit pretty well, got my buck last year opening day of modern  in a wilderness area, spent quite a few weekends scouting this year and saw some nice bucks this summer, but after spending the day over there today I am feeling a little discouraged with my hunt fast approaching. I hunted one of my higher elevation spots last week and saw no deer, some of the other areas I hunt have been closed all summer from the maple fire on Jefferson ridge, and today, I figured with the rut approaching and rain, I should at least find does so I can come back next week with my permit and see if bucks are with them. Well i figured I would glass all day today from dark to dark a handful of clear cuts, from a couple years old to almost too overgrown, all behind DNR gates either off Hamma Hamma rec road or off the 24, jorstad creek. I didn’t see anything at all, I glassed, rattled, and tried fawn distress to bring in does. NADA. Next weekend I am going to spend 4 days out of my truck hunting the first week of my permit and I am looking for advice. I’ve never hunted the first two weeks of November so I don’t know what to expect, and after today my confidence is pretty low in finding deer in clear cuts. If anyone would be able to give me some advice it would be much appreciated, even if it’s where I should avoid hunting due to it being a waste of time. I’ll be camping out of my truck and will have my mountain bike so I can go pretty far behind gates or I’ll hike trails. Thanks, and I’ll keep this thread updated on my hunt.

[Shaqdiesel]

No advice? 

[Thehowler]

I use to hunt off the Jorstad creek rd many years ago. Use to be some 2-3 year old cuts that were fun to hunt. Use to see lots of deer up in there.  Haven’t hunted up that way since a culvert was trashed buring a storm off a major side road,  and a little bridge that connected many miles of forest was washed out. I can’t remember the road number.  DNR took 3-4 years to replace. Clowns. They weren’t going to log any further for a few years,  so no need to fix for public tax owned access.

[Shaqdiesel]

I’m not married to hunting that area, but I figured with the amount of clear cuts that would be a good area during the rut, I generally have spent most of my time hunting the higher areas in the national forest but I am thinking the deer density is higher where they have logged on the state land, but I’m also a little worried that the amount of target shooters, road hunters, brush pickers, tweakers etc down low might affect that. I’m mostly just trying to decide what general area would be worth most my time since I drive over there all the way from Bonney lake.

[MADMAX]

I’m not married to hunting that area, but I figured with the amount of clear cuts that would be a good area during the rut, I generally have spent most of my time hunting the higher areas in the national forest but I am thinking the deer density is higher where they have logged on the state land, but I’m also a little worried that the amount of target shooters, road hunters, brush pickers, tweakers etc down low might affect that. I’m mostly just trying to decide what general area would be worth most my time since I drive over there all the way from Bonney lake.

valid concerns

 

[bkaech]

I don't know that area at all, but the time I've spent in the blacktail woods the first week of Nov my advice would be not to just stick to clearcuts/openings. If you can find some spots with deer sign don't be afraid to go for a walk through the timber, I have often jumped does in the timber in Nov just to see a buck trailing behind a few minutes later unaware of me. Also walk around clearcuts to check for sign, I have found deer may love one cut, but not use one a quarter mile away that looks exactly the same. My focus would be on finding the sign and the deer should be moving enough this time of year that if you have a dry few hours you can find where they are.

[Shaqdiesel]

Thanks for the replies, the last one is actually the kind of advice I was going to ask after I spent the last 2 days hunting. Friday I hunted dark to dark, started off getting soaked by rain and sweat, and did not see a single deer. I glassed clear cuts and hunted some of the edges and also probably drove 20 miles of gravel between spots in the quilcene/sequim area. The areas I hunted I had never been but had been recommended to me.  Today (Saturday) I hunted near lake cushman and in the morning I peered out over the edge of a knob that sticks out over a couple year clear cut that’s bordered by tall timber on one side and dog hair reprod on the other, I heard a sound and directly below in a tangle of brush I saw 3 deer including a decent buck, long story short as the 2 does made their way to the reprod, they passed within 25 yards and I waited for the buck to come by last, well, apparently he wasn’t thinking completely with his little man because he went straight away behind the brush and then to the opposite side of the cut out of range.  so after what was a pretty good opportunity I proceeded to cover lots of ground and didn’t see anything else. So I’ll be heading out again and my question is what tactics should I try, should I pound the reprod, glass, hunt timber or try to spit and stalk? I really thought I would see more deer moving with this weather and the time of year.

[bkaech]

I’m not the most patient person, so I generally keep moving and checking different places. All the while I’m looking as much for deer sign as deer. If you find a spot with deer trails, deer tracks, deer beds, and deer scat then I will think about sitting tight and watching a trail in the timber or sit in a clear cut for several hours, but doing that doesn’t help much if you don’t have deer issuing it, i.e. you’ve seen deer or deer sign there.

[Shaqdiesel]

Hunting on Monday was a bust again, did not see any deer. Heading out again this weekend and going to start the morning checking some clearcuts and then going to try and cover ground I guess. Hoping that the weather this weekend might get something going.

[weatherbow21]

Wish I could help, thats a tough tag though

[Shaqdiesel]

Friday morning started out at the gate and hiked to the top of a clearcut, got set  up along a cut line of older reprod and a pretty new cut, tried rattling, grunting, no luck, decided to make my way thru the cut quietly to a new spot, which is impossible with the absolute mess of branches left behind in dnr timberlands. Look up, see a train of 4 deer moving away from me out of a small draw. Throw Binos up, last one is a small fork but at this point I’d take it, by this time they are 200 yards away so no shot. I back out and go up to the road and work my way back, I stop at another vantage point and spot a doe directly below me in her bed, she eventually leaves and no buck with her.  Later that afternoon I come back to the cut and sneak down a ridge to get a view of the bottoms of the cut, spot a couple does and watch for an hour, they move away and eventually move 400 yards or so, they are joined by probably the small fork from the morning, catch some movement and a big bodied buck comes slinking out of the woods, by this time I have maybe one hour of light and they are down in the bottom about 5-600 yards, so I decide to make a move, climb up to the road to go around and drop down, as I near the top where I’ll drop in, I look at my muzzle loader and at some point in the day the rear sight got broken off!    that’s unfortunately probably the end of the story for this tag. It was tough but at least I gave it a good try and did end up seeing deer, I’ll be back for late rifle and I have multiseason so I have a lot more time.  I definitely went into this with much higher expectations and that’s my fault. I did come out of this with some new spots to hunt and gained some knowledge and learned how tough Muzzleloader’s can be. Thanks for the advice.

[lewy]

Good effort Luke, that’s all a guy can do

[pd]

Good effort Luke, that’s all a guy can do

 

[fishnfur]

Sounds like you're doing all the right things and seeing some good deer in the last couple days.  I never feel too bad when I see bucks - it helps make up for the lack of a dead animal in the back of the rig.  Many times, you've got to have some good luck thrown into the mix to make it happen.

Good luck in Late Buck.  I think you're going to get a good one.  You've certainly earned it.