Post by: Boss .300 winmag on November 28, 2022, 08:13:44 PM
If you think I ruined a hunting area with these pics, and locations I didn’t . The area now has lots of ranchets with homes on the land, and the deer just aren’t there like this anymore. Progress sucks for ungulates.🤯
Hope you enjoy.
1st pic 1967 McClanahan thicket buck Burdoin Mtn, notice the sticker on the left side rear fork.
2nd pic buck was killed in the Snowden area 1952.
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on November 28, 2022, 08:14:30 PM
1st pic Yellow tag buck 1957 he crawled thru a thicket and caught the buck sleeping in his bed.
2nd pic Lock Lake buck unknown year.
Post by: jstone on November 28, 2022, 08:16:41 PM
Post by: buckfvr on November 28, 2022, 08:21:11 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on November 28, 2022, 08:31:53 PM
Very cool. Wish you had the stories to go with them
Updated
Post by: Karl Blanchard on November 28, 2022, 08:36:24 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on November 28, 2022, 08:37:39 PM
Post by: Ridgerunner on November 28, 2022, 08:49:22 PM
Post by: Harbor_hunter on November 28, 2022, 09:14:06 PM
Post by: riverrun on November 28, 2022, 09:18:21 PM
Post by: bigmacc on November 28, 2022, 09:22:43 PM
Thank you.
Post by: huntnphool on November 28, 2022, 10:39:34 PM
Post by: Dan-o on November 28, 2022, 11:06:24 PM
Thank you for sharing.
Post by: boneaddict on November 29, 2022, 04:39:01 AM
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on November 29, 2022, 04:46:14 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 29, 2022, 05:25:04 AM
Post by: Smokepole on November 29, 2022, 06:21:17 AM
Post by: teanawayslayer on November 29, 2022, 06:43:08 AM
Post by: MeepDog on November 29, 2022, 08:05:32 AM
Post by: Mtnwalker on November 29, 2022, 08:32:49 AM
I don't know what it is about them, but benchleg antlers are my favorite. Very cool thanks for sharing
Well when you're looking at deer like the 2nd and 4th pictures, what's not to like 8)
Post by: Pathfinder101 on December 09, 2022, 03:29:37 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on December 09, 2022, 07:23:15 PM
Pretty cool stuff. I wonder if one day my grandkids will go through my trophies and remember the stories about them...
On can only hope.👍
Post by: Ironhead on December 09, 2022, 08:12:01 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on December 09, 2022, 08:18:39 PM
Post by: Alchase on December 09, 2022, 08:34:04 PM
How cool it would have been to sit around a campfire listening to the stories :tup:
Post by: LDennis24 on December 09, 2022, 10:58:26 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on December 10, 2022, 07:10:42 AM
Oh man that massive sucker floats my goat! What a cool buck! All in all some dandy bench bucks which are my favorite type of deer.
Carp did you see this one?
https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,275396.0/all.html
Post by: C-Money on December 23, 2022, 07:30:26 AM
Post by: KDB on January 31, 2023, 07:37:29 AM
Post by: Alchase on January 31, 2023, 08:37:50 AM
Wow, awesome bucks! Mass on the one buck is unreal!
:yeah: that mass is awesome :tup:
Post by: buckcanyonlodge on January 31, 2023, 02:09:04 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on January 31, 2023, 02:41:05 PM
Some really cool bucks....Curious....did your Grandpa ever call them bench legs?? I ask because when I was younger I had a meat delivery route every week to Goldendale and delivered to all the markets and meat shops.I would rush through my route and the boss gave me permission to stop and hunt on the way back to Yakima. I got to see a lot of nice bucks hanging in the coolers and I even shot my first buck by Goldendale. NEVER EVER did any of the locals including the meat market guys call them Bench legs and they had coolers Filled with them ( 1968-76). I started seeing the term when the internet started spreading that term.For some reason I have an aversion to that term. Are all the bucks that come from that area cross breeds??...Where do the 100% mulies come from to do the breeding with the 100% blacktail does or vica versa? No big deal though...everyone calls them what they want. AGAIN...COOL bucks.
