Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 04:47:37 PM
I packed up the car Friday while my daughter (Shorty) was at school, intending to head out soon after she arrived home. Packing, as always, went a little longer than expected and when she came walking up at 3:00pm I wasn't quite ready. I had her grab her lats minute things, piled them in the car as well and we were ready.
I made a couple phone calls to my brother and M-Ray, who were following us over, to get their ETA but they too were running behind. Shorty and I decided to top off the tank and head out, we would meet them in the North Bend McDonald's so I could get my ice-T's for the road. They called and told us to go ahead and head east, they would be about an hour or so behind us so we hit the road and headed for the beautiful Methow Valley.
About halfway over Blewitt the rain hit, and it came down in buckets. As a prepared hunter its really not a big deal but as a father you immediately start running the checklist over in your head. Did I remember her boots, plenty of socks, raingear etc because the one thing that will keep a child from enjoying their experience, and keep them from wanting to come back is bad weather. Keep them warm, dry and comfortable and you've won 90% of the battle.
We rolled into town at about 8:30pm and hit one of the local restaurants. After a quick burger I called the boys and they were on schedule to hit town about 10:00. With Shorty being only 11 we couldn't stay past 10:00 so we payed our bill and headed for our camp spot. We parked, got things organized for the mornings hunt and crashed in our bags, the boys rolled into camp a short time later.
5:15am came early and I noticed the rain had stopped. Being about 42 degrees I knew we were in for a foggy day, spotting deer was going to have to come very early at first light before it rolled in.
We headed up the hill about 5:45am and hiked to the spot I have been sitting at for years, getting there at about 6:30am. By 7:00 we had spotted a few does and a couple small bucks, one was a 12” wide first year 3X2. We watched as they fed down in front of us at about 150 yards and on into the bottom of the draw, where a couple of the does bedded and the rest just kept feeding. Shorty took a good long look through the spotter at the little buck and decided he was too small for opening day so she passed.
Glassing some more I had picked up a couple other guys sitting below us but neither of them had spotted the deer move into the bottom, within a couple hundred yards of both of them. About then the fog rolled on up from the bottom and we were engulfed in pea soup, with only 40’ of visibility.
Once the fog rolled back out, 20 minutes later, we started glassing the whole area again, knowing deer could have moved in undetected under the fog cover. We spotted a few more does but no big bucks. I kept watching the two guys below us wondering when they would finally spot that little 3X2.
It didn't take long, I watched the guy on the opposite ridge put his gun on a bi-pod and take aim,………kaboooooooooooom, the buck was down. We watched both the deer and the hunter for another 5 minutes and then the buck got up and started staggering up the hill. The hunter walked down and put one more in him and that was that. The look on Shorties face was confusion mixed with questions she didn't know how to ask.
Shortly after that the fog moved back in and really took hold. We packed up our gear and headed back to the car to go have breakfast, but not before I got the pic of Shorty standing in the fog.
Click On Image For Full Size
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 04:50:50 PM
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 04:57:10 PM
It didn’t take long and we soon had a few does come walking by at less than 100 yards, they were followed by a spike and another small 3X2 with one browtine. I gave Shorty the spotter and she got another good look but again decided this one was too small, although bigger than the one the day before. We watched them feed into the middle of the draw, about 150 yards, and continue to feed for another 90 minutes.
About that time M-Ray, who is behind us about 1/2 mile on another hill, gets on the radio and tells us some guy just walked up his draw, right out in the middle of everything, and is heading over to us, he would be coming out above us on the side hill. He also saw 3 guys coming over the side below us and said they would be there soon. Sure enough we saw the guy above us come around the side about 200 yards above. He saw us and stopped, looking through his bino’s at us. Right then the deer began to look down at me and Shorty, which was weird because we hadn’t moved or made a sound. They started heading toward the top guy but he had yet to see them. Right then I looked to our left and three guys had come over the ridge, saw us and decided to sit right there, 100 yards to our left, I couldn’t believe it.
Turning back to the deer we watched them pick up the pace and head directly at the guy above. The first doe spotted him about the same time that he spotted her. She bolted and the other does and bucks soon followed. The 3 point stopped and the guy finally saw him. He aimed and fired, the buck shot off around the side hil, out of the hunters sight. Shorty watched the buck finally drop and marked him with a mental note. The hunter worked his way over but it was obvious he had no idea where it went, walking right on by and over toward M-Ray. I got on the radio and we both talked and watched as this guy clearly had no clue where the buck had gone.
Well with a shot going off, 3 guys perched 100 yards away, it was time to pack up and head for home, school for Shorty in the morning. We decided to go up and show the guy where his buck was laying but part way up the hill he found it. We continued the rest of the way up anyway to get a better look at it.
