Alright, sorry for the wait, I finally got the pictures uploaded.
Day 1: So opening morning finds us in our secret honey hole over on the east side. This is a spot where we are used to seeing 20-30 deer a day while sitting and waiting. It is a good 3 mile uphill hike that we do in the dark so we can sit down and change out of our sweaty clothes before it is light. Then it is just sit and wait. We have gotten 3 good bucks out of this spot in the last 4 years, but opening day had us see 3 does and no more. So about midday we hike out and go up to the high country. One of our hunting partners sees a bear, but of course, he is the only one without a bear tag, so no dice. See a lot of moose sign, but no deer. Something huge was busting branches in the ravine like nobody's business, sounded like a freight train. My guess was a moose, but it never did come out to give us a view.
Day 2: Day 2 we decide to try our honey hole again to see if the deer have been pushed around. We see a coyote at about 300 yards in the early light but don't want to waste a shot on him, now I wish I would have shot the little *censored* since they are part of the problem over there. We see a two point and a few more does as the day goes on, but nothing more. Interesting note: roughly 80% of the does I saw had no yearlings, thinking the predators are getting the young'uns. For the afternoon/evening hunt we go back up into the high country and see a lot more moose sign and some whitetail sign, but again, no deer.
Day 3: Day 3 is the last morning I can hunt before I have to go back to work, but my dad and his hunting buddy get to stay for the duration of the week. I will be back the next weekend to finish out the mulie season. We go back up to the high country for my last morning, hoping to catch something moving through the clearcut to get into the timber for bedding. I spot a group of 4 does a few hours into the morning (all without yearlings), but no buck comes out. That ends my first weekend.
The rest of the week: My dad and his buddy hunt the remainder of the week without much luck. They see a couple two points and several does, but just not the quantity that we normally see. I come back Friday night with my buddy to find them exhausted and a little disheartened at the lack of animals. The weather had been warm and sunny and the moon had been bright all week long, just not good hunting weather.
My Day 4: Me and my dad hike the steepest, thickest crap in hope of seeing a dark mountain buck. It had been raining the light before and was raining all day so we were feeling pretty good about the day. We crossed a river and hiked through the thick vine maple crap. We were soaked within a few hours and were up climbing in some dangerous territory. Going up was bad, but coming down was what I was afraid of. It required us to grab ahold of branches and swing ourselves down like Mowgli. About half way down, I hear something breaking branches in the ravine next to us, so we stop and listen. This ravine is so thick and full of vine maples that we would have no way of getting in. We can hear branches being torn up and can actually see the trees shaking as this animal is making its way over to us. We both have our guns ready, seeing that whatever it is has almost reached the edge and into the open at 40 yards. Hearts beating, adrenaline rushing at the anticipation of what kind of huge beast could make that kind of ruckus...Then as swiftly as it had started, it stopped. We waited for about 30 minutes thinking maybe it had bedded, then my dad decided to try to push through there, but nothing. So we hiked down to continue our hunt. The night saw us drive into a new area that my dad had found earlier in the week. We all hiked to a different ridge top and waited to see if anything would move. Nothing, but we did hear wolves howling in the canyon below, that was an eerie feeling.
Last Day: We only had one more morning to go and then it was a long drive back to the west side and back to work. My dad had stated that he hoped he didn't get a deer that morning because he knew the work would begin and it would make for a long week. I should have known that this would change our fortunes. We went back to where we had been the night before and we all took another ridge. I went lower this time, thinking that I might catch a buck coming back up into the timber, and my dad took the ridge to my right, about 500 yards away from me, but out of sight. Once again, it had been raining all night, so I was feeling pretty good. I chose a spot that I had a 180 degree view below me out to about 800 yards. At about 7:45, the fog rolled in to my right so I could not see the hillside, so I focused my glassing on the left side and below. Fifteen minutes pass and the fog has cleared, so I put my binocs up to my right and see antlers looking back at me. This was one of the biggest bucks I have ever seen, just a beast, up on the ridge at about 300 yards. The fog had concealed his approach and he was able to get 80% up the hillside without me seeing him. I immediately drop to my knees and the adrenaline is pumping. I put my rifle 8 inches above his heart (which is my 30.06 drop at 300) and then notice that there is two of them and they are walking towards the timber. At this point I cannot see either of their heads thanks to the sage brush and I am not sure which one is the buck and what the other deer is. I had a clean shot at both, but did not want to shoot a doe or an illegal buck. I waited and waited for them to lift their heads, but they would not do it. They are now out of sight and I am pissed, so I run down to try to catch a different angle at them, and then boom! Boom! And my dad comes over the walkie "deer down!" Great, I am thinking, my dad just shot the monster! My dad tells me that he was just about to turn around and head back when he heard thumping, he turned around to see a buck coming up the hill right towards him. He dropped it in its tracks and then another one (the big boy) took off. I get up to my dad and we clean and tag the buck, then go out to try and track the big boy down. We only have a couple hours left before we need to head back and this buck seems to have run across the countryside. So, it was a good trip for him, frustrating for me, but that's hunting. He deserved it after busting butt for a week. It is a nice 3x3, nice and thick, a big deer.
I decide that to go out and try to harvest a blackie last Saturday, I could only hunt the morning and then my season would be done. I knew they were starting to rut so I brought my estrus and my grunt tube. I jumped a doe in the morning and a doe while coming out. During the day I found a great spot in the middle of the reprod that had a little clearing in it. I dripped the doe in heat scent all around the edges and on my boots to try and attract a buck. There were scrapes everywhere in this crap. I then sat at the top, made sure my wind was rightr and waited. I would give a series of doe bleats every 5-10 minutes and then wait. About an hour in, I was answered by a grunt a ways above me, probably across the road. I answered with another bleat. Then a few minutes later there was another grunt, this time closer. Several minutes pass and I give another bleat, then to my surprise, the brush erupts with grunting and branches breaking. There was a buck not 40 yards from me tearing up reprod, he was pissed. I had my gun ready just waiting for him to step out into an opening, knowing he was close. He stayed put, bouncing around in there for several minutes, but would not show himself. I had no chance to get in there and try to get a shot, it was just too thick for me to approach. All in all, it was an exciting hunt, but now I'll just have to wait till late buck. Sorry it got so long, here are the pics! I will be headed to the Toutle for the next week to try and harvest a bull . Me and my dad finally got drawn after 9 years! Hopefully I'll have two more stories for y'all. Here are the pics:
