Can someone tell me where this "Desert" unit 290 is?

[Karl Blanchard]

Karl, what a great hunt and buck. Don't shorten the story, we need all the details. Now, honestly, which is better eating: an old, gray 195" buck or that gorgeous bull elk?

Definitely the 195" buck. Especially since he has been sitting on my dining room table as our center piece since September (that's not a joke, he's our center piece )

[crabcreekhunter]

Karl.  We are no longer friends, just cause I’m jealous of your success in multiple states so far this year. Lol

[Shawn Ryan]

Karl, what a great hunt and buck. Don't shorten the story, we need all the details. Now, honestly, which is better eating: an old, gray 195" buck or that gorgeous bull elk?

Definitely the 195" buck. Especially since he has been sitting on my dining room table as our center piece since September (that's not a joke, he's our center piece )

Pics, please, oh please. Your wife must be the absolute best--and we thought we were jealous over that buck!

[Caseyd]

This story is all I asked for for Christmas 🎅🏼

[Karl Blanchard]

This story is all I asked for for Christmas 🎅🏼

@Caseyd  I'll start tonight. Story is done, just need to take a bunch of screen shots of video and pics so I can post them.  Kind of crazy how many of the bucks that I found this year were killed.  Like all of them!

[Klickitatsteelie]

Definitely a R.I.P year for the desert bucks lol.

[Karl Blanchard]

My entire adult life has been dedicated to trying to kill big mule deer. I've never drawn a premium tag. All my bigger bucks have come from over the counter units or 0-3pt units.  For the last decade I've treated WA deer hunting as purely just another piece to my application portfolio. Just shy of 3 decades later I finally got to cash in. 

Desert archery was far from my first choice but I stopped putting in for the later stuff because the season dates always interfered with states like CO.  I also wanted the early season dates so I could scout hard and tie up a buck and kill him early when he was still in his summer patterns. Hunting bucks on MY terms is always preferred over hoping for snow or rut and playing the luck game. It couldn't have been more different than how I planned it in my head.

After draw results came out I started this thread and was immediately humbled by all the folks that reached out to offer unit information and words of encouragement. I've always been on the opposite side of these interactions and I felt so blessed by all of you who were so willing to share what you knew about the ol 290.

Scouting began immediately after draws came out. The summer was just a grind. It was a summer of endless heat.  I'd glass mornings and evenings then log the miles in the sand checking and moving cameras.  First few nights I just crashed at the public access points I was closest to but after a few encounters with the local Moses Lake riffraff I had had my fill of sleeping with a glock across my chest. So I started just sleeping in the back seat of my truck in the Love's parking lot. Sleeping bag not required as it was typically 70°+ every night but it was the only place to escape the mosquitos. I had multiple offers from huntwa members to crash their houses but I didnt want to burden anyone with my very early mornings and very late evenings. So Love's it was. (Thank you Blindluck, fish4fun, Bob, and Dan for the offers).

I looked over all things public land this summer. Many areas I wrote off pretty quickly simply due to the fact they just weren't areas laid out for early season spot and stalk archery hunting. I saw A LOT of bucks this summer. There are a lot of unique deer in this area. Seemed like 50% of bucks had some sort of unique or abnormal points. Even the young deer seemed to have some sort of trash. Quite a few mature bucks but like everywhere, mature doesn't always equate to big.  Big bucks were few and far between. There's just SO MANY places for them to hide out there. 

Week after week I'd brave the heat and the absolutely unrelenting swarms of mosquitos. I cannot reiterate how bad the mosquitos were. The second you crack the truck door you are completely engulfed in them. Spray was the only thing that would keep them at bay, and lots of it!

[Karl Blanchard]

Camp and endless sand.

[Karl Blanchard]

Tracks that make you think hmmm....

[Karl Blanchard]

Bucks bucks bucks

[Karl Blanchard]

Bucks

[Karl Blanchard]

Bucks

[Karl Blanchard]

Bucks

[Karl Blanchard]

Aaaand more bucks

[Karl Blanchard]

....