633 Mason - Quality tag - Success!

[CJ1962]

I thought I would give a status on how this hunt is going so far.  Spoiler alert no deer yet!

I was somewhat familiar with this unit, having hunted Hartstine Island many years ago.  So I put it as my 2nd choice and drew it.

In August I went for a drive and found that the Island has changed a lot in the 20+ years since I hunted it last and I kind of wanted to hunt with my rifle anyway.  So I drove around in the Southern 1/2 of the unit and started marking gates on ONX.  I then came home and started e-scouting and doing searches on this forum.  Turns out this unit has been talked about a lot on here, so I don't think I'm giving up anyones secret hunting spot.

I also have multi-season deer this year, so in September when I wasn't Elk hunting I took my bow for a walk and then again during muzzleloader season I made a few trips.  I wasn't able to get out during Modern rifle.  I marked all the places I saw does on these trips.  I also found two small clearcuts that hadn't been sprayed with herbicide.  I found sever large cuts that had and just don't feel like they will be productive.  If you have had success in these brown deserts let me know.

The season runs Nov 1 - 17th.  I wasn't able to get out on Monday.  But I went parts of Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and hunted the full day on Thursday.  My son and future daughter in law are coming in to town this evening, so I probably won't get back out until Sunday afternoon.  Fortunately I am retired, so I can hunt when I want.

On Tuesday I didn't see any deer, but I found a good patch of rubs.  It was kind of two rub lines down different branches of spur roads about a mile from the gate.  I set a camera by the best looking rub.

On Wednesday, right before dark, I may have called in a doe and a fawn with soft doe bleats.  I say may, because it had been a while since the last time I had blown on the call and they may have just been coming to the edge of the clearcut on their own.  I could not see them with the naked eye, but they were easily seen with the binos.  I kept scanning the edge of the timber for other deer and for a brief moment saw a 3rd deer.  I never got a good look at it, but it wasn't pestering the doe, so 

On Thursday I saw a lone spike, and another Doe and a fawn in a different area.

Friday morning I saw a doe.

I have yet to see any rutting activity (other than the fresh rubs) and 2 of the three places I have hunted I have seen or seen evidence of people walking dogs.  I checked my trail camera today and the only pictures it had were a guy walking his dog.

For the record, I have no problem with people responsibly walking their dogs, I would just prefer not to hunt in the same spots.

So far I have been mostly sitting and calling or still hunting on gated roads or the edges of clear cuts.  I haven't gone into the reprod, yet.  I have no issues with walking long ways or taking a deer out in two trips.  I would have thought being a mile behind a gate would have put me beyond the dog walkers, but so far that hasn't been the case.

I know it only takes one and fortunately I am not in a meat deficit, so I am looking for a nice 3 or 4 point to hang my tag on, and if I don't it won't be the end of the world.

I'll try and keep this updated every day or so, and if anyone has any tips or helpful suggestions I am all ears.  Or if your one of the other 9 that have this tag don't hesitate to reach out, maybe we can share a hunt or pack out.

[Sundance]

Personally I’d focus on the northern part of that unit and spend time behind glass looking over the cuts. After that I’d hit the creek bottoms and big timber draws for still hunting in hopes of bumping deer.

[CJ1962]

Personally I’d focus on the northern part of that unit and spend time behind glass looking over the cuts. After that I’d hit the creek bottoms and big timber draws for still hunting in hopes of bumping deer.

Hmm, I had pretty much ignored that as it was mostly Rayonier Leased land or the Tahuya State forest off road area.  I'll take a second look at it.

Thanks

[fishnfur]

The ORV area of Tajuya St. Forests is only a small part of the DNR lands in the area.  The southern portion of DNR lands north of lower Hood Canal/above the town of Tajuya used to have a lot good looking spots.

