My pics from over the years

[Kingofthemountain83]

My dad's and I first trip to the Pasayten was 2025 High Buck... Beautiful country... We put on about 56 miles at 4 trail heads... Not bad for the old man just turned 73...

[Kingofthemountain83]

Day 2 was our biggest day hitting Buckskin... 3 Deer, a doe and twin fawn ran right to us on the trail on the way in... Grouse were friendly and abundant around here... You could get within a yard before they would move off... Don't know who the note was for on the flagging tape but maybe somebody does? lol Ran into several hunters and backpackers... Saw some more deer on the way out but couldn't tell if they were shooters in the distance and fading light...

[Kingofthemountain83]

Camp for high buck... We moved once to hit other trails... It was quite the experience... Saw these deer right next to the trail eating fire weed... I know there's way better feed around... 

[Kingofthemountain83]

2025 Muzzy deer and elk in Cowichie... There's elk in the some of these picks... They're cell phone pics I don't have a phone scope for the spotter... Got there about half way through muzzy deer...

[Kingofthemountain83]

Got into an area I usually hit for elk and it didn't disappoint... Rubs everywhere, trails, usual... Saw quite a few elk in here... Jumped a spike at 20 yards on opening day... Cow called, he stopped about 70 yards with a cluster of small trees blocking his chest then the cow down hill of me, 10 yards in the timber barked and the forest exploded in the sounds of hoofs and I can feel the ground rumble... Walked into the middle of a large herd... Never got shot at the spike and only saw glimpses of a bunch of elk... I will be back here next year unless I can get into Nasty Creek...   

[Kingofthemountain83]

Muzzy deer... Saw a lot of deer this year... Saw these down in the timber from the road while cruising... I hit my bleat and they came right in...

[Kingofthemountain83]

This is Betty... Betty likes to eat pine cones from your hand and will then lick the salt off you... If you see Betty smile and wave... She also likes cashews... I think little Betty didn't make it... I got several pics of a big cat a few miles from here and ran into Betty a few days later and little Betty was now where to be seen... Betty looks like a benchleg to me... That's the cool part about Cowichie is all types of habitats hold deer cause it has blacktail, benchlegs, and mule deer... Been hunting here since I was 11, I love this area.

[Kingofthemountain83]

Found two hair ties in two of my spots... I shot an elk from one and a deer from one... Wondering if she has too!    Yet to run into her... Dads trail cam set up is a big tree so had to use a bungee and a stick to tighten... The fungi? Is that chicken of the woods? Only place I found it there...

[Kingofthemountain83]

 An elk trail scattered with elk bones... A couple pics of Mt. Goats... Yes, they're in there! And the bowl that forever changed my life as a mule deer hunter... 19 years ago I was was down yonder in that basin during modern deer coming up a slope steep enough you could reach out and touch it... I was on a game trail between a rock slide and heavy timber almost to the top I stopped and looked up... A doe was on the trail 10 yards up coming down staring at me... I had my rifle in my right hand... I froze... So was she... Scanned my eye's up to the left behind her... I can see antler sticking out on the right with a huge main frame 4 point with 3 distinct extras... (that would be his left side) Then a big tree... (his face, head, neck is behind this along with a lot of antler main beams) Then I see his other antler one the other side of the tree... 4 long points with a few extras sticking out... I don't have a shot... I shoulder my rifle and try to take a step up... The doe does a 180 runs up around the buck...I drop my head and "run" up that as fast as I can... I just have to clear the trees before they level out in the bowl... They have 200+ yards to go to my 12 up this steep *censored*! I've hunted this route countless times... I clear the trees, click the safety off, and throw my gun up solid with the cross hairs right on his back line as steady as I could waiting for him to lift his head in the last few yards as he crested the rim... He never did... The 243 I had wasn't made for the Texas heart shot I wanted to take... If I'd of had the 7mm Weatherby that day things may have been different... I could see both sides of his rack around his body in the scope... I dove deep after that into trophy mule deer and had an obsession with him... Brought a tape back next year and measured that tree just to be sure of what I saw... The tree was 28" wide... I saw a deer that was probably 38" main frame with extras pushing it well over 40"... I hunted for that deer for 5 years... Not even thinking about shooting another mule deer with the possibility of him being alive... I jumped him twice over two seasons in close cover and saw him from about 1/2 a mile away the 3rd and not a sign of him for two years I finally shot another mule deer out there...       

