| Big Game Hunting > Deer Hunting |
| Good Memory Bucks |
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| bigmacc:
--- Quote from: baldopepper on January 08, 2022, 09:00:06 PM ---Your stories sure bring back memories. My early years were in Utah, while a different location stories are similar. 50's and 60's permits were all otc and was common to see camps of 40-50 people. Most camps were 3 generations of families and assorted close friends. The deer camp was the annual family reunion, men bragged about having enough senority with the company to get vacation during the week of the deer hunt..Schools closed the Friday before opening day because attendance was so low with all the kids leaving with their families to go deer hunting. All the big sporting goods stores had a biggest deer contest with the main one (Wolfes sporting goods) actually announcing and showing the winner on television after the hunt ended. First prize was a new jeep. The deer hunt went beyond just a hunt, it was a time when families and friends got together and renewed old memories and friendships. Every kid hoped one day he'd be able to brag about the big buck he shot or at least tell the story of the big one somebody else in the camp got. Obviously you were one of those kids Big Mac, as I was. Like you, I really miss those days, but your stories help keep the memories alive. --- End quote --- Thanks baldopepper :tup:. You speak the truth, I remember even here in this state some of those same examples. I remember taking a note to my teacher letting her know I would be absent for 10-12 days and if she could put together assignments for me to do while in camp, it was signed by my mom. Couldn't even imagine that now days, I remember the teachers writing the assignments on a return piece of paper along with a request of some venison :chuckle:. This was in western Washington, like I said probably pretty rare to do that now days on the west side. I remember dad and I going up to Bellingham and help the grandparents get everything packed, a lot of stuff was in crates and buried at camp so they wouldn't have to haul it back and forth, man we have found some treasures over the last 10-20 years of stuff that was forgot about. I to remember we would stop by Yeagars Sporting goods up in Bellingham, we would buy our ammo etc and get our names on "the biggest buck" board, yes sir, I too really miss those days. I remember after the season there would be a big get together at the Masonic temple up there, it would usually happen a month or so after the season, I remember crowds of a couple hundred at least, all from different families and clans, some were from our bunch who hunted the Methow, some were families that hunted the Chelan area and so on, they all brought food and different venison recipes, a big ole deer meat pot luck :tup: I remember seeing all the pictures, the slide shows guys would put on, the stories and the dozens of racks folks would bring in to show off, it was incredible!! Man the racks people brought to those pow wows were something else, I remember prizes being handed out for biggest and so on. Did I say I miss those days? Yes I do :tup: Ive said it before, I feel very fortunate to have grown up in those days and to have a family with such a hunting history AND to have hunted in an area and in a time where our deer herds were taken care of, they are what sold licenses and tags, the healthier the herds, the more that were sold. The "Game Department" (yep we actually had a Game Department back then) put those herds and their health as priority number 1. As I've said many times, the Methow herd at one time was the largest migrating herd in the country, numbering between 35-40,000 head, those days are long gone and we will never see them again, its only a shadow of that now days, if even a shadow. |
| bigmacc:
Called an old friend today just to check in on him, the conversation eventually moved to the past hunting season then onto seasons from long ago, after about an hour long conversation many old memories were conjured up. I told the story of the time we had 3 big bucks loaded in the back of the truck before we even had our tent set up, one of them was killed about 100 yards to the left of the 200 yard targets at the rifle range, while probably 20 or so people were blazing away :chuckle:. Well this was another buck killed the following year by the fella that killed the "rifle range buck". We went into an area that was not known for seeing a lot of deer but if you did see some, chances are they would be big. My great grandma and my dad when he was 11 or 12 killed an absolute monster in this turf back in the late 30,s, grandma told the story of them walking up on the 9 by 7 and looking down at it, she said dad looked at her and said "grandma, were gonna need some help" :chuckle: :chuckle:. Anyway, three of us we went into this spot, about 3 inches or so of fresh snow on the ground and snowing but no sign of any deer or any life for that matter. We were about 5 miles in when we decided to spread out along some rock