I drew the same Quality Tag as you.  My hunting notes go something like this:  I hunted Mason hard on the last three weekends, Friday to Sunday.  The doe that are usually on my property are seen frequently.  This year though, it has been hit and miss all summer and fall.  Two weeks ago, I don't remember seeing even one doe.  I saw a good buck out searching on that first weekend but he was moving fast and I wasn't prepared to take a shot. The following weekend, 29 - 31 October, on Saturday (I believe) I saw thirteen doe, no bucks.  That Sunday, I had a spike follow a doe right past my position aroujnd 10:00 am.  A half hour later on a different side of the cut, I saw a good buck run across the forest road, nose to the ground and moving at light speed.  He disappeared behind a pile of slash and I couldn't glass him up after that.  Some guy driving by on the road behind me had seen him and whispered that there was a four-point in the cut somewhere.  I could only shake my head in disgust. 

I went back yesterday for weekend number three.  Ready for the season to be done, I killed a small forkie yesterday at 10:15 am without remorse that I could have possibly got a much better buck by holding off.  It was time to end the season and I needed some venison for my salami making hobby.  Perfect ending.

Sundance's suggestions should be taken seriously.  He has local knowledge of the Kitsap area and is in the hunting elite.  Stay patient.  I've not seen any activity in the first couple of hours of the day.  You still need to be out there and focused. Expect that between 9:00 and 11:00 some doe will be up moving.  The chances are very good that they will have a buck in tow or close by while they feed.  Good luck!


 

[CJ1962]

Thanks, I plan to check it out this afternoon.

[Lapua338]

Can’t go wrong hunting the island, def possible to get what your looking for. Put your time in and you will be rewarded. Very good tag to have. There’s nice bucks all throughout 633, if I had the tag I’d stick to the southern half. Cover lots of ground bucks are cruising right now

[CJ1962]

Thought I would provide an update.

I didn't get out Saturday and Sunday morning as expected with family in town.  Sunday late morning I was getting ready to head out and speed scout the North end per suggestions from Sundance and fishnfur.

My wife decided she wanted to come, which was fine because it fit into what I thought the day would be.  My definition of speed scouting is driving as many roads as possible.  Marking good looking gate locations on ONX.  Finding recent clearcuts that haven't been updated on maps.  Also marking any locations where Does were seen whether they were on public or private.  We didn't cover the whole Northern half, but we covered a lot of it and I had a whole bunch of fresh pins to do some more e-scouting on once home.

Monday I went out to my first choice place and slowly walked all the different spur roads behind a gate. Fitbit says I walked 9 miles.  I saw very little fresh sign and no deer.  I did sit on a nice looking clearcut and found two fresh rubs, but that was it.

Tuesday I have some things to do this morning, but will be heading out to my 2nd choice spot later today.

It only takes one!

[redi]

Good luck

[Sundance]

The hardest past about this tag or any of the quality blacktail tags is locating the areas that they have concentrated. In my experience the deer will congregate in an area around the peak rut, I've seen as many as 9 bucks in an area the size of a football field. Where in October I may have 6-10 spots in a GMU, that may be narrowed down to 1-3 for the peak rut, areas that held deer two weeks ago could be a ghost town right now. The only way of knowing these spots is to run a ton of game cams or have historical knowledge of these areas they like to use. If I'm hunting a new area I will cover ground on foot and glass until I find these hotspots and then I will hit them hard. 

Two examples I can think of:
I've hunted a series of drainages in the Olympics that hold deer from July until the snow pushes them out. Always consistent and good volumes. I went up there one November to scout and spent a whole day seeing nothing. I worked over a drainage into a fold that wasn't 100 yards across and 500 yards deep and spotted 4 bucks working 10 does. That's just where they all wanted to be.

There is a state land parcel that's several hundred acres I hunt where I have 5-6 locations to hang a stand or use my saddle. All good areas to hunt the last 2 weeks of October. If I were hunting in there now I would narrow my focus down to a 20 acre chuck of old timber that looks like a frat party right now. The deer from that parcel just like to congregate there for the rut and an afternoon sit is highly productive.

