Post by: kabusroe on October 30, 2018, 11:31:11 AM
Post by: Woodchuck on October 30, 2018, 11:32:44 AM
Post by: kabusroe on October 30, 2018, 11:36:38 AM
Post by: Woodchuck on October 30, 2018, 11:39:47 AM
Post by: Bill W on October 30, 2018, 12:12:18 PM
Post by: throttlejocky20 on October 30, 2018, 12:30:59 PM
Post by: Humptulips on October 30, 2018, 12:55:08 PM
This would have been maybe thirty years ago. I had snares out for coyotes and was before the time of break away devices commonly use with snares so that deer and elk can self release. Even at that an elk should be able to break a snare off at the snare lock but this cow did not probably because I had about 15 feet of snare extensions attached to a cascara tree that had some give so the elk never got a good pull.
When I showed up the elk was standing in an about thirty foot catch circle. Unlike the fella with the deer I knew I did not want tangle directly but had to turn her loose. I managed to lasso her which was no easy feat as I am not a cowboy. I then threaded the rope through a cascara clump. Then the tug of war started. At first it seemed hopeless but as I pulled the rope cut off her air and over the course of about 15 minutes she became weaker. I finally managed to get her close enough to tie her to the cascara. She was snared by a back foot so I now had her stretched out. I went around and reached in and got my pliers under the snare and cut it off. She was not happy about me being behind her but was slowly succumbing to lack of air and getting more docile.
I then went around and reached through the cascara clump and cut the lasso off her neck. All this had probably taken two hours by now so there were a lot of missteps along the way and I had a bunch of ropes wires and stuff scattered around. I wanted her to leave but she would not leave the catch circle. I guess she had trained herself to the leash.
I was a little afraid of her but took a few runs at her with my arms waving and on the third try she jumped outside the catch circle and realized she was free and took off.
Stories about turning cougars loose will wait until another day.
Post by: rasbo on October 30, 2018, 04:03:31 PM
Post by: fishnfur on October 30, 2018, 08:10:04 PM
Post by: bigmacc on November 01, 2018, 01:28:17 PM
I think I,ve told this story before but many years ago a rancher friend of mine and myself found a big rutted up, grey faced, roman nosed buck stuck brisket deep in mud up at Sullivans pond up towards Ramsey creek over in the Methow, it was about the 2nd or 3rd week in November if I remember right :dunno:. The big buck(and I mean big!) was struggling pretty good and the more he did the worse off he became. We had no idea of how long he,d been there but it looked like awhile, he was getting pretty exhausted. What was interesting was his harem or his herd were all on the hill watching the struggle from about 70 or 80 yards away, there were about 14 does and 3 other smaller bucks just watching, they had no regard at all for us. We sat there watching the ordeal for awhile and both decided he wasn't going to get out on his own and what a shame it would be for the old monarch to go like that after all he had probably seen and been through. We went into action. My friend had his lasso rope with him on his horse, he rode up to about 20 ft away give or take and the big buck started really thrashing, my buddy waited a minute or so for the buck to rest then let it fly, got him around his rack on the first toss. My buddy did a quick wrap around the saddle horn and put his horse in reverse, pulled the buck into some solid turf but during the struggle the rope had gotten extremely tangled in his rack and my friend had to cut the rope as short as he could safely do it. The buck took off like it was shot out of a cannon with the remainder of the rope flying in the breeze :chuckle:. We sat down and enjoyed a couple beers and wondered what the look on the face of the fella that found those sheds would be :chuckle:
Post by: bigmacc on November 01, 2018, 02:31:01 PM
Just thought of another one. Back in the 50,s and 60,s my great grandparents were pretty close with the Game dept. guys in the Methow and when I was little I remember my great grandpa taking me to "deer roundups" a few times, they would let grandpa know when they were doing one and we would head up there. One of them (once again :chuckle:) was up in the Sullivans pond area. They used to put big poles in the ground and put up big nets all around it, I remember them being pretty good sized and kind of shaped like a funnel. Sometimes helicopters were used to drive small herds into the trap and sometimes guys on horses would be used and most of the time both were used including people spread out around the entrance banging pots and pans to get the deer to run into the opening. I remember once in the pen some were roped and tranquilized then tagged. I remember sitting on a hill with my dad and grandpa and watching it all unfold from above, If I remember right they did them in early spring before the spring migration back up to the summer range. I remember there were literally thousands of deer that would stage in that Sullivans pond area before the spring migration and I mean thousands! Really sad what it has become.
