2024 Deer Season (long read)

[Sundance]

2024 proved to be a challenging year in the deer woods for me. It was significant in that it was my son’s first year hunting as youth with him turning 10-years-old and me feeling the pressure to produce for him. We started our season with him drawing a youth rifle tag that allowed him to hunt 5-days before the general rifle season and gave him the opportunity to harvest any deer for that unit (600 series). I also had drawn a multiseason deer tag along with a 2nd deer tag for an archery antlerless blacktail (600 series). Our goal was to get him on a legal deer, and for me to hunt a mature buck then potentially harvest a doe later in the season. Since his youth tag was in a unit that had a timber company permit, I elected to purchase a drive-in pass to better give him an opportunity for success, while also being able to utilize the permit for myself with my multiseason tag.

Typically, I don’t get series about hunting blacktail until mid-October, but this year we put in some scouting during August and September for the drive-in permit as my son could start hunting October 7th with his youth rifle tag. I hung cameras in several GMU’s which covered his permit area, the drive-in access, and some local spots close to home. We were limited to after school hunts for the first five days of his permit, so we went out two different days and located several does in the drive-in access but weren’t able to close the gap for him to take an ethical shot. Quickly thereafter the general rifle season opened, and the permit area became a zoo with other hunters. We had several close encounters with does and small bucks, but each time couldn’t get a clean shot.

My son is on the autism spectrum, which provides unique challenges outside his neurotypical peers. He is strongly averse to loud noises, and his gross motor skills are delayed. I was starting to realize that the probability of him being able to stalk or shoot free handed was out of the discussion. This meant shifting my strategy to using ground blinds and sitting on areas where I knew deer were trafficking or congregating as the rut began to heat up. Around the 20th of October we pivoted to hunting a DNR spot closer to home where I had a lot of cameras. This was outside his youth permit area, so he was in a buck only unit.

On October 25th we went for a morning hunt to our local DNR spot where the prior night my cameras had been getting a lot of action. We were sneaking into our spot when we spooked a deer that we couldn’t see. Another 30 yards and there was a spike and doe at 30 yards but my son couldn’t get on the rest fast enough to get a shot. After they walked off we moved in and settled down as I put out scent and started to doe bleat. Within 15 minutes I saw movement coming down a hillside in the timber and a solid 2x2 was working into us. My son got ready as this buck moved to 35 yards and stopped just short of the shooting lane. That fork had us pinned and my son was shaking like a leaf as the buck eyeballed us for about 5-minutes. He then turned and walked away despite my grunts to get him to turn. My son never got a shot opportunity as the buck slipped away into the ferns.

The very next day I had a friend come into that exact same spot and harvest his first Washington blacktail, the spike we saw the prior morning. As he was processing that deer the same 2x2 we’d seen walked past him grunting up a storm and he sent us a video. It was a cool deal for him, and I was stoked to help a guy get his first WA buck.

My son hunted another 4-days between the general rifle and late rifle, but he never got another shot opportunity. I was devastated and really felt like I’d let him down. The silver lining is that my son put in 9 hard days this season, saw over 30 animals, and grinded harder than some adults I’ve hunted with. He kept his head high and for that I’m extremely proud of him.

On the days my son wasn’t hunting, I was out trying to fill my tag on a mature buck. I bounced back and forth between our drive-in permit and my local spot. I was seeing a lot of deer in the permit area, but nothing that met the mark I was after for a mature buck. I ended up focusing my effort on the local DNR land where there was three different bucks I had my eyes on. One buck was 4x3 that I had him showing on camera consistently. On October 19th I was up in my tree saddle and in the process of bringing up my rifle when this buck walked underneath me. There he was, 10 yards away, while my rifle dangling against the tree. Watching him walk away put a pit in my stomach from a rookie mistake to not get my weapon up quicker.

I gave that area some time to cool off, and on the morning of the 23rd went back in to hunt that buck who’d made a showing on camera that prior evening. I knew they were in the area as I bumped a spike getting to my tree, so I laid down some scent and quickly began to climb up. In my haste to get up the tree I didn’t look over my climbing gear and instead started to ascend quickly. I’d just set my third climbing stick and flipped my lineman’s belt up higher when I went to step into my aider. Putting the force back on my lineman’s belt and prusick knot, all of a sudden I was falling and smashed into the ground. My prusick knot had failed, and I’d fallen backwards 15 feet and hit a tree behind me on the way down. Laying on the ground I took inventory and realized that I hadn’t broke anything, but my left shoulder was in pain from hitting the tree behind me on the fall down.

I laid there for a few minutes, when I heard the ferns moving next to me. The spike popped out at 5 yards and was looking at me like he was concerned for my welfare. I laughed, he bolted, and slowly got up and dusted myself off. I swapped my failed prusick for backup, and climbed back up my tree. 10 minutes later the 4x3 chased a doe through the thick brush 50 yards away never giving me a shot. I climbed down an hour later and slowly walked out, I’d never see that buck again for the rest of the season.

I hunted the rest of the general and late rifle season with a tore up left shoulder, had another opportunity on a good 4x4 without getting a shot, and passed on smaller bucks. After the close of the late rifle, with my son’s season being over, I began to feel the pressure of producing. I only had a bear in the freezer and wasn’t hunting elk this year after not drawing an eastside permit. With a banged-up shoulder I really didn’t want to archery hunt, so the late muzzy season was looking like my best bet.

It was about this time I took a huge blow, the local DNR honey hole fell victim to the DNR TLT (trust land transfer) program. I’d known for years it was in the works, and had actively worked to apply local political pressure to prevent it from happening. Through efforts of a local preservationist group, the land was transferred to the county parks department and closed to hunting/trapping. Like that, my favorite local spot for deer hunting and trapping was gone, and access to bucks I’d chased for years a thing of the past.

