WA High Hunt Stories

[Pistolpete28]

Just got back from high buck with my kids. Had success but the hot, dry, smokey conditions made things harder this year. Went into an area we had been watching/bear hunting as we had seen some nice bucks with one being an absolute giant I had seen on an early morning trail run. But, we didn’t see any of those deer during the 8 days we were back there. Of the bucks we were seeing, one was unique and I decided to make a move on him day 3. This year was interesting as smoke would roll in during the afternoon and get heavy. Watching the deer while conditions went from clear to smokey in a short timeframe was fascinating. Once the smoke hit a certain level the deer would get up and move about quickly, very nervous like and bed in areas you wouldn’t normally see them utilize. On the morning of day 3, I spotted the buck we wanted at 6:20am and started the longest stalk of my deer hunting career. Each morning would begin with a 5am wake up, roll out of the tent, shoulder the pack and begin a straight up 45 minute hike to our glassing point. So this stalk began with a drop of all that elevation I had gained just 30 minutes prior. From the drainage bottom I had a very steep and long hike up the other side. Taking a slightly longer route than I wanted due to rising thermals and swirling winds, at noon I was above him about 300yds. I dropped my pack, went down to socks and crept down the remaining distance closing to within 40yds. And there I sat….for hours in the blazing sun on a rock ledge. The deer bedded in a spot so tight and thick I couldn’t get a clean shot when he stood and readjusted throughout the day. At 4pm I was kicking myself for not brining a water bottle with me but I had expected this to be over hours prior. The smoke started rolling in and the buck got up quickly and trotted across an open finger towards a narrow thick alder filled drainage. I knew what he was going to do and so I made a quick move across the rocks to get into a clean shot position. He caught my movement at one point and decided to get out of the country. I shouldered the rifle, gave a quick grunt and he stopped for a brief second to look back, slightly quartered away downhill at 70yds. I sent round into him and he made it about 20yds before rolling downhill. This was my son in laws first backcountry deer trip and he got to watch the whole thing play out. He took a pic of me in the afternoon on the rock ledge with the deer 40yds below in the brush. I think it was harder for him to watch all day than for me to do the stalk, I know how that feels having three kids who all hunt. Anyway, we had a great time, another great high hunt and look forward to next year.

Very cool buck congrats!

 

[ActivelyDying]

Glassed up this old regressed buck this past week. Noticed him when he was bedded, originally thought he was just a 2x2. After trying to put a legal third point on him for a while... we finally did. Not able to get the job done though. He dipped into thick cover and never surfaced again. Look at the nose on this guy! Thinking he was a real solid deer back in his day. Also thinking this could be his last winter... Gonna go back for him during modern season..

View attachment 937911

Big Trojan nosed SOB

 

[wabowski]

Big Trojan nosed SOB

He'd make a roman god jealous

 

[JustEffort]

I’ll start by saying thanks to everyone who has already joined on this thread. I dream all year of alpine bucks so hearing stories helps fight the itch during those upcoming winter months.

I decided to go back into a place I scouted in August. I saw 3 bucks back in August but didn’t think any of them were really worthy of hauling out of this nasty country. It was super hot on that short 2.5 day scouting trip and it’s giant country so I figured I probably missed a few.

Day 1: I got to the trailhead around 11am and was the only car in the lot, pretty encouraging. I left the truck around noon and made it up to camp that evening. I cut off about an hour of hiking time from the previous trip so the legs were feeling good.

Side note: I will add this hunt motivated me to take training a little more serious. I hate running but I started running 3 times a week in April, most sessions were primarily walking to start and pretty short 2-3 miles. By August I was running about 15-17 miles a week plus an extra day of rucking. I had gotten my 5k time to sub 27 minutes. Nothing even close to bragging about but it was cool to see the improvement and I know it helped on this hunt. I hope to improve on those numbers going into next years high hunt.

Anyway, when I got to the camping spot from August the wind was RIDICULOUS. It’s hard to put a gauge on just how windy it was because I had never been in winds so strong. It was to the point with my giant pack still on if I wasn’t facing directly into the wind it would spin you around 180* like a sail. I opted to drop 400ft elevation and found a clearing for camp just before dark.

Day 2: I woke up to ice in the tent and my boots frozen solid. The weather called for lows in the high 30’s but it definitely dipped into freezing temps. I made the trek up to the glassing spot by daylight and didn’t see anything until about 8:30. I spotted two does down low. This was encouraging because it kinda proved my thoughts that I hadn’t seen all the deer in this area (I never saw any does in scouting). Shortly after I picked up a tall narrow 3x3 not a buck I had not scouted either. He wasn’t something I wanted to chase but fun to watch. I saw a small bear sort of mid day and didn’t have any other action till the evening. Around 5pm I happened to be glassing in the right spot at the right time. I saw a buck stand up out of some jack pines to stretch his legs and then laid back down in seconds. Some smoke from the fires had started to roll in so any pictures/video of this buck are horrible at almost 1.5 miles through my 85mm razor. Looking through the spotter I could tell he was well past his ears and had at least average mass. He had me at least interested to this point. He got back up an hour later and gave me a still fuzzy but good view of both sides before going back to the same bed. He was a solid big bodied 3x4 that I’d be looking for in the morning to chase.

Day 3: I ran back up to the glassing point at daylight and picked up the 3x3 off the rip. I glassed and glassed all day for the better buck through the haze of smoke and never turned him up again. The smoke really ruined any chances of seeing this buck again. The smoke had worsened from the day prior and was supposed to get worse the next day. I decided I’d hike a mile back towards the truck to glass a smaller drainage in the morning before heading out the many miles to the truck.

Day 4: Uneventful. I woke up, broke down camp, and climbed about a mile up the trail to glass a separate drainage. I spotted just a doe and fawn before taking the long walk back to the truck.

Things I learned or were reinforced.

• I enjoy the solitude and hunting solo. I’d rather see few deer and no hunters than a bunch of deer and a bunch of people. I didn’t see another person the whole time.
• The dead times during the days and nights are longgg.
• You are always at the mercy of the weather.

Pic 1 is the 3x3
Pic 2&3 is the 3x4