Post by: bigmacc on November 01, 2018, 02:34:47 PM
Thats it for me and "roping deer" stories. Got lots of other old Methow stories but I,m tapping out on the deer roping :chuckle:
Post by: no.cen.wa on November 01, 2018, 02:45:48 PM
Hunting the Methow, Loop Loop Pass area, I was on my way back to camp after a long day of hunting and as I crested the last ridge I spotted a nice 2 point (when it was legal of to shoot of course) I could only see the head/neck area, so, took a breath and let it fly. The buck never even got up, just went over on it's side. Yahoo, I could almost see camp from the ridge and would be ALL downhill! I couldn't wait to tell my buddies the story and how close to camp it was.
So, as I went down to the buck I really didn't see the bullet hole but it was so steep on the ridge I needed to tie it up to tree or something so I could dress it out. I pulled my drag rope out of my pack, looped it around the horns and pulled the deer head uphill toward a small tree to tie it off. I had my rifle shouldered on the sling, and rope wound around my wrist, (same arm/shoulder) and then to my surprise the bucks eyes opened and were looking right at me,,,, "OHHH S##T " I thought! There was a big flat rock acouple feet away so I pulled the rope under it and pulled the head of the deer up to it as tight as I could. With the head pinned down it couldn't get up, but you better believe that buck was thrashing around and wanted up!
Well, I finally got the rope off my wrist, the rifle off my shoulder and made a FANTASTIC! "one foot shot" in the neck! I then dressed it out and pulled it down the ridge to camp. Never did see bullet hole!
My buddies helped me hang it up and we started skinning it out.. then Ray started laughing and pointed to a hole in it's ear! That was the only hole and I guess I just knocked it out for a minute or two!
Thats my rope story!
John G
Think I'm glad it wasn't a big 4x4 or something,,, would have never seen my rope again I'm sure!
Post by: no.cen.wa on November 01, 2018, 02:51:02 PM
Post by: bigmacc on November 01, 2018, 04:11:14 PM
Good stuff no.cen.wa, check your PM,s pardner :tup:
Post by: bigmacc on November 01, 2018, 05:07:35 PM
Oops, thought of another although it wasn't "roped" in the traditional way :tup: Once again Methow valley back in the early 70,s. A friend of mine shot a HUGE 4 by 4 up in the north part of the valley that was collored and had a transmitter and a brass tag on the collar that said please report this deer if found or killed to the Game Dept. etc. etc. As I said it was huge and a perfect specimen and example of a healthy, mature, in the prime mule deer. I knew the Game manager over there at the time quite well and we drove up to his house and told him of the buck we had hanging and within hours we had an pretty good sized group of Game dept. folks show up at our camp armed with scales, clipboards, cameras etc. If I remember right the buck(field dressed and hide still on) weighed in at 290 something and had an outside spread of just over 29 inches. They took the collar, got my friends info(address, phone#)and told him that he would be hearing from them soon. Well I think it was a couple months later he received in the mail a handwritten letter and a VHS tape. The letter was from a young biologist who told the story of this buck along with a copy of video of the whole process. He said it was his first experience with the tagging of a mule deer and they had picked him out on the winter range up around Ramsey because he was a great looking, healthy good genetic looking 2 point that they figured would hopefully live long enough to get some information from him. Turns out he survived another 4 or 5 years if I remember right, the batteries only lasted 3 years and they had lost track of him because of dead batteries 2 years prior. They had no idea what his status had become, was he dead(natural, predation or hunters) or was he still roaming the hills? He said in his letter that they had tracked his migration up into British Columbia and during the 3 years they tracked him he would move 50-60miles on his migration to the Methow and would always return to the same winter range(Ramsey area) each winter. On the video copy was the whole tagging and tranquilizing ordeal. They shot a lasso/net looking thing at this buck, and shot him with a tranquilizer and went to work on him, when done they airlifted him with a helicopter down to the Chewuch river and every so gently dipped him in the cold water a couple times and released him on the hillside above the river, the bio included a picture of him and the collar hanging on his fireplace mantel. Sorry if this is a repeat story, I,m sure I,ve told it here before.
Post by: bigmacc on November 03, 2018, 07:13:46 PM
Thanks no.cen.wa for the reply :tup: