Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: Karl Blanchard on October 08, 2014, 10:29:50 PM
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Well I figured I better get this thing started since the animals and pics are already piling up and it hasn't even gotten busy yet. Since most pics are on my phone I will keep the typing to a minimum and the pics on the heavy side.
September 1st finds me and another buddy in my usual deer haunts. Pre season scouting has turned up some good deer, one in particular has my attention. I had lots of close calls but as of archery and muzzy season, he is still very alive. First live shot is him. My buddy got an arrow in a good 3x4 right off the bat opening morning for his first archery kill and his first arrow ever released at an animal. He was pumped!
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Next few weeks were spent hunting with Coach for his raffle bull but his standards were too high so I abandoned him for some muzzy deer hunting with guys who aren't so picky :chuckle:
Long story short, the group went 4 for 5 on bucks and with a little drive time to another area, 3 second doe tags were filled. 7 deer in a day and a half. Don't really have details on all the guys and how their hunts played out so I apologize for lack of stories. Don't have field photos from everyone either.
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Now for some elk action! The rut was hot and heavy last week! Took some time to hunt with some good friends on some good tags. My good friend Phil drew a bull tag after many years of applying. He had never killed a bull so his goal was a mature 6pt and a memorable hunt. He got both in a basin full of screaming bulls, when after a steep climb, some broken branches, and some lost cow sounds from a very special call, a good 6pt came trotting into 35 yards and screamed in his face! It was more than his old heart could take so he touched of the smoke pole and that was it! It was all a rut hunt should be! Kifaru is getting a workout this season so far. It was hot so I decided to push and get it all out in two loads. First pack was both hind quarters boned, back strap, tenderloin. 118lbs weighed.
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Nice work! Keep it rolling!
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Saturday found me in the elk woods once again. This time hunting with my dad, sister in law, Buckmasterwa (Dan) and his dad. They all had cow tags. Hunting was tough. It was hot, and the elk were in the thick nasty. Dan's dad is disabled and has a companion card so the plan was to try and do some stuff that he could participate in. We found a steep, deep, narrow, canyon with some good trails side sloping along it. The plan was to still hunt it with me towards the bottom and Dan's dad up top where the walking was easier. I was throwing out lost cow sounds from time to time on my very special elk call, and as I approached a small string of timber I received an answer! I kept going forward to get the wind a bit better and called again. He sounded of once again. This time I moved once more, set up, called and then shut up. He came on a string, bugling and then mewing as he came. At 25yds he hung up behind some trees. Finally instead of continuing on his path that would have led him to me and offered a broadside, he turns and comes straight through the trees, stopping underneath the branches. No shot!!! One little chirp and he sticks his head out from underneath the limbs. I don't look a gift horse in the mouth but I will shoot an elk in the head! One shot to the brain at 10yds and it was all over.
We were pretty bummed that Dan's dad couldn't get it done for himself but he could care less! He had a pile of elk meat and he didn't have to endure the back pain of bouncing up the mountain roads another day.
This was a hard evening for me. See, this particular canyon was the last place Aaron and I ever hunted together. It was déjà vu! We lost cow called in a cow and Aaron had shot her at close range. Cool breeze kissing the sweat on our necks, sun dissapearing behind a pink haze of mountain sky. I remember as we crested the rim of the canyon we took a short break to admire the view. We talked of the days hunt and of future plans. It was one of the most perfect days I think I will ever experience chasing big game.
Now here I was staring at the same horizon, feeling the same winds, smelling the same sage and pine, feeling the same weight of elk meat on my back, but no Aaron. It was more than I could handle. I collapsed in a pile of camo and elk quarters and just sobbed. Elk hunting for me will never be the same.
After a few minutes, I dusted myself off, hoisted my ass out of the rocks, and finished my climb. Dan met me towards the top to make sure I hadn't got lost or something and again had another moment with a man I consider as close to a brother as a friend can get. I don't ever take his friendship for granted and feel very fortunate that I get to share so many great hunts with him.
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Next up is rifle deer season. Hoping to go 6 for 6. Actually 7 for 6 since Dan's wife has a second doe tag. Stay tuned........
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Yes you did! ;) Awesome pics and animals :tup:
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Karl,
Outstanding job! I told you time and time again, shoot them in the face they dont take another step!!
I to have been packing around a Special Call.. When Im in the woods it is always with me!!! Never Forget!!
Keep up the great work! Its my time to squeeze the trigger!!!
Getsum..
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Karl,
Outstanding job! I told you time and time again, shoot them in the face they dont take another step!!
I to have been packing around a Special Call.. When Im in the woods it is always with me!!! Never Forget!!
Keep up the great work! Its my time to squeeze the trigger!!!
Getsum..
. Only two in the world my friend!!!! GETSUM!
