Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: oneshotkill on September 11, 2009, 12:18:26 AM

Title: San Juan Success
Post by: oneshotkill on September 11, 2009, 12:18:26 AM: Some people I know in the San Juans have a cabin in the woods with an apple orchard around it. I have permission to hunt there and this year I got drawn for a second tag for the area I hunt so I was excited when I headed out. Early on in the morning I was still hunting through the woods and took a doe with a 15 yard double-lung shot. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures before I skinned it. I took a break for lunch and help some friends of mine with a roof job before heading out again for the evening to sit on a haystack near the apple orchard. I rearranged the hay bails to make somewhat of a blind and settled in for the evening. I was seeing deer all night but they were mostly does and fawns. I am pretty much a meat hunter and am not looking for a trophy but I wanted to get a buck with my second tag. I was just enjoying watching the deer and was a few minutes from heading back to my friends house before it got too dark when I heard a snort. I very slowly turned my head and saw that a spike had snuck into 20 yards behind me and winded me. He took off running across a field but then stopped at about 60 yards and did sort of a stiff-legged walk back towards me to figure out what I was. When He got to 40 yards his head went behind a tree and I came to full draw. As he came out from behind the tree he stopped bradside and looked back towards the woods. That was his death as I released and sent my arrow through the center of his heart. I watched him run across the field and right as he entered the woods I heard him go down, scramble around for a second and then silence. I walked over to where my arrow was stuck in the ground (due to the downward nature of the shot) and found it covered in good blood. Because it was getting dark and I had heard him go down, I immediately picked up the blood trail and found him after about 50 yards.

I just finished butchering the deer tonight and had backstrap steak on the grill for dinner. He does'nt have big antlers but he sure tastes good!

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi9.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa61%2Foneshotkill%2FJoelBuck09-2.jpg&hash=48d8be2b11a09c50387177863410599cc948575b)

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi9.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa61%2Foneshotkill%2FJoelBuck09-5.jpg&hash=cfb03a65aea5f140fa27ce7b74cd5b51d5b19265)

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi9.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa61%2Foneshotkill%2FJoelBuck09-6.jpg&hash=c25cc0bc275781a03ce0128c48d387c276a6789b)
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: Buschingc on September 11, 2009, 03:47:39 AM: Congrats... Thats a good looking spike...
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: HuntingFanatic on September 11, 2009, 05:55:22 AM: Nice job! Those are some daggers on him.
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: ICEMAN on September 11, 2009, 06:01:21 AM: Wow, very cool story, great job!
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: Skyvalhunter on September 11, 2009, 06:02:22 AM: Congrats!!! Nice looking deer. Nice thing about those island bucks is you can haul them out easy
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: Chris on September 11, 2009, 07:05:45 AM: That is a HUGE spike!! Well done and be proud.
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: GoldTip on September 11, 2009, 07:32:07 AM: Nice shot and great story, congrats on the backstrap feast!
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: winston2789 on September 11, 2009, 08:08:48 AM: way to go, sounds like a successful hunt
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: 3dsheetmetal on September 11, 2009, 08:25:48 AM: That's a sweet spike you have there congrats :tup:
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: KimberRich on September 11, 2009, 10:07:25 AM: Sounds like a great day hunting. Doesn't get much better than that! Can't see the pictures because I'm at work. :bash: But can't complain.. I guess I'm talking hunting while working so that not bad.. :dunno:
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: ratherhunt on September 11, 2009, 12:45:41 PM: Nice Buck, Congratulations
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: elkoholic1 on September 11, 2009, 12:52:40 PM: :tup:nice spike congrats!!!
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: LongTatLaw on September 11, 2009, 01:09:05 PM: nice on the bow brother!
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: TeacherMan on September 11, 2009, 01:18:13 PM: Cool I really have been thinking of going over around thanksgiving and trying for blacktail.
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: Armadillo on September 11, 2009, 01:39:20 PM: nice spike!!
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: addicted on September 11, 2009, 01:41:20 PM: way to go one shotkill. thats a good one to take out of the gene pool
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: NWBREW on September 11, 2009, 06:58:43 PM: Nice job filling two tags. :IBCOOL: I bet that backstrap taste real good. :drool: Congrats...
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: beave on September 11, 2009, 07:44:45 PM: nice job
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: markts on September 11, 2009, 08:00:57 PM: Congrats on a great day. Mark
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: alecvg on September 11, 2009, 08:58:15 PM: Awesome! That is a great buck, he looks tasty! :) I would have shot him in a hart beat! I hope to do that hunt next year if I have time.
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: GUscottie on September 11, 2009, 08:58:59 PM: Congrats on the deer! A freezer buck is better than no buck! :chuckle:
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: oneshotkill on September 11, 2009, 10:01:53 PM: To any of you who are considering hunting blacktails in the San Juans. Provided you can obtain a place to hunt, I highly encourage you to do it. Although the deer are not huge and for the most part do not have very big antlers, there are a ton of deer and unless you are waiting for a big trophy you are pretty much garunteed a deer. Every now and then you you will happen into a nice buck. I have hunted in the San Juans for 4 years now and it is a meat hunters paradise.
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: BoomWhop on September 12, 2009, 09:56:33 PM: great job
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: bowhunter1972 on September 14, 2009, 08:36:44 PM: great job :IBCOOL:
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: finnman on September 14, 2009, 09:19:45 PM: Nice job man!!! :IBCOOL:
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: lokidog on September 15, 2009, 08:58:53 PM: First, nice job.

I also live on a small island in the San Juans and have discovered that a two year old buck (and mature doe) will yield about 30-35 pounds of meat, a three year old hits the mid forties and a four year old I got last year provided 54 pounds of meat. If you are meat hunting, let the bucks grow up (not bagging on you Oneshot). Looks like yours was maybe a three year old, we have a tall spike just like that that was smaller last year (one antler bends forward, the other to the back so he is recognizeable).

They are good eating though.....

The bigger the island, the bigger the deer tend to be as well.
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: olsy on September 15, 2009, 09:24:45 PM: Congrats!

Not to threadjack, but speaking of San Juan Island's deer.... I was on Orcas' island this past weekend and saw a group of 3 bucks around 9:00p on my way back to our cabin from my sister-in-law's wedding. This was the smaller of the three bucks. I had a few adult beverages this evening so I feel fortunate to even have gotten a pic off from the passenger seat of the car :)
Title: Re: San Juan Success
Post by: Jeffrey on September 16, 2009, 08:37:28 AM: Hey, onseshotkill- That is one of the best looking spikes I have seen. Dang rights...good shootin'.