[MADMAX]

Great pics bud
thanks for posting

[jackelope]

Cool pics. Lots of memories there. Thanks for sharing. 

[Kingofthemountain83]

Thanks guys! got a few more...

[Kingofthemountain83]

The stand has been there since I was a kid, it use to have a fabric blind around it... It's situated on an elk path... I've never seen signs of anyone using it... The ladder and stand always had sticks I put on it to see if anyone used it and of course others fell...  I've shot two spikes out of it in my younger, lighter, skinnier, more nimble days... Both with a muzzy...

2nd pic is a place I've sat many times over the years and seen a lot of game... I tagged 3 deer and 1 elk from this exact spot...

3rd pic is old wolf poop about a mile from camp... Remember this is Cowichie, muzzy elk 2025, where the WDFW doesn't acknowledge any wolfs or packs... First wolf I seen here I was 12 on Foundation Ridge... Would be a huge pile if it was fresh but it's all dried out then rained on...

Last pic my dad wanted to squish this thing because it woke him up a bit after 2 am by slowly crawling on his face... Man I haven't heard my dad yell and react like that in,    I don't when... But it was so funny... I had to save this things life and convince my dad it was harmless... I mean if it was a spider I would totally agree it needed to die while we were there... He told me how it was going for his eye to do the most damage it could... 

[Kingofthemountain83]

This memorial has been there 20 something years... No markings... Huge pile of rocks... I remember when we came down there and saw it when it was new... Must've taken quite the team to gather 100's of rocks and arrange pile... I can't image the time it would take one person...

Everything we found in the road while cruising in the sxs... Couldn't believe it actually... How much stuff we found...  I'm wearing the Seahawks beanie now! Pretty sure the stainless steel nylock nut and washer may have caused someone some problems but maybe not... Probably a sxs or quad... And the knife... Had to of been ran over several times... Probably left on the bed or bumper... The broken hook... I've done that before... I ran a 500# one over dangling off the rollback and they are loud when they break...

Radio road... If you hunted up here last year you know where this is... There was a spike taken up here on the opener... I've taken a cow, a spike, and a few deer over the years...

I call this area chainsaw parts... About 3 1/2 miles behind a gate... The reliable 036 Stihl... All the parts I could find... I bet this was a bad day for the logger...    Assuming it occurred in the early 90's from the age of the cut... But man this place was holding the elk...

[Kingofthemountain83]

Here's Betty a few days later... I got some pics on a cam a few miles away of a big tom and I was screwing around so I hit the bleat... She came out... She looked shook... Never relaxed... Ears swiveling... Head pivoting... No little Betty anywhere... Was a sad sight...

Another favorite spot of mine... I've gotten two deer off that side ridge...

A burn burn older than myself that my dad has stories about from growing up with his dad and brothers...

A fire pit I made 20+ year ago then we started hunting up Nasty Creek and now we had to come back cause the *censored*s put a gate up...

[Kingofthemountain83]

2025 Modern deer in Chewuch... Found a bull... As close as I was willing to get...  We got here Monday missing opening weekend because of staying till the end of muzzy elk in Cowichie after going back home to Puyallup to shower and resupply...

We've only hunted here for 5 years now... So I kinda feel like a tourist... Still having to check out everything...

Seen a bunch a mule deer does down here with a spike one evening in the low lands... I was hoping for a whitetail for dad...

Found this memorial a few miles up... Quite the view from there... Great spot...

[Kingofthemountain83]

We're sitting on a open sage finger ridge in a saddle that splits uphill and downhill with timber on the west and north... We're on the uphill side... We're watched this grouse feed up the ridge to 15 feet in front of us... Right after I took this pic a nice buck pop's out of our blind spot from our left on the downhill side trying to stomp the grouse to smithereens! The grouse is between the bucks front legs fluttering around before flying out towards us then veering down ridge... It was a surprise to say the least and made both of us react a little... We both kinda flinched back some and I may have made an audible noise... Our next reaction was to shoulder the rifles... It all happened so fast the buck's reaction was way faster than ours and he was gone well before we could get a bead on him into the timber to the west... Never seen that before, we couldn't believe it... All we could do was laugh... I don't blame him either... They had scared me a few times on this trip before this... Not to mention any other times... I couldn't imagine what he goes through on a daily basis with those things to want to stomp it out!  It was a solid 4x about 20" wide kinda heavy not very deep... My dad would've loved to tag it...

