Good Memory Bucks

[bigmacc]

[quote author=bigmacc My dad took an old timer back in "67" that was a monster. The fish and game fellas said it was the biggest buck they had seen at the time, figured him at over 400 lbs. on the hoof (mule deer), the darn thing only had one tooth left and they figured he never would have made it through the winter, (they said my dads buck was 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 years old.)

Geez I bet that SOB was tough.
[/quote]

Ha, yes it was Humptulips I posted a picture of it on here a few years ago with my great grandma standing next to it, a HUGE non-typical with a face only a mother could love . My great grandparents were raising hunting labs and German shorthairs at the time, we ground the whole thing into burger so we could doctor it up with different recipes to eat it and the dogs ate good that year too . No waste

[gee_unit360]

Hump. You need to post some pictures

Agreed!

[bigmacc]

I believe it was 1946 or 47 We have the pictures. A fella by the name of Henry #$%^ was at camp. Its not a memory of mine, but my dad used to tell stories of this buck, my dad killed many himself but this one was killed by another and was one of his "Good Memory Bucks"

Dad had said Henry was a friend of grandma and grandpas, he loved to hunt, they met in Alaska. Henry was at camp when my dad was in his prime. I remember dad saying that grandpa told him "you got to watch and learn how this guy shoots". Henry shot on the same trap team as my grandma and grandpa and was a hell of a shot, both eventually shot on the USA Trap Shooting Team. After a few years Henry had come down with cancer, he still made it to camp. Dad said that one day, Henry, my great grandpa and my dad went to a spot that Henry wanted to go. It was a day my dad said he'd never forget. The three of them sat on a hillside, a foot of snow on the ground. It was cold. Dad told the story of a big A$$ buck walking from behind a bench. Grandpa asked Henry If it was the one he wanted, no answer. Henry just raised his rifle and killed the buck, a nice heavy 2 by 3, its in one of our albums. Henry passed before the next season. My dad said it was one of the best shots he had ever seen, about 200yards with peep sights.

[bigmacc]

One more. I think it was in the 40,s maybe 50,s Looking at the picture as I type. Paul, another friend of grandma and grandpas. Ive told many stories of this fella, a Slav Fisherman, tough as nails, worked for the grandparents up at Kodiak. Packed deer out on his back, yep, it was his downfall.

Ok, this picture is of Paul standing next to a big 6 by 7, can't tell, grandma only wrote "Paul" 1940?..., big buck on the back". Paul was around in camp when I was able to actually know him. Arms like Popeye from pulling nets, (my dad used to say, "look at his arms, their like Popeyes" . I remember coming into camp one night(it took us 6-7 hours to drive from Everett) and seeing the "Bellingham Bunch" sitting around a fire that looked like it was a house on fire! Back then, maybe 50 or so people gathered, then another fire with another clan with dozens around it. I have told the story and posted pictures of 20 bucks on one ridge pole, then another picture of 20 more, then another and another. We have pictures of 40-50 bucks hanging between all the camps at Little Bellingham in its hay days. This was during Pauls "hay days". He and grandma used to hunt a lot together, they would have each others back. Paul was in a picture I posted years ago, it was him and another big buck that was actually a buck that I still have the antlers of. My grandma was a hell of a shot(already told that story), one day she dropped two bucks(it was ok back then), Paul was on a rock that was in a spot probably a lot of folks would know now days, only its owned by another, now. Paul and grandma pulled these two deer for a couple miles, Paul finally said, "G@#$%^, we got to get out of here", dad told the story of the two of them moving through thickets, moving downhill and coming to a stop, they both looked at each other, now what do we do? They laughed, looked at each other and said, "this is gonna cost us a bunch of money" Well, there was a well known family in the valley that made you buy a jug of cider, IF you drug a buck though their property. Back in those days, they knew us, we knew them, they knew we would be living on cider during hunting season Well grandma and Paul got down to the spot where they would need to "pay the toll", This fella was there to collect. He said something like (my dads story) "well hell, thats a big boy" "well hell, you got 2 big boys!", they all stood there, contemplating "a deal", they did. Dad said that grandma told Mr L*&^%$% that she would buy 10 jugs of cider for a lifelong pass :chuckle:He accepted. Paul and his clan pulled over a hundred deer through that turf over the years, our bunch did too. That was the best investment grandma ever made . We still bought cider from these folks every year. They in fact came to our camp for dinners until he and his wife passed. Those really were the good ole days. There are some still left on here who know exactly who these folks were. Man, I miss those days. 