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Well played! :tup:
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very nice :tup: :tup:
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Congrats pal ... just keep your legs fresh you may get a call.
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Gotta love these posts :tup:
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Great stuff boys. Great stuff.
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Some great animals. Congrats
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Thanks for sharing.
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I guesss I will add my 2014 hunting stories to this thread. So because ima procrastinator, I failed to purchase my multi-season deer tag in time and got stuck with a modern rifle deer tag. But beings that I love to hunt( And watch friends harvest game) I still went on the hunt with everyone during muzzleloader season. I took the elder gentleman from camp and put him on 7 different legal bucks. 3 of which we got within 150 yards of and he missed every time. Oh well, he had a ton of fun and hopefully he will connect during the late season. He was able to fill his second deer tag with a nice fat dry doe that he shot at 50 yards. There were bucks all over the property that we hunt, so hopefully I can connect with my rifle.
Opening weekend of elk. First thing opening day, I decided to pass on a 50 yard shot through some brush at a lone cow. Then later that day (about 2pm) We decided to do the hunt down through the canyon. I told my dad that he is a lucky man to be able to place Karls name on his companion card because Karl is very succesfull at both finding elk and at harvesting them. So we do this little hike and of course Karl finds a lone bull and shoots him in the face at 10 yards. Then Karl and I got to pack that sucker out of the steep canyon in 75 degree heat. That was less than pleasant. I was very happy to have Karl there to assist with the pack out. Even though he is probably the smallest guy in our hunting group, he can pack more weight than anyone else, it is crazy to see a man climb out of hell holes with a pack that weighs more than 1/3 of his own body weight. He is a beast.
Karl and I did not get to hunt together much last year because of my new job, and I truly feel that we are both much more succesfull when hunting together then we are when hunting solo. But, This year it is on like donkey kong and we are goin to tag some stud bucks in Montana. Pics to follow.
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I'm glad you got it done, Karl. And you had to deal with the pain. I hope it gets easier for you and that you can enjoy the memories you shared hunting with your brother. We all miss him, too. :tup: Thanks for the write up.
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Awesome season for you so far. Thanks for sharing.
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That's just awesome! Thanks for sharing! An amazing season so far!
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Shaky opener for me and the wife. My son had another seizure on Thursday (first one in months) so we were gonna stay home. We got him on seizure med and the doctor said he would be fine so we decided to go and just take him with. He did great! He rode in momma's pack the whole time and had a blast! My knife and pack were very busy this weekend! My wife shot her Buck Saturday evening in the middle of a horrible dust storm. I promised her that you can't kill deer from camp and if she just kept stepping it would always pan out. She made a good shot with a solid 40mph cross wind. I was very proud of her. We had dirt everywhere! I mean EVERYWHERE!!! I even had dirt in the crack of my as..........ah.............never mind. :chuckle: Ended up 5-6 for the weekend plus a second doe tag filled. We need some rain bad!!!!! I'm sure Dan will chime in with some story and more pics as well. Congrats to all the successful hunters out there this weekend, enjoy the fresh venison!
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Damn Karl, I'm pretty sure I'll have start hunting with you and dan . :chuckle:
Congrats on the season :tup:
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way to prevail buddy ! glad you got the family out . next time hide the hi fence ! :chuckle:
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Awesome!!
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Just another year of going to bangoville for ol' BLR... :tup:
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Awesome thread. We have our first coming in January and found out that its going to be a boy. Seeing pictures like this make me that much more excited to be out in the woods with him in a couple years. I would wish you good luck on your hunts but it appears that you wont be needing any of that!
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Shaky opener for me and the wife. My son had another seizure on Thursday (first one in months) so we were gonna stay home. We got him on seizure med and the doctor said he would be fine so we decided to go and just take him with. He did great! He rode in momma's pack the whole time and had a blast! My knife and pack were very busy this weekend! My wife shot her Buck Saturday evening in the middle of a horrible dust storm. I promised her that you can't kill deer from camp and if she just kept stepping it would always pan out. She made a good shot with a solid 40mph cross wind. I was very proud of her. We had dirt everywhere! I mean EVERYWHERE!!! I even had dirt in the crack of my as..........ah.............never mind. :chuckle: Ended up 5-6 for the weekend plus a second doe tag filled. We need some rain bad!!!!! I'm sure Dan will chime in with some story and more pics as well. Congrats to all the successful hunters out there this weekend, enjoy the fresh venison!
great thread!! looks like you have had an awesome season! i gotta ask where you got the pack to put the little guy in??