 The weather could make up it's mind... I was hoping it would dump like 2020... We'd get 4" then it would warm up... Then another couple inches... Saw lot of deer moving around... But wrong place wrong time, too far, or just couldn't get a shot... If I'm hunting next to my dad I always give him first shot opportunity... Started doing that in my 20's after he taught me how to hunt and I became more selective in certain situations...

Amazes me how much of this area is burnt compared to where I hunt in south central WA... They don't let fires burn so much area as they do up here...

Another area of the regrowth years after a burn...

[Kingofthemountain83]

On a day it warmed back up we decided to go into the Pasayten and check out and area we wanted to during high buck... It's all burnt too... Not a live tree as far as the eye can see... Didn't see a single squirrel... Saw a lot of chipmunks... But there were deer... A lot of deer... Tracks all over on the way in... Came in a mile with headlamps before daylight... Then saw a few doe and fawn and a spike mule and forky muley... I didn't pack the spotter and when we got into the wilderness boundary regretted it instantly... I spotted deer way off after awhile and could tell they were bucks, way bigger bucks... We checked out onX and made our way closer on one of the the main trails... We got to within 400 yards of where we pinned them but couldn't glass them up... I tried hunting up ridge while my dad found a good place to stay so I could bird dog for him to no avail... Found a set of good sized tracks going off the other direction... It's way harder to hunt through those burns then you think! Not an easy task... We saw some more does on the way out and a nice little buck that was a chip shot and my dad was ready but I couldn't put a third point on him... Just a big 2x...

[Kingofthemountain83]

2025 late muzzy in Elbe Hills...I had 6 cams in these areas for a 11 day soak and didn't get 1 pic so I pulled them and went to the Skook...

[Kingofthemountain83]

Found decent sign in the Skook but still couldn't seal the deal... Spent a lot of time hunting with my dad and time in the woods... With some great experiences... Learned a lot and will apply it to next year... Anybody else see this Dodge is the Skook?

[Kingofthemountain83]

Here's a Mason gmu blackie I got when I was 22 years old... Hunted our usual Cowichie till it closed then came back home for the longer blacktail season... I lived in Kitasap at the time... And my job site was in Bremerton... So I could hunt after work if I got off earlier enough... I spotted this guy one evening and lost my breath... Couldn't get a shot off... Swore not to shoot another deer only him... Hunted every evening after work I could and on the last Sunday of October I stepped up off the road to look in the reprod and there he was walking quartering towards me... Threw the 243 to my shoulder, thumbed the safety off so fast as I settles the crosshairs on his bouncing chest... The shot cracked immediately breaking the silence dropping him at 44 yards... I remember I could hear all the birds chirping walking up to him and I don't recall hearing them before that...   

[Dan-o]

Nice Blackie!

Fun bunch of pics.

[Kingofthemountain83]

Nice Blackie!

Fun bunch of pics.

Thanks! Going through stuff and found a bunch of old pictures... Took pictures of them and got them on my computer... Then had to rotate and crop them and it been a hassle... Quality has suffered but still cool to show some off... 

[Kingofthemountain83]

2008 I drew a Cowichie muzzy bull tag... There were 7 other tag holders... One passed away in a quad accident scouting that week... I spoke with his dad... He asked I do the tag justice... I promised to do my best and set a 350" min for the first 3 days...  The 4th day general season opened and we all know everything changes after that... Hoping I'd fill it the first day...

3 days before my opener dad and spotted a huge bull well worthy of the tag... Over 400" Perfect 6 we called him... I kept tabs on him for the next 3 days from sun up till dark... He never got within 1 1/2 miles of a green dot road...

1st day... Made a play on the opener and blew the stalk at 230 yards when the wind swirled... Scared him and his harem to the rez... We knew there wasn't another bull worth chasing in this drainage and decide to make the 2 1/2 hour drive back to camp and regroup on the way... That was our main spot anyways was hunting out of camp... Didn't expect to see a monster and play on him but was worth a shot... Always is!

