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WA general deer hunt summary

Irrelevant

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Joined
Apr 17, 2015
Messages
11,116
Location
Wenatchee
Here in WA, opening day of modern firearm season gets a little busy. Here's how it when down for me and my daughter (9). She has her license this year, but no deer tag, maybe next year.
-4am wakeup, think I grab everything, then have to wait on a little girl to grab all her stuff that I told her to pack yesterday.
-drive to trailhead, only two other cars, I'm pretty stoked. Start hiking at 515am.
-get through the narrow slot canyon the take off to the south off trail (though the actual trail isn't really a trail either, just a public easement through private that has some cow trails).
-sun rises and we're looking for deer, spot some right away, then spot a nice 4 point - in WA you shoot any legal deer you find if you like eating deer, at least if you hunt public.
-start speed hiking toward the deer which is about a mile away.
-At this point I'm pretty jacked at my location, deer and no other hunters so far, I found THE spot.
-Crest over a rise at 600 yards and relocate the buck. There's actually two of them, only decent mature 4 pt and another smaller 3 pnt (3 pnt min regs).
-I also see a hunter on the sky line. He must have came through the private wheat fields above us. Then another. Then another. Then another.... then another... and..... another. 6 pumpkins. And they see my buck. They're already in range. So I setup in case they miss and one of the bucks runs my way. They start shooting. The 6th shot finally connects on the big buck. Gut shot. either the 7th or 8th hits a lower leg. Small deer runs away, big buck tried to hobble away. Eventually big buck goes down. I try to relocate little buck as he was coming closer, and just as he come into view (though still out of range) another barrage of shots drops him (I think it was actually only 2 or 3 shots).
-My daughter is bummed but wants to go see the big buck. So we walk over there.
-It's a decent 4 point, wider than any of mine, but small forks. It's been gutted and two dudes are standing around. They actually seem nice enough so I offer to pack a load up for them. They decline. Just then the 4 wheeler comes over the hill. Plowing through all that nice native sage... with two more dudes on the back. They drive right to the buck load it up and tear ass back up the hill.
-At this point I realize I don't have my phone so I can't take a pic of the license plate, or call anyone, though honestly I don't even know if what they're doing is illegal, but it damn sure looks and feels like it.
-We keep going south. Down another canyon up the other side, rinse repeat a couple more times.
-Find a great looking canyon to watch this afternoon and rest.
-Hear and then glass up 4 dudes. They appeared to have killed one, but I can't find it. Some handshaking and lots of cell phone use. Then comes another 4 wheeler. This time the deer is down too steep of a hill so they actually put on packs and walk down. It takes them 2.33 hrs to skin and quarter one deer. They look like they've never done it before. But they eventually haul it out and leave on the metal horse.
-3 pm, 4 more dudes roll into the canyon. One has a camera. WTF. We move slightly and start looking back north, toward the truck. It's a pumpkin patch, I can see dudes on every ridge out at least three miles.
-4 pm we start back to the truck. Run into our first group of dudes. From 300 yards out they holler, "F You" and I can see the middle finger being raised in our direction... apparently this BLM is there's, I didn't get the memo.
-We drop down lower, which means quite a bit more vertical on the way back.
-Not 1/2 mile into the next draw and up pops a 3-pnt. He does the typical young buck thing and turns around to look at us at 200 yards. Then he dies.
-I'm pretty excited, I never actually expected to shoot a buck during general season, it's just too much of a CF. Super cool that my daughter was with me.
-We get it all processed (she had her own knife) in 1.25 hrs.
-I attempt to load all but the heart, liver, and a small bag of trim. She takes those.
-I start up.
-The terrain is steep and mostly basalt talus, and some grass. I left my trekking poles at home :(
-make the first ridge and start back down, only one more big climb.
-I get to the bottom, but start thinking how much easier just going out this canyon would be... even if it's private, I doubt they'll mind. Plus it's dark, they probably won't even know.
-The bottom is quite brushy and thorny. Cattle trails, but not tall enough for me and my pack.
-20 min later, canyon is now a slot, and my headlamp shows what appears to be open blackness ahead. I drop the pack, and walk ahead to scout... yep, that's a 100+ foot cliff.
-Back up the brushy bottom we go. I lose my sh!t and start swearing up a storm, generally throwing a tantrum with every snag.
-Start up the last big hill. I only make it 200' vert before I give up. Ditch half the deer in a big sage bush and continue.
-My daughters headlamp quits. There's no moon and the clouds have rolled in. It's pitch black. I have nothing to go by except the terrain I can see in my headlamp.
-We continue up. Get to the top then start down the other side toward the "trail".
-There's a highway below us, there shouldn't be. And we're WAY above it still. Damn, cliffed out again. My daughter starts to panic a bit at Dad's in-ablility to find the truck..."relax, it's the next one, I promise"
-So up we go again. Then start back down.
-This is the right canyon, but we're coming down in the wrong spot. Some minor cliffs, way steeper. We both fall many times. I some point she loses the meat out of the top of her pack. We're not sure when.
-My legs are limp noodles, I debate ditching the rest of the deer. We're late and I can't call my wife, who I know is worried, and I don't think she really knew where we were going, I gave her a name, but that means very little to her.
-I keep the meat and we finally make the trail. It's still a slog out, with some minor rock scrambles.
-We get to the truck at 1030pm. Home an hour later. A little over 17 hrs car to car... for a 9 yr old with a pack. Not a single complaint from her. 4 hr extraction. Hands down my hardest deer pack out, maybe hardest of any critter ever for me.
-I went back in the morning, loaded up on IB and tylenol, to get the rest of it.

While it sucked it was also one of the best days of my life so far. Spending that much time with my little girl, holding her hand on the pack out, it was a memory I'll never forget.

And I have the toughest little girl I know.

Sorry no pics- no phone.
 
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Yeah I hate the WA rifle season. Even though I’ll be hunting it here in 2 days. Glad you got one! Good memories for your daughter
 
That’s a lot of dudes. Sorry you had to contend with such a mess, but congratulations on getting a deer. No small fete, given the charlie foxtrot you were dealing with. Your daughter sounds impressive. I hope she wasn’t turned off to hunting by a those other guys—especially the middle finger dudes. I know that would have made an impression on me as a kid.
 
This is why i hunt archery deer in washington. Its not because i love archery. Bowhunting is damn hard. But a much better experience. 98% fewer assholes.
 
nothing like wa modern lol great write up sad thee is still hunters out there like that well earned deer for sure
 
If she’s that tough at age 9 I feel sorry for the next guy that swears at her for being too close to “his spot” when she’s older.

Great story. Is she excited to go on another trip? Or cautious about the next one?
 
If she’s that tough at age 9 I feel sorry for the next guy that swears at her for being too close to “his spot” when she’s older.

Great story. Is she excited to go on another trip? Or cautious about the next one?
Super excited. Wants to be the shooter next year. I cautioned her that she still hasn't gotten a grouse yet, so we still have a little ways to go.

Last year at 8, she tagged along on an 8 hr hunt, in some bigger mtns (though less up and down) and we saw zero deer. So she liked this hunt a lot more than that one.
 
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