Any BT hunters in W WA?

[Zigggy]

New to bowhunting. Interested in posts about Western WA BT hunting. Thanks!

 

[Zigggy]

Especially interested in stories about your hunts. Trying to learn and shorten the learning curve with others' experiences.

 

[73 Wood]

I bought a key this year for the Campbell Global tree farm (formerly known as Hancock I think). I've been up there a lot this summer for black bear and saw a few archery BT hunters. I think the general rule was to catch the deer on their way back from the river in the early morning. So if it helps, I guess the advice was to be in the corridor between their water source and feeding/bedding areas in the early morning.

 

[Zigggy]

I bought a key this year for the Campbell Global tree farm (formerly known as Hancock I think). I've been up there a lot this summer for black bear and saw a few archery BT hunters. I think the general rule was to catch the deer on their way back from the river in the early morning. So if it helps, I guess the advice was to be in the corridor between their water source and feeding/bedding areas in the early morning.

Cool! Did you think that it was worthwhile to pay the money for the key? Will you do it again next year?

 

[73 Wood]

Cool! Did you think that it was worthwhile to pay the money for the key? Will you do it again next year?

Yes, I'll try to get it again next year. The hunting quality up there I would rate as Fair, but convenience to home is great. I can be in the woods in a legal hunting area in 45 minutes. The problem this year is the wildfires. One smack in the middle right now has the area shut down. I was hoping this rain would smother it and they could open it up again.

 

[landis07]

Campbell global (460) sucks for good bucks, lots of forkies but not much else NF are better but you gotta scout a lot year round


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[Sundance]

Search and read past Washington blacktail threads in this section. Lots of good intel

 

[<cascadehunter>]

I suppose it’s a little late now…. but there’s plenty of privately owned but public non-motorized access areas if you don’t want to fork out for a pass. I would argue the hunting is better as well. Get back behind a locked gate into an area with reprod/timber/clear cuts at different stages of growth and you’re sure to find them in the reprod. Bonus points if they aren’t spraying herbicides to kill the broadleafs.

 

[AlpineBeard]

What kind of stories are you looking for in particular?… I’m assuming close range stuff since you are interested in archery. I haven’t done archery for BT yet (will if I draw multi season). I do scout almost year round, but you can over-scout an area, I’ve done it. I’ve taken more than a few bucks with my rifle at less than reasonable bow range.

Last one was about 50 yards tracked him in the snow. Tried to stay down wind of his tracks as they will often circle down wind especially before they bed or walk out to an area they can see from their bed in case something is tracking them.

It was snowing so I could tell tracks were fresh. I cut a monster track that was fresh and had no cougar tracks on it (yet). I assumed this was my target buck (it wasn’t). I kept swinging back to his track every couple hundred yards so I didn’t miss him turning etc. basically I was still hunting with the knowledge I was heading in the right general direction of a very large buck.

Luckily he abruptly turned up hill and I re-cut his track about 150 yards above where he turned (this saved me lots of time and now I was truly right on him). I continued to stay on the down wind side of the track and as I was working back to intercept his track I saw him… he’d heard me in the snow but since I wasn’t coming in on his tracks he was somewhat relaxed. He didn’t present me with my ideal shot (I’d have preferred neck or shoulder) with a rifle. I knew he wasn’t my target buck and I’d actually already past him. I had thought he was a 5-6 year old with poor genetics for antlers, but at 50 yards I could see from the mass was a past prime regress… just the kind I love to harvest.

The rest of the story was just work, work, work.

I have plenty of stories tracking bucks that tricked me, out smarted me, learned from me and likely died of old age.

 

[dboone3]

I suppose it’s a little late now…. but there’s plenty of privately owned but public non-motorized access areas if you don’t want to fork out for a pass. I would argue the hunting is better as well. Get back behind a locked gate into an area with reprod/timber/clear cuts at different stages of growth and you’re sure to find them in the reprod. Bonus points if they aren’t spraying herbicides to kill the broadleafs.

Can you elaborate? I'm in Issaquah and wondering how to find these areas.

 

[<cascadehunter>]

Can you elaborate? I'm in Issaquah and wondering how to find these areas.

It can be hard to tell what is and isn’t public access. Even within the same land owner it can be different. Sometimes you can look at the timber companies website to see what kind of access there is, but even then it’s hard to know who manages what. Best chance is going to be identify some roads with desirable habitat, drive to the gate and see what the signs say. Now is the time to get out on foot and find them. You won’t necessarily see those deer during season, but knowing they are there can give the confidence to keep hunting instead of bailing to a new spot.