Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: Skyvalhunter on November 30, 2017, 11:29:58 AM
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Hey lets see some of those Chiwawa special permit bucks.
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Hopefully the weather pushed some good ones in. My son and I scouted a couple times for his youth doe tag and we didn't even see enough sign, let alone deer, to bother going back.
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That unit sucks for late tag.
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That unit sucks for late tag.
Unless your happy with a 140 buck, I'll second that.
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I ended up eating my tag. Saw 2 shooter bucks and the forest cirques blew the only opportunity I had at a great buck. Lots of fog. And the deer were spread way out way up high and down low. I gave it hell and am still happy with the decision with eating the tag. Had plenty of opportunities at 140 class bucks.
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My two buddies didn't see anything bigger than a rag horn 4 point. Both ate their tags.
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Just goes to show this state is hurting. This unit used to have some pigs in It.
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It still does just far and few between. Weather played the biggest part. The one shooter I saw was the biggest buck I have seen in my life. But I hiked a ton took snowmobiles up high gave er hell and that was what I came up with
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Just goes to show this state is hurting. This unit used to have some pigs in It.
oh it still does! Just have to work harder than most to get to them. And that's the easy part. Then the hard part is to try to out smart the old warrior in his bedroom! The ones I'm talking about don't come down in the winter.
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The transition units like Chiwawa are definitely more difficult than the winter ground destinations like Entiat. You have to hit it just right to intercept them on the way through - and even then, they are moving through and difficult to catch up with in that terrain. Once they get to the Entiat or Swakane, there's nowhere else to go. It's also more weather dependent (need snow, but not too much), and there's more fog being higher and further west.
I also think the early migration/rut in 2015 hammered the mature bucks in all those units. The 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year old bucks all got shot, so now we're not seeing the older age classes. Need to give it another year or two.
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My buddy was drawn for that unit for muzzleloader only three tags. They only saw one doe the whole time.
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That unit sucks for late tag.
For the record I was half joking. Have had the tag twice and helped on several others. Definitely a hit or miss tag. I admire the guys that ate their tags. It's a choice everyone has to make going into the hunt.
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I just finished eating my tag, not chiwawa but another really good late tag. Never saw the 170+I wanted till the last day. He slipped away but I still had a great hunt. But that's muzzy hunting
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I just finished eating my tag, not chiwawa but another really good late tag. Never saw the 170+I wanted till the last day. He slipped away but I still had a great hunt. But that's muzzy hunting
Don't know how you guys, and gals, do it, I'd be hard pressed to pass a 140 class deer and maybe even a `130.
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One mans 140" is another mans 170"
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Need a couple mild winters in a row. Saw a number of bucks in the Entiat that were one or two years from being really big. If you are looking for 160+ point roast you are going to have to settle for tag soup.
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How about a few years where no late season permits or late hunts
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How about a few years where no late season permits or late hunts
If they let wolves get established over in the entiat wintering grounds most of the deer in north cascades will be wiped out in a couple years and there won’t be entiat / chiwawa area late tags at all. Would like to hear WDFW plan to prevent this as wolves are closing in there now.
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My buddy was drawn for that unit for muzzleloader only three tags. They only saw one doe the whole time.
must have spent an hour in the dark hunting. Don't know how you can spend time in the unit and not see animals. :dunno:
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My buddy was drawn for that unit for muzzleloader only three tags. They only saw one doe the whole time.
must have spent an hour in the dark hunting. Don't know how you can spend time in the unit and not see animals. :dunno:
:yeah: :yeah: :yeah: 100% agree.
Same story with folks in the Entiat....yet in 4 hours middle of the day I saw over 100 deer. I Also saw two trucks with hunters that never got out to glass.....just kept driving everywhere. I am amazed they could stay on the road....driving with their eyes closed and all. LOLOLOL :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
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One of those trucks was probably the guys i know.! That’s why they didn’t get anything :chuckle: :chuckle:
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Well that saves a few more deer with them staying in their truck
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You would think so. Unless forest service hikes down the same ridge your in and starts lighting fires in 10” of snow yelling to each other a hundred yards apart.
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Having trouble posting pics I know it’s do to the size I just don’t know how to resize
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do you have the Paint program?
