Post by: MichaelJ on September 20, 2008, 08:36:20 PM
Saturday morning woke up EARLY, and hiked in to where we both agreed would be our best chance to spot a buck as we'd been seeing a LOT of tracks and had been hearing deer move constantly near camp in the middle of the night... Again we glassed till 11 or so without even spotting a deer. Hiked to the top of a different ridge, same story, we covered A LOT of ground and we hunted the area to the best of my knowledge. Still no deer.
On the way back to camp today we saw 2 more does and a spike in a timber thicket but nothing else. Granted we were only in there 3 days total, but both felt like we would be wasting another day, and I had a broken truck that needed fixing so I can drive back to school tomorrow.... So we came out tonight. Made the 11 miles in 3 1/2 hours (and damn I'm sore)! Little dissappointing but hey thats hunting.
For those of you that don't know, I scouted this area back in August for a day (mainly to get the lay of the land) and ended up spotting 7 different bucks in this drainage, 2 for sure shooters and a very questionable third. I guarantee you that we were the only people to have hiked in there since my scouting trip (atleast for the past two weeks). We couldn't figure out what would cause those bucks to move out or to hole up. But they did and thats that. Looks like it's the general season for us and maybe a ID tag for me!
Pics to follow...
Michael
Post by: ICEMAN on September 20, 2008, 08:47:15 PM
Post by: Ridgerunner on September 20, 2008, 08:51:56 PM
Post by: bucklucky on September 21, 2008, 08:32:43 AM
Post by: boneaddict on September 21, 2008, 08:49:40 AM
still fun to be out there. Then somebody like BobM posts a picture of some monster :)
Post by: MichaelJ on September 21, 2008, 12:11:32 PM
You should have stopped hiking for a minute to enjoy the :cmp1:
still fun to be out there. Then somebody like BobM posts a picture of some monster :)
We got to enjoy the comforts at night! lol Tasty MH meals and some ice cold stream water (filtered of course)! The weather was great and the scenery was pretty good to! Had some laughs and made some memories!
There's two different types of high hunts in my mind... One that you go to for the experience of hunting the high country and you plan your trip around good food, friends, and great country (mainly horse hunters come to mind here).
Then there are the people that put themselves through brutal physical routines in the months prior to the hunt, they pour over maps constantly, They sacrifice many comforts at camp to lighten their pack by 3-7 lbs, they are the ones that have one thing on their mind when they get into the high country.... To find and shoot a big buck... I felt like this was me this year. Not a whole lot of comforts but the bare essentials and what not. Thought for sure we'd atleast get INTO some bucks, not to disappointed with not harvesting one... Oh well there's always next year and the general!
Here's a few pics...
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv458%2FMoparKid69%2FSept12.jpg&hash=126ba583c52ab35bcf5294ef1672988c14cdaa10)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv458%2FMoparKid69%2FSept2.jpg&hash=037921ae7a1c2914c5fc6fd1c4e2b0d9dd96f304)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv458%2FMoparKid69%2FSept6.jpg&hash=43e3da130133367137123e54f18e955a7c48b6f5)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv458%2FMoparKid69%2FSept7.jpg&hash=244d53456e9e7de5a53c639b65d26d53733f1431)
Michael
Post by: Ray on September 21, 2008, 12:25:05 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 21, 2008, 12:36:52 PM
Michael
Post by: bowsandhose on September 21, 2008, 12:38:31 PM
Post by: high country on September 21, 2008, 01:12:57 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 21, 2008, 01:18:06 PM
Seriously my bro and I look back on it and say we gave it our all and checked off a great couple days in the high country!
Get THIS! On our hike out we ran into a guy going in solo. We started with small talk and I asked him where he was headin, he said he didn't know and was gonna find a flat spot on one of the main trails and camp and hunt. He asked where we were coming out of and I told him the 'general' area of where we were...
He then says he doesn't know where we were at and says "Well you're gonna have to show me where you were on the map..."
Then he pulls out a green trails map and asks me to point out where we were hunting!!! I couldn't believe it! I told him an area a couple miles distant and said good luck and suggested another area which I have heard good things about (which is true). But C'mon, you don't just ask a total stranger on the trail to point out where on a map he was hunting!!!! lol
Michael
Post by: crabcreekhunter on September 21, 2008, 01:25:38 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 21, 2008, 01:28:48 PM
Michael
Post by: Ray on September 21, 2008, 02:09:41 PM
Quote
He then says he doesn't know where we were at and says "Well you're gonna have to show me where you were on the map..."