Evening of day 1... I head up to this place I call the Honey Hole that has produced for me... Discovered it when I was 13 or so... About a mile up ridge from camp... I let out a bugle... Immediate response... I get few hundred yards up ridge and tuck into a huge pine with a little sage in front and start cow calling... He bugles again, and again, and again... He finally pops out on the sage ridge 400 yards up... I softly cow call as he works closer weaving through the sage... He stops at 66 yards facing me 360 class... I'm dead solid slip the safety off and squeeze the trigger... SNAP! Popped a cap... Bull turns and steps up hill I dig the capper out of my pocket and put another one on and blow another cow call... He stops and looks back broadside at 136 yards... SNAP! Bull turns and heads uphill while I recap and cow call... Now he's 179 so I pop one more on him for good measure and watch him walk up over the ridge then I beat feet back to camp to figure that out... Clogged #11 nipple... She was clean after the range the week before we left... I drowned my sorrows with the boys a little heavy that night around the fire...

  Day 2 My dad and I are in where we want to be before day light chasing bugles... We get close... Pass satellite bulls all over... One of the hardest parts was trying to get around all the other bull we didn't want to get close enough to the shooter... And get a look at this herd bull... A huge 5x6 that would go 370 all day... Couldn't tell if he was busted off on his left 5th or it just didn't grow but we needed to get closer... Then we figured out if you bugled when you within 300-400 yards he'd just run his harem off instead of come towards you to fight or show dominance so that was a learning curve... Chased off 3 350+ bugling within 400 yards of them this day... Passed up several bulls under 350 that we could've gotten... Some just running right in to 25 yards bugling... I remember while we were in the middle of chasing some trophy elk off with the bugle for the 3rd time my dad turned and says to me "this is the best day of elk hunting I've ever had!" I said, me too! We covered over 20 miles this day... Couldn't do anything right to seal the deal on a 350 class bull but could get out of the elk if we tried... Finished the evening by having to shew off a rag 3 point after sweet talking him into spitting distance... Man we were beat...

Day 3 last day before general season opener
 We got back into the area and of course there was less action considering the hundreds upon hundreds of elk we spooked... Passed up some smaller bulls early morning... Mid morning got into a herd in a thicket with a bugler we could see and he wouldn't come out of the shade or leave his cows for our calls and ended up spooking them... Jumped a 340 5x6 with a harem that we didn't know were there I would've taken but they boogied... We're making a way up ridge now with camp almost 6 miles uphill and it's 2pm all broken country, no road... My dad decides to head to camp so he can get his gear ready for the opener and take a break he's beat... I see this runway across ridge and just stand there looking at how traveled it is... Then a cow elk appears on the ridge across from me... Then a calf... Then a cow... Then a calf... They go down that trail I noticed... I sit down when they go out of sit in the bottom... They come up my side and walk a trail that leads 10 feet in front of me... They all stop right in front of me and look back at the same time... It's a nice 6x... I guess 320 real quick and figure this may be my last chance after general opens and all the spike and cow taggers are out... All these thoughts going through my mind what are my chances of getting on another good bull... Seems like he stood there forever across the ridge with sunlight glinting off his antlers... I decided this was it... It had been a great hunt... Wished my dad could be with me but I knew he wasn't far away... I square up on the lower trail opening at 52 yards... The cows catch my movement and turn there heads then walk out of my sight... I can wait till the bull is at ten feet and double lung him... As soon as the cows took off he came booking down ridge and instinct took over... I snap shot him quartering towards me downhill on a big bull elk shoulder... But it went BANG! Not ideal shot placement... The smoke screen with no wind and he came trotting up towards me through it at ten feet like nothing was wrong! He past me not missing a step... I got up and said some choice words of no fin way I missed! He went about 35 yards got the wobbles and slid into the pines... I couldn't believe it! Got my dad on the radio and he came back down... We quartered caped and sectioned him up for pack out the next day... We figured it was easier to go the 7 1/2 miles all downhill to the gate  with 5 miles on a road then uphill 6 to camp... I packed the caped head out that night the 7 1/2 miles in the pouring rain... I had to put it down twice and talk down a 260 5 point from fighting me and a rag 4 followed us for a long time till we threw rocks and sticks at him... The head and cape weighed 110# after we got home... It took us 3 trips to pack out the meat... He scores 330s... Trip of a lifetime... Glad I got to do it with my dad!

