2022 Season hunts

[huntnnw]

Second night was looking very good and I thought of all nights if he moves early was tonight. We had smoke roll in and blocked the sun and temps dropped 10 deg. Had a great wind everything was shaping up until 6:00 pm when boo boo came back. Tonight I was ready with a sling shot and made a 21 yard body shot.. he bolted like being hit with an arrow to only stop 40 yards away …grr.. 45 min goes by and all is well till I hear a limb break .. here he comes and 4 more marbles outta the wrist rocket  now I’m irritated and buck isn’t going to show with this dang thing around. Like clock work 7:46 pm a doe steps out from under me surprising me as I never had a clue she was there . Well this is a good sign! About 8 min later I see velvet and heart starts pounding it’s a decent 4x5 followed by a weird 3 pt. It’s now end of legal light and I’m waiting for the deer to leave and another buck shows just after dark. I woulda shot him 10 min prior hes a 7x5 Oh well! Going to try and slip in at 3:30am tomorrow. Pics is of the last buck to show tonight.

[Rainier10]

Sounds like a great hunt so far.

[huntnnw]

Day 3 started at 3 am making my way to Treestand . Got all settled at 4 am and at 5:00 am the buck I’m after shows up and hangs out until 5:22 then wanders off to bed. I climbed out and returned at 5 pm after a big thunder storm moved over and dumped a bunch of rain. It was 20 deg cooler today and I had high hopes that deer would move early. Not much longer after climbing into stand a doe appeared and fed for 40 min.. good sign! Well that was it until 7:40 when a decent 4x5 showed and a doe as I counted the minutes and was watching the 4x5 thru Binos he went on alert and I could see antlers coming it was the buck I’m after , but unfortunately he never presented a shot in the 2 min of light I had. Back at tomorrow morning .

[borntoslay]

Day 3 started at 3 am making my way to Treestand . Got all settled at 4 am and at 5:00 am the buck I’m after shows up and hangs out until 5:22 then wanders off to bed. I climbed out and returned at 5 pm after a big thunder storm moved over and dumped a bunch of rain. It was 20 deg cooler today and I had high hopes that deer would move early. Not much longer after climbing into stand a doe appeared and fed for 40 min.. good sign! Well that was it until 7:40 when a decent 4x5 showed and a doe as I counted the minutes and was watching the 4x5 thru Binos he went on alert and I could see antlers coming it was the buck I’m after , but unfortunately he never presented a shot in the 2 min of light I had. Back at tomorrow morning .

You been getting after it?

[huntnnw]

I sat last night and it was a very boring sit as I saw nothing. Buck I am after showed in daylight this am and tonight and of course I was not in the stand :'(  Ill be in the stand tomorrow evening, friday morning and friday night will be pretty much it for Sept deer in WA. Ill be off to chase elk saturday in MT for 2 weeks

[huntnnw]

He’s also still in velvet and might be the latest I’ve watched a very mature buck in velvet this long. Usually 5+ yr old bucks are outta velvet by sept 1 or very shortly after.

[borntoslay]

I sat last night and it was a very boring sit as I saw nothing. Buck I am after showed in daylight this am and tonight and of course I was not in the stand :'(  Ill be in the stand tomorrow evening, friday morning and friday night will be pretty much it for Sept deer in WA. Ill be off to chase elk saturday in MT for 2 weeks
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Good luck and safe travels

[huntnnw]

Well I am back after 13 days in Montana chasing around elk. Unfortunately I did not let a arrow fly, but had some close calls and coulda shot some cow elk tho. Ill just give a recap of the hunt and share some pics. I left home solo Sept 12th and made my 6 hour trip to a area I have never hunted, but had been given some info and scouted it years ago. Excited to hunt some different terrain than the jungle of N ID or NE WA I got to my camp area on a dead end road and to my surprise there was not a single camp, either this was bad or good Got camp up and had a couple hours till dark, so I took the sxs up a steep rutted out road to the top where you can miles of country and I ran into the first hunter doing the same thing. I glassed till dark and to my surprise turned up 0 elk oh well its the first day. Next day found me on top at light and nobody around , so I glassed for about 30 min and nothing. I decided to hike 3 miles in to some drainages you could not see from roads and the same thing nothing! Next couple of days of this and yet to hear a bugle! I begin to look at plan B area was about a 45 min drive through BMA to the national forest. I set out in a area I didn't see any rigs in the night before packed stuff for the whole day. First 30 min I have a large brown object moving in aspens and I first think grizzly bear its a bull moose. 10 min later I hear barking and now I have 3 wolves 500 yards away howling. I continue on what looks like amazing elk country, but once again nothing and no bugles! I climbed 2,000 ft in elevation to a high ridge at mid day to eat lunch and glass. While I was boiling water I look down below me and across canyon and see 3 elk in a opening in the timber! One is a bull looked to be small 6 or a 5pt I didn't care it was time to formulate a plan. I dropped a pin and began the 3 mile hike to them. I came over the ridge and came down 2 ridges south of their last location as they were in bottom and feeding up the canyon. Well unknown to me the elk moved down the canyon 3 ridges and now my wind was blowing right at them.. poof they were gone! Next day had me above camp again glassing and I spotted a 4pt bull at a water tank all alone, so I make my move and I am going to move into position in the timber where he went and give him cow calls nothing..move and do it again and nothing hmm must of winded me or kept moving. That night my wife joined me on the hunt and in the am we were back up top and once again there is the 4pt bull in same spot this time we went low and got to 180 yards of him and cow called and once again nothing! We move back up top and there he is still bedded! The next am back up top and I spot a very nice 6pt bull 1.5 miles away feeding all alone in a small opening. Once again drop a pin and make the hike to where he went into a dark timber patch and I figure he bedded. We set up and call in 2 locations and nothing. Frustration is setting in now as I have yet to hear a elk in 5 days. Next am the wife and I hike into a new drainage and the same as the days before quiet and nothing glassed. We decided it was time to pick up camp, so it was also time to get a room for a night and wash clothes and shower then try and decide where we should move to. A friend of mine had asked how it was going and I said rough, he sends me a buddy of his phone number and says to call him he grew up in MT and hes  got some areas for you to look at. I'm glad I called this guy as he gave me 3 areas that he knew of to look at. Wife and I went to dinner and looked at maps of these areas he told us about and we picked 1 and said lets head here.

[huntnnw]

Some pics of the first part of hunt

[huntnnw]

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[huntnnw]

Where I spotted the elk across from me.

[huntnnw]

3 spikes standing where I park they let me get to about 50 yards if them. 

[huntnnw]

The 4pt bull 2 mornings in a row

[huntnnw]

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[huntnnw]

Wife sleeping waiting on wind to switch . Red circle is where 6 pt bull went into .