Free: Contests & Raffles.
After two years trying to get a mule deer in WA and one year coming close but not connecting over in Idaho, I finally got it done in my second year hunting ID:I was thrilled with how it happened. I think I spotted this deer and a similar buck the night before the opener, stuck around that spot for a couple days, and relocated him for a classic spot & stalk the morning after a nasty high-elevation wind/sleet storm. It was six miles from the road, half of that off-trail. There were no other hunters around for miles and hundreds of elk (see the hilltop in the background of the pic), with some of the bulls bugling up a storm. Awesome experience in the mountains.
Thanks to @treeclimber2852 for mentioning where he had seen a masher, didn’t see it but there was one in there so I pulled a double on Friday and the daughter knocked one down Saturday. Stories to come...