Ebay highest cost item WA hunt

[tmbrline]

I really think in E.Wa. the bigger bucks rut a lot earlier than most people think. Looking at their website and pics of the bucks they have taken, looks like he has figured out the mule deer.

[Colville]

All bucks are brought out of the woodwork by estrous does. No estrous does, not much rut. Any estrous doe in the area gets all the bucks in the same mind set.

I've seen early rut activity before, but big and small bucks are responding to the same cues. I suspect it's entirely possible that they have a really good area. Maybe know some high quality public, lease high quality private with no pressure... maybe feed? There's more than one way to slice the onion. I don't doubt they take some nice deer and I'm not accusing them of breaking any law whatsoever but I can't come to any conclusions about them after that. Except to say that calling the middle of Oct middle of the rut is very very dubious at best. It does happen time to time but to advertise peak of the rut for that time frame, not buying. I suspect there's only a few thousand hunters that've hunted the kettle crest area that'll be able to argue that with rare exception they've never seen rutting activity in modern general season.

If I'm all wet let's have it guys. Let's hear from anyone who hunts the middle of the rut each and every mid Oct, I'll gladly admit I'm wrong and defer to the guys who are seeing it.

[bobcat]

Bucks don't determine when the rut happens...the does do. When the does come into heat, the "rut" starts. They've determined that it happens fairly consistently at the same time every year (give or take maybe one or two days.) 

The peak of the rut in Washington is mid-November, not mid-October, as this outfitter is claiming.

This guy may have the mule deer figured out, and his clients may kill some big ones, but I still don't know how he can claim this hunt that is Oct 15-19 is during the "peak of the rut."

I'd sure like to hear from the outfitter on this. Maybe I'll email him and ask him to respond here on the board.

[bobcat]

Well I emailed the seller of the hunt on ebay (Sherman Creek Outfitters) and I will post his reply to my question here. Like I told him when I replied back, if mulies over there really do rut that early, I think I need to do some scouting over there! Who needs to draw a late hunt when you can hunt mule deer in the rut every year during the general season, right?

Hello,   My name is Joe Rasmussen and I will answer your question the best I can.If you are from Washington you know that it has been 25 years or so since we have been only able to hunt Mule Deer during October in northeastern Washington. So what you are saying is that you can't kill a Mule Deer in the rut in Washington ?  We hunt two totally different types of Mule Deer. We have property in the Davenport area that the Mule Deer are more desert Mulies. I have not seen them go into rut during the October season. The other Mule Deer we hunt is near the Canadian border closer to Idaho. These are more of a Rocky Mountain Mule Deer. They have heavier horns and out weigh the desert mulies by over 100lbs. I have hunted these mulies for over 30 years and they always rut in the last half of October.Our season 20 years ago always ended on the 31st and by then they were coming out of it.Last year the biggest one we killed was killed on the 20th in full rut.Mike Eastman was impressed by this and in October of 1992 did a story on us and our Mule Deer.You can probably get a back issue.It was called Washington Wall hangers.My family has hunted the same ridges since the 1920s and have taken Mule Deer up to 35''.There still there and still rutting in October.          Thanks

[Cougeyes]

Well he made it sound like just the mule deer he hunts in that one area are in the rut every year the last 1/2 of October.  Might just be some weird occurrence.  In 2000 I shot a buck in Kittitas county that had early signs of rutting during the general season, but have not seen it since.  I guess we can not argue this guy's "facts" unless we go up there ourselves to justify otherwise.

[Outfitter]

  Allright boys here it is!!   I am the outfitter who sold the Mule Deer hunts on eBay. I was emailed and asked to respond to this. I have been guiding in Washington state for 14 years. I have lived here my whole life and hunted Mule Deer here since I could carry a gun. As long as my family has hunted this area, they have been in rut during the general season in October. It is not just a freak year or a guess. I know that is the rut and has been for over 25 years every year.  Three years ago I figured out that it is easier to sell hunts on eBay than do shows or advertise. What we do is try to hit a bigger market. The reason we are getting $3500-$4500 for our Mule Deer hunts is we can consistently produce results. We don't expect Washington hunters to pay these prices for our hunts. That is why we use eBay. The hunters who are buying these hunts are from states that are all draws. Some of our hunters have 30'' mule deer in there back yards but can't get drawn. They have checked into states with outfitter tags like New Mexico but they want 10-15k. We don't rip hunters off or we would have bad feedback. It's an open auction and we have no control of how high it goes! We always put a Buy It Now that is our regular price on them. But once it breaks the reserve, the Buy It Now falls off and alot of people don't look up the regular price. As for the rut, these Mule Deer we hunt are on the Canadian border. We have property in Davenport but they are Desert mulies and don't rut until November. The ones we hunt rut in October. If you disagree, contact a biologist or check out Eastmans Journal. He did a story on us in 1992. We get Whitetail hunters from all over the United States and they all say the rut is different. We've heard from October in Canada to December in Texas. I believe the Mule Deer are the same way. As far as the baiting goes, the only thing we bait is Whitetail and Elk. It is totally legal in Washington to bait any antlered animal. We have tried baiting Mule Deer, but have never got it to work. Some of our hunters have tried to bait Blacktail and could never get it to work either. To some hunters it is an ethical question. Because of that we have different ways we hunt even Whitetails. You can check out our hunts on Drury Outdoors. They have been hunting with us for 7 years and in July we will be on their first episode for the year. We have received some emails from Washington hunters about bringing in out of state hunters from California and New York. This has no impact on Washington hunters because they are hunting on our own private land. We hope you can understand our views and our business. We are not trying to offend Washington hunters, but just make a living doing what we enjoy doing. If you have any feedback or are interested in guiding (We need more experienced guides)give us a call @ 877-351-9846. Thanks you, Joe & Jodi

[bobcat]

Joe, thanks for taking the time to post. I hope you find the time to check back in here often. It would be great to have a guy with your experience contributing on this board.

Thanks again.

[wastickslinger]

Thanks for taking the time to post and clear some things up. Hope to see you on here some more with some big moster bucks from up north.

[Ghost Hunter]

Thanks for your response.  When I put the link up, it wasn't with the intent to start a flame throwing session.  I was just somewhat surprised to see the Evergreen State competing in the market with quality bucks.  Not looking for any greenhorns, are ya  

[E-Town Hunter]

I wonder if their prices are the same for hunting the desert mulies near davenport and the high mountain mulies near the border.

[Muleyslyr]

It's unbelievable how many people are willing to rip a guy and/or his outfit without knowing any of the facts or actually experiencing it themselves.  Sounds like a pretty stand up guy to me.  I'd like to hear what some of the Know-it-alls have to say to his response.

[Alchase]

I learn something every day here.

[huntingnut]

Thanks for posting and clearing things. That's the great thing about this site, always learning something.

[huntnphool]

Again thanks for the information, from the pics you do a hell of job and obviously have it all nailed down. Now having said that, welcome aboard and please post us some pics, its been a long cold lonely winter so far, I think the predators fangs could use some meat to dive into

I've been hoping a guide or service would get on here in some form or another, its going to be nice to have that angle to listen to.

[E-Town Hunter]

Muleyslyr, what exactly are you refering to?