Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: jgrimes on December 04, 2011, 07:44:30 PM
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This was my third season archery hunting for whitetail on and around Mica Peak. During the two previous seasons I had lost the bucks that I had shot. The first to a poor shot and the second was lost after pushing a buck that hadn't yet expired. Two years of going through that feeling was not fun. This year during the early season I missed a heavy 5x5 that I put a spot and stalk on; simply misjudged the yardage. Late season had been pretty tough on me as well, but I've kept at it. My hunting buddy and I had hung stands on the back side of Mica Peak with the intent of hunting them during the early season, but just never got around to it. I hadn't had much luck at my parents property or on the 200 or so acres of private farmland I have permission to hunt. So today I decided to head up to Mica in hopes of changing my luck. Mica is now closed to motorized vehicles and I figured that the deer up there probably hadn't been pressured too much. I got a late start to the day, but a 45 minute hike, a little farting around getting situated in the tree and I was ready to rock by about 11:30. I was just about ready to do some calling when I heard some movement to my left. I turned my head slowly to see a buck feeding up the hill in my direction 60 or 70 yards out. Grabbing my grunt tube, I gave a couple short low grunts. He looked in my direction but seemed uninterested. There was a scrape and some remnants of a mineral block from the summer below my stand and I figured he just might end up working my way, so I let him be. He read the script and came right into one of my shooting lanes at 15 yards broadside. I was already at full draw before he got there. Pull those back muscles . . . . . THWACK! Clean pass through and my arrow in the ground on the other side. He stumbled down the hill 40 yards and toppled over. Even though I knew that he was done for, I sat on stand for a half an hour just to make sure. During that time I got in touch with some of my buddys to help me pack him out. We took a ton of pics, got him tagged, cleaned out and headed back to the trucks. This is my first harvest ever. My Dad introduced me to hunting when I was really young, but I never really got into it. He passed away during my Junior year of H.S. after a battle with colon cancer and then hunting just kind of faded out of my mind. By chance, I became really interested in archery and bowhunting about 4 years ago and have never looked back. I realize that he's probably not quite a Pope & Young buck, but I COULDN'T CARE LESS! This buck means a whole hell of a lot to me and I will never forget this day as long as I live. This one is for you Dad.
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Congrats. Great pics and write up! Thank you. :tup:
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Congrats! That is a fine deer. You should be proud.
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good job nice buck mica holds some great bucks
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Very nice buck. Isn't it great when a plan comes together?
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Congrats, way to stay at it. I enjoyed the read.
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Great buck and write up. Love the black and white pics :tup:
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That's a heck of an archery WT!! You put in a lot of work hanging stands, hiking etc and it paid off. Really nice deer and very impressive photos, love the b&w photos too somehow those put a totally different perspective to the pic.
Well done!
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Nice buck! Way to stick with it. I used to live in Liberty Lake and would see some real nice bucks hanging out down by the golf course when I'd come home late at night. Good job!
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Congrats :tup:
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congrats on the buck. Did you see any elk???
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Congrats. Great pics and write up! Thank you. :tup:
:yeah:
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congrats to you... :tup: :tup: :tup:
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GREAT story,pictures and of course the buck. Congratulations !!!
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Nice write up. B/W photos came out nice!
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Thanks guys. Saw quite a bit of sign on my hike in, but didn't run across any elk sign. Best of luck to all that are still lookin to notch those archery tags.
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well done. way to stay after it and congrats!
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Congrats!!! My wife and I were also hunting on Mica yesterday. We are on the north facing side and didn't see anything yesterday. I missed a shot at a 3x3 on Sat. but yesterday we just sat and froze our butts off all day.
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way to go man ...like those black & white photos..... :tup: :tup:
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Good job at staying at it, congrats on a fine buck! :tup:
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Nice write up. B/W photos came out nice!
:yeah:
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Nice job, I was on the Idaho side yesterday trying to find a spike bull with my muzzleloader. It was a beautiful day on the mountain. Thanks for sharing the story and like everyone else, really like the B&W photos!
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Congrats jgrimes on a great archery buck! Very nicely done, way to put in the work and reap the rewards! Great story as well.
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Great job! That's a hunt to remember.
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Congrats! Very nice :tup:
For some reason those B/W photos make me think of 80's Outdoor Life pics... :tup:
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Thumbs up for the pics....not the 80's :chuckle:
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Thumbs up for the pics....not the 80's :chuckle:
:chuckle:
