WA Blacktail; busting my hump

[Open-sights]

Been giving it all I have. Hiking, biking, go farther, stay longer, FL Style. Long days. No buck to show for it yet.

My old arthritic feet are tore up.

 

[colersu22]

Keep after it man you still have a couple days and it it prime time rut. All the bucks I have seen in the last week have been chasing doe’s. Find the doe’s and you will find a buck.

 

[weatherbow21]

Its been the toughest year I've ever seen. I'm in the Shelton area. I have no doubt cats are taking a toll around here.

 

[Tim in Wa.]

best times in W. Wa. are typ. these last couple of days in the early season (but not this year) if its gotten cold or the late season in Nov.

 

[lewy]

Terrible weather to try and find blacktails

 

[weatherbow21]

The weather didn't help thats for sure. A lot of walk in spots though the weather doesn't matter as much, with little pressure the does still come out into the cuts and feed, just might not be until the last 30 minutes of light. The rut appeared to be later this year, even on my cams most the bucks are still nocturnal, its just about to turn on around here I think. Late buck might be really good this year. I just know it used to be really rare for people to see cougars, and now its super common, with usually multiple people in our area shooting at or killing a couple. My wife was part of a fawn study a few years ago where not one fawn they callered survived, and only a couple cats a year get pulled out of year so you know its only gotten worse. I shot a 2 point last night right at last light, it was only the 2nd branch antlered buck I saw all season. We will see but at this point I'm not sure I will bother around here next year.

 

[colersu22]

It would be nice if the state let people use hounds for bear and cougar to get a handle on the predators but doubt that will happen.

 

[ReddingArcher]

It would be nice if the state let people use hounds for bear and cougar to get a handle on the predators but doubt that will happen.

We need the same thing down here in California. Predators have gotten way out of control but I fear that the chances of ever going back to being able to run dogs for bears or cat hunt at all is basically a zero percent chance.

 

[weatherbow21]

Yeah it will never happen, thats the sad part is these animals are falling victim to a predator pit and there will be no saving them. In the unit I hunt there is a small cat quota, something like 6 cats a year which never gets filled but even if it did it wouldn't make a bit of difference.