New to washington

[copasj]

Well, I guess I am not really new to the state, I moved here in 2000.  But I just started hunting here last year.  Prior to that I hunted with my Dad in TN, but what we learned there doesn't seem to translate well to here.  Not that we did much good there either.  My Dad never hunted big game until I bugged him about it as a kid.  So I really don't know much.  What we have noticed so far is mosquitoes are viscous, and we aren't really seeing anything.

So are there any books etc. we can use to educate ourselves?  What are we looking for as far as browse is concerned in Sept?  How about late season, Nov-Dec? 

Unfortunately, we can't really get out very far.  The wife (my hunting partner) is going in for a hip surgery this week, and I blew my back out jumping out of airplanes, so we are both disabled and can't make it far over natural terrain.  We do not qualify for ATV/disabled access and we don't have ATV's anyway so that's not an option.  We are basically stuck within a couple miles of the parking spot, less if there is no logging road etc.  We are not looking for trophy bucks, just decent sized doe's or spikes to supplement the refrigerator.  Any information to help us identify what a good spot to setup looks like is what I am looking for.

[JKEEN33]

If you are just looking for a doe, I would try eastside muledear. Longer drive, but a lot easier to bag in my opinion. 

[copasj]

Probably should have also specified that we can't do long drives.  We need to stay within about an hour of Ft. Lewis so we can take care of the dog's, chickens, etc.  We'd prefer to stay on Ft. Lewis if possible.  That way I can try and do some scouting etc.  Managed 0 pictures on my trail cam so far this year though...

I work on Ft. Lewis so I can detour on the way home once a week or so to swap out SD cards.  I spent 6 years on active duty here so I'm decently familiar with post and it's training areas.  TA 7S has been a bust though.  From what I can tell everything hides in the central impact area and crosses over into the Training area's about 5 minutes after shooting light is gone  .

[jackmaster]

if it was me i would go to vail tree farm its a great place to find spikes and little bucks buck occasionally people crack some big huge bucks in there and its a road huntn show up there for about 99% but there is plenty of spots you can get out and hike a little bit as well, now i promise you this you will see plenty of people up there and i mean plenty

[Special T]

Boyd Iverson's Black tail trophy tactics. It can be found at many outdoor sotres but i got my at Wholesale sports... Best book for blacktail especially if your used to white tail.

[bobcat]

Vail would be good but there's no road hunting during archery season that I know of. I think they only open the gates for modern firearm. Could be wrong though, I haven't hunted there in several years.
 
I second the Boyd Iverson recommendation. And another author who has a good book on blacktail deer is Scott Haugen.

[CavemantheHunter]

They do not open the Vail gate for archery or muzzleloader seasons. It's only open for modern firearm weekends.

[jackmaster]

yes that is true they only open it for modern, however you can mountain bike in there during the other season but from the sounds of it this guy cant do that but he sounds like a rifle hunter and doesnt think they can hike to far do to injurys but vail hasnt changed bobcat it is still a zoo, but its a great spot if you have a kid that can put in for the youth hunt, my son drew it his last year as a youth they gave 60 tags but we only saw 3 other hunters the whole time and we had vail all to are self the weekend before general for everyone else, hell we saw 33 deer the first day and 4 bucks he ended up shootn a 2pt with eye guards the next morning... sorry for getn off thread fellas

[bobcat]

This is in the bow hunting forum so I assumed he was planning to hunt the archery seasons. Plus he did provide one more clue that made me think he was a bow hunter:
 

What are we looking for as far as browse is concerned in Sept?  How about late season, Nov-Dec?

[copasj]

Yes, we are bow hunting for deer.  The wife doesn't feel comfortable with her bow for elk, so we are rifle hunting them.  So kind of doing both I guess. 

On a side note they had the blacktail book at northwest adventure center when I stopped by today to add the corolla to my hunting permit for base.

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[vaz,,66]

I would recommend to use a Trail Cameras very good help at this case, i did in a past and got doe on opening day, that thing provide you with all information you need to know where, when.

[bowhunter851]

find an old logging road that hasnt been used in awile aways have success there and its easy terrain