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Shaky opener for me and the wife. My son had another seizure on Thursday (first one in months) so we were gonna stay home. We got him on seizure med and the doctor said he would be fine so we decided to go and just take him with. He did great! He rode in momma's pack the whole time and had a blast! My knife and pack were very busy this weekend! My wife shot her Buck Saturday evening in the middle of a horrible dust storm. I promised her that you can't kill deer from camp and if she just kept stepping it would always pan out. She made a good shot with a solid 40mph cross wind. I was very proud of her. We had dirt everywhere! I mean EVERYWHERE!!! I even had dirt in the crack of my as..........ah.............never mind. :chuckle: Ended up 5-6 for the weekend plus a second doe tag filled. We need some rain bad!!!!! I'm sure Dan will chime in with some story and more pics as well. Congrats to all the successful hunters out there this weekend, enjoy the fresh venison!
great thread!! looks like you have had an awesome season! i gotta ask where you got the pack to put the little guy in??
Its a Kelty. Picked it up off of Craigslist back when my wife was prego with our first kid. It has been a great pack. We use it a bunch. I have also just stuck him in my Kifaru on a few hikes this year as well. Not as comfortable for him for the longer outings though.
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Really enjoyed the read. Thanks
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Thank you for following along so far. Washington is the "warm up" hunts. The real bone will start hitting the dirt on November 1st. My dad and I leave for Colorado on Oct 28th for a week, then home for a week, then off to Montana for another week.
Montana is going to be extra special because my baby brother, who I haven't been able to hunt with for over 5 years will be joining us! He is with the 75th Ranger Regiment and is currently overseas. He gets back the end of this month and then will fly into Spokane where we will pick him up on the way to the killing fields! Words cannot describe how excited I am to see him :whoo: I have assembled a highly skilled team of deer assasins for Colorado and Montana this year, it should be good! :chuckle:
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Way to whack and stack :tup: :tup: Congrats to the hunters
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Nice work. :tup:
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I finally have some spare time to add to the annual Buckmaster_wa/BLRman SLAYFEST Thread. So just a few days before the opener of rifle season, I opened up the current issue of Northwest Sportsmans Magazine. Inside the magazine I found a full page picture of my wife with her really nice 2013 Muley buck. I showed this to my wife and let me tell you, It added fuel to the fire. She was all ready to drop the hammer on another buck this year.
Opening morning rolls around. My wife is at my side. I have a tag of my own to fill, but my goal is to put her on a buck first and then worry about filling my tag. We had seen 8 legal bucks by 830 am but none of them had presented a shot for my wife. I finally watched a group of deer( with a good 3 point buck in the mix) head into a canyon that the deer usually hold up in. My wife and I decided that I would hike up and around to the top of the canyon and work my way down towards her at the bottom of the canyon. As I crested the top edge of the canyon, i spotted a lone buck bedded down on an open hillside. One shot with the .300 win mag and the buck rolled over in his bed kicked a couple times and was done. As I gathered all my gear and took about 5 steps forward to go retrieve my buck. I look down into the canyon below me, and there is a really wide 3pt buck staring up at me from about 100 yards away. The buck runs off. I get ahold of my wife on the radio and tell her to meet me at the head of the canyon as I have got my buck.
As we got to the truck with our gear, my wife spotted a group of deer headed towards us. We had just heard a shot from that direction just a minute prior to seeing the deer. Upon closer inspection, I could see that one of the deer was a buck and he had been hit in the front leg. Long story short. The pukes that are a disgrace for hunters, did not even think about following up on the buck that they wounded. They turned around and walked back up to the knob that they were sitting on. So my wife and I made a move on the buck. We were able to crawl within 75 yards of the bedded buck. and my wife put him down for good. Pics to follow.
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My wifes buck. Three consecutive successful years for her.
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Where's austins buck??
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The second weekend of modern season I took my dad and nephew over to the property. My nephew made a great 388 yard shot on his buck.
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Very nice!! He's a good kid!!
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Glad you took time from saving the world to post some pics and story finally! Good girl! :chuckle:
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Loaded the truck last night and got on the road by 4pm today. Currently it is 0300 and I am just south of Snowville Utah! Colorado bound!!!!! Hope to have some more dead deer pics come Saturday evening!
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Goodluck karl!
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Don't usually fill my tag on day one but I just couldn't resist! Horrible pack out in some treacherous country but I made it out safe! The Kifaru is earning its keep this year! Now to find my dad a buck!
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Don't usually fill my tag on day one but I just couldn't resist! Horrible pack out in some treacherous country but I made it out safe! The Kifaru is earning its keep this year! Now to find my dad a buck!
And a stud buck at that, congrats buddy :tup:
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That is a day one buck for sure. Good job, find a buck for your dad before the thin air starts to get to you.
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That is a day one buck for sure. Good job, find a buck for your dad before the thin air starts to get to you.
Too late! It whooped my butt yesterday for 4 grueling miles! :chuckle:
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Congrats Karl. Looks like a smoker buck.
