Any #218/#224 quality tag pictures ???

[bigmacc]

1960,s. This buck weighs in over 400lbs the way it’s hanging. My great grandpa, 86yo, for perspective he was 6’3” tall.

Obviously.....that's a bear.

👍

[blindluck]

Love these mega buck pictures, the good old days, how envious we are!,

[Katmai Guy]

1960,s. This buck weighs in over 400lbs the way it’s hanging. My great grandpa, 86yo, for perspective he was 6’3” tall.

Back then every tag was a “quality” tag or at least had a good chance to be one and you didn’t need to be drawn for it! Back then the real “Game Department” actually tried to manage the heard for hunter opportunity and quality, the heards were the top priority.👍

Thanks for posting.  Your photos are always great to see.  When was the season back then, about the same time as now?

[bigmacc]

1960,s. This buck weighs in over 400lbs the way it’s hanging. My great grandpa, 86yo, for perspective he was 6’3” tall.

Back then every tag was a “quality” tag or at least had a good chance to be one and you didn’t need to be drawn for it! Back then the real “Game Department” actually tried to manage the heard for hunter opportunity and quality, the heards were the top priority.👍

Thanks for posting.  Your photos are always great to see.  When was the season back then, about the same time as now?

It varied back in those days if I remember right. My time in camp started in the 1950,s.  You usually had 2 weeks, although my dad said he remembered some seasons being 3weeks, a 1st week, a middle week and the last week, my dad remembers stories my great grandpa told, they started hunting it in 1917, my dad in the 1930,s. I remember always trick or treating around Little Bellingham because the season was always during Halloween. I remember seasons usually going into the first week of November, I have many notched tags I’ve saved that are notched on dates between the 1st and the 10th of November. I also remember there was just one season but it was almost like having two seasons, you had folks that liked to come over for the first week of the two week season because you usually had nicer weather, these consisted of older folks with trailers etc and they would pull out the following (middle) weekend and then the next wave would come in consisting of folks more prepared for crappier, colder weather. The first week folks were usually hunting a robust local herd and the last week folks were usually hunting the migratory herd if the weather cooperated. Which it usually did. Our bunch usually went over for 4 weeks back then, with folks coming or going depending on work, school etc. My great grandparents and a few other members of Little Bellingham who were retired usually went over for 4-5 weeks, a couple weeks prior to the season until 1-2 weeks after the season. Back before Stevens Pass was paved and I-5 didn’t exist, it was a 2day trip to get from Bellingham to the Methow, with an overnight stay at a friends orchard in Cashmere, so they made the best of their “vacations” when they retired. Lots of scouting, hiking, fishing then the hunting weeks then a week or two of more hiking, scouting, learning routes deer were migrating through, where they staged, where they ended up and how long these stays and movements lasted, depending on weather. Then packing up, burying many items in crates etc like wood stoves, lanterns and other camp supplies, basically stuff they didn’t want to haul back and forth. Usually all the rigs were loaded with bucks by the end of the season anyways So burying stuff for the next year became a necessity. A lot of the camps within Little Bellingham consisted of relatives and friends that were either from Alaska, worked in Alaska or had spent a lot of time in Alaska, so packing, storing and water proofing “stuff” was a known art to these folks. We still to this day have dug up different items that were either forgotten, lost or just forgotten about, everything from old bullets, to lanterns, cooking utensils, cast iron skillets, skinning knives to a wood stove cook top, a lot of people have asked where the Little Bellingham camp was, this is why I don’t tell, we’re still finding stuff 

[Birdguy]

1960,s. This buck weighs in over 400lbs the way it’s hanging. My great grandpa, 86yo, for perspective he was 6’3” tall.

Back then every tag was a “quality” tag or at least had a good chance to be one and you didn’t need to be drawn for it! Back then the real “Game Department” actually tried to manage the heard for hunter opportunity and quality, the heards were the top priority.👍

Thanks for posting.  Your photos are always great to see.  When was the season back then, about the same time as now?

It varied back in those days if I remember right. My time in camp started in the 1950,s.  You usually had 2 weeks, although my dad said he remembered some seasons being 3weeks, a 1st week, a middle week and the last week, my dad remembers stories my great grandpa told, they started hunting it in 1917, my dad in the 1930,s. I remember always trick or treating around Little Bellingham because the season was always during Halloween. I remember seasons usually going into the first week of November, I have many notched tags I’ve saved that are notched on dates between the 1st and the 10th of November. I also remember there was just one season but it was almost like having two seasons, you had folks that liked to come over for the first week of the two week season because you usually had nicer weather, these consisted of older folks with trailers etc and they would pull out the following (middle) weekend and then the next wave would come in consisting of folks more prepared for crappier, colder weather. The first week folks were usually hunting a robust local herd and the last week folks were usually hunting the migratory herd if the weather cooperated. Which it usually did. Our bunch usually went over for 4 weeks back then, with folks coming or going depending on work, school etc. My great grandparents and a few other members of Little Bellingham who were retired usually went over for 4-5 weeks, a couple weeks prior to the season until 1-2 weeks after the season. Back before Stevens Pass was paved and I-5 didn’t exist, it was a 2day trip to get from Bellingham to the Methow, with an overnight stay at a friends orchard in Cashmere, so they made the best of their “vacations” when they retired. Lots of scouting, hiking, fishing then the hunting weeks then a week or two of more hiking, scouting, learning routes deer were migrating through, where they staged, where they ended up and how long these stays and movements lasted, depending on weather. Then packing up, burying many items in crates etc like wood stoves, lanterns and other camp supplies, basically stuff they didn’t want to haul back and forth. Usually all the rigs were loaded with bucks by the end of the season anyways So burying stuff for the next year became a necessity. A lot of the camps within Little Bellingham consisted of relatives and friends that were either from Alaska, worked in Alaska or had spent a lot of time in Alaska, so packing, storing and water proofing “stuff” was a known art to these folks. We still to this day have dug up different items that were either forgotten, lost or just forgotten about, everything from old bullets, to lanterns, cooking utensils, cast iron skillets, skinning knives to a wood stove cook top, a lot of people have asked where the Little Bellingham camp was, this is why I don’t tell, we’re still finding stuff 

I love this history, the pictures, and the stories!! What a fantastic legacy. I hope someone in your family takes up the torch of this history. No, hunting will never be the same for so many reasons but these things will be lost forever by so many out of lack of interest or unfortunate circumstances, the fact you have yours and so much is something special and very cool. Thank you again for sharing with us 

[BigredRusch]

Hey everyone, I want to get on here and encourage anyone with a cool story or historical memory of WA hunting and how much it has impacted your life to sing up for public comment during the WDFW commission meetings every month via Zoom.

This is clearly important to all of us and your history and experiences are so valuable in showing the others outside of the hunting community that this is important in WA.


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