[baldopepper]

Your stories sure bring back memories. My early years were in Utah, while a different location stories are similar. 50's and 60's permits were all otc and was common to see camps of 40-50 people. Most camps were 3 generations of families and assorted close friends. The deer camp was the annual family reunion, men bragged about having enough senority with the company to get vacation during the week of the deer hunt..Schools closed the Friday before opening day because attendance was so low with all the kids leaving with their families to go deer hunting. All the big sporting goods stores had a biggest deer contest with the main one (Wolfes sporting goods) actually announcing and showing the winner on television after the hunt ended.  First prize was a new jeep. The deer hunt went beyond just a hunt, it was a time when families and friends got together and renewed old memories  and friendships. Every kid hoped one day he'd be able to brag about the big buck he shot or at least tell the story of the big one somebody else in the camp got. Obviously you were one of those kids Big Mac, as I was. Like you, I really miss those days, but your stories help keep the memories alive.

[bigmacc]

Your stories sure bring back memories. My early years were in Utah, while a different location stories are similar. 50's and 60's permits were all otc and was common to see camps of 40-50 people. Most camps were 3 generations of families and assorted close friends. The deer camp was the annual family reunion, men bragged about having enough senority with the company to get vacation during the week of the deer hunt..Schools closed the Friday before opening day because attendance was so low with all the kids leaving with their families to go deer hunting. All the big sporting goods stores had a biggest deer contest with the main one (Wolfes sporting goods) actually announcing and showing the winner on television after the hunt ended.  First prize was a new jeep. The deer hunt went beyond just a hunt, it was a time when families and friends got together and renewed old memories  and friendships. Every kid hoped one day he'd be able to brag about the big buck he shot or at least tell the story of the big one somebody else in the camp got. Obviously you were one of those kids Big Mac, as I was. Like you, I really miss those days, but your stories help keep the memories alive.

Thanks baldopepper . You speak the truth, I remember even here in this state some of those same examples. I remember taking a note to my teacher letting her know I would be absent for 10-12 days and if she could put together assignments for me to do while in camp, it was signed by my mom. Couldn't even imagine that now days, I remember the teachers writing the assignments on a return piece of paper along with a request of some venison . This was in western Washington, like I said probably pretty rare to do that now days on the west side. I remember dad and I going up to Bellingham and help the grandparents get everything packed, a lot of stuff was in crates and buried at camp so they wouldn't have to haul it back and forth, man we have found some treasures over the last 10-20 years of stuff that was forgot about. I to remember we would stop by Yeagars Sporting goods up in Bellingham, we would buy our ammo etc and get our names on "the biggest buck" board, yes sir, I too really miss those days. I remember after the season there would be a big get together at the Masonic temple up there, it would usually happen a month or so after the season, I remember crowds of a couple hundred at least, all from different families and clans, some were from our bunch who hunted the Methow, some were families that hunted the Chelan area and so on, they all brought food and different venison recipes, a big ole deer meat pot luck I remember seeing all the pictures, the slide shows guys would put on, the stories and the dozens of racks folks would bring in to show off, it was incredible!!  Man the racks people brought to those pow wows were something else, I remember prizes being handed out for biggest and so on. Did I say I miss those days? Yes I do

Ive said it before, I feel very fortunate to have grown up in those days and to have a family with such a hunting history AND to have hunted in an area and in a time where our deer herds were taken care of, they are what sold licenses and tags, the healthier the herds, the more that were sold. The "Game Department" (yep we actually had a Game Department back then) put those herds and their health as priority number 1.  As I've said many times, the Methow herd at one time was the largest migrating herd in the country, numbering between 35-40,000 head, those days are long gone and we will never see them again, its only a shadow of that now days, if even a shadow.

[bigmacc]

Called an old friend today just to check in on him, the conversation eventually moved to the past hunting season then onto seasons from long ago, after about an hour long conversation many old memories were conjured up.

I told the story of the time we had 3 big bucks loaded in the back of the truck before we even had our tent set up, one of them was killed about 100 yards to the left of the 200 yard targets at the rifle range, while probably 20 or so people were blazing away . Well this was another buck killed the following year by the fella that killed the "rifle range buck".

