Hunter Ed Incentive 245&247

[Rainier10]

So I am a hunter education instructor and absolutely love it.  It is a great way to give back.  I also love to talk and it gives me a captive audience for 4 hours a night. 

One of the perks of being an instructor other than the free shirt and hat is special permits.  I signed up because I love to hear myself talk and then found out about the permits.  If you teach at least one class a year you are eligible to put in for some permits, multiseason elk, multiseason deer and a general pool for different elk and deer tags.  If you teach two online certification classes you get to put your name in another drawing.

I was lucky enough to draw a hunter ed multiseason elk tag in the past and this year a multiseason deer tag.

I also had my name in the pool for teaching the online certification class.  I was drawn for that tag third on the list.  There are six tags, any deer 100 series GMU's except 157, any deer GMU 245&247, any deer 335-368, any bull 336-368, any elk 382, 388, and all 500 series GMUs except GMU 522 or any deer 600 series GMU's.

The tag you get is an extra tag meaning you can take one additional deer or elk to your general license.  You can hunt any season, general or permit that the GMU is open with the method permitted during that season.

The first winner took the Klickitat and 500 series elk tag, the second winner took the Yakima bull tag and I took the 245&247 mule deer tag.  I thought about taking the whitetail tag as I never get to hunt those.  I hunt mule deer every year at Swakane with my family.  Mule deer just seemed like the right choice.

I am crazy excited for this hunt.  I hunted in 245 once my very first year hunting.  I shot a 130" 4x4 during the general rifle deer season.  I hunted GMU 247 once with a bow back in 2000 or 2001 when it was still an OTC hunt in late November and got my biggest buck to date, 160".

With this permit I can hunt the rifle permit season in both units, 11/1-11/20, I can then hunt the archery permit season in 247 11/21-11/30 and if I still have a tag I can hunt 12/1-12/8 archery permit season in 245.

My plan is to hunt the last week of the rifle permit season with my bow.  If I can't get close enough and I really want a particular deer I will have a rifle nearby.  Then I will switch to the bow season and hunt entiat and if I am still not done I can hit Chiwawa for the late late bow season.

I plan to hunt with family and friends and more than anything just want to look at a ton of deer.  I would love to shoot something bigger than 160" to beat my personal best but this isn't going to be so much about inches of antler as just having a blast looking at a ton of nice deer.

I will try to share as much of this hunt as I can and if anyone wants to chime in on this thread until then about their experience in these units in the past feel free.  If you have any questions about the hunter education program and permits also feel free to ask.

This thread is open to just about anything except the Corona Virus!  I don't even want to think about it when I look at this thread.  There are plenty of threads to discuss that if you want to.

[huntnphool]

 Congrats

[cougforester]

Awesome! That's a great draw. Lookin forward to tagging along.

[Karl Blanchard]

So excited for you! Well deserved and I wish you the best of luck! Officially tagging along

[Rainier10]

I haven't been in Entiat in 20 years.  Is it safe to assume the roads are not any better?  I know hunting swakane for the past 20 years the roads have gotten way worse and I assume that is because they are spending tons of money on the roads in Entiat.

To save on gas I was going to take my kids toyota and get some cable chains for the front.  That should be good right? 

[mburrows]

Youll have a blast, I had a quality archery tag a couple years ago there and it was worth the (short 7 year) wait.

best of luck!

[Rainier10]

Getting closer and I can't help but believe this early snow is going to make for an epic hunt.

First trip over is going to November 7th, might stay the night and hunt again on the 8th if it is looking good.

Making another day trip on the 11th.  Then I plan to be there the 14th to the 20th.

Hoping the snow keeps coming.

My plan is to hunt with my bow.  My buddy will be carrying my rifle just in case.  Another buddy will hold the bullets and shooting sticks.  All three of us have to agree that it is a good buck.

Like I said in my first post 160" is my goal.  That being said, non typical stickers and kickers trump inches and net score.

I am really looking forward to seeing a bunch of deer and spending time with my friends and family in the woods.

[pianoman9701]

Best of luck, Rainier. 

[jstone]

Have a fantastic time
Hope you get a BIG snow

[Rainier10]

Brand new toyo mud terrains are going on this week in preparation for that BIG snow I am hoping for.

[pianoman9701]

Brand new toyo mud terrains are going on this week in preparation for that BIG snow I am hoping for.

Are those the Open Country M/Ts? Nice tire, especially if you got the buy 3, 1 free deal.

[Rainier10]

Brand new toyo mud terrains are going on this week in preparation for that BIG snow I am hoping for.

Are those the Open Country M/Ts? Nice tire, especially if you got the buy 3, 1 free deal.

Yes open country, no buy one get one free but they are a great tire.

[Rainier10]

So the closer I get to this thing the more I am second guessing my thought to try with a bow first.  This is a second deer tag so I can still use my archery tag in the late archery season at my regular spot.

I am starting to lean towards just getting within 200 yards and shooting with the rifle.  There is so much that can go wrong with a bow, I would hate to screw this hunt up.

[jackelope]

So the closer I get to this thing the more I am second guessing my thought to try with a bow first.  This is a second deer tag so I can still use my archery tag in the late archery season at my regular spot.

I am starting to lean towards just getting within 200 yards and shooting with the rifle.  There is so much that can go wrong with a bow, I would hate to screw this hunt up.

I get the anxiety butterflies in situations like this.
It's totally why I didn't bring my muzzleloader on my mountain goat hunt, then I killed a goat at 99 yards.

[Karl Blanchard]

I say it a lot but if you want to hunt a big deer grab your bow but if you want to kill big deer then pick up a gun. Even a muzzleloader is a completely superior weapon to a bow. Archery not only severely shortens your effective range but eliminates a lot of angles and also eliminates shooting a moving animal.

I totally get the enjoyment of archery hunting (I do lots of it) but there is lots of opportunities to bow hunt and not very many opportunities at special hunt opportunities like this.  Not to mention the vast majority of guys lower their standards if they are bow hunting.  Id say take your gun, sift through as many deer as it takes to find the one you actually want and not the one thats good enough just because he's in a good spot for a stalk