I’m no expert on the subject, but from what I’ve seen from growing up in that area as a kid is that east of the White Salmon River you start seeing the difference in the deers antlers. If left to mature the antlers grow wider, more mass, eye guards get more common. Not that blacktails don’t do this in maturity, but they don’t look like the deer east of the river, when I was young we would drive around the Simcoe mountains late in the year and see really nice bucks. Mind you that’s been 40 plus years ago.🤣
This pic is my uncles best one from that area.
It’s obviously not a Blacktail, and not pure mule deer. My pics don’t do the deer justice.
Post by: buckcanyonlodge on January 31, 2023, 02:57:44 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on January 31, 2023, 03:19:50 PM
We didn’t call them bench legs either, just term picked up from the internet. I don’t know what a better term for them would be.
My other uncle has killed some with a lot more mass and width, but wouldn’t score high in Mule deer category, probably 150-160’s.
Post by: mburrows on January 31, 2023, 03:38:06 PM
Post by: buckcanyonlodge on January 31, 2023, 04:21:23 PM
I believe as time went on and people talked more about the deer in the area they realized that they weren’t pure Blacktail deer, that and the line drawn the Boone and Crooket club. As people’s lifestyles changed from substance hunting to pleasure hunting they start to care more about what the deer species really was, instead of just food for the table.
We didn’t call them bench legs either, just term picked up from the internet. I don’t know what a better term for them would be.
My other uncle has killed some with a lot more mass and width, but wouldn’t score high in Mule deer category, probably 150-160’s.
:yeah:
Post by: Watimberghost on January 31, 2023, 04:27:55 PM
Post by: 300rum on February 01, 2023, 06:20:40 AM
I also remember that I frequently saw does with a black tip only or half-black tail. Nowadays in those same areas all I see is an all black tail. For instance, in the Yakima area, there would be a couple of bruiser mule deer taken every year in the Naches/Nile/Ahtanum areas, good luck even seeing a decent buck these days.
Boone and Crockett were frontiersman when I was a kid, not something to measure your hunting prowess by. I would say it wasn't until the early 90's when B&C became much of a bid deal in the hunting mags. Sure, you heard about it but no one paid attention to it. It really wasn't until the hunting mag guys began to say "so-and-so has killed 10 b&C bucks", or something like that. Before that, you just knew the guys in your camp and maybe a couple of guys around town or other camps that always got big bucks and big bulls. In fact, the local papers would have a pic of a local guy who shot a big buck or big bull. I'll tell you too, there was no limp wristed "harvesting" in the head line, they called it killing or shooting back then, "local man kills big bull", "Local man shoots giant buck", as an example.
I'm not really that old but I was fortunate to hunt with men, while in my youth, who were born around the turn of the century and who were hard.
Some really cool bucks....Curious....did your Grandpa ever call them bench legs?? I ask because when I was younger I had a meat delivery route every week to Goldendale and delivered to all the markets and meat shops.I would rush through my route and the boss gave me permission to stop and hunt on the way back to Yakima. I got to see a lot of nice bucks hanging in the coolers and I even shot my first buck by Goldendale. NEVER EVER did any of the locals including the meat market guys call them Bench legs and they had coolers Filled with them ( 1968-76). I started seeing the term when the internet started spreading that term.For some reason I have an aversion to that term. Are all the bucks that come from that area cross breeds??...Where do the 100% mulies come from to do the breeding with the 100% blacktail does or vica versa? No big deal though...everyone calls them what they want. AGAIN...COOL bucks.
Post by: LDennis24 on February 01, 2023, 07:40:16 AM
Good point, what I remember as a kid listening to the old timers, if the deer had a black tail, we called it a blacktail, if it was "less than all black" it was a mule deer or "had some black tail in it". I never heard the term "benchleg" (I don't even like using the term) until I came on here, it is a hunting magazine/internet/government school biologist term, not an old timer hunting term. I don't remember anyone ever judging a buck by its antlers, only its tail end. I do remember the old timers talking about seeing does with an all black tail and someone would say "you should have shot it". I would say that the old timers knew that black tails showing up in traditional mule deer country wasn't a good thing and they knew it should have been taken out.