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I don’t know. They are all on my I phone but I don’t know how to run the damn thing
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I couldn’t get it to work until i took a screenshot to upload mine with help from other members on here give it a try
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I couldn’t get it to work until i took a screenshot to upload mine with help from other members on here give it a try
You can also email it to yourself from your phone, it gives you the option of reducing the size. Then open the email from your phone, save that version and your image is easier to post. ;)
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You guys are going to make my head explode
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That pic was about 5 minutes before the circus showed up and blew all the deer into the next county. The night before there was a giant with this group of deer I was just waiting for him to show when they hiked down and blew them out
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Watched this buck for a minute before the fog rolled in and he disappeared. Not a shooter. This day was really weird because there was know wind but the thermals had the fog moving quickly.
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I met a guy in the Chiwawa who's brother killed a buck, do not know if he did, I would like to talk to him about his last two days, I ended up shooting a small 4x4 with eye guards the biggest buck I saw in 8 days,I also want to thank all who were more than willing to help me out on my hunt, thank you so much for the info, Gary
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How are the archers doing
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Watched this buck for a minute before the fog rolled in and he disappeared. Not a shooter. This day was really weird because there was know wind but the thermals had the fog moving quickly.
Love seeing guys hunting off a sled! See many deer up in area high enough to actually run the machine?
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Few buddies hunted the Late Swakane archery. Saw a fair amount of does but very few bucks and those they did see were immature.
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gls, you must have talked with my brother. I only had a couple days to hunt due to work so I shot the first buck that met my two day hunt expectations. I saw a bunch of little bucks before I spotted this one. Spotted from 800+ yards, looked him over with spotting scope with my brother in a lawn chair for a while and took him with a neck shot at 200 yards in the fog. My brother hunted hard and passed on a couple nice bucks including 3x4 he figured would hit 170 mark but went home with an un-notched tag. We both saw a ton of deer.
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And I took off the blaze orange for the pic. FYI
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Who cares about the hunter orange!! That's an awesome buck congrats on him hes got great character. At least you guys were able to see some animals. Sure its nice to get a fine buck but its more about the experience at least for me. :tup:
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That's a cool looking buck. Have any more pics of him?
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Do you have any more pictures of him?
Pretty Buck
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That’s the only decent one on my phone but I’ll get one off my computer later. It was a great experience. Tons of deer, drinks around a campfire in the snow, etc. The fog really limited the ability to glass and he does have character. He’s had two stickers on his right base but had busted one off. He also had been gored down to bone in his right hindquarter recently by another buck but I didn’t lose too much meat. It was a really fun, challenging, text book spot and stalk and he was surrounded on all sides by over a dozen does. My brother doesn’t take the best field pics and it’s a better buck than the pic shows. If I had the time I would have passed but between the fog and time constraints I asked myself “will he go on the wall of shame or on the wall inside?” The answer was inside on the wall so I pulled the trigger and glad I did because it fogged back in for the rest of the day and all of the next day.
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Well you did the tag justice. Other parts of that permit are tough areas to hunt. There are some real big boys that will hole up until its a$$ deep regardless of the does.
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Nice buck man! Way to get it done again.
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Great buck!
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dandy :tup:
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Watched this buck for a minute before the fog rolled in and he disappeared. Not a shooter. This day was really weird because there was know wind but the thermals had the fog moving quickly.
Love seeing guys hunting off a sled! See many deer up in area high enough to actually run the machine?
Ya saw the most deer up there. I only made up there twice for good hunts the fog was killer. Would spot deer and then it would sock in, I would wait an hour or more waiting for it to lift then move on. There was lots of deer down low also just seemed to be resident deer.
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Congrats on the buck highhunter! I probably would of shot that buck if I only had a couple days as well. I believe I talked to your brother also. I ended up passing the same 3 by 4 he did after I watched it break an antler off another smaller 4 point.
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Cool buck! :tup:
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Nice buck Jared👍🏻
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Thanks Mike and everyone else. gls, my brother saw 17 bucks the last two days but most of his time was spent in the fog. Never found what he was looking for but plans on redeeming himself next year on the high hunt (he passed on a couple low-170 bucks holding out for the late tag);)
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Late Archery has been a bust, 1 nice late buck seen, otherwise 6 to 7 bucks a day nothing to write home about. All 7 hunters hunting the same area. The fog laid in for the first few days of the tag, which made it hard to hunt.