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 04:59:14 PM
We met my brother and M-Ray back at the cars and unloaded our gear. A truck came rolling up the road and stopped to say hi and chat. The older guy and his wife told us they had tagged out just one draw over from where Shorty and I were sitting, dropping the buck right before it came over the ridge to us. He let me take a picture of Shorty holding the head, very nice buck with lots of mass.
I will get on to the rest later.
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 05:24:44 PM
Friday evening we decided to hit the timber before our evening hike and spotted a doe with triplets, I have only seen this a handful of times myself so I got some pics.
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 05:39:10 PM
After a long sweaty hike up the ridge I got to glassing. It didnt take long and I started seeing the deer getting out of their beds and feeding. I propped up my gun against some bushes and continued to glass when all of a sudden I heard a thud. I looked over and my rifle had fallen over, right on the scope :bash: Well with only an our of light left and the next morning I decided to stick it out, although not knowing if my zero was off as discussed in the thread yesterday.
Glassing the ridge I spotted some does moving across the face of the hill so I got the spotter out. I saw a huge buck just inside the timber but couldn't make out his whole rack. It was tall, heavy and very dark but I just couldn't see the points. Finally he came out with about 20 minutes of light left. I scoped him out a long time but he ended up being a big dark superforky. About 25-26" wide and 20" tall but not a brow or sticker anywhere >:( I watched helplessly as he fed across the face of the hill at 200 yards, with not a care in the world.
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 06:05:14 PM
Now comes the decision :chuckle: Last day, gun had hit the dirt, no little girl there to tag it, deer that needs to be taken out of the gene pool and a freaken bad place to drag a deer out of :dunno: I watched him for a bit longer and decided that if he continued to feed toward me I would let him close the distance and in effect shorten my pack out :chuckle:
He followed the two does into the draw and back up my side, passing by at about 60 yards. I let them walk by behind me and grabbed my rifle and sticks. I stood up, put the gun on the sticks and crosshairs low on the chest. They all spotted me but I didnt move so they were not sure what was going on. I squeezed one off and he dropped like a sack of rocks.
I waited a minute to make sure he wasnt going anywhere and got on the radio to M-Ray. "I guess my scope is still on" :chuckle: He answers back, "Was that you?" I said yep, and asked him where he was. LOL, he was a couple miles in the other direction. He said he was on his way and would stop to get the frame and bags.
He is 23" wide and has 23" mains with 5" bases, love those dark racks. He is one big bodied SOB too.
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 06:45:29 PM
M-Ray made the long hike up to me and I pointed out the buck and we came up with a game plan and route to get on him. It worked perfect, about 10 minutes later he was in position and taking the shot. I grabbed a pick of the buck when he got up after seeing M-Ray putting the crosshairs on him. Kabooooooom and donw he went, the only problem now was getting them both out of that hole.
He dressed his buck and hiked back up to help get mine out. I caped mine out so not to ruin it, boned out the front half and strung up the rear half with drag ropes. M-Ray packed out the meat and his rifle while I packed out the head/cape, my rifle and all my gear, we also drug the rear half out at the same time. I shot my buck at 7:45am and we got it to the cars at 3:05pm :yike:
A quick drink of water, pop an Aleve and we decided to go ask the landowner at the bottom of the draw if we could drag his out through their property. The guy was very cool, thanked us for asking and said go ahead. We parked on the main road and hiked up and in to his buck. A few pics and off we went. It was 90% downhill so we decided to lift it by the rack as we went to keep the cape intact. We were back to the cars at 6:15pm, just as it started to sprinkle and had about 15 minutes of light left.
We hit the public showers in town and then got some food before hitting the road. All in all it was a slow season for seeing bucks but we managed to get a couple for our freezers. Good times for sure, heading to Montana in a couple weeks to do it all again. :tup:
CLICK ON PICS FOR FULL SIZE
Post by: lazydrifter on October 29, 2009, 06:53:02 PM
Post by: Wanttohuntmore on October 29, 2009, 07:02:07 PM
Post by: EastWaViking on October 29, 2009, 07:07:57 PM
Post by: saylean on October 29, 2009, 07:13:07 PM
Post by: Huntbear on October 29, 2009, 07:13:49 PM
Post by: Dmanmastertracker on October 29, 2009, 07:19:47 PM
Great job, thanks for the write up.
Post by: beave on October 29, 2009, 07:24:16 PM
Post by: MuleyMadness on October 29, 2009, 07:25:39 PM
Post by: Red Dawg on October 29, 2009, 07:30:14 PM
Post by: bowman on October 29, 2009, 07:39:14 PM
Post by: rougheye on October 29, 2009, 07:41:12 PM
Post by: Hunting Cowboy on October 29, 2009, 07:53:25 PM
Post by: elkaholic on October 29, 2009, 07:56:23 PM
Post by: coop2424 on October 29, 2009, 07:58:25 PM
Post by: Machias on October 29, 2009, 08:01:54 PM
Post by: buckmaster_wa on October 29, 2009, 08:12:12 PM
Post by: PacificNWhunter on October 29, 2009, 08:17:14 PM
Post by: GUscottie on October 29, 2009, 08:21:44 PM
Post by: hornhunter on October 29, 2009, 08:23:29 PM
Good Work on the forkies! :bfg:
Post by: scoyoc5 on October 29, 2009, 08:39:53 PM
Post by: Austrian Hunter on October 29, 2009, 08:49:56 PM
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 08:56:31 PM
hopefully I can drop one with my bow late Nov with our friends!
