Two bucks taken in my nephew's camp of 8 or 9 rifle toters in the Winthrop area. I know of a whitetail taken down low. In a different spot, my son took a doe. A young girl in a camp across the road took a doe. I know of three other local bucks and a couple suspected early migrators taken in the Methow area. (StrutNrut1984) I hit some higher country late week and found that at least a couple of the ones I'd scouted in late summer were still there. (Yes... I should have targeted them from the git-go) (No, I did not get one of them. That's OK, I know where they'll be next year). I checked out a new spot and found fresh buck sign and I highly suspect they are still on that slope. There was a wave of migration of younger animals, some younger local bucks for the first couple days. Then NOTHING was moving as the weather got warmer, the moon full, the sky full of stars for four nights in a row. This weather system will bring some more down, but not the majority. I still saw doe's at 5,000' on Sunday morning. Opening morning my son and I were very close to a couple two points.. They stunk to high heaven. Ruttin bad. I was within nasal distance of a couple spikes mid week and they were not even curious of the doe's that were near. (or my doe in heat perfume) A couple bigger bucks taken near me were not suspected locals at all but may have been starting to rut.
-Steve