We went into an area that was not known for seeing a lot of deer but if you did see some, chances are they would be big. My great grandma and my dad when he was 11 or 12 killed an absolute monster in this turf back in the late 30,s, grandma told the story of them walking up on the 9 by 7 and looking down at it, she said dad looked at her and said "grandma, were gonna need some help" . Anyway, three of us we went into this spot, about 3 inches or so of fresh snow on the ground and snowing but no sign of any deer or any life for that matter. We were about 5 miles in when we decided to spread out along some rock bluffs, looking down into a maze of benches, fingers and draws, just beautiful, in fact to perfect I guess. We were spread out about 100-150 yards apart, the fella to my right was just about 150 yards away and a bit above me watching an escape route that came by on his right. A few hours went by when after not seeing a thing I looked up at my buddy that was to my right, I put my glasses on him and seen movement in the rocks about 40 feet or so above him. It was a long tail moving side to side, then I seen the head in between a couple rocks, it was a cougar, looking at my buddy. I gave out a yell to "look behind ya" as I'm waving my arms, my pard spun around as the cat took about a 20 foot jump going to his right, by buddy brought his rifle up but never got a shot off. My other pardner who was to my left walked over to me and I told him what was going on, we walked over to our buddy who when we got to him was white as a ghost, pretty shaken up. We sat there and he said "I felt like someone was watching me" he said he kept looking back behind him but couldn't see anything, he was a little freaked out to say the least, who knows how long that thing had been sizing him up and watching him. We got our wits together and took off out of there going out the back way. We came to a big boulder field that was part of an old rockslide, it was probably about 300 yards across and went down the hill a few hundred yards more, the rocks are the size of small cars but easy to navigate through. Once we got through the slide we headed for a saddle that would pop us out on the backside of the ridge, when we got close we started smelling what I can only describe as cat piss, real strong ammonia type smell. It got all of our attentions. I remember all of us had the hair standing tall on the back of our necks, heads on swivels we headed for the saddle. There was a cave to our left heading for the saddle, we had to look I remember my buddy unholstering his 357, we walked towards the cave, the smell getting stronger. We were all standing about 10-15 feet from the opening which was about 5 feet or so high by about 8 feet or so wide, it was a big, dark hole. We through a couple rocks into the opening, nothing, then my other buddy pulled out his flashlight and walked a little closer, shining the light in we seen a lot of bones and a set of antlers that was pretty phenomenal a 4 by 5 that was about 28 inches wide and had been gnawed on, looked like it may have been in there for at least a year. We seen carcasses in all different stages of decay, I couldn't even say how many, at least 4 or 5 skulls. We ventured out and up towards the saddle when we found another cache about 50 yards or so from the cave, another nice buck with bleached out antlers. Another dandy but one side was really chewed up. We were starting to get even more freaked out as we were trying to get out of there, our minds were messing with us now and we were looking for cougars instead of deer We made it through the saddle and we all sat on a big deadfall, we sat there for about 20 minutes or so talking about that morning and what we had experienced. My buddy that had the cougar watching him whispered "don't move", he was looking downhill from where we had just come from, there was the cougar about 200 yards to the left of the trail we had just come up but he wasn't looking at us, he was looking opposite of where we were, laying in an opening, tail moving side to side like a house cat ready to pounce on a mouse. Well, we looked down hill in the direction he was looking and my buddy spotted a buck about another 100 yards down hill, a big 3 by 4 with heavy dark antlers. My buddy got set up, the deer and the cat were in a stare down, neither were paying any attention to us. My buddy shot right over the top of that cat and dropped the buck, that cat exploded out of that clearing like it had been shot out of a cannon, it happened so fast he couldn't get a shot at the cat. Back then it was a rarity to see cougars, in fact it was pretty cool if you did see one. I remember our whole family seeing a handful of them the whole time they had been hunting back in the early 1900,s, there were bountys on them etc so they were kept in check and if you did run into one, well, you had a story to tell that would gather a crowd around the fire It was a dandy buck for sure and we killed it right out from under that cat, I guess we corked him during his hunt, not very good hunter ethics I guess, shame on us

[MADMAX]

Great stories bud
Thoroughly enjoy the good old days

[bigmacc]

Great stories bud
Thoroughly enjoy the good old days

Thank you MADMAX, I have another of this fella I will tell one day. One that happened with my friend from Arizona, the two of them never seen eye to eye AND they didn't like each other , perfect combination

[HntnFsh]

Can't wait. Don't leave us hanging too long!