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That is a day one buck for sure. Good job, find a buck for your dad before the thin air starts to get to you.
Too late! It whooped my butt yesterday for 4 grueling miles! :chuckle:
I bet, it doesn't take long for the lack of air to take it out of you.
Keep at it and remember, pain is temporary, big bucks on the wall are forever. Getsum!
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way to go buddy !
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Blrman in Colorado is having a good trip. Bad cell service so he asked me to post.(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftapatalk.imageshack.com%2Fv2%2F14%2F11%2F04%2F139deeda1dda78f3486bc9feedee5ed1.jpg&hash=4a9d09de064077ed4e32605131bf41e7d523bd56)(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftapatalk.imageshack.com%2Fv2%2F14%2F11%2F04%2F22043bfd7b9577a072934696d538c691.jpg&hash=3ed935768438b99af800ce7b45a1ec02fc23b311)
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Looks like he found one for his dad, or is that someone else's in the party?
Congrats to whoever shot the second one on the right, nice buck, hopefully it was an easier pack out than the one on the left.
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fuel that bitch up and head north :tup:
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:tup:
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Starting to stack up in camp. 3 more tags left to fill.
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very cool and great harvest! :tup:
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Dandy bucks :tup:
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Well it was a looong week in Colorado! Weather was hot, and no rut activity made for tough hunting. Everyone tagged out but it was some hard miles to do it. The bad part about tagging out on day one is you become the human pack mule for the week! 9 days of humping deer meat at 10k feet has got me a bit tired. Few of the guys took off so we weren't able to get a pic with all the bucks but here are a few with the latest bucks, and one of me at 12k feet!
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Karl's got the most meat !
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Karl lives for the selfie pack shot!
Great job pal!
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Amazing year!! ...again.
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Nice harvest congrats to all
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Thank you everyone. We are just getting going! Leaving for Montana on Friday and it is looking like the weather and rut are going to be perfect! :IBCOOL: We have a larger camp than normal this year with my baby brother flying in to hunt and a few buddies who hunt basically the same dirt as we do will be there the same time so we are camping together. Goal is for a 150" average for the group of 8 of us. I think we can do it.
After we get back from Montana, my dad and I will take off for a few days of late muzzy to fill our Washington deer tags and my second doe tag. Then I am gonna get real serius about trying to find a bruiser buck for Coach to shoot. I will have a few days of comp time left and plan on burning it all in December looking for a wall hanger.
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I will have a few days of comp time left
You must've started with a giant pile of it!!! Me jelly... :'(
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Had a great trip to Montana last week. Trophy bucks were non existent, but deer and pheasant were plentiful! For the first time in the better part of a decade I was able to hunt with my baby brother! He got lots of trigger time, bagging a few coyotes, multiple roosters, and his biggest buck to date. In order to have a Buck down, boned, cut and vacuum sealed, and frozen for his trip home, we needed to get a buck on the ground by Wednesday evening. I shot a meat buck on wednesday so we could process it for him and also to allow him an extra day to hunt. It worked perfect and he killed his deer on the last day.
Michael has had a whirlwind of an Army career so far. Upon graduation from College he attended language school, where he learned Pashto. From there it was off to Ranger school and then immediately up to Anchorage where he deployed for the first time as a Platoon leader, where he earned a Bronze Star. After returning, he applied to Ranger Regiment, was accepted, attended RASP (Ranger Assessment Selection Program) and was assigned to 3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment where he again deployed. With all of that crammed into 4years it didn't leave much time to hunt and his fire for the pursuit of big game had dwindled. My goal on this trip was to fan those flames and get my hunting buddy back! I think it worked because he is going goose hunting with some buddies this weekend and is already talking about next years hunt options. He again deploys back to Afghanistan in April (bad month around the Blanchard house) and will have leave in September so I'm thinking Archery elk in Montana or Idaho.
I still have my Washington multi season deer tag and a second doe tag to fill in the next few weeks and then Slayfest 2014 will be in the books and then research and planning for Slayfest 2015 will begin.
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Could be my favorite field photo ever!
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Me with the world record typical mule deer at the B&C headquarters in Missoula Montana. Pictures cannot do this animal justice! 226" of pure awesome!!!
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Almost forgot some roosters!
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I don't have everyone's individual field photo's but here are a few I do have.
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Your second to last pic, red face or not I recognize him! not sure about west valley slumming with selah/whoville. Even if he lives cle elum now
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Wow! Looks like a great season so far! Congrats on all the great animals!
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Your second to last pic, red face or not I recognize him! not sure about west valley slumming with selah/whoville. Even if he lives cle elum now
lol! Ya he's got facial hair like you! Haha! How was Idaho?
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Awesome season :tup:
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Good job ! :tup: