Washington High Buck

[2001precision]

So the spot you scouted was over ten miles from trailhead and it got blown up first thing by a bunch of hunters? That is insane, as is packing a deer out 20 miles.

Well I hope I don’t give away too much information, as it seems that’s kind of frowned upon.
Camp was actually somewhere between 14.5-15.5 miles back on the scout trip. My track read 15.5 but I made some small detours after jumping game, getting water and such. It could be half a mile or a mile shorter than what I made. It was almost all trail.
We didn’t make it in first thing for opener on the 15th, our plan was to wait for the pressure to die down. That didn’t work, lol. Part of the issue on the high hunt is all the outfitters that run a business packing people in. 10 horse trailers, minimum. Can’t out hike the horses, and it’s degrading dodging horse crap all the way in. We hiked in on the 20th at noon, and pushed well past dark. Coming up on my previous campsite, we saw other hunters based up right about where we planned on camping. We had a chat the next day, and they told up about the horse camps that push 10-12 miles further than what we did. I didn’t let them know about my target buck from August (spotted only about a mile from the trail/camp) but they didn’t need any advice. They were pushing the basin later that day, almost exactly where I had video of the giant bedded in August. I knew he was long gone.
One thing I’ve learned, is that Washington High Buck hunters have no limit on the trail. You won’t escape them 5,10,15 or 20 miles deep. You won’t get past the horses/outfitters either. Pushing a few miles off the trail is mandatory for some isolation, and to consistently find mature deer.

 

[ianpadron]

So the spot you scouted was over ten miles from trailhead and it got blown up first thing by a bunch of hunters? That is insane, as is packing a deer out 20 miles.

I packed one out 15.2 my last season in WA with a buddy. Scale verified 107 pound pack. Not fun but makes for a helluva story. Felt like a human railroad spike the last few miles

 

[D L]

No success, only hunted high buck two seasons. 2023 season the area we were in got blown out by a 100 mile wilderness race. 2024 season we saw some deer but only one buck and he wasn’t legal. Did see a young bull moose and heard some wolves overnight the first night in. Also saw a ton of orange, the trailhead was packed when we arrived.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I packed one out 15.2 my last season in WA with a buddy. Scale verified 107 pound pack. Not fun but makes for a helluva story. Felt like a human railroad spike the last few miles

I'm all about earning it, but that is nuckin futs..

 

[ianpadron]

I'm all about earning it, but that is nuckin futs..

Haha it was bad, but honestly not so bad that I wouldn't do it again. A story worth telling on a HH thread I guess:

Deer hit the dirt at 10:33AM, had to get him 2-ish miles back to camp solo. Original plan was to go halfway that night, cowboy camp on trail, then head all the way out next day...but one of those crazy atmospheric rivers was headed our way, and forecast to hit our area early the next morning.

We ate as much of our food as possible, filled pockets with electrolyte tabs and bars for the hike out, and dumped all our water to shave weight. Loaded up camp and were on the trail by 7PM. By 10:30PM (12 hrs after the kill) we were already at our halfway point, feeling pretty good given the circumstances. That's when the good idea fairy swung by, and we made the decision to just hike through the night and not have to deal with the rain.

The wheels started falling off around midnight. Since we had dumped our water to save weight, we needed to fill Nalgenes at creek crossings, which required 1 of us to dump a pack while the other sat on a log or stump to rest.

Just getting the packs on/off was starting to be a struggle but we plodded on. Right around mile 10 my legs started to feel pretty rough. Nothing hurt, just ached, like feet and knees were worn out, no padding.

The last 2 miles was in some stereotypical Western WA old growth that had experienced the most insane fall mushroom bloom (WA guys will know what I'm talking about) I've ever seen. My buddy and I were both so beat up by that point our headlamps were making the carpet of shrooms glow/shimmer like we were hallucinating. Felt like that seen in Fantasia with the lil mushroom guys dancing! Didn't help that it was a dead calm, cloudy, moonless night, so really about as dark and disorienting as you can get.

We ultimately limped across the finish line around 3AM dazed and confused but truly fulfilled and still laughing (choose the right hunting buddy fellas!)

I fell asleep while inflating my sleeping pad apparently and woke up at 6AM in a crumpled up heap next to my gear on the ground haha, hit the road and that was that.

That was 3 years ago now and easily one of the best days of my life. As much as the high hunt has become an over-publicized gong show for wannabes, historically it had always been the proving grounds for young, hungry, adventure-craving men who like to push limits. That's what drew me to try my first one back in 2016, and that's what will weed out the vast majority hunters going forward.

I've spoken to old timers who talk about a boom/bust cycle in high hunt popularity going all the way back to the 70s. I think we're in a peak, and that it will be followed by a valley. Obviously it's amplified by WA having 8M people instead of 1M back in the day, but a bad week in the WA mountains is still enough to clean out the weak in 2024 haha.

Pics of me leaving camp, ready to rumble.

 

[Vek]

I'm of the getting-too-old-for-that-$hit persuasion, but might still make a run from time to time.

5 years ago September had me on a ridgeline a few miles past trail access, sitting next to large doggy tracks and hairy poo. Passed on a largeish cinnamon bear. That was quite a year for me, and big doggy tracks, and hairy poo, on four different and distinct high divides scattered across the north cascades in the high hunt and the general.

Three years ago I visited the access-complicated high area which yielded some nice bucks for us back in the mid 2000s, and found zippo. On the way out I camped with a couple older guys who were peakbagging in the vicinity, and they showed their prior day's gps track right across the face where we've shot two in the past. A smattering of peaks on the WA top 100 and WA top 200 lists in the vicinity might make that place too busy these days. The internet affects usage by more than just hunters.

Farther in and higher up is growing less compatible with my own age and mileage. Maybe I can sort out my left ITB in time to make a run at a couple of spots I've had on the radar for the last 20 years. Maybe not.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Me and a buddy did 11.5 miles with camp and a high buck buck a few years ago. Double the way we came in but significantly less deadfall. That's when I learned what runner's high was.

 

[ianpadron]

Me and a buddy did 11.5 miles with camp and a high buck buck a few years ago. Double the way we came in but significantly less deadfall. That's when I learned what runner's high was.

And I bet 3 days later you were ready to do it all over again. Funny how we're wired

 

[Titanmoose]

I'm all about earning it, but that is nuckin futs..

Yea. Can I rent a mule or 2

 

[Jason277]

Haha it was bad, but honestly not so bad that I wouldn't do it again. A story worth telling on a HH thread I guess:

Deer hit the dirt at 10:33AM, had to get him 2-ish miles back to camp solo. Original plan was to go halfway that night, cowboy camp on trail, then head all the way out next day...but one of those crazy atmospheric rivers was headed our way, and forecast to hit our area early the next morning.

We ate as much of our food as possible, filled pockets with electrolyte tabs and bars for the hike out, and dumped all our water to shave weight. Loaded up camp and were on the trail by 7PM. By 10:30PM (12 hrs after the kill) we were already at our halfway point, feeling pretty good given the circumstances. That's when the good idea fairy swung by, and we made the decision to just hike through the night and not have to deal with the rain.

The wheels started falling off around midnight. Since we had dumped our water to save weight, we needed to fill Nalgenes at creek crossings, which required 1 of us to dump a pack while the other sat on a log or stump to rest.

Just getting the packs on/off was starting to be a struggle but we plodded on. Right around mile 10 my legs started to feel pretty rough. Nothing hurt, just ached, like feet and knees were worn out, no padding.

The last 2 miles was in some stereotypical Western WA old growth that had experienced the most insane fall mushroom bloom (WA guys will know what I'm talking about) I've ever seen. My buddy and I were both so beat up by that point our headlamps were making the carpet of shrooms glow/shimmer like we were hallucinating. Felt like that seen in Fantasia with the lil mushroom guys dancing! Didn't help that it was a dead calm, cloudy, moonless night, so really about as dark and disorienting as you can get.

We ultimately limped across the finish line around 3AM dazed and confused but truly fulfilled and still laughing (choose the right hunting buddy fellas!)

I fell asleep while inflating my sleeping pad apparently and woke up at 6AM in a crumpled up heap next to my gear on the ground haha, hit the road and that was that.

That was 3 years ago now and easily one of the best days of my life. As much as the high hunt has become an over-publicized gong show for wannabes, historically it had always been the proving grounds for young, hungry, adventure-craving men who like to push limits. That's what drew me to try my first one back in 2016, and that's what will weed out the vast majority hunters going forward.

I've spoken to old timers who talk about a boom/bust cycle in high hunt popularity going all the way back to the 70s. I think we're in a peak, and that it will be followed by a valley. Obviously it's amplified by WA having 8M people instead of 1M back in the day, but a bad week in the WA mountains is still enough to clean out the weak in 2024 haha.

Pics of me leaving camp, ready to rumble.

Awesome I’ve been wanting to hear this story! Thank you for sharing it !

 

[Harvey_NW]

Yea. Can I rent a mule or 2

I think I pretty well convinced the wife this year, maybe a 5-10 year plan but that seed's been planted!

 

[Ktirao]

Planning on doing a high buck hunt next year. Thanks to everyone for all the good info in this thread, 11 pages of things to consider and think about over the next 9 months.

I am def in category 1 by way of having actual reasons I don't get out along with making excuses. Will get to the point of dedicating more time to hunting in general.