Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: buckbrush on December 06, 2008, 06:54:58 AM

Title: Benchbucks
Post by: buckbrush on December 06, 2008, 06:54:58 AM: Anybody hear of "benchbucks"? Just wondering if this was a local term used where I grew up or it is used in other areas.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: boneaddict on December 06, 2008, 07:04:55 AM: I guess I have heard of bench-leg but not just short benchbucks.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: sportsman002001 on December 06, 2008, 07:22:36 AM: I would have to guess they are meaning bench leg bucks. They are found down around White Salmon and on the back side of White pass and I am sure many other places. They are deer that are cross bread with Muley and Blacktail. That is what I have always heard when I hear of a bench leg buck.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: archery288 on December 06, 2008, 07:25:04 AM: Quote from: sportsman002001 on December 06, 2008, 07:22:36 AM
I would have to guess they are meaning bench leg bucks. They are found down around White Salmon and on the back side of White pass and I am sure many other places. They are deer that are cross bread with Muley and Blacktail. That is what I have always heard when I hear of a bench leg buck.

Same meaning, and they are on the West side of the mtns as well.... I think the term is meant more for the ones on the west side then the ones on the eastside of the pass... Pretty much related to the deer around the Pacific Crest Trail...
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: 270Shooter on December 06, 2008, 08:19:49 AM: In the state record books aren't they called Cascade Blacktailed deer? We have them in Klickitat county and most of western yakima county.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: boneaddict on December 06, 2008, 08:27:44 AM: Just a classification of the deer harvested in that zone. THey can be pureblood muley and or blacktail and still be considered that. At least in regards to the state, Boone hasn't gone that far. Benchlegs are pretty obvious crossbred deer usually.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: fishunt247 on December 06, 2008, 10:50:41 AM: I don't want to start anythng, but in the washington books there is a buck that I heard was shot in the yakima canyon above roza dam (Peyser's wifes buck) that is entered as a cascade blacktail. And there are a bunch of deer entered from yakima co. Either I misread the boundaries or something, cause that doesn't make any sense to me. Does anybody know more on this?
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: boneaddict on December 06, 2008, 10:53:01 AM: As far as I knew, that wasn't in the boundary. I killed one up on the top of Bethel and though it was obviously a benchleg...mostly blacktail, it had to be entered as a Mule deer.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: blacktail luv on December 06, 2008, 10:59:48 AM: I live in White Salmon and i know our deer here are classified as the cascade blacktails, even though most of them look like pure bread blackies, to me. I know the mule deer line is the greyback unit, which is more or less the klickitat river about ten miles east of me. Once you get east of the town of lyle the deer definately have some mulie in them, there racks look different as do there bodies. Most of them still have the "blacktail" not a tail like a mule deer.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: 270Shooter on December 06, 2008, 12:23:13 PM: Nearly all of the deer I see in the cowiche unit are benchlegs. Look at the tail on this doe.
(http://C:\Documents and Settings\Shelly\My Documents\My Pictures\deer and hunting\doe crop1.JPG)
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: Ridgerunner on December 06, 2008, 02:14:20 PM: 99% of the deer I've seen in bumping and rimrock units were benchlegs.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: flyguide on December 07, 2008, 01:42:06 PM: I would say that the Ellensburg area is about 50% Benchlag/50% Mule Deer, lots of overlap here.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: bankwalker on December 07, 2008, 02:37:58 PM: Quote from: flyguide on December 07, 2008, 01:42:06 PM
I would say that the Ellensburg area is about 50% Benchlag/50% Mule Deer, lots of overlap here.

ive never seen any buck or doe in the e-burg area that i would call a benchleg. but i have seen quite a few in the snoqualmie pass area that were a forsure cross.

