Hypothetical new hunter scenario

[10thmountainarcher]

If you were stuck having to take your 12 year old son out for his first deer on the Wetside (is it really anymore?) what area would you look into. I’m a northeast guy stuck in Buckley due to my career. I personally hunt the north east corner (muzzleloader this year so I can focus solely on him during modern), so I’ve never hunted black tails and quite frankly don’t know where to start. I’ve shared quite a bit of knowledge on this forum, through PMs of course, on the north east corner with folks over the years. I never anticipated being the one to ask “where” though. I feel like a fish out of water, and if it wasn’t for momma bear thinking school is soooo important, I’d be heading east with him as well. If anyone wants to drop a bit of knowledge and is looking for some on my stomping grounds I’d be happy to trade it with ya. By the way, this feels worse then having to ask someone for directions.

[fishnfur]

No need to feel bad.  This forum was set up for hunters to share info and stories, etc. 

I wish I had a great answer for you.  Pierce Co. has very little in the way of hunting options (that I know of).  Given the short time before the season opens, I'd recommend going down to Capitol Forest, just SW of Olympia.  Should be less than an hour drive unless traffic around JBLM snarls.  By far, I believe it has the best population of deer close to your location.  The bad side is that it gets absolutely crazy with lines of trucks trolling the roads on weekends.  Finding a clearcut with big timber above or to the sides of it and then getting out and walking away from the roads to hunt the timber or edges of the cut will leave you with the place to yourselves. 

Beyond that, you can cross the bridge and hit the DNR lands out in the Tajuya area.  Here's a link to a crappy mapping tool that WDFW came up with to replace the original GoHunt mapping tool that worked incredibly well.  I cannot figure out how this system works - pretty much what you would expect from WDFW.  Perhaps you'll have better luck.     https://geodataservices.wdfw.wa.gov/huntregs/

If you want more info on the Capitol Forest, just use this forum's search function and type in the magic words. Lots of info.

Good luck!

[Stein]

My son is 12 as well.  With him, it's more about the experience and I would be looking into making the whole experience the goal and minimizing the actual finding a deer part when looking at a new area or the odds are not in my favor.  He loves freeze dried meals, backpacking stoves, making fires, getting donuts at gas stations, etc.  Maybe your son is all about the hunting part, I don't know.

Regarding hunting, on this side my experience is limited to hiking with a rifle so I can't help you there.

[lokidog]

My son is 12 as well.  With him, it's more about the experience and I would be looking into making the whole experience the goal and minimizing the actual finding a deer part when looking at a new area or the odds are not in my favor.  He loves freeze dried meals, backpacking stoves, making fires, getting donuts at gas stations, etc.  Maybe your son is all about the hunting part, I don't know.

Regarding hunting, on this side my experience is limited to hiking with a rifle so I can't help you there.

"Hiking with a rifle" is more fun than hiking without one.

I'd offer to help, but pretty much have to sit this general season out as I pack up my place here on the island. Good luck.

[UpperleftPNW]

I second Capitol forest. I hunted my first few days there last year for early archery we saw lots of deer and a bear but as others mentioned it's no secret so you will have company, especially during modern season.

You might get lucky using the hunting pressure to your advantage. I recommend looking on the map and finding an area as far away from the roads and bush wack to get where no one else is hunting. The place is bigger then it looks. Lots to explore.

If you can try to go on a weekday to beat the crowds.

[screedler]

Elbe hills or Tahoma state forests might be more convenient than capitol forest if you're driving from Buckley. The hippy pack forest also allows hunting Friday-sunday so you could try that out too. It might be even closer to ya. http://www.packforest.org/community.html


Also, Pope resources land may be open to hunting as well and I think there's a few sprinklings of that not far from Buckley... Get on ONXMaps and nerd out!

[10thmountainarcher]

Thanks for the information all. I will continue to scour OnX and try to locate some land around us. I'm not opposed to driving, or hiking behind gates. My main focus is to not be a part of the zoo and have to deal with idiots in the woods. As a teenager we were hunting the southeast corner of the state for mule deer and had some idiot shooting over our heads. This memory has stuck vividly with me, even more so then combat in Afghanistan, so I would like to avoid this at all costs for my boy haha. Again, thank you all who have responded on here and reached out VIA PMs.

[fishnfur]

I'm sure you've seen these but just in case....  There's a couple of large DNR lands East and North of you.  You still have time to do a bit of scouting if you hunt close to home.  Finding spots off the main roads will improve your odds and help your sanity.  Glassing cuts with X-mas tree size reprod sounds like it may be the best fit for hunting with a twelve year old.  That, or hiding in the timber on the edges of cuts and doing rattling sessions with periodic movement to new spots.   It's a lot easier to let a boy make noise by occasional ratting than it is keeping him still/quiet in other scenarios.

Good luck!