Post by: Magnum_Willys on November 27, 2010, 09:18:24 AM
Thanksgiving morning, an hour drive from Yakima we met up with another hunter – a heckuva nice guy named Tim- at the access gate and he was kind enough to show us the access roads and viewpoints. With 6-12 inches of powder we didn’t need to chain up the suburban but almost – temperature was in the teens. From one viewpoint knob we could glass a couple square miles and we immediately spotted a half-dozen small bucks and one shooter about a mile out. We decided to hike across the sage flats and work our way over to the buck hunting our way over. Going up and down the heavy sage gullies with the foot of powder was a slippery process and we jumped a nice wide but low 4x4 on the way over but my son said he was holding out for that big one – at least on the first day. We jumped a couple elk and watched another herd of a dozen cross the sage flats. After 3 hours we took a lunch break and just as we headed out we spotted the big boy across a canyon going over the ridge – we’d have to go after him the next day.
By the time we got back to the rig we had walked for about 6 hours and we were both ready for a breather so we road hunted the last two hours and had a shot at a huge 2x2 but my son said he was holding out for a 4x4 on the first day.
The second day we chained up and got up to the top at daybreak to hunt for the big buck again only to find the mountain fogged in so we dropped down and hunted through some scrub oak and pine and saw only a couple does and one buck we couldn’t get a good look at. The legs were a little stiff from the day before. We did see a nice 5 or 6 pt bull elk. After the fog lifted we drove back up to the view knob and glassed for two hours spotting some smaller bucks but no shooters.
We were now down to the last afternoon so we decided to drive down the hill and make a last chance hunt side-hilling around the mountain where it didn’t look like there had been any hunting pressure – hiking through the sage hoping to get a shot across one of the deep ravines. My son is a big kid but I could tell that after a day and-a-half of tromping up and down those gullies through the snow that he was ready to pop something.
We worked our way around ridge through the head-high sage and came right upon a big buck with its head down walking and feeding down the ridge not 40 yards away - but right over the crown of the ridge. My son had just a second to size it up and get a shot off through the sage before the buck disappeared and he only needed half a second to get the job done. It took two more shots to make sure it didn’t flop down the mountain another quarter mile and we celebrated a very nice last day 4x3 heavy-horned old buck. We had a good 2/3 of a mile pack so we boned it out and after letting the meat cool in the snow we filled our day packs and I also carried a hind quarter while my son packed the head with cape. Fortunately it was all down hill back to the rig.
We made it back to the rig with an hour left in his season and moved the meat into game bags and headed home. A big thanks to Tim and Mike for helping us and to the Ranchers who work with the WDFW to allow access for this youth tag. Another big thanks to my wife letting us be gone on Thanksgiving for a hunt again ( and again) ! It was a great hunt.
Post by: Small_Savage on November 27, 2010, 09:23:38 AM
I look forward to having a kid to take hunting and show them the outdoors in general.
Post by: buckhorn2 on November 27, 2010, 09:59:36 AM
Post by: 400out on November 27, 2010, 10:09:52 AM
Post by: runningboard on November 27, 2010, 12:55:59 PM
Post by: BLKBEARKLR on November 27, 2010, 12:58:25 PM
Joe
Post by: joebear on November 27, 2010, 06:56:00 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on November 27, 2010, 07:07:08 PM
Post by: brackens on November 27, 2010, 10:38:27 PM
Post by: saylean on November 27, 2010, 10:43:16 PM
Post by: Superhunter333 on November 27, 2010, 11:04:49 PM
Post by: cowcall on November 28, 2010, 08:09:46 AM
Post by: Magnum_Willys on November 29, 2010, 10:01:55 PM
Post by: mtndew on November 30, 2010, 06:01:09 AM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on December 12, 2010, 01:17:18 PM
Post by: cooneyes on December 13, 2010, 08:13:15 PM
Post by: ser300wsm on December 13, 2010, 08:26:18 PM
Post by: elkslare on December 14, 2010, 09:22:16 AM
Two thumbs up!!! :tup: :tup: