Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: huntnphool on November 22, 2009, 08:54:49 PM
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Well were do I start. Another outstanding week in Montana spent with friends, family and in my opinion one of the most beautiful states in the country. Where else can you be driving down the interstate, point a camera out the window and get pics like this. To be continued...
Click On Image For Full Size
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Here are a couple more
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Heading through Big Timber we spotted a roadkill and stopped to check it out, turned out to be a pretty nice whitetail buck.
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Just as we were getting to the beginning of our hunting area we spotted this first buck along the railroad tracks. The second buck was just down the road a little bit more and when we got out to get a couple pics he bolted strait at the train. M-Ray got it in sequence but the buck went right under the train. :yike:
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The first morning at the cabin we decided to skip hunting and help coral the cattle, they were shipping them off to auction at noon. Since we didn't get done with the cattle until about 11:00am we decided to go take some pics until the evening hunt. The reservoir was like glass so we got some pretty cool mirror image shots.
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(https://hunting-washington.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10123/theCabin.gif)
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While I'm waiting I will post a few pics of some bucks we found. The first pic is from 2007. I took this pic as a buddy was taking aim with archery gear. He shot right under his chest twice before the buck took off. I found the buck again last year and got a few pics of him. He had grown a bit bigger but still hadn't reached his potential. The combined pic shows him on the right side from last year and I got pics of him again this year, left side pic. You can see he has finally reached trophy potential. He was on neighboring property the last couple years so he has been untouchable. I hope he makes it through the winter and we get a chance to get on him next year.
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Here is the full size pic.
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Here was a nice little spork.
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We took our time and checked out loads of bucks to get a good feeling for what was a good buck this year. On Tuesday I spotted a good buck frist thing in the morning, he was down a draw feeding with a large group of does. He appeared to have real good mass and a nice typical frame.
Since it was first thing in the morning and we were 1/4 mile from the cabin we decided to leave him for the time being as its private land and there wasn't much worry about him being pushed out of the area or shot by anyone else.
We checked out a lot of area and decided to try and get M-Ray a shot at the morning buck. I dropped Mark and my brother off up high in the draw so they would only have to walk downhill, I then drove all the way around, rolled down the window to listen and waited for a shot and a drag. :chuckle:
A little while later I got the call on the radio, they couldn't find him and were heading back up to where I dropped them off. :bash: While I was waiting I spotted this buck working a doe up through a draw. He looked tall but didn't seem to be too impressive through the binos, he was a long way off. I put the scope and him and :yike: he looked to be a shooter. All I could do was digiscope him so I grabbed the camera and took a couple.
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We made plans to go around to the bottom first thing the next morning, watched the next disc of "Band of Brothers" and went to bed.
Next morning we hit the bottom of the draw at first light and there just a few hundred yards from the night before was the buck Mark and Waid had gone after. They made a good stalk and got within 75 yards and dropped him with one shot. :hunter:
He is a nice old buck with dark heavy antlers. At some point he broke off a good section of his right g3.
A few field pics, dressed him out and loaded him in the carrier to head back to the cabin.
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Thursday came with B-Day wishes from my bro and M-Ray. I told them for my birthday I wanted a buck with extras, stickers or the big tall one from the day before. They laughed and said no problem :chuckle:
We headed out and took pics of several more nice bucks but the big tall buck was not to be found. We decided to head into town to get fuel and something to eat when we ran into this guy. He had several does but had one doe he was really paying attention too that didn't want anything to do with him. He was not the biggest buck but he did fit the bill with a nice sticker on his left side. The only problem with this guy was he was on posted land. :bash:
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Heading back in from town we noticed the buck with the sticker had jumped the fence and then the road and followed his doe onto public land.
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I decided it was time to notch the tag and give myself a B-Day present.
We had a lot of fun and saw hundreds of deer. I took 2K+ pics on the trip and got some pretty nice ones too. The next day we packed up and hit a praire dog town for a hour before hitting the road.
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Sorry guys before you go geting mad at Rob it was my fault this took so long I had some of the pics he needed to finish the post. I am in the food wholesale business to Grocery and well Thanksgiving is a pretty big time of year to say the least so I am very busy at the moment when I get a chance I will add some comments and pics to the story.
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Hey guys,
great pics and as always Im very jealous of ur hunt! Both of u took some great bucks to be proud of!
