My Entiat Late tag thread

[waoutdoorsman]

Well yesterday was the opener, I have been putting in for 22 years and this tag has not disappointed and it was only the first day. Weather was raining, foggy and Smokey, I started the day up high at the receding snow line. Saw 4 bucks early in the morning , first one was a spike, the second one was outside the ears, he was walking away from me and barely visible in the fog, he was only 60 yards away but he gave me the slip. Then I had a goofy barely 3pt jump across the road in front of me his rack was barely above the ears. Then an absolute toad for a 2 pt stepped out w the most ridiculously jacked neck I’ve seen on a deer in person, he had a doe w him and a face that looked like attitude. Later further east in the unit saw a nice 3pt thrashing some brush on the side of the road and I’m not going to lie I was tempted but ultimately let him go. Then in the last hour of day light I had a tall deep forked 3 pt walk in front of me at 40 yards w his harem of does. I must’ve flipped my safety off and on half a dozen times. My dad was w me and reminded this was only the first day and I’ve taken a bigger buck in the general season. Fast forward 20 minutes or so and a basket buck 4pt w some broken tines from fighting and a huge 3 pt w shallow forks and short tines stepped out and I thought they were going to fight the way the snot was dripping but they never did. I’ve never passed on a legal mule deer before, today I passed on 10. What a great start to the season. Looking forward to next Saturday when I can get out.

[Crunchy]

Ha, I am sitting on 22 points and can't draw it.  So leave a good one for next year in case I draw.

[waoutdoorsman]

Oh the way I was sweating on the big 3 should be no problem 🤣, I’m a sucker for giant 3 pts

[Kingofthemountain83]

Nice! Good luck!

[no.cen.wa]

 Hey Crunchy, we got you beat, all 3 in our group have 28 points! But we'll hope for the best next year all of us.

[swampjunke]

Awesome! Good luck.
My son drew this year,  I'm still trying. We're headed over Friday to find a place to park the trailer.
We plan on being there to the end of season.

[Mfowl]

Good luck out there! Enjoy your hunt! Sounds like a good start!

[waoutdoorsman]

Awesome! Good luck.
My son drew this year,  I'm still trying. We're headed over Friday to find a place to park the trailer.
We plan on being there to the end of season.

That’s awesome! Maybe I’ll see ya around I’ll be over that weekend as well and I took the last week of the season off. I was more snooping around checking the rut activity, it’s early but saw a 3pt show a bush who was boss and did see a 2pt w a humongous neck, next weekend should be exciting! Was a little bummed that the snow line was receding but play the hand we’re dealt

[Gentrys]

Enjoy every minute of it! I could have shot a good buck on day 2, but didn't want the hunt to be over last year after waiting 19 years to draw the tag.  Never saw another one as big after spending 11 days in there, but no regrets.  Still got a decent buck and all the experiences each day was worth not pulling the trigger early in the hunt.

[waoutdoorsman]

Enjoy every minute of it! I could have shot a good buck on day 2, but didn't want the hunt to be over last year after waiting 19 years to draw the tag.  Never saw another one as big after spending 11 days in there, but no regrets.  Still got a decent buck and all the experiences each day was worth not pulling the trigger early in the hunt.

Absolutely agree! I’ve never had the opportunity to hunt mule deer in the rut before and it’s absolutely incredible. From watching that 3pt thrash a bush to a 4pt and his does going in to an apple tree and two other bucks showed up and you could cut the tension with a knife. It was incredible to watch I’m loving every moment of it, wish I could’ve gone out today