Quilomene Quality Deer eyes in the Woods

[sled]

  I’m asking for help from the modern elk hunters in the Quilomene.  I drew the Quality Rifle tag for Deer.  I’ll spend the first day of modern rifle in 340 then spend the rest of my days driving from 340 to 329 looking for a Quality Buck for when the Deer season opens.  Hopefully the biggest in my lifetime!  I’d appreciate any intel someone has to offer.  I have gotten the Windfarm permit, and plan on camping somewhere in the central area of the unit.  I’ve got new tires on the truck, a tent with a stove and the will to get a Trophy.  Any tips, tactics of the unit appreciated.
Thanks soooo much for any help!

[Bone collector 13]

Glass, glass, glass, glass. Giants are few and far between but I’m sure there are 1 or 2 in there.

[johnbmyersii]

Rent or borrow a quad or side by side, if you've spent any time in the unit you'll know the roads are bad and lots of places you wont be able to get a full size truck without beating it up

[Mtnwalker]

  side by side definitely helps getting around faster. Run and gun, cover lots of country, glass til your eyeballs fall out and keep checking the doe groups

[jason stevens]

Pm sent. Is your tag only for 329?

[C-Money]

We are really looking forward to this hunt. My son has a tag as well!

[jw4x41]

How did you do? I drew that tag this 2024 season. Curious If you'd share any pointers on the area.

[VickGar]

I’ll shoot you a Pm 👍🏽

[MackDaddy509]

How did you do? I drew that tag this 2024 season. Curious If you'd share any pointers on the area.

I had the archery tag for 2023 and it was pretty sh*tty... Rifle hunters expressed the same opinions..

Pm me if you want.

[Bone collector 13]

How did you do? I drew that tag this 2024 season. Curious If you'd share any pointers on the area.

I had the archery tag for 2023 and it was pretty sh*tty... Rifle hunters expressed the same opinions..

Pm me if you want.

Did you fill it? Have opportunities at bucks? I know the unit has severely declined. Couldn’t imagine trying to archery hunt it

[MackDaddy509]

How did you do? I drew that tag this 2024 season. Curious If you'd share any pointers on the area.

I had the archery tag for 2023 and it was pretty sh*tty... Rifle hunters expressed the same opinions..

Pm me if you want.

Did you fill it? Have opportunities at bucks? I know the unit has severely declined. Couldn’t imagine trying to archery hunt it

Never filled the tag. I saw one buck that would have done the points I burned justice. Hunted the big buck for 2 days only to have a lion come in and blow him out of the country (I saw the lion). Hunted 12 days straight, daylight to dark and saw the one big buck, and two 22"-24" 3 points. All the other deer were dinks. I had regular contact with a couple other tagholders during the archery hunt and not a single guy filled their tag (6 tags total last year).

The handful of rifle hunters I spoke to during scouting the few weekends before my archery hunt said they didn't even see a buck over 20" wide.

Hindsight, it was worth it to me to get the tag because it really put it into perspective how bad the buck quality actually is in 329... Now me, my family, and friends direct our decades worth of points elsewhere... Not saying I wouldn't apply for the hunt again in the future. But definitely not in the near-term.

[powderbounder]

Have to remember 2023 wasn’t the greatest year for special tag hunters.

[Klickitatsteelie]

If you see a solid framed buck shoot it. As everyone else has said giants are few and far between. Look for a buck with any kind of character or a decent frame. Buddy shot a 3x7 last year that was 21” wide but just a cool charactered buck and best they had seen.

[MackDaddy509]

If you see a solid framed buck shoot it. As everyone else has said giants are few and far between. Look for a buck with any kind of character or a decent frame. Buddy shot a 3x7 last year that was 21” wide but just a cool charactered buck and best they had seen.

Was it shot on the north side of the unit in Tarpiscan? Another archery tagholder showed me a picture of a rifle buck that was nontypical, but the frame was on the smaller side. I call them Mini-Giants