Another great year in Montana for u boys!
may ya have 100 more brothers...
dave
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i hunted just outside of big timber with western timberline outfitters for goats we had a great hunt and shot some great goats in 2000 great pics
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Here is another view of mine ... Like Rob said this buck was old and it wasn't until I got him to Bucklucky's that we noticed his front teeth were falling out and his back ones were to the gum line :yike: ... not sure how many more winters he'd have in him. I am very happy with him though I saw those dark heavy horns the night before and I knew I had to try for him there is just somethin about dark and heavy that gets me, Not to mention I had a very sleepless night dreaming about him :)
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looks great to me..and look at that neck...make sure chuck gets that swollen neck captured on the mount!!
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Great pics and bucks, looks like fun was had by all.
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Awesome trip fellas!
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Awesome! Great job!
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Nice job guys.
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Great photo essay phool! Congrats on the nice bucks guys!
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Very nice. Glad you guys had a great trip!
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Nice bucks guys montana is sure a cameramans dream place and the hunting is;nt to bad either.
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Rob,great pics as usual!Montana deer hunting is addictive and I think I just might have to go back again next year!You guys got a couple of real nice bucks :)
Jerry
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That last photo is a very nice photo, congats....
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The sky and clouds in your pics are awesome. Nice bucks. Looks like nearly everyone on here that went to Montana had a blast.
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great pics, looks like another great trip over there for you.
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Great photos as usual and great bucks also. Conagrats !!
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Great looking bucks, guys! Sorry we were not able to hook up with you guys, guess we were all too busy hunting! I had a great trip, looks like you did too. Congratulations. :tup:
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Excellent photo's and a great trip! Congratulations to you guy's!
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I could look at spectacular pics like that all day. Nothing like Montana for breathtaking pics. Thanks for sharing!
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As always Phool, outstanding pics, great story and congrats on the successful hunt. Love that dark-horned old buck Mray :tup:
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Great bucks, and pics.
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Right on. looks like good hunt. Awesome pictures
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Snuck my laptop in so I could finally see your pics. Very nice hunt guys! Cool pictures as always.
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Nice picture! CONGT on your hunting!
Mulehunter ;)
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Thanks for the great pics huntnphool. Everytime I see yours and some of the other talented members on here it really makes me want to pick up a camera.
Mark, again great buck, I guess that is Bambi's dad lol according to Auntie Marilyn (facebook).
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Thanks Chris I saw that, I told her to stop it now! :chuckle:
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Awesome trip!! Looks like you guys have got it made in MT!!
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nice bucks guys and i could had one that big but i messed up
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I really enjoyed this post. Thanks for all the pictures. Congrats guys on a great and successful hunt !
-Wildfire
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nice bucks guys!!! :) Is this eastern or western montana???
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Is this eastern or western montana???
SE Montana
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Congrats on the nice bucks, cool pictures. I was expecting to see a 17HMR with a dead prairie dog.
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looks like some great country!!!! we also hunt the eastside and its so awsome over there!!! The drive kinda sucks though!!
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Congrats on the nice bucks, cool pictures. I was expecting to see a 17HMR with a dead prairie dog.
You know we definatly put a hurt on that town & right at the end I got one that was only about 75 yrds out there and I started out to get him for a pic but turned around to catch up with Rob and Waid as they were headed for the truck I guess we were in a hurry to get going on the 17 hr drive!!!
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Had a chance to look at some of the 1500 pics I took so I thought I'd share some too!
Would you on the first day?
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I like this one of Rob.
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I was beggining to wonder on the way there at -2!!! (https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fcold%2F8.gif&hash=fa044727941eef4a823e6f60a09730e76d8e192e)
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Here is another example of the area we hunt
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This guy was a nice one but not on this trip ... he'll be a stud in a couple years!
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Had a chance to look at some of the 1500 pics I took so I thought I'd share some too!
Would you on the first day?
I think I would. How wide was he? He looks nice and tall.
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I'm dreaming about MT now...love that country. Great hunt and even better photo essay. Road trip hunts are rich with filler material. Would love to see a lot more!
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Road trip hunts are rich with filler material. Would love to see a lot more!
You can see a few more here ;)
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,14835.msg465511.html#msg465511
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I'm dreaming about MT now...love that country. Great hunt and even better photo essay. Road trip hunts are rich with filler material. Would love to see a lot more!
I think HuntinPhool and MRay are rationing the pics out. If we see them all now there won't be anything to break up the monotony in March when the only thing we have to talk about is politics and dismal draw odds and we are at each other's throats... :chuckle:
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I'm dreaming about MT now...love that country. Great hunt and even better photo essay. Road trip hunts are rich with filler material. Would love to see a lot more!
