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Author Topic: Guide Needed  (Read 2330 times)

Offline TheDudeAbides

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Guide Needed
« on: September 15, 2019, 05:09:33 PM »
After 2 years of hunting very hard, I'm trying a different option.  I have hunted the Snoqualmie area extensively over the past 2 years and have not even seen a deer to take a shot.  I have tried multiple forests and locations and been out 50+ times.  Hung cameras and scouted before the season started.  Read Scott Haugens Blacktail book and made notes. Hung game cams.  I'm still excited about hunting but what I'm doing is not working.  I don't have any friends that hunt locally so I don't have any reliable resources to tap into on what I need to do.  I have hunted in Indiana and Montana with success.  Hunting in Washington is REALLY hard, if you don't know what you're doing. 

I'm hoping to pay someone to guide me and teach me how to hunt the area.  I live in the Fall City/Snoqualmie Area.    If you guys know anyone who could be a good teacher/guide could you PM me their contact info?  I'm willing to travel.  I'm hunting with a bow and Archery season ends in 2 weeks, so I'm hustling to get something done before the seasons end.  Thanks for any help you can offer.  Good luck to you all this season!!

Offline blackpowderhunter

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2019, 06:37:24 PM »
keep after it...
blacktail hunting is a whole different ballgame than white tail.

Online JakeLand

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2019, 10:02:40 PM »
Look for the highest and steepest clearcuts you can find without vehicle access and you’ll find blacktail. The last hour of daylight ( witching hour) and the last couple days of October are the best
Get a mountain bike and get where people don’t want to go
« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 05:44:24 AM by JakeLand »

Offline TheDudeAbides

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2019, 08:03:17 AM »
Thanks Jakeland, I have been cruising around the raging river forest on my mountain bike trying the clear cuts but haven't turned anything up yet.  I'll try going higher as you suggested.  Thanks!

Offline hal

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2019, 09:09:38 AM »
whitetails starting to come south and west. Saw a whitetail doe feeding on the westbound hwy 18 exit last year.

Offline elkboy

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2019, 09:16:28 AM »
Hey DudeAbides-

Have you tried hunting in a tree stand?  If you find a good abundance of blacktail trails, especially in a red alder or bigleaf maple stand where there is some forage (like trailing blackberry, deer fern, salmonberry, western hemlock or redcedar seedlings), you could get up in a stand and just employ some serious patience.  You could also try a buck grunt, even early season (just don't overdo it!). 

Good luck. 

Offline fishnfur

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2019, 04:00:47 PM »
Not many commercial BT guides around.  There's a guy in Bremerton that has a suspect reputation for trespassing amongst other other things.

Archery hunting for mature BT bucks in the early season is a pretty tough prospect, and well above my pay-grade.  I only do it for fun and would credit luck more than skill if I ever scored.  I prefer a weapon with a little more reach in the later season.  If you're not opposed to feeding/baiting, then regular apple dumps in an area where you've located a population of doe may bring in the area's younger bucks (and possibly a mature one) that you're not catching on a cam.   

Options for hunting without a guide include glassing a cut in hopes of finding an animal, and then attempting to put a stalk on the deer without alerting him (challenging!).  You could still hunt or post up in the timber above or to the sides of a hillside clearcut at first/last light in hopes of catching a buck coming or going to feed.  Finding intersecting well-used trails with fresh sign to concentrate on in that situation makes good sense.  Sitting in a tree stand is an excellent choice if you're confident that the deer use that area on a regular basis, otherwise it is just an exercise in frustration.  I'm going to sit in an elevated blind once muzzy season opens.   It's hit and miss whether or not a buck will show during the daylight at that time of season, so it closely resembles sitting on a bank plunking for steelhead.  Sometimes you get lucky. 
“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline asmith

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Re: Guide Needed
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2019, 08:31:05 AM »
To keep things in perspective for you, I have not killed a mule deer buck in my lifetime.  I have been hunting them for roughly 20 years, minus a few missed years here and there.  Grew up in the deserts of California hunting the southern sierras for 8 years.  Moved to northern Cali and was able to shoot the crap out of the blacktails while there, 5 bucks in 3 years.  Moved to Nevada, never got drawn so a couple years there missed, then here in Washington.  1st year here, my neighbor was able to get me a depredation permit and I harvested a mule doe.   But 8 years here and not a single buck.  Hell, I harvested a 6x6 elk last year before I could even get a muley buck.

Just keep at it.  The fun is in the hunt itself.  But I will admit, ive been down many times as you are now.  All you can do is make the whole experience fun and not just about the harvest.  Take the 22lr with ya and kill some grouse and rabbits, that helps keep you going as well.
Right wing shooter, I aim for the left!!!

Nowhere in your incoherent rambling did you come close to what can be considered a rational thought. Everyone is now dumber having heard it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

 


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