Foothills West Buck Tag

[dshaffer1221]

My son and I both drew the Foothills West whitetail tag and this will be his first year big game hunting. i would appreciate any pointers or information folks would be willing to share or message me with. I have been looking at the feel free to hunt land on ONX and would love to get in touch with some private land owners in hopes of my son being able to fill his first tag. thanks!

Drew

[Ridgerunner]

Dont be afraid to rattle, those whitetails might pop out of the brush and coming running at you, that's an adrenaline rush!!!!

[Rainier10]

Welcome to the site.  Congrats on the draw.  The FFTH land is plentiful in that unit and you should have no problem finding a buck for your first big game animal.

[dshaffer1221]

Appreciate the feedback. Thank you!

[jburkett]

My little boy drew this tag as well.

[Wolfdog2314]

I had the tag with my dad about three years ago. We hunted mostly the feel free to hunt stuff in the Blue Creek.  We made a couple reservations through the wdfw website on some Bennet timber lands. We got both our bucks on a piece of it in the Blue Creek unit. If you haven’t secured private property by now you probably won’t be able to. I don’t think I’d be too choosey on bucks without some extra properties allowable to hunt. Especially for a first tag to be notched.  There are giants to be had tho. My dad and I both shot nice 3x3’s with eyeguards “8 points”. All this probably doesn’t help a lot. But pound the land you can hunt and also focus your efforts on the last week of the hunt. We noticed definitely more activity during then. Good luck!

[Sr15]

Everyday of the season gets better and better for bucks on the move looking for a girlfriend. I would definitely concentrate on the last 4 days of the season rather than the first part of the season

[kirkthoma]

Good info. My 13 year old son and i also drew, looking forward to it. We typically sludge around in the rain for blacktails.

[teanawayslayer]

Your in for a fun hunt. You should be able to harvest a couple nice bucks!

[Rainier10]

Everyday of the season gets better and better for bucks on the move looking for a girlfriend. I would definitely concentrate on the last 4 days of the season rather than the first part of the season

[kirkthoma]

Note- Bennett's Website says "all land in SE WA closed to public access"... 

[adamR]

I had the tag last year. I spent way too much time up high and didn't see much. I saw the most deer and the best bucks on FFTH land down closer to town. Good luck!

[kirkthoma]

My kid got it done, small 3x w eyeguards this AM. Was cruising does. Spot and hurried shooting do to buck moving so much. For those of you who have hunted whitetail, what's the best method for this hunt?

[jburkett]

My little boy filled his blue mountains west tag this morning we’ve been at it hard since Friday. Lost of close calls and the bigger bucks are starting to show up with this cold front. Lots of wolf tracks and hearing them howling every night

[HntnFsh]

Thats awesome! Love to see the smile on his face! Congrats!

[Mjensen]

Very cool on his first buck, how he's hooked. Congratulations young man and great memories. 

[riverrun]

Congrats to your boy! Nice buck! He will be hooked for life!

[kirkthoma]

Nice! We both filled our tags. Was a good time. Tried attaching pics but it won't let me.

[D-Rock425]

Had this tag last year really enjoyed the hunt.  Cashed in 11 points on it and shot a dink of a buck on the last day.

[jburkett]

We were in bucks every day. This guy wasn’t the biggest buck we load eyes on but we weren’t holding out for anything in particular and we had some trouble getting him on the gun quick enough several times prior. We found this guy on our first day but he chased a doe into private land so we just watched him chase his lady around for a while and left him be, two mornings later we found him again chasing a doe this time he was in a ffth area but we couldn’t get him to hold still long enough for a shot, on wensday we decided to look for him again and found him still with his doe but he stood still plenty long enough for my son to set up on him. All week long  my son was shaky and nervous but something clicked with this buck and as soon as we saw him my boy laid down behind his gun and found him in the scope. I ranged him, reached down and dialed his turret and that shot went off before I even got my binos back up! I couldn’t be more proud of that young man.

[Pathfinder101]

Awesome job!     my son had the same tag.  Tough year.

[jburkett]

Awesome job!     my son had the same tag.  Tough year.

I just read your thread on his hunt, he shot a great buck congratulations to the both of you