Post by: Redstar on October 19, 2010, 07:56:59 AM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm211%2FNate5b%2FIMG_20101017_104935.jpg&hash=a04016759c111de1cb74addf3b59fece60168d73)
Post by: Ridgerunner on October 19, 2010, 08:06:41 AM
Post by: Alan K on October 19, 2010, 08:08:41 AM
Post by: scout88 on October 19, 2010, 08:11:36 AM
Post by: Redstar on October 19, 2010, 09:37:32 AM
I drove east to hunt opening weekend with my girlfriend’s uncle. We hit the Snake river breaks for opening day, saw lots of does and quite a few bucks but nothing legal. Had a great time hiking around and watching the deer though. It seemed like it got easier and easier to spot deer from a distance once I’d seen a few and got an idea of what they look like and how they move.
Sunday we hunted a different area. Stimpson (maybe Simpson?) timber land north of Spokane if I remember right. Parked and walked up old overgrown skid roads through to a couple clear cuts. Saw does and a fork horn about 300 yards into the hike, this is a good sign! Took a couple hours to hike through/around the clear cuts to the top of the ridge. Saw a few more deer, nothing legal though. Headed over to a large rock outcropping to take a quick break. Glassed around and had a quick bite to eat. We decided we’d start heading toward the truck since I had to be on the road that night. We split up and headed down from the rock.
I heard something rustle about 10 minutes later – turned out to be a squirrel. Kept walking. Maybe 15 minutes later heard a noise again. Figured it was the damn squirrel again, went over to investigate anyway.
Deer!
Circled downhill to get a better angle, took a knee and got the binoculars up. Doe, doe, 2 point, something else with antlers… We stared at each other for awhile, then the group started moving off and I got a clear view of the last deer when he moved his head to the side – 3 Point!!! He’s legal! Next thing I knew I was looking through my rifle instead of my binoculars, deer stopped broadside, BANG! He leapt up and I lost sight of him. Got on the radio and called my hunting buddy over to help, turns out this guy made it only about 10 feet and fell behind a bush. Clean heart shot! Now I could celebrate, I was shaking pretty bad and about collapsed when I saw my first deer laying there.
Cleaned the deer and started dragging him back toward the road. We ran into a couple other hunters near the large rocks who were just awesome and insisted on helping us. Turns out they had seen this deer a few times since Saturday but just never lucked out. It was amazing seeing another group excited for me even though they’d spent time chasing the same deer. Their rig was a lot closer and they wouldn’t take no for an answer, they helped me hauling the deer all the way to the truck for me. I’d like to thank you guys again if any of you are members. I’m terrible with names and was a bit out of it… There were a few other “wetsiders” in your group from Shelton, and I remember one was from Moses Lake area – Thanks guys!
Post by: toyman2 on October 19, 2010, 09:48:38 AM
Post by: Wyoming08 on October 19, 2010, 10:30:35 AM
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on October 19, 2010, 12:14:26 PM
Post by: Jekemi on October 19, 2010, 01:33:50 PM
Post by: ser300wsm on October 19, 2010, 02:59:10 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on October 19, 2010, 05:03:01 PM
Post by: ELKBURGER on October 19, 2010, 06:17:56 PM
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on October 19, 2010, 06:26:37 PM
Post by: pods8 on October 19, 2010, 06:34:20 PM
Post by: Fishhog on October 19, 2010, 08:09:30 PM