bluffs, looking down into a maze of benches, fingers and draws, just beautiful, in fact to perfect I guess. We were spread out about 100-150 yards apart, the fella to my right was just about 150 yards away and a bit above me watching an escape route that came by on his right. A few hours went by when after not seeing a thing I looked up at my buddy that was to my right, I put my glasses on him and seen movement in the rocks about 40 feet or so above him. It was a long tail moving side to side, then I seen the head in between a couple rocks, it was a cougar, looking at my buddy. I gave out a yell to "look behind ya" as I'm waving my arms, my pard spun around as the cat took about a 20 foot jump going to his right, by buddy brought his rifle up but never got a shot off. My other pardner who was to my left walked over to me and I told him what was going on, we walked over to our buddy who when we got to him was white as a ghost, pretty shaken up. We sat there and he said "I felt like someone was watching me" he said he kept looking back behind him but couldn't see anything, he was a little freaked out to say the least, who knows how long that thing had been sizing him up and watching him. We got our wits together and took off out of there going out the back way. We came to a big boulder field that was part of an old rockslide, it was probably about 300 yards across and went down the hill a few hundred yards more, the rocks are the size of small cars but easy to navigate through. Once we got through the slide we headed for a saddle that would pop us out on the backside of the ridge, when we got close we started smelling what I can only describe as cat piss, real strong ammonia type smell. It got all of our attentions. I remember all of us had the hair standing tall on the back of our necks, heads on swivels we headed for the saddle. There was a cave to our left heading for the saddle, we had to look :chuckle: I remember my buddy unholstering his 357, we walked towards the cave, the smell getting stronger. We were all standing about 10-15 feet from the opening which was about 5 feet or so high by about 8 feet or so wide, it was a big, dark hole. We through a couple rocks into the opening, nothing, then my other buddy pulled out his flashlight and walked a little closer, shining the light in we seen a lot of bones and a set of antlers that was pretty phenomenal a 4 by 5 that was about 28 inches wide and had been gnawed on, looked like it may have been in there for at least a year. We seen carcasses in all different stages of decay, I couldn't even say how many, at least 4 or 5 skulls. We ventured out and up towards the saddle when we found another cache about 50 yards or so from the cave, another nice buck with bleached out antlers. Another dandy but one side was really chewed up. We were starting to get even more freaked out as we were trying to get out of there, our minds were messing with us now and we were looking for cougars instead of deer :chuckle: We made it through the saddle and we all sat on a big deadfall, we sat there for about 20 minutes or so talking about that morning and what we had experienced. My buddy that had the cougar watching him whispered "don't move", he was looking downhill from where we had just come from, there was the cougar about 200 yards to the left of the trail we had just come up but he wasn't looking at us, he was looking opposite of where we were, laying in an opening, tail moving side to side like a house cat ready to pounce on a mouse. Well, we looked down hill in the direction he was looking and my buddy spotted a buck about another 100 yards down hill, a big 3 by 4 with heavy dark antlers. My buddy got set up, the deer and the cat were in a stare down, neither were paying any attention to us. My buddy shot right over the top of that cat and dropped the buck, that cat exploded out of that clearing like it had been shot out of a cannon, it happened so fast he couldn't get a shot at the cat. Back then it was a rarity to see cougars, in fact it was pretty cool if you did see one. I remember our whole family seeing a handful of them the whole time they had been hunting back in the early 1900,s, there were bountys on them etc so they were kept in check and if you did run into one, well, you had a story to tell that would gather a crowd around the fire :chuckle: It was a dandy buck for sure and we killed it right out from under that cat, I guess we corked him during his hunt, not very good hunter ethics I guess, shame on us :chuckle: |
| MADMAX:
Great stories bud Thoroughly enjoy the good old days |
| bigmacc:
--- Quote from: MADMAX on February 04, 2022, 05:40:47 PM ---Great stories bud Thoroughly enjoy the good old days --- End quote --- Thank you MADMAX, I have another of this fella I will tell one day. One that happened with my friend from Arizona, the two of them never seen eye to eye AND they didn't like each other :chuckle:, perfect combination :chuckle: |
| HntnFsh:
Can't wait. Don't leave us hanging too long! |
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