I also remember that I frequently saw does with a black tip only or half-black tail. Nowadays in those same areas all I see is an all black tail. For instance, in the Yakima area, there would be a couple of bruiser mule deer taken every year in the Naches/Nile/Ahtanum areas, good luck even seeing a decent buck these days.
Boone and Crockett were frontiersman when I was a kid, not something to measure your hunting prowess by. I would say it wasn't until the early 90's when B&C became much of a bid deal in the hunting mags. Sure, you heard about it but no one paid attention to it. It really wasn't until the hunting mag guys began to say "so-and-so has killed 10 b&C bucks", or something like that. Before that, you just knew the guys in your camp and maybe a couple of guys around town or other camps that always got big bucks and big bulls. In fact, the local papers would have a pic of a local guy who shot a big buck or big bull. I'll tell you too, there was no limp wristed "harvesting" in the head line, they called it killing or shooting back then, "local man kills big bull", "Local man shoots giant buck", as an example.
I'm not really that old but I was fortunate to hunt with men, while in my youth, who were born around the turn of the century and who were hard.Some really cool bucks....Curious....did your Grandpa ever call them bench legs?? I ask because when I was younger I had a meat delivery route every week to Goldendale and delivered to all the markets and meat shops.I would rush through my route and the boss gave me permission to stop and hunt on the way back to Yakima. I got to see a lot of nice bucks hanging in the coolers and I even shot my first buck by Goldendale. NEVER EVER did any of the locals including the meat market guys call them Bench legs and they had coolers Filled with them ( 1968-76). I started seeing the term when the internet started spreading that term.For some reason I have an aversion to that term. Are all the bucks that come from that area cross breeds??...Where do the 100% mulies come from to do the breeding with the 100% blacktail does or vica versa? No big deal though...everyone calls them what they want. AGAIN...COOL bucks.
Very well said. This is exactly how I remember it too. As a kid we lived in Mill A if you know where that is. On the South end of the big lava bed. We would go hunting every year down there even after we moved away. Snowmobiles we're a must for late muzzleloading elk! Nobody ever called them benchlegs back then either. Even in the nineties. I first heard that term from the guys who did the NW Big game record books. They made up all sorts of crap to sell those books. They came to me and another guy I know wanting to see my antlers and submit them all into the book. I didn't want my name all over that book. I just submitted the biggest ones and told them that's all I wanted to do. Anyway, back on topic, I always looked at California blacktails and said to myself they must be crossed with mule deer. Do any of you see that as well?
Post by: JBabcock on February 02, 2023, 09:39:53 PM
This was the biggest I ever shot. 1995. That deer was close to 275 - 300 lbs. Biggest deer I’ve ever seen on the ground. Big Mule Deer ears, body, and a pure Blacktail tail.
Post by: JBabcock on February 02, 2023, 09:48:12 PM
Post by: JBabcock on February 02, 2023, 09:49:50 PM
Post by: 300rum on February 03, 2023, 07:14:09 AM
Agree with most here. I never heard them called Benchlegs, and we hunted the Ahtanum for years. My Gramps started hunting there in the late 40’s. All I ever heard them called was Mule Deer/Blacktail crosses or hybrids. And that’s what most of them were. Mule Deer characteristics with Blacktail tails. Once in a while you would see a pure Mule Deer. But it was rare.
This was the biggest I ever shot. 1995. That deer was close to 275 - 300 lbs. Biggest deer I’ve ever seen on the ground. Big Mule Deer ears, body, and a pure Blacktail tail.
Post by: buckcanyonlodge on February 03, 2023, 10:48:32 AM
Post by: JBabcock on February 03, 2023, 12:11:54 PM
1995, 1995 was a good season, regular deer season ran into November. You hunted Elk in the snow. Bowhunting season was for the Fellons and a couple of weird dudes from the west side who wore a loin cloth and shared the same tent. 1995 was almost the beginning of the end.Agree with most here. I never heard them called Benchlegs, and we hunted the Ahtanum for years. My Gramps started hunting there in the late 40’s. All I ever heard them called was Mule Deer/Blacktail crosses or hybrids. And that’s what most of them were. Mule Deer characteristics with Blacktail tails. Once in a while you would see a pure Mule Deer. But it was rare.