[Kingofthemountain83]

2014 I won the lottery again and drew a muzzy Rimrock quality bull... I had never hunted elk there, only deer quite a few years earlier and my dad hunted it before my time... So we had a lot of homework to do if we wanted to be successful... I made every trip I could over the weekends of the summer to learn the road system in the areas I wanted to focus on and eventually choosing where our camp would be compared to main hunting area and some back ups... Of course hoping to tag out the first day... Rimrock is very unique area to hunt elk as it's full of hybrids roosevelts/rocky mountain elk and there's some monsters in there with huge bodies... The terrain is hard core, the brush and tight forest make spotting elk difficult and getting a shot even harder...  I took another trip a couple weeks before my opener and the archery guys were in full force in the #1 spot I had decided on... Of course... We hadn't seen a lot of elk... Probably a few dozen... A handful of bulls biggest a nice 6x that would go 280... I talked to the bio, been to the feeding station before... Realistically I wanted a solid mature bull with good mass a big 5x or nice 6x...

Day 1 of the hunt we went to #1 spot  and got in place before daylight... We were in the elk... Bugling, chirping, cow calling from around us as the sun came up... They we feeding, chasing, bulls sparring... Just elk being elk in the rut... What every hunter hopes for during this time of year... There were several smaller satellite bulls on the outskirts moving around that were closer trying to push cows off the herd... I could've shot some... The bigger herd bulls were busy keeping their cows separated from each others herd's and the satellites at bay... Not each other at all... There were 3 herd bulls... The closest one had at least a dozen or so cows about a 270 6x... Another herd bull had very light colored antlers compared to the rest stood out like crazy... A 280 6x... The dark antlered 7x6 scored about 260 but had a crown type on the 7x side and was the baddest guy on the block... Also 300+ yards away past all the other elk... That's the one I wanted though... We had no play and didn't want to spook them so we sat tight... I knew the area a little bit from scouting and we backed off knowing they were going to head to bed soon... We got into position 30 yards off their main trail hoping one of the herd bulls would take it... Specifically Dark Crown... There were other elk that came in the trail ahead of us and were being very vocal... Then you could hear all the elk getting closer... Hooves stomping the ground... Bugles, mews... The elk ahead of are making a ruckus... These elk just stop and come to a hault on the trail before I can see them... No clue why... But I'm ready and solid for when the bull I want steps in the opening at 30 yards... I look at my dad and he looks at me... Then I hear a faint bugle from behind us... The elk explode in a stampede and over 100 of them disperse past my shot opportunity into the thick timber... Met another guy that had a bull tag a few minutes later... We found him...    We continued to chase those elk all day over miles and miles and they don't play fair... They don't respond well to when people call... And seem to be able to tell the difference between their real bugles and the other hunters and mine, and our cow calls...  Did call in a couple small bulls in the black timber but nothing I wanted to hang a tag on day one... These elk were well educated and heavily hunted during archery... Learned a lot about elk this day... Was a great hunt!

Day 2 find new elk... We had some places in mind to check and if I could find elk that respond to the bugle on the way it's always worth a shot... So we busted out the map and drove around hitting the bugle every 1/4 mile or so just depending out of desperation... I get a reply at 8am and we sweet talk this little rag horn into 45 yards... At 1030am we're at a spot I circled on the map and let a bugle rip... We get multiple responses from all different directions... Here we hunt... We pick a direction to head and get as close as we dare and let out another bugle to locate... It's a hot, blue bird day and they aren't actively bugling anymore without a reaction bugle and sometimes I don't even get that... I don't want to play these elk out like the other elk... So we sit idle, hardest part for me elk hunting... Until the shadows are long and the temps start dropping I don't hear a single bugle... Mewed in a 4x5 in the 240s... A spike, and a 3x making our way back to the rig before dark along with some cows and calves getting in the mix... A really solid day finding a great area without pressure...         