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Sure enjoyed visiting with Chuck, great guy and his buddy too, I was pretty sick most of my hunt and did not see what I was looking for, saw an average of 6 bucks a day, all small but fun to watch, thank you for the update on your brother was hoping to hear he got a good one, but he will, that is a great buck you got and saw a pic of a good one a guy got with a muzzle loader, but congrats and please tell Chuck hello for me, Gary
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6 bucks a day is good for Chiwawa, it is not the Entiat or Swakane. I think the big problem right now is that very few of those are mature. You guys did well with your bucks!
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Sure enjoyed visiting with Chuck, great guy and his buddy too, I was pretty sick most of my hunt and did not see what I was looking for, saw an average of 6 bucks a day, all small but fun to watch, thank you for the update on your brother was hoping to hear he got a good one, but he will, that is a great buck you got and saw a pic of a good one a guy got with a muzzle loader, but congrats and please tell Chuck hello for me, Gary
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Hey Gls was that you in the white tacoma?
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So where would the mature bucks be? If there are still does being seen.? The swakane has been slow with the mature bucks to.
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The higher elevations of the unit
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So where would the mature bucks be? If there are still does being seen.? The swakane has been slow with the mature bucks to.
I just don't think there are a lot of them right now. Those units got hammered in 2015 with the drought and early migration. Entiat general buck harvest went from 170 in 2013, to 197 in 2014, to 355 in 2015 (!), and back to 225 in 2016. Chiwawa and the other surrounding units had the same issue, albeit with smaller numbers. The 3 points that got shot in 2015 would be your mature bucks now. Still deer around, just the mix of mature bucks to young bucks and does is off.
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So where would the mature bucks be? If there are still does being seen.? The swakane has been slow with the mature bucks to.
I just don't think there are a lot of them right now. Those units got hammered in 2015 with the drought and early migration. Entiat general buck harvest went from 170 in 2013, to 197 in 2014, to 355 in 2015 (!), and back to 225 in 2016. Chiwawa and the other surrounding units had the same issue, albeit with smaller numbers. The 3 points that got shot in 2015 would be your mature bucks now. Still deer around, just the mix of mature bucks to young bucks and does is off.
Well said, good facts....couldn't agree more!
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Gary, Chuck felt horrible for you.Said you looked like you were feeling pretty low. Sorry about that; hunting in the snow is not the funnest thing to be doing when you’re sick. muleyslyer, I think you are spot on when it comes to buck numbers and age class. I know it only takes one big one to make it an amazing season but when you look at dozens of migratory bucks and you only see a couple big tracks out of hundreds in the snow (both low elevation and high) it tells you something about the current herd composition. :twocents:
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That's exactly what I dealt with. Just didn't have the age class I was looking for. Hopefully pics go through. Not Chiwawa but close.
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Speaking of big tracks in Chiwawa, I came across this up there on the paved part of the 5700. Looked like it was bedded right on the pavement, wondering if one of you saw it when you came around a corner? This was on Nov. 11.
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Speaking of big tracks in Chiwawa, I came across this up there on the paved part of the 5700. Looked like it was bedded right on the pavement, wondering if one of you saw it when you came around a corner? This was on Nov. 11.
Moose?
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Speaking of big tracks in Chiwawa, I came across this up there on the paved part of the 5700. Looked like it was bedded right on the pavement, wondering if one of you saw it when you came around a corner? This was on Nov. 11.
Moose?
There are moose and I have been told that a stray elk but never seen any myself.
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I saw a moose right off that road this year on the 12th send me a cell number and I will send a video I can’t figure out how to post a video on here. Saw elk up thee also
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I saw moose tracks up there yesterday. Up pretty high. Couple turns from where the pavement ends.
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I saw moose tracks up there yesterday. Up pretty high. Couple turns from where the pavement ends.
Bet that's the same moose, within a mile or so of these tracks. I saw a set of cow/calf tracks up that way to the left at the Y about 5 years ago. This was a single. Probably same moose Scout saw.
I've also cut moose tracks up at Sugarloaf this time of year a couple times. Just haven't laid eyes on one yet. Also cut a set of elk tracks at the top of Van Creek one time, but that was the only set of elk tracks I've seen in there.
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Friend of mine has seen a couple up there riding snowmobiles a little later in the year. This was 2 seasons ago I think.
Seems like there are always some random elk in that country.