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Author Topic: First Olympic Blacktail  (Read 3608 times)

Offline Cummca17

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First Olympic Blacktail
« on: October 28, 2021, 08:58:18 PM »
I harvested a white tail deer for the first time 10 years ago on 11/3/11. I lived in my home state of NY and was hunting with a bow that my father had given me earlier that year. I had practiced daily and my hunt was successful in large part due to the years of knowledge my father had accumulated and was willing to share with me. I continued to hunt with a bow for years with varying degrees of success in NY, but was always capable of harvesting a legal buck.

In 2018 I moved to the Olympic Peninsula and purchased my first WA state hunting license with similar expectations. What has followed has been years of hard work, heart break, missed opportunities, all day sits in the rain, miles of hiking, cameras placed, repeated mistakes and often times complaints to my friends and family that I was going to give up trying to hunt black tail all together as it just wasn't coming together.

Despite these failures, on Saturday 10/23/21, I woke to my alarm. I dressed and got set up in my chosen tree well before 6 am. I had been seeing deer sign. I had small bucks on my cameras just after dark and I had been seeing does daily working their way along the ridge into different bedding areas surrounding me. After 3 hours in the tree a doe stepped out at 70 yards. I enjoyed watching her work her way through the sword fern and low lying brush for 20 minutes. As I watched her my heart began to beat out of my chest when I saw a chocolate colored rack come over the hill in pursuit of her. He kept his distance from me for 10 minutes or so, but eventually stepped into my shooting lane broadside at 44 yards. The shot was relaxed and the arrow was true.

I now see that all those mistakes, all those unfilled tags, and hours that at the time may have felt wasted lead me to this success. Without those days of coming up empty I would not have known where to place the stand, where the bedding areas were located or where to expect the deer to enter from. I wouldn't have known that 10/23/21 was a day I needed to be in the stand and I wouldn't have known that I needed to be in that tree an hour and a half before sunrise.  They were not failures they were learning experiences. I now know that my early success in NY was built on the shoulders of that same experience. It just wasn't mine. It was my dad's.

Thank you to everyone on this forum for your posts it has helped to keep me motivated these past 4 years. I hope this inspires someone else struggling in the woods in the same way that you have all inspired me!

Offline meatwhack

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2021, 09:00:41 PM »
Nice job that’s a dandy first blacktail.

Offline h20hunter

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2021, 09:03:21 PM »
Love those dark horns. Well done!

Offline FFCharlieP

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2021, 09:05:19 PM »
Nice work! I'm inspired by this, been a tough first year for me. Seeing these kinds of posts helps keep me motivated. Congrats!
God, family and country.

Offline Cummca17

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2021, 09:14:34 PM »
Thanks Guys!

Offline sagerat

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2021, 09:20:03 PM »
Congrats on a great buck! Blacktail like that don’t come easy

Offline h20hunter

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2021, 09:20:17 PM »
....

Offline wadu1

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2021, 09:22:16 PM »
WOW what a great first Blacktail. Your writeup was great, now you know why they are called the Gray Ghosts.  :tup:
"a fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi"

Offline nwalpineguide

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2021, 09:33:30 PM »
Outstanding accomplishment. Well done!

Offline elkoholic1

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2021, 11:09:44 PM »
 :tup:

Offline blackveltbowhunter

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #10 on: October 28, 2021, 11:12:41 PM »
Dandy!!

Offline Shoofly09

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #11 on: October 28, 2021, 11:40:54 PM »
A wells deserved "congratulations".     

Offline X-Force

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2021, 06:20:10 AM »
Nice work!
People get offended at nothing at all. So, speak your mind and be unapologetic.

Offline zwickeyman

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2021, 06:23:54 AM »
Really solid Buck. Congrats
The mountains are calling and I must go

Offline hawks33

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Re: First Olympic Blacktail
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2021, 06:58:08 AM »
Solid buck! Congrats

 


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