The biggest misconception of a quality blacktail tag during the rut is that it's a gimme hunt. It's anything but a gimme, but it allows you time in the woods with minimal hunting pressure where mature bucks are more prone to daylight activity and making mistakes.

[pd]

Fish & Fur, congratulations on the salami forkie!  He will taste just fine.

The rut is weird this year.  I saw a lot of activity early (20th to 25th of October), then not much.  But today I had two bucks chase a single doe in my yard, with my four Border collies hot on the chase.  Just weird.

Sundance is right, you have to find that high school dance party, and once you do you will have your choice of bucks.  Unfortunately, all of the bucks will be at that party.

Best of luck.

[actionshooter]

Way to be persistent...

[fishnfur]

Thanks PD.  Nice to see you post a couple words.  Hope you and the wife are well.  Finish the season in style - sneak in behind Sundance and killl his buck before he has time to draw on it.  Good luck brother!

[CJ1962]

Yesterday I left the house around 11am, I had a few chores to do.  As I am driving west along hwy 16, I get a Tornado warning on my phone.  I'm thinking I probably did this wrong, I should have been out this morning and hunted the calm before the storm.  I parked out the new spot just as it started raining hard.  My weather app was throwing all kinds of warnings, gale force winds, flooding, thunder storms, etc. 

I expected to see women and children fleeing for their lives.

Within a couple 100 yds of the gate I came around a corner and a small buck was standing in the road.  Good start I hoped.  I found a new clearcut that was about 10 acres in size and probably around a 1/2 mile from the gate.  Perfect I thought, I will just sit here until dark.  Well it was raining and blowing so hard, and there were still several miles of road that I hadn't explored, so I decided to keep walking.

I'm sure I'm just like most hunters in that I always want to see what's around the next corner.

Turns out there were 3 new clearcuts in this area that didn't show on the maps.  As I was discovering the 3rd one, I thought maybe the way the road was curving around that it might tie back into the 2nd one.  It was getting late and I knew I was a ways in, and was hoping for a shorter route out and maybe have enough time to re-check the 1st clearcut closer to the truck.

As I came around a slash pile, I looked up hill to my left and there was a buck standing there about 100 yds away.  It was raining hard but since I could see his antlers with the naked eye, I figured he might be a buck I wanted too shot.  I brought the gun up and with 3 power I thought I could see that he was more than a forky, so I took the shot.

He ran behind a slash pile and I scooted down the road as quick as I could in hopes of seeing him on the other side.  When I looked up the hill I saw a leg kicking in the air and knew I had got him.

I won't lie I was briefly disappointed to find that he was only a forky.  But I got over it quick and was happy to be looking at my first blacktail.

This area would be prefect for an e-bike and trailer, or a buck buggy.  I have neither.  Usually I just do the gutless method and pack them out.  But for this hunt I had thrown my wheelbarrow in the truck and was thinking if I get one I would bring him out whole in the wheelbarrow.

So I gutted him and drug him down to the road.  Marked the spot as it would be pitch dark when I got back and hiked out to the truck.  I stripped my pack down to just water, knife, saw, and rope. 

I tracked my path out on ONX and it was just at 2 miles and took me 40 minutes.  It took me about an hour to push the wheel barrow back in and load him up.  The first 1/2 mile was the steepest and it took about an hour and a 1/2 to get him back to the truck.

I'm not sure I will do the wheelbarrow thing again, but it worked and I didn't have to whittle him up by myself in the dark and the pouring rain.

[CJ1962]

Here's the pics.  Not great, but it was late, I was by myself, and I had work to do.

[7mmfan]

Great work! That's a stout forkie, nothing wrong with that. They make up the bulk of the Blacktail population anyway. You hunted hard and stayed out in the woods in crappy weather. That's what it takes to get it done.