Thanks Rene', with that multi tag in my pocket that was one of the decisions I was contemplating at the time as well.
Post by: carpsniperg2 on October 29, 2009, 09:04:18 PM
Post by: washingtonmuley on October 29, 2009, 09:10:15 PM
Congrats and awesome pics.
Post by: wapiti hunter2 on October 29, 2009, 09:13:26 PM
Post by: huntnphool on October 29, 2009, 09:16:42 PM
Post by: Ray on October 29, 2009, 09:19:08 PM
Post by: nw_bowhunter on October 29, 2009, 09:25:49 PM
Post by: actionshooter on October 29, 2009, 09:35:23 PM
Post by: alecvg on October 29, 2009, 09:48:05 PM
Post by: andrew_12gauge on October 29, 2009, 09:57:08 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 29, 2009, 10:01:20 PM
Post by: lemondog on October 29, 2009, 10:16:00 PM
Post by: KillerBeee on October 29, 2009, 11:16:10 PM
That's some good stuff. Nice pics and work in the field.
Post by: tmike on October 30, 2009, 07:27:04 AM
Post by: MtnMuley on October 30, 2009, 08:01:47 AM
Post by: Buckmark on October 30, 2009, 08:32:27 AM
Very nice story also.
*
Hey M-Ray weres the orange?? :peep: :sas:
Post by: Gobble on October 30, 2009, 08:45:14 AM
Post by: Schmalzfam on October 30, 2009, 08:57:39 AM
Post by: Ellensburg on October 30, 2009, 09:57:18 AM
Post by: CHSNGSTLHD on October 30, 2009, 10:17:55 AM
Post by: M_ray on October 30, 2009, 11:49:14 AM
I know these are on the sunrise thread but here are a couple from my point of view!
Post by: M_ray on October 30, 2009, 11:56:32 AM
Good job, good bucks to take out of the gene pool.
Very nice story also.
*
Hey M-Ray weres the orange?? :peep: :sas:
You asked for it!!! I don't like orange much in photo's ... sorry these are with a point and shoot and on timer as Rob was about 1000 yards above me at the time starting to dress out his buck!
Post by: M_ray on October 30, 2009, 12:53:20 PM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi241.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fff122%2Fmray30%2FDSCN0452.jpg&hash=10585c3eb477b429f01de20b5f199df3cf2691fd)
Post by: bow4elk on October 30, 2009, 12:57:41 PM
Post by: huntnphool on October 30, 2009, 04:50:45 PM
I hope Shorty gets to get back out after them. Good luck to her.
I may try and get her over for a late whitetail hunt. It was difficult trying to teach the right thing all summer, then seeing some young first year 3X2's and being proud when she decides on her own to let them grow, only to have them shot an hour later right in front of her. :dunno:
With the season being 8 days long and every modern hunter taking off the same time from work, its a wonder how any young deer with good genes (having branch antlers) can escape the onslaught. >:(
Post by: bowhunterforever on October 31, 2009, 06:28:10 PM
Post by: RPM on October 31, 2009, 07:46:58 PM
Post by: grizzlygibbs on November 01, 2009, 05:39:44 AM
I hope Shorty gets to get back out after them. Good luck to her.
I may try and get her over for a late whitetail hunt. It was difficult trying to teach the right thing all summer, then seeing some young first year 3X2's and being proud when she decides on her own to let them grow, only to have them shot an hour later right in front of her. :dunno:
With the season being 8 days long and every modern hunter taking off the same time from work, its a wonder how any young deer with good genes (having branch antlers) can escape the onslaught. >:(
that's what's wrong with eastern wa management plan!
Post by: boneaddict on November 01, 2009, 06:41:16 AM
Post by: mossback91 on November 01, 2009, 09:57:20 AM
Post by: M_ray on November 01, 2009, 10:45:58 AM
AWESOME GUYS. Thanks for taking the time for the write up and pics. Did you have to show Mray where I live though. LOL How'd you like to grow up there? Awesome capturing the emotion of the area in your pics.
Don't worry Bone I was blindfolded I have no idea where I was! ;)
Hey Sally(mray) is that a pink phone?
Everyone can see it's red ya retard Moss!
Post by: Sportfury on November 07, 2009, 07:23:41 AM
Mark nice buck. I did miss this thread, so thanks for the e-mail.