[bigmacc]

Im thinking it was 1980 or 81 , I didn't write a date on the back of the picture. My buddy who had moved up from Arizona years prior is a great guy and good people, he would basically give you the shirt off his back. Leon is the guy who has a family photo album kind of like ours only all Arizona stuff going back to the 1930,s. He's the fella I told the story of who purchased a special tag to hunt domestic pigs that had turned feral AND reproduced to the point they were destroying key winter range for elk and deer in northern Arizona. A livestock truck had turned on its side and a couple hundred pigs got loose, after a few years our so they were wreaking havoc on the winter range, they figured they would die of or get picked off by cats and other predators but no, their numbers grew and so did the pigs, Leon showed me pictures of 2 pigs weighing more than 2000 lbs total(I want to say 2200 or 2300 ), they squatted his half ton Chevy pretty good, lets just say that

There was another fella in camp (we,ll call him Fred) who didn't get along with everybody lets just say, Leon was one of those. We never could figure out why, Leon is still one of the most friendly, giving people I have ever known or will know for that matter, he's just one of those kind of guys. One day myself, Fred, Leon and another pard went into an area that we figured we could knock down a couple migrators, the deer had been moving for a few days and we figured this spot would be ripe. We got in there well before sunup so we could get spread out and let things settle for awhile before shooting time. We were all watching different routes and turf but were all within sight of each other, only being 50-100 yards apart. Leon and Fred were maybe 50 yards apart, Fred watching one direction while Leon watched totally different turf in the complete opposite direction. It wasn't more than 5 minutes after shooting time when I heard a BOOM, sounded like Leons 300 Weatherby, I've heard it many times. I look in his direction to see him in the prone position looking down hill like he was gonna shoot again, he instead layed his rifle down and backed away from the ledge as to not silhouette himself, he then motioned for Fred to "get there quick", Fred beat feet and got to the spot, I'm watching this whole deal through my binos, when I see Fred sneak up to the ledge, get prone and BOOM, this whole thing transpired over about a 4-5 minute chunk of time. No more shooting. The two of them sat there for a few minutes, I seen them shake hands and then Leon motioned for me to come over, I made my way over to the two of them. When I got there Fred kind of pulled me to the side as Leon started making his way down the old chute, we knew it would take him awhile because of the rough terrain, Fred stayed at the top for a bit so as to guide us to where the bucks were. Before I headed down Fred made a cheap shot comment sayin "that buck I just killed was a dandy, I'm sure Leons is bigger, he wouldn't have left that thing for me", I took it with a grain of salt and headed down the hill, I eventually caught up with Leon and we followed Freds hand signals to the bucks. The first buck we got to(about 400 yards or so down the hill) was Freds, an absolute beautiful 4 by 4 that we tapped later at 31 and a half inches wide! Just a beautiful buck, almost pretty, still to this day one of my favorite bucks. We then went about 30-40 yards to the left and slightly up hill a tad and we came upon Leons buck! Oh boy! Leon looked at me and said "do you think this might sway that sourpuss to maybe like me a little " Leon then bent over and started gutting his 2 by 2 with a whopping 9 inch spread, outside . I said Leon, that was pretty cool of you to do that for him, he said "lets see what Fred says". We motioned for Fred and our other pardner that we had located both bucks and signaled for them to head on down. They got to us first, you should have seen the look on Freds face when he seen Leons buck laying there. We then walked over to Freds monster. He shook Leons hand and said "why the hell didn't you shoot this guy?", Leon looked at him and said, " I never thought twice about it". Fred is no longer with us but that day a fence was mended that let Fred see the real person Leon was, he is the kind of guy who walked that talk through his whole life, "he never thought twice" about doing a good deed.

[HntnFsh]

Another incredible story. Leon is the kind of friend everbody should be, and needs to have!

[Skyvalhunter]

I need me a few Leon's in my hunting party I seem to have too many Fred's.

[bigmacc]

I need me a few Leon's in my hunting party I seem to have too many Fred's.

.......Yep, "dont be a Fred"

[MADMAX]

Bigmacc
You really should write a book
The glory days of the Methow
Awesome story
Thank you again
RIP Fred M from the valley