Another Methow Slammer (VEK)

[boneaddict]

Here is Veks buck.  He'll get on here with the story soon.  Looks warm and toasty. 

I'm glad the hunt worked out Vek. I thought about you the whole time you were up there and wondered if you were getting slammed.   He looks like a dandy.  He may be 3.5, but still a nice buck.  Did you cape, or just hump out the meat?

[bucklucky]

I like the color of the horns, nice buck!

[boneaddict]

Here are two more pics.




For what it is worth, Vek is one of the most hardcore hunters I know, and I really enjoy our e-mails and our strategy sessions etc.  Thanks for trusting me and thanks for your help as well.  Next year Carl WILL die!

[Ridgerunner]

Vek does it again, way to go man!  Another nice buck, looks like he was taken under some pretty tough conditions, lets hear some details of the story.

[jackelope]

yep...that guy gets it done.
congrats vek.

[Vek]

'Twas chilly-willy that day (Friday).  It rained during the night, melting the snow on the trees at my 5000' camp.  But, I woke to wet snow, and hiked back a ways toward the trailhead, then up through driving rain to 5500' to a open gorge/cut whose bottom is choked with alder.  I'd had luck here before in weather, and right away I saw deer file onto the opposite side of the cut, about 300 yards out.  I was caught in the open, but it was cloudy/windy/snowy enough that I didn't get busted.  The hike up soaked me, but I ducked behind a rock and put on all of my clothes, moved slowly over to a good rest-rock, and huddled against it for warmth.  I saw two deer sparring, so knew there to be at least two bucks.  Binocs and spotter were worthless, as the blowing wet snow fogged everything.  If there had been a real monster on the hill, I probably could have seen it, but as it was I had to wait.  The deer moved into a patch of trees. 

Presently the 15-20 deer broke into groups of 2-4, and over the next half hour, began filing towards me, crossing the alder bottom at the only good crossing for 500' up and down the cut (this is a GOOD funnel to catch moving deer).  Their path brought them up from the cut on a path about 30 yards below me.  I obviously chose the right rock.  About 15 deer moved through, including 3 small forkys.  I didn't think it was them sparring, and soon enough a bigger buck popped into view across the way, close enough that I could see decent spread through the watery fogged binocs, in spite of my now-uncontrolled shivering.  He proceeded to follow the others on the same path 30 yards below me, and I made a quick evaluation and capped him there, shivering all the while.  I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth on a day like that, but you can't help but wonder if the other buck was bigger or cooler. 

I boned him out, which warmed me up some, and one-tripped his sorry butt down to the trail.  No cape, but he had good coloration and a big neck.  We'll start doing that head-mount gig when I'm independently wealthy...In the time it took to bone him out and lop off his skull cap, three more inches of snow fell.  Tons of fun coming down that steep finger in 6" of snow with 120 pounds on my back...

At the trail (elev. 4400' or so), I unloaded the meat and booked it the 1.5 miles back up the trail to my camp, sacked it, and came back down to the deer.  I then loaded EVERYTHING up and made it 4.5 miles to the truck in an hour and fifteen minutes.  My first time one-tripping a deer all the way to the truck (I've done the full-load suicide plunge from the kill to the trail before, but never all the way out).  No permanent damage that I can tell, but it was very heavy and not much fun.  But, I did sleep in a bed that night, and I wouldn't have if I would have taken two trips...

That's my last hurrah down there for a few years.  I've just moved to Anchorage, and this was my last year down there for a while as a resident (I lined the hunt up with a business trip).  Next season I get to hunt sheep and goats up here though, and for now it's still over-the-counter for both.  I don't think the sheep bodies are quite as big, but the distances involved are longer.  Hopefully I'm ready...

[Bearhunter]

VEK, great buck and awesome story.  Tough hunts like that sure do make for awesome storys, I hope to get into some of that high country next archery season.  It sure is going to be a long painful wait.  I imagine you didnt see any other hunters up there did you?

[GoldTip]

Congrats on a great buck and a terrific hunt.  You worked for that one for sure it sounds like.

[saylean]

Nice buck...it was miserable that day, I was over there too...good work, thanks for the write up.

[Vek]

This particular year, I was the only one camping in this valley.  There were a few day-hunters, but they stay on the trail for the most part.  The ones I saw weren't equipped to carry anything heavy (physically and equipment-wise).  That's kind of like driving to the movie theatre or ballgame, but not actually entering the theater or stadium.  If you have 3000-4000' of hillside above you, you won't see but the bottom 500' of it from the trail, if that.  

My somewhat-limited experience (four years of backpack deer hunts in 3 different places in WA, one backpack elk hunt in ID, one backpack elk hunt in WA, one backpack/canoe moose hunt in AK) tells me that if it is hard, you will be alone.  This wasn't TOO hard (my high hunt spots are WAY worse), but yet I was all alone.  There are three more solid deer hunts in the North Cascades alone that I want to try someday, plus others north of the Colville rez and the selkirks that I hope to try someday.  Lots of opportunity in this state.  And, if you take the moderate pack-in approach elsewhere in the western states, you'll be busy until you can no longer walk.  I cannot imagine what a guy could do hunting deer and elk like this in CO, WY, MT, parts of ID, UT, parts of OR, NV, etc.  Limitless.  All you need is a good backpack, good boots, a good light sleeping bag and pad, a lightweight tarp, and the world is your oyster.  

It stops hurting 3 days after you get back, and all you want to do is go again...

[Slider]

Sounds like you earned him!!! Congrats!!!

[jackelope]

It stops hurting 3 days after you get back, and all you want to do is go again...

i might get that tattoo'ed on my forearm and use it for motivation to get my ass out there. thanks, vek. 3 days of hurt ain't too bad.

[sasquatch]

Great buck, pics, story!

[Wea300mag]

Very nice, I love hunting the Methow.

[Hunting Cowboy]

Congratulations. Well done! Thanks for the pictures and the story!