Desert 290 Experience

[leed]

At 12:01 on Saturday Nov 28th the moon phase, rut, wind and scent drift along with strategic planning and a 20 minute stalk all came together. It was almost as if it was fate. Looking back it was almost perfect conditions and planning. I placed a single shot directly through the heart of a Buck and he dropped 12 feet past impact. A one shot humane kill. A perfect shot on a slow trotting buck at 102 yards. (Ranged afterwards). After a few nice words, a pat on his head, a promise to treat him with respect, the next challenge began of how to bone out a deer in the dusty and sandy desert unit.  With the help of my two spotters and long time hunting partners it went rather well. This hunt started on May 4th when I received my official notification of my selection for a Hunter Education Instructors Incentive Permit for the Desert 290 unit. Getting this tag is hard enough but getting it as an Instructor is possibly harder. As Instructors once you are selected for an incentive tag you are not eligible for selection for another ten years. There are only 25 permits available for over 900 instructors statewide for various species in various units. Only one tag for instructors is available for the Desert 290.I have been mostly an avid elk hunter since I moved to Washington but I was told by many that the Desert Any Buck hunt would be a great and challenging hunt.  A challenge is what I like and look for and little did I know this would be the mother of all. I spent 11 days scouting on the ground through the summer. In addition to several days of checking access sites, property ownership, boundaries, Preserve locations, aerial photographs and gathering information on how mule deer exist in the desert. I studied their patterns, habits, food & water sources, movement corridors, and generally watching their overall behavior. Mostly I watched their behavior to human presence. Those behaviors changed slightly as the summer moved to fall and then again during the harvest of crops and again during the beginning of the rut. This hunt challenged me in many differ ways. The desert is different not only in topography, vegetation and type of trees but the animals that live within it as well. These mule deer have adapted very well over time and have learned to use these harsh conditions to their advantage. If you think you will walk in and harvest a trophy buck quickly you are wrong. For those that have, you truly were lucky and don’t know it. When I say a trophy buck I’m thinking of a 170+ buck. I passed on a couple 160’s and a few 150’s and several smaller bucks.  There are lots of 130 to 150 bucks in this unit. Jokingly I told my buddies that the larger trophy mule deer have attended Blackstone’s School of Magic and that they only learned one trick. They can VANISH into thin air.  As I stated, they have adapted to the conditions. The desert is extremely quiet on a calm day. They will hear you walk on sand at 600 yards. They will spot your movement up to 1,000 yards.  They will wind you easily at 500 yards with no wind. I have observed all of these on numerous occasions.  I set out on this hunt with four things in mind. One. To mentor a young hunter who wanted to learn more about hunting. This young man will now attend our January Hunter Ed Class. He’s hooked! Another youth recruited! Two. To hunt for a trophy buck all the way until the last day. I did and passed on several big bucks others would not be willing to let get away. Three. To give this hunt every ounce of my energy and respect as it should be because this is not just your average hunt. I did, I’m now recovering from strained Achilles tendons on both feet. I hunted hard from sun up to sun down every day covering at least 4 miles a day with most being 5 to 11 mile days. Four. I wanted to gain as much knowledge of mule deer hunting as I can to better myself as an instructor. I think I achieved that. I don’t want to give away all my knowledge and secrets of the desert learned to everyone because if I did you would not better yourself and you probably would not enjoy the hunt as much either.  This hunt tested every aspect of my hunting skills as it could and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I loved this hunt. I get tingles when I think about it. If you want a fun, and challenging hunt this one is for you. I will say this. If anyone out there knows a youth who gets this tag have him or her contact me. I’ll be more than willing to mentor. I’d love to go back again.  I knew going in from scouting that the sand, the wind, your scent, your movement, the small hills, the large dunes, the thorny Russian Olive trees, the dry grass, the thick dry cat tails and even the starlings scattering away will all give your presence away. What I had to figure out and did was how to turn that all around and use those to my advantage. I did on most of them. Even the starlings stopped scattering as quickly and in the end it was the scent that made the buck move but not until I was ready. As I hunted and ran into these obstacles I made mental notes of the results and if the results were not changing I changed the way I approached. The simple concept of “if what you are doing isn’t working, change it”. I met several hunters out there and many of them harvested great bucks. Wow! All of them that I met harvested a trophy buck! You see, after this hunt, anything becomes a trophy simply because of the effort and satisfaction of the hunt itself. I enjoyed even the simple things of sitting on a dune eating lunch and watching the marsh hawks, the early morning orange sunrise owl catching prey, the buck and doe in the distance sky lined at dusk and the numerous chorus lines of the coyotes at night. For the hunter who truly loves the outdoors this hunt is for you!  By the way, my trophy buck turned out to be a very nice last day three point that was far smaller in rack size and points than many I passed but this one is perfect in every way! I did stalk two 180 plus bucks and one 190 plus buck but each time I was unable to close the gap quickly enough. One time the largest of all bucks simply pushed deeper into the very thick set of Russian Olive trees never to be seen again but was heard crashing deeper and deeper. On another he went swimming across the large pond leaving me standing and staring at 8 foot cat tails. I actually think I heard him laugh as he swam across! Seriously, the toughest part of this hunt was passing on so many large bucks in the search of that monster that would make the record books and everyone would talk about. If you put in the effort and give it your heart, the one harvested in the end is a trophy in your eyes no matter what the size. Would I do it again and pass on all those bucks in search of a monster? You bet, because I’d get to hunt longer and enjoy more days afield! Everyone has a different goal and I met mine. Besides, like my wife’s 95 year old grandfather says “ they all taste the same”!For those of you out there that say this hunt isn’t what it used to be and that there are not many large bucks in the desert. You are so wrong, go ask one of those guys that harvested a giant buck! Go look at Olaf's Buck picture. Great job, Nice buck Olaf.