I sucked it up and focused my energy to the high country and hoped for early snow to help my efforts. Several days of late muzzy with warm temps made for no sign of a 2nd rut, minimal deer sightings, and lots of chanterelle picking. I was now entering the late archery season(s) after the 15th of December with two unpunched deer tags. At this point I’d deer hunted for over twenty days and was getting tired and losing my drive. I hadn’t duck hunted once, hadn’t set any traps, and was losing motivation by the day. I’d started shooting my bow, which was painful but doable.

I started archery hunting on the 19th of December and was struggling to even locate deer in an area that was open to any blacktail deer. After another 4-days of pulling blanks, I was starting to question my sanity and efficacy. My family was stretched thin, the holiday seasons were here, and I was still trying to put some meat in the freezer. The gentlemen I’d helped harvest his first buck had also drawn the same 2nd deer tag, and he put me on a spot within our permit area where he’d been getting good showings of bucks and does.

On the morning of the 27th of December, I headed out for that spot and climbed up my saddle on a ridge that had good trails leading to older cut. I was sitting for about an hour when I saw movement below me, a doe feeding my way. She spotted me in the tree as I repositioned for a backside shot, but she eventually settled down and kept feeding. 10-minutes later she fed out to 15 yards giving me a perfect broadside shot. I was able to draw without spooking her and make a perfect shot sending her bounding away. I waited 30 minutes, climbed down and found my arrow. Everything looked good, but I wasn’t seeing much blood.

I started tracking and was finding small droplets of blood but mainly following tracks in the soft dirt. It was slow going, but after an hour I had made it 100 yards downhill into a ravine which was doghair thick. At this point I lost blood and was blind casting on trails looking for anything. After three hours from the initial shot, my friend had shown up to help look, he was also going to hunt that afternoon on his 2nd tag. We ended up finding the track and shortly after found her piled up 175 yards from the initial shot in a thicket. She was already stiff, and upon cleaning, found it was a perfect double lung shot that just didn’t bleed. We got her broken down, and I used my multiseason tag knowing full well that my season was over, I didn’t have any gas left in the tank for my 2nd tag.

I learned a lot this season, about hunting with my son and my own time hunting. I’ve always thought being adaptable to change will greatly increase the odds of success, that theory was tested this year. After grinding almost 25 days for Washington blacktail I can honestly say this was by far my most difficult season. Plans for 2025 are looking to be a lot different, for both deer and elk, and which areas and states I’m going to focus on. One thing is for sure, Washington blacktail have yet again put me through the ringer.

[Sundance]

The forky my son almost connected with

[Sundance]

The 4x3 I kept missing

[HillHound]

Still sounds like a success getting your son out there and having opportunities. Way to stick it out till the end and get some meat in the freezer

[Karl Blanchard]

Congrats and thank you for sharing.  Time spent outdoors with your son is never time wasted. I commend you for quickly identifying your sons "weaknesses" and changing your strategy.  Forcing him to hunt in a fashion that would prove frustrating could have turned him off from wanting go more but you shifted gears and set him up for success and made a positive experience out of it.  That's just good solid dad work right there! You'll get em next season no doubt

[Sundance]

Congrats and thank you for sharing.  Time spent outdoors with your son is never time wasted. I commend you for quickly identifying your sons "weaknesses" and changing your strategy.  Forcing him to hunt in a fashion that would prove frustrating could have turned him off from wanting go more but you shifted gears and set him up for success and made a positive experience out of it.  That's just good solid dad work right there! You'll get em next season no doubt

Appreciate that, it was definitely hard where in so many circumstances I could have easily taken the shot and harvested the animal. In hindsight there was a small buck I should have taken when he was with me so he'd of had the experience of being there for a harvest. I was so focused on getting him the shot it never occurred to me to just punch my tag and then keep working on his. I'd really like to see something like Oregon where I could let him fill my tag and still use his, some type of a mentor tag program. Next year we'll be hunting a more controlled environment out of established blinds, and most likely on private land.

[Boss .300 winmag]

You did good dad, success is getting your son out there hunting seeing animals. Next year he’ll be chomping at the bit to go again.👍

[hunter399]

He'll be leaving you in the dust ,and out hunting you in no time.
Great job 👍

[brew]

Sounds like a great season.  👏

[pd]

For those of you don't know the OP, he is the hardest working hunter around.  Sometimes I wonder if he isn't actually some kind of animal, he just goes & goes.  When he says that this was a hard season, what he really means is that this season would have broken the spirits of the average man.

(But what you also might not know is that he has already harvested more & better BT at his still young age than most guys will see in a lifetime.  He will be fine.)

[fishngamereaper]

Way to stick with it....
Loosing that junk of land up there sucks .. running out of options around here .
Always fun to put kids on deer even if they don't pull the trigger.

[treefarmer]

Good write up and good job! Maybe look at a suppressor for your boy?

[Sundance]

Good write up and good job! Maybe look at a suppressor for your boy?

He was using a 300blk SBR semi auto with a 5” can. With supers it’s not bad, subs it’s a whisper. The platform is heavy, so next year I’m going to get a 16” barrel bolt gun and chop it down to an SBR with a longer can.

[blackveltbowhunter]

Way to stick with it, get your son out and keep grinding. Nice shooting and effort on the deer! Congrats!

[Ghost Hunter]

Nice writeup from a great dad.  Time will pass too quickly, sounds like you're making the best of it.