I think HuntinPhool and MRay are rationing the pics out. If we see them all now there won't be anything to break up the monotony in March when the only thing we have to talk about is politics and dismal draw odds and we are at each other's throats... :chuckle:
;) :chuckle:
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Ok pathfinder I'll give you a better look at him! We had driven 17 hrs and had been there for about 30 minutes when we spotted this guy. Yes we has good width but some short backs and is missing an eye gaurd but most of all he is young. Something for you and others to consider about a deer like this is you have to remember where you are at ... In Wa this deer is taking a dirt nap by now but something to consider even in Wa is look how young of a face he has and how skinny his neck and body are ... It's full on rut and the mature deer are swollen by now and the older mature deer have big belly's!!! Let this young 2-3 year old walk and he may turn out to be something in a few more years ;)
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I'll post an example later of a deer that is on :)the other end of that spectrum and you will be able to quickly see the differnence!
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I think HuntinPhool and MRay are rationing the pics out.
I took 2000+ images last week and will post more in the photography section so as not to be accussed of moving this thread BTT, don't want to fuel the whiners fire. :'(
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All that I want to know is did the small 4 in the beginning get hit by the train or did he scoot on out the otherside?
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Here is your example pathfinder a more mature buck!
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Here is your example pathfinder a more mature buck!
They're both better bucks than what we were seeing in the NE. My buddy had his aged. It was 5 1/2 years old. I think the spring snowstorms were rough on the antler growth this year.
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Holy smokes...those are some great looking bucks. Photography is supurb!
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Great pics and nice bucks!!! Thanks for posting them!!!!
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Looks like a blast guys . Great bucks and great pics, some of those spots look a little familiar ;) Did waid get one ?
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Did waid get one ?
He didn't draw this year but went to help with the drags and field dressing :chuckle:
Actually he was planning on doing a little yote and prairie dog shooting but the dog town of several thousand, no kidding, of last year was gone. The rancher said they all died off from some plague during the spring and summer :yike:
We had to go to some neighbors ranch to shoot them. Waid brought 1500 rounds of .17hmr and 500 rounds of .223 but only got use a couple hundred rounds :chuckle:
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whew , i thought you were going to tell me he taged that maingy road kill :chuckle: Crazy about the dogs looks like a fun trip as usual . :IBCOOL:
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Great pics as usual Phool. Sounds like you guys had a great time too. Congrats on your deer!!
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Some had asked Phool to see the Train sequence that I have ... Sorry again for taking so long but again when you are in the business of selling food to grocery stores this is a very busy time of year! So here it is now this was a whopping ten minutes after we arrived at our hunting grounds, still probably a good 20 miles from our cabin but this turned out to be close to the same area that phool ended up taking his buck some 5 days later.
Anyone ever see something like this??? I wasn't sure where he was going to go as he ran towards the train.
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Now he's looking for an opening!
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There it is!!!
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Wow it's a tight fit!
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And he makes it through!!!
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That's a pretty cool series...
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Thanks ... A funny story I'd like to share while we were on our way over. We stopped at a Motel in Butte the first night and the three of are standing in the lobby and we order a room for two. The guy looks at us all puzzled and Waid says... "I'll sleep in the truck" The guy lookes at him and says "Sir it's minus 2 out there" Waid replies "I will be fine I have a sleeping bag, and there is a few dollars of equipment in there that I would like to keep an eye on!" The guy looks at Waid like he was nuts!!! after Waid walks back out the guy says "he's crazy!!!" me and Rob just look at each other and shrugged our shoulders :dunno:
Well as we unloaded I decided to take a pic of just what Waid was sleeping with!!! :chuckle: Bless his heart he's an awsome partner and friend :)
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Ok so for fun I started to add it up. I gave up after 3 bino's,3 spotters w/window mounts and 2 canon 20D's and lenses ... Came up with somthing around 12,000!!! :yike: I guessing 2 AR's a 7mm a 300WM a 223 a muzzloader two HMR 17's 2 hanguns and scopes and ammo this table was worth over 20K easy!!! :yike:
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That Buck passing by that Train is Un-real!!! Pretty amazing what them critters will do to avoid being Din-Din! Thanks for sharing
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Thats a spendy Table!!! looks like a fun trip, nice bucks and that buck going under the train must have been entertaining. :yike: tight fit for sure.
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I like this one of Rob.
They weren't rutting were they :chuckle:. You could knock him over the head with a stick I think (not Rob, the deer :chuckle:).
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You guys ROCK !! Love reading your stories and the pics are as usual....... AMAZING.
I want to go with you guys next time !
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I've had 1500 pics to go through and I'm still at it so here are a couple more from the trip!
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Looks like a fun trip, you guys took some amazing pictures to capture it all. Thanks for sharing!
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Did you visit Custards last stand?