Good luck to you all and enjoy the holidays. One more thing, please, mentor a new hunter!

Lee D, Ellensburg

[woodywsu]

Great write up Lee. Let's see the pics.

[KNOPHISH]

Big congrats on a great hunt Lee. Those sound like super deer to hear you walk on sand. Hope yer achilles mend quickly.

[CedarPants]

Cool write up leed, enjoyed reading it

[predatorpro]

cool story! but i dont think i could pass up a 180 to 190 inch muley...they are all trophies no matter how big..

[Glockster]

Thanks for sharing!

I've hunted birds out there for 18yrs and always marvel at the big tracks and brief glimpses of the desert ghosts. ~ A desert hunt with so many water obstacles sure is a unique experience in the world of mule deer hunting.!

[Huntboy]

Pic's.
By the way nice write up.

[Pathfinder101]

Cool beans.  Can't wait for the pics.

[deerlick]

My dad has drawn the tag twice in the last 5 years and your write up could not be more accurate. those deer can vanish so quick its unbelievable. i hunted with him on both tags and the first one we spent alot of time figuring out the ways of the big bucks out there before we were fogged in for the lat 5 days of our hunt, he did not harvest a deer the first time but did pass alot of good bucks most people would call trophys. this year we were back at it and hunting near you i believe. after passing 22 good deer he finaly harvested the buck of a lifetime. my dad was born with a bad heart and battles through it everyday and out there i had pushed him to his limit, at the point where we found the buck he wanted he didnt know if he could he even go after it, but after a 1200 yard stalk he put it down at 350 Yards right at dark. the buck is 29" wide and would be a 5x7 but has two broken tines on one side and has excessive mass. the hunt nearly killed him but i was sure glad to be there for every minute of it with him. sorry i dont have a pic to put up.

[leed]

Yes Deerlick, that was me. I was watching that one the night before one dune west of where your granddad was waiting for you both the night you got him.  The night before when I was watching the buck with the does he had them rounded up and much closer to the west access rd off of C rd. I came back that afternoon and saw that area was occupied and saw your Grandad so I went further west. I understand he got him further south. That is one of the ones I could not close the gap on before sundown. I'm glad your Dad got him.

[deerlick]

glad u got a look at him, stud of a buck, and we barely had enough light to get to him that night.

[woodywsu]

Come on. No pics BS

[bornforhorns]

Awesome write up...worthy of a magazine arcticle.  I'm also from Eburg LeeD and if my boys draw the tag I will hit you up on your offer at least for advice.

[deerlick]

ok fine heres a pic scores 173 with the boken tines on the right side

[C-Money]

Beauty! Congrats on a Giant!