Then he pulls out a green trails map and asks me to point out where we were hunting!!! I couldn't believe it! I told him an area a couple miles distant and said good luck and suggested another area which I have heard good things about (which is true). But C'mon, you don't just ask a total stranger on the trail to point out where on a map he was hunting!!!! lol
For the most part I won't tell the whole internet where I am hunting but these places are not big secrets where I go. I've shared info like that before with a fellow and didn't think much of it. However everyone has the right to keep a "secret" if they want.
Post by: MichaelJ on September 21, 2008, 02:31:34 PM
QuoteHe then says he doesn't know where we were at and says "Well you're gonna have to show me where you were on the map..."
Then he pulls out a green trails map and asks me to point out where we were hunting!!! I couldn't believe it! I told him an area a couple miles distant and said good luck and suggested another area which I have heard good things about (which is true). But C'mon, you don't just ask a total stranger on the trail to point out where on a map he was hunting!!!! lol
For the most part I won't tell the whole internet where I am hunting but these places are not big secrets where I go. I've shared info like that before with a fellow and didn't think much of it. However everyone has the right to keep a "secret" if they want.
I understand where you're coming from Ray. I asked the guy if he'd been in there before and he said he'd been to X place before but that was it. It was obvious he didn't scout and didn't really have an idea of where he wanted to hunt. I have no problem with that, but I didn't pour over maps from March till now to give up info that I've worked for and figured out to a guy that is just going in on a bonzai trip. I'm confident I was in a good area, and I'll what I can to keep my 'spots' privy to me.
I gave him a good idea of another place where I would really like to hunt one day, so I gave him so good info, but I wasn't going to point out the exact drainage of where we were...
Michael
Post by: actionshooter on September 21, 2008, 02:37:35 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 21, 2008, 02:39:46 PM
Michael
Post by: missinmt on September 21, 2008, 07:20:27 PM
Post by: PacificNWhunter on September 21, 2008, 09:18:01 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 22, 2008, 07:34:05 AM
Even though you did not bag a monster, it still seem's like you had a great time. Anytime in the woods is better then being in school for sure. You planning on going back up there for general? I'm headed out Tues for one last scouting trip/vaction!! Nice pic's too!
I'm thinking about it... actually I have a different area I want to hunt but we'll see how that goes. All depends on how I can get away from school! Maybe interested in doing the late whitetail hunt in Nov.... Not sure yet!
Michael
Post by: FireMedic on September 22, 2008, 06:06:54 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 22, 2008, 07:25:56 PM
I need to quit bitchin about the hunt and realize I'm damn lucky to be able to hike my ass 35 miles in 3 days for hunting... :bash:
Michael
Post by: Ryan on September 22, 2008, 08:15:54 PM
Post by: Redmist on September 22, 2008, 11:31:05 PM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 23, 2008, 01:16:14 AM
Sorry that area didn't pan out for you Michael. It didn't work 2 years ago for a very good experienced big game hunter ( fairly new to the GPW ) friend of mine either. He didn't see anything all season. He was so miffed he packed up and went back to Alpine and killed some good bucks and saw some great bucks. I've looked at that area with Crab and it certainly looked good in August, but we didn't glass deer on scouting trips around there either, except for the south ridges and chutes. By the looks of the photos, I'd like to slip a paddle tire onto CR250 and do some roosting on that dry dirt. By chance did you climb to the top of that basins western ridge and glass down the other side into those lush green shaded chutes? Are you going to school in Idaho?
I know what you mean about the area looking good and only finding bucks in the chutes and slides... That's exactly where I saw the bucks in August, and thought for sure they'd still be there. Was even more surprised when we figured we were the ONLY people to hit up that drainage for the season. Was hoping some bucks would get pushed in there, but I guess not...
Nah, we never made it to that western ridge, I'm sure you know why... I've never made it into that country actually. This was really my first year hitting the GPW hard with scouting maps and areas to hunt, and taking a scouting trip in for the high hunt. The last two years I've hunted archery for deer so never really made it into the highcountry...
Yep I'm at the University of Idaho! Love it here! Still debating on whether I should get my residency here or not... I need to check out the surrounding areas more which I plan to do here soon... Being able to buy a bull tag over the counter sure is nice though! As well as getting to hunt the whitetail rut!!!
Michael
Post by: high country on September 23, 2008, 05:06:08 AM
Post by: MichaelJ on September 23, 2008, 10:59:59 AM
Michael