Stormking by Mineral

[janttihunter]

Any one hunt around Mineral before? Its my first year hunting blacktail, I just moved from east coast. I live in Puyallup.Im working my butt off scouting, researching, reading Boyd Iverson Blacktail books...The woods are thick over here, and these deer are not like whitetail...I see some sign, I found a couple bedding areas and there is no way im getting in there quietly in the dark lol...Im goinh to set up a tree stand on a well used trail going toward a food source for my evening spot..Im not feeling real confident though...Any suggestions? Is that area heavily hunted during early muzzy?

Thanks

[Eli346]

 A lot of deer up there and the hunters are thick too. That's going to be the case almost anywhere you go hunting in Washington but it won't be quite as crowded during muzzy as it would be in modern firearm.

[throttlejocky20]

I hope you did your research on a tree stand spot. You can sit in a tree every day of the season all day and not see one of these blackies with bone on their head. They are hard to hunt but extremley fun as well. Spot and stalk in big timber is what I like doing the most!

[coonhound]

I live in that area and I'm sorry to say the deer populations are very low...we've had a few very tough and long winters along with hair loss syndrome and predation I believe the deer are almost at an all time low in our area.  There certainly are some deer and a few bucks are being killed but no where near the numbers we used to see 5+ years ago.  I'm very concerned, I'm hoping for an easy winter this year.

To put it into perspective, I walk a lot around home trying to keep in shape for the hunt....I use to see 10+ deer on an evening walk of 5 miles or so, now I might see 3 or 4 deer in a week of walking.

Coon

[MLBowhunting]

Sounds like you have a spot.  Yeah the deer are not as they use to be but there are some there.  Have a cougar tag in hand you may just see one

[tony04]

I think you'll have better luck on the ground slowly working your way through the timber. A tree stand would be better suited during the rut. Not saying it won't work though.  Move slowly, stopping frequently to look.  Sometimes it will take me an hour to move 50 yards. But if your hunting reprod then that tactic obviously won't work. I only hunt timber

[Crunchy]

I used to hunt that area as well.  Not far from Carlson.  Used to have the area to myself it seemed, but now more and more hunters.  I would guess a high number of cougars have killed a lot of the deer cause you just dont see the deer numbers anymore.  There are some dandies but you have to do your homework.  Good glass or nice spotting scope would go a long way.  There are spots you can glass for miles. 

[janttihunter]

Ya I havnt seen a deer in there yet....But I am seeing fresh sign..And I did find a spot where im sure an old buck is beding but its up a STEEP ridge through blackberries and impossible to hunt..I am seeing allot of cougar and bear scat....and I think coyote tracks...

Im planning on stalk/still hunting mostly, but I just have a hunch about this one spot as an evening spot and theres a perfect place for a treestand, and I have one..So figure might as well set it up..

So any advice on a different area? different GMU? I was thinking 652 because its any deer and its my first year hunting here..But seems to be mostly private land..

[trophyhunt]

652 is mostly private, I would consider next year getting the hancock pass. There is a ton of property that you have access to and if you do some scouting you should find a place to call home in there. It is expensive but you do get 3 cords of wood with the pass if you need it, if not you can always sell the wood to help pay for your pass.  They usually sell out quick, and go on sale the first of December. The deer number in there have gone down also, it's not as good as it used to be but that is a common thing since the cougar and bear hunting have been changed and limited.  A mature Blacktail is the toughest animal you can hunt, I took my first 4 point a couple years ago and that was after many, many years of trying. You can take spikes every year if you want, but you have to pass up the small ones to get a crack at the bigger ones. I have friends that hunt stormking every year for many years, they have had shots at the big guys but only a few in a long time. One frustrating thing for them is people or employees driving on locked roads when they hiked many miles to get back to their spot. There are big ones waiting for you but you need a lot of patience and you have to let the smaller ones walk by. Good luck with blacktails, they really piss me off sometimes!!

[deerslyr]

I used to hunt tahoma state forest (I think thats what its called) out of ashford. Its basically the back side of mineral. Used to be lots of deer in there and a few elk. Not sure any more though. Really cool area regardless. 652 has very little public land. You may want to scout 667 and 654 to get ready for late season deer. You can also hunt those areas during early season elk which will give you a better feel for the area come deer season.

[deerslyr]

652 is mostly private, I would consider next year getting the hancock pass. There is a ton of property that you have access to and if you do some scouting you should find a place to call home in there. It is expensive but you do get 3 cords of wood with the pass if you need it, if not you can always sell the wood to help pay for your pass. 

I dont think you can sell the wood you can get from hancock.

[trophyhunt]

652 is mostly private, I would consider next year getting the hancock pass. There is a ton of property that you have access to and if you do some scouting you should find a place to call home in there. It is expensive but you do get 3 cords of wood with the pass if you need it, if not you can always sell the wood to help pay for your pass. 

I dont think you can sell the wood you can get from hancock.

I wouldn't go and tell them you are selling it, but it's really none of their business what you do with the wood that they let you have, since they regulate how much you take now.

[summit creek]

i own and operate summit creek taxidermy right under storm king mountain i know the west side of the unit better than anyone ive lived in the same spot going on 13 years hard winters to say the least like 4 feet of snow here at the shop alot of the winter theres huge bucks in this unit cause of the reprod and roughf terain dont let those issues get to you if you hunt early muzzy deer in this unit and dont!! tell anyone were your at you have a real good chance at a big 3or4point buck and the horns on these bucks are heavy as well and usually have a eye guard on the left side only but have seen 4x4s with eye guards on each side if your hunting muzzy deter tdont forget u t667 its steep as well and open the late season till december 6th this is a good unit as well the bigest buck ive ever killed came out of 667 late season if i can help you out in any way call me at home at 360 492 0522 shane at summitcreek taxidermy but i cant tell u my secret spots!!!

[janttihunter]

Thanks shane. sounds good.