i had a couple does and a small 3pt jump infront of me and a semi this season and the semi hit the buck. i had to stop and check it out and the rack was very small just like a blacktail 3pt but it had a mulie tail. ive never seen a 3pt or even a 2pt mulie with a rack so small. so imo it had to be a benchleg
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: boneaddict on December 07, 2008, 02:43:13 PM: HE is about right....depending on what side of E burg you are standing. Those in the Naneum are muleys or tend to be, those up Manastash and Robinson are often benchlegs.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: Red Dawg on December 07, 2008, 03:04:42 PM: Here is a roman nose with a black tail.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: 270Shooter on December 07, 2008, 03:38:51 PM: I think the deer in the Yakima Canyon are 50/50 benchlegs and muleys. Atleast thats what I saw. You don't get over to 100% muley until you are east of I-82, generally speaking :twocents:.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: Jason on December 07, 2008, 04:13:11 PM: I hunt the White Salmon area for deer and I have never seen any bench bucks there,you start seeing them more east of Goldendale.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: bankwalker on December 07, 2008, 04:28:37 PM: Quote from: boneaddict on December 07, 2008, 02:43:13 PM
HE is about right....depending on what side of E burg you are standing. Those in the Naneum are muleys or tend to be, those up Manastash and Robinson are often benchlegs.

ive seen a couple of pure mulies in manastash, had a shot at a big 5x5 with my 44mag and missed. but about 80% of the bucks ive seen taken west/north of the teanum creek road (manastash-teanum boundry) have been benchlegs. its easy to tell when you see a pure mulie verse benchleg. i think anyway. we've seen some big benchlegs along the freeway by tinkham road on i-90 aswell.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: Red Dawg on December 07, 2008, 04:31:01 PM: I have hunted bench's all over the place. I would say they are the most crossed up in the clemans area. When you are in G-dale and west of there you will see them once in a great while but not to often. Although I have seen some really good X bucks near the white salmon area up in the rattlesnake while hunting with a muzzleloader. Bench's are my fav to hunt because the big ones ( although few and far between ) generaly have great mass and dark antlers. that is my favorite rack. Most of you have seen this buck but I will post it again. The first pick looked more like a muley as this one has more blacktail traits.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: bobcat on December 07, 2008, 04:37:04 PM: Quote from: Jason on December 07, 2008, 04:13:11 PM
I hunt the White Salmon area for deer and I have never seen any bench bucks there,you start seeing them more east of Goldendale.

I thought east of Goldendale is where you first start getting into pure mulies. We just hunted in the Klickitat area a couple weeks ago and most all of the deer we saw appeared to be mule deer/blacktail crosses (don't really care for the term "benchleg.") Some definitely appeared more like mule deer and some more blacktail like, but none that I could say were all muley, or all blacktail.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: fc2038 on December 07, 2008, 05:09:41 PM: Western Klickitat has been benchbucks for us. As long as my family has been hunting their we have always refered to the deer in that area as benchbucks. They have always seemed to us a cross. West of Goldendale and east of Trout Lake area. IMO :twocents:
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: JBabcock on December 07, 2008, 07:57:06 PM: Both of these came out of the Rimrock area. They looked more like Blacktails than Muledeer. We've always called them Hybrids or Blacktail/Muledeer cross. Big one was 1995, and the other was 1992. Nope, I don't smoke anymore ;)

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv489%2FJBabcock%2FBlacktailMuledeercross9631.jpg&hash=7d0c68aa32d4c908abed4effa6fcb0bae33b35cc)

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv489%2FJBabcock%2F1stBigOne.jpg&hash=fc7ac577e8160db2a20b82ecf5a0f25247371f3f)
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: 270Shooter on December 07, 2008, 08:51:03 PM: Nice bucks JBabcock Those are really nice for the Rimrock area.
Title: Re: Benchbucks
Post by: fishunt247 on December 08, 2008, 01:24:38 PM: Both of the bucks I have shot the last two years in ellensburg (teanaway) have been as pure mule deer as I've ever seen. And I've hunted goldendale my whole life and it seems the farther west you go the more blacktail characteristics they have, but even east of 97 the deer still have blacktail in them. All three bucks my family killed in down there this year had mule deer type racks, but broad black tails. But who knows, mostly anywhere in central washington there is going to be some form of mixing I think.