Day 3 Circled it on the map... Went back to the spot I circled on the map and hit the morning in another direction... This area is chocked with pine and grande fir... Just so thick... But the elk love it... It's actually really hard to get off the roads in this area other than using the elk trails... Which is ok just limits your shot opportunities... Snuck in on a bull just worked up bugling thrashing some trees in a cluster so thick we had to crawl... He just looked like a smaller 5x so we watched him till he made his way off... Got in on some other bulls that had cow and we busted them out... But there were always more bugles to chase until the mid morning lull... We caught a glimpse of a bull that was a shooter for sure looked like he was pushing a harem through... Big boy in the 340s probably... The afternoon lull came later today with overcast and much lower temps... Lunch was much deserved along with a substantial nap... Sat around making an evening plan that went out the window as soon as we heard the first bugle light up... We had a couple more encounters with small bulls that I could've shot and had some run ins with cows that blew others unknown... As we made our way to the rig a before dark a cow steps out feeding... Then another... And another... Another... Another... And a bugle lights off in the pines... We're walking down the road to the rig just before dark so we step off to the side of the road to try and blend in a bit better and I get my gun off my shoulder... This bulls steps out of the pines and bugles runs up to a cow mounts her... Does his thing and starts making a circle towards us bugling... My dad and I look at each other and I shake my head yes... I think hes a 290 6x... All I got is an off hand 73 yard broadside shot so I role coal... There's no wind and the smoke is staying in the air... He has no reaction and cuts down towards the road towards us and stops... I reload and my dad says 54... He still same side broadside just standing there... I role coal again and the cows all take off this time but he just runs into the road broadside and stops... My dad says 51... I reload again while he's standing there watching us... I center the sights on his lungs and role coal one more time... This time I ran forwards to get out of the smoke to see... My dad followed... I said there's no way... He just stood there looking at us... No reaction... Then what seemed like forever in slow motion he started to get wobbly... Fought it hard but his legs finally gave out and he landed in the middle of the road... My dad and I couldn't believe it we were on another planet... Couldn't have had a better hunt with a better man and a better outcome! Glad I got to do it with my dad! All three 50 cals double lungs bullets on off side of hide... Turned out to be a huge bodied 6x7 with good mass 300"... When we got up to him we could see our rig down the road a few 100 yards... Wish I had better pictures of the hunt but this is all I could recover... I ended up trading the cape for a european mount at the taxi... 

[Boss .300 winmag]

Nice bulls, like your stories.👍

[Kingofthemountain83]

Nice bulls, live your stories.👍

Thank you! Appreciate that...

[Kingofthemountain83]

 2023 we got lucky and had the spike only tags... Opening Morning found us 5 1/2 miles in positioned on this ridge we were all to familiar with... Sunrise came and here comes a cow followed by a spike... Perfect! I chose to use the Hawkin this year for some reason... My dad always cursed it... I'm the least familiar with it of all the muzzys we have... I cock back and settle my sights they stop at the sound of the hammer locking... Perfect broadside shot... 51 yards... I squeeze the trigger and click! I squeezed the set trigger... I think the cow heard the click and she started to move... The spike follows I stand start to get the sights settled on the and boom! as soon as my finger puts an ounce of pressure on the trigger... I knew I shot over him... Cow runs off... Spike could care less with his nose up her butt... They run right by my dad down ridge a few hundred yards totally unscathed... Clean miss... My dad was laughing... Said he did that when he first got it on a doe in the 80's... Among other happenings...

We regroup and still hunt the day away having several more close calls and spike encounters that just don't work out one way or the other and was an action packed day of elk hunting... We're walking back out about 2 miles from the truck 30 minutes before dark and a herd crosses in front of us with two spikes in it a couple hundred yards down... We jumped up ridge in the pines and started sweet talking... A really whistle bugle responds and you can hear him running towards us... I cock back and am holding steady he pops out in the opening at 20 feet I pick up the slack in the trigger and click again! The spike keeps coming I hastily regroup and get my finger on the correct trigger but now the spike it behind some pine but less then 12 steps and coming in hot... I try to adjust for a head shot and I honestly don't know what happened but that trigger goes off on a touch after the set is trigger is pulled... Think the spike may be hard of hearing after that though... You could see him blow out some smoke as he ran away... My dad couldn't believe it... Neither could I... We saw 7 spikes opening day and I missed two of them... If I pulled the right trigger the first time... Couldn't of had a better day hunting with my dad... I ran into a lady friend I hadn't seen in a while that night on the way out and made some questionable life choices so I didn't make it back to camp till 9am the next day...