This was the biggest I ever shot. 1995. That deer was close to 275 - 300 lbs. Biggest deer I’ve ever seen on the ground. Big Mule Deer ears, body, and a pure Blacktail tail.
Yeah those were the days. I haven’t hunted that area in years but I sure have great memories from that area. Spread my Dads ashes up there last Fall. Good times.
Post by: Onewhohikes on February 04, 2023, 07:34:06 AM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on January 12, 2025, 07:37:36 PM
Post by: Bunny Thumper on January 13, 2025, 07:15:19 AM
Post by: chukardogs on January 13, 2025, 10:24:38 AM
Just like the family with a bunch of kids that all have brown hair and blue eyes, every once in a while, there's that one thrown in that's blonde with hazel eyes that cross.
In 89' I killed, "sorry harvested" a three point on Basalt Peak up the Chiwawa drainage that weighed 192 and had antlers that looked like most three points you'd see in the Olympics. I'm sure when the bucks got together, this buck was teased and humiliated mercilessly, but he sure tasted great. I have a memory from when I was maybe five or six years old, circa 1968 when I was still hangin with my grandfather riding around in the old Willys truck during deer season. It was probably early to mid November, we were driving up the Chikamin creek road, we could see my father and another hunter who were hiking up the Basalt Peak trail and we watched as an empty road below them started to fill with deer. By the time we got stopped and out of the vehicle, there was a herd of 30 to 40 deer standing in a road. They were milling around looking at us and looking at the hunters above them. The thing I remember most is the four sets of antlers that towered above the rest. I know for a fact that the 3 point I killed in 1989, looked nothing like those 4 bucks! If my recollection is correct, those bucks stayed right in the middle of the herd and they all went up and over the ridge without a shot ever being taken.
I've heard the term Benchleg before but does the term or designation, come from a certain shape to the antlers or because the deer came from a certain area?
Post by: Dan-o on January 13, 2025, 11:39:10 AM
The Cascades are like a big tumbler when it comes to Blacktail/Mulie genes. Things like predators and fires must have a tendency to spread deer populations and therefore the genes. Some bucks put on backpacks and travel long distances during the rut. Considering it's only approx 20 miles between Sulpher Springs campground at the end of the Suiattle road and the community of Trinity at the end of the Chiwawa river road, it seems to me, especially young bucks could end up travelling that far for companionship.
Just like the family with a bunch of kids that all have brown hair and blue eyes, every once in a while, there's that one thrown in that's blonde with hazel eyes that cross.
In 89' I killed, "sorry harvested" a three point on Basalt Peak up the Chiwawa drainage that weighed 192 and had antlers that looked like most three points you'd see in the Olympics. I'm sure when the bucks got together, this buck was teased and humiliated mercilessly, but he sure tasted great. I have a memory from when I was maybe five or six years old, circa 1968 when I was still hangin with my grandfather riding around in the old Willys truck during deer season. It was probably early to mid November, we were driving up the Chikamin creek road, we could see my father and another hunter who were hiking up the Basalt Peak trail and we watched as an empty road below them started to fill with deer. By the time we got stopped and out of the vehicle, there was a herd of 30 to 40 deer standing in a road. They were milling around looking at us and looking at the hunters above them. The thing I remember most is the four sets of antlers that towered above the rest. I know for a fact that the 3 point I killed in 1989, looked nothing like those 4 bucks! If my recollection is correct, those bucks stayed right in the middle of the herd and they all went up and over the ridge without a shot ever being taken.
I've heard the term Benchleg before but does the term or designation, come from a certain shape to the antlers or because the deer came from a certain area?
https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,18792.15.html
https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,190668.0.html
Post by: chukardogs on January 13, 2025, 12:10:45 PM
Post by: OutHouse on January 13, 2025, 12:15:46 PM
Post by: Dan-o on January 13, 2025, 03:09:08 PM
Thanks Dan-O, that really cleared it up for me.
I hope you're serious. :tup:
I remember having the same question and these threads cleared it up for me.
I'm sure I couldn't really tell the difference,but it's an interesting concept.
Post by: chukardogs on January 13, 2025, 04:35:44 PM