But by 1030 I was ready to go and hunting out of camp... I hiked up the road about a 1/4 mile got to where i was going and cut down off and was stand on this dead fall looking and listening, about 50 yards below the road and I heard a real whislty bugle... I just stood there... Then I catch movement... It's an elk... Moving towards me... It looks like a little bull... He ducks under a burnt hanger and starts feeding... Looks like a spike... I get my binocs on him... It's a spike... I range him at 53 yards quartering towards head dowin hill... I step off the dead fall to get more stable and I can't see him... I get back on the dead fall... Kneel down and take a brace on my knee and elbow... Cock back and make sure my finger goes on the forward trigger... Pick up the slack as I hold for the base of his neck and aim for opposite lung and the smoke rolls... I know I hit him... He stand up... Whirls around... I jump off the log... Get my reload out of my pocket and reload... I get back up on the log and he's laying down head up... Same spot face opposite direction though... I'm the type that keeps shooting elk till they're dead from prior experiences... So I take a knee,cock back, settle my sights and aim for lungs... Boom! He lurches up... Now he gets up... He's trying to walk but he can't... So he lays back down... All my other reloads are in my pack so I gotta take it off and get to it while keeping an eye on the bull... He keeps trying to stand but can't... I reload... Get back on the dead fall and put another one through his lungs... He finally drops his head about 30 seconds after the last shot... I heard a vehicle coming up the road and look up... It's my dad... I run up and flag him down let him know I got one... He couldn't believe it... Pretty much 150 yards from the road... We boned him out and put him in garbage bags then the creek over night cause it was rather warm... So the 8th spike we saw and 3rd one I shot at was the charm... Unbelievable season... And he even had a little kicker... May consider it my drop tine spike... 

[Kingofthemountain83]

Got my boy Phoenix for 8 days while his mom has some military trainings out of state... He's a 4 year old Clumber Spaniel... Supposed to be good hunters but he's never been... He acts like he could be... Sure uses his nose outside... May take him this year and find out... Listens great... Even knows hand signals...  Very well mannered guy... Gets hair everywhere... Drools a lot... And sleeps with me... Just like his moms house! He sure is a good looking dog though...

[Kingofthemountain83]

Here's a Mason blackie I got about 12 years ago... We always go hunt eastern side for modern deer so I am a little selective on mule deer when I have time to hunt the whole season and come back home for blacktail... Well I saw this guy a handful of times over two years in a couple mile area never getting a shot... Finally one day I was watching this 6 year old reprod like a hawk... About 1030 am on October 30th and there he was at 88 yards standing there feeding... I put the crosshair on his lungs, squeezed the trigger on the 243, and he dropped while the 80 gr GMX scooted through him... No clue how he got there... I had been at my elevated stop tucked in before daylight watching, glassing, not sleeping... I figured he was bedded right in there and had just stood up and started feeding... After gutting him I snooped around followed his tracks back... The guy fed his way through the whole reprod cut I was watching... Over a 1/4 from the tree line in the flat... Crossed the lower road and landing... Up the ridge right to me till he got to 88 yards till I saw and shot him... Who know's how long that route took him... But he was obviously feeding his way through... No bed in the reprod... I should've seen him sooner in my opinion but it worked out... I don't know how I didn't... My family and I have shot several deer and a couple bear out of this spot... It's all grown up now...

One of the battles of hunting the west side... A cut can hold animals for 15+ years in perfect conditions for feed... But after that reprod gets 8+ years old you have to be at the perfect angle to see something that blends in so well... 

[Kingofthemountain83]

Some fires we use to have in the late 90's early 2000's before the burn regulations... A couple of these fires some wardens stopped by cause they heard about how intense it was and had a beer... Talked for a while... I think those were the good ole days of hunting to me... I just didn't know it yet... With a good amount of effort my dad and I could tag a decent bench leg every year and sometimes an elk... 

[Kingofthemountain83]

How we hunt deer...