Bucks, Bears, Bruises, and Bows

[Blackhawk]

Hunting North Central Washington

One of the most exciting times of the year that is anxiously anticipated by my hunting partners and me is the archery deer season here in Washington that runs the entire month of September.  This state has all three species of deer (whitetail, mule deer, and blacktail), but the area we had chosen to hunt is in North Central Washington where the whitetail and mule deer are found.  This hunting unit is a vast territory comprised of mountains, valleys, rolling hills, dense forests, rivers, lakes, and streams.

 
 

 

Most of the lowland areas are private property and hunting is widely prohibited or restricted on most of the farms and ranches.  Forest products, cattle ranching, and alfalfa farming are the major endeavors.  Needless to say, the whitetail and mule deer place this top quality alfalfa high on their grocery list.

 

[Blackhawk]

Since we did not have access to any of the private properties, we set up our hunting camp in the national forest where we would hunt at elevations of 3500-5500 feet.  Our plan was to hunt the whitetails in the lower, thicker forest and try the spot and stalk for mule deer and bear in the higher elevations.  As far as weather, the summer of 2007 had been one of the driest and hottest in this part of the state in the past ten years and when I arrived on September 9th, it was over 80 degrees.

 

In addition to the deer, there was other game in the area that could challenge the bowhunter.  Since the ban on baiting bears and hunting with dogs in the mid 1990’s, the black bear and cougar populations have been growing steadily in Washington.  We had seen several bear, a cougar and a bobcat the previous hunting season and we were hoping for a chance to get one with a bow. The success story of the wild turkey is no different in Washington than in other parts of the country where their numbers continue to grow and the seasons are extended.  Other small game such as grouse and snowshoe hare are fairly abundant and would always be a treat for an evening meal.    The ever-cautious coyote also calls this area his home and can be seen quite frequently. The noisy and annoying little Douglas Squirrel (protected) and the striped skunk can also be encountered while hunting or around the camp site. In addition, many kinds of small mammals inhabit this region as well as eagles, hawks, owls, and several other species of wild birds.

 

The national forest is also the temporary summer home of hundreds of cattle who roam and feed throughout the area.  

 

[Blackhawk]

I arrived two days before my partner and established our camp.  One of the first orders of business was to set up a tree stand in a favorite whitetail area in an evergreen tree about 16 feet high overlooking two well-used trails.  Just as I finished the last detail, a near tragedy struck.  I always use a safety harness while hunting from a stand, but foolishly I seldom use one for climbing in and out of the stand.  What happened next is a good lesson learned.  For some unexplained reason, I placed my right foot on a limb instead of the step and then made the same mistake by grasping a branch with my right hand.  The limb on which I was standing snapped, causing my entire body weight to shift to the limb in the right hand which also broke.  I landed hard with my right foot twisting inward.  The pain was sharp, but I figured it was not broken after I got to my feet and tried to walk.  Luckily, I missed the screw-in steps on the way down, but my jeans received a long ragged tear from one of the steps.  My hands and arms were scratched and bleeding, but nothing too serious.  By the time Chris Hill, one of my hunting partners, arrived the next day I could hardly walk on the badly swollen foot.  Unfortunately, it was 6 days of ice packs, ibuprofen, and taking it easy before I could do some serious hiking and hunting.

 

[cch]

Great pictures, I want to see more. That area looks like a place I hunt.

[Blackhawk]

There have been several interesting topics of conversation on the various archery web sites regarding the game camera.  I found the Moultrie Game Spy 4.0 on sale and decided to give it a try.  This camera seemed simple to use and understand and I set it up in a favorite location that I had seen game in the past few years.  I checked the camera almost every day and found that it had captured numerous whitetail deer (all does and fawns) and determined that this location had deer activity primarily during the first hour of daylight and then again around midnight.  It should be noted for those that hunt by moon phases that during the time of our hunt, there was no moon.

 

I saw my first black bear on Saturday morning while resting my sprained foot in camp.  A young bear of 100 pounds or so walked into the trail near the camp around 11:00 a.m. and moved on through the woods after giving me a long look.  The next sighting of a bear came the very next evening during the last hour of daylight when a gorgeous chocolate colored bear pushing 350 pounds was spotted feeding on berries in a clear cut some 250 yards away.  The steep terrain, waning daylight, and swollen ankle convinced me to leave that one alone regardless of its rare color phase for this part of Washington.  As Chris and I were driving back to our camp, we encountered another young bear strolling down the middle of the road not far from camp.

 

Two days later I checked out a mountain side popular with bears because of the Rose Hips berry crops found there.

 

 

I arrived just at daylight and within an hour, a rather large black bear appeared just below me at about 300 yards away.  The morning thermals pushed my scent directly to its nose and I marveled at its size when it stood on its hind legs looking in my direction and trying to gain a better smell and view point.  The large bear dropped to all four legs and made a hasty retreat followed by two cubs who struggled to keep up with mom.

 

 

[Blackhawk]

It seemed to Chris and me that the grouse and hare population was down slightly from the previous year, however, we did see quite a few of the larger Blue Grouse and we managed to bag a couple for the skillet.  Our favorite eating Ruffed Grouse was hardly to be seen.

 

The hot, dry climate also took its toll on the Shaggy Mane mushroom crop, but we did manage to locate a few in the shady areas at higher elevations that we could serve with the grouse and rice.

 

[Blackhawk]

A typical day for us usually began with the alarm sounding at 4:30 a.m. for a quick and light breakfast.  With daylight coming at about 6:00 a.m., we wanted to be in our favorite spots as soon as possible.  By 11:00 a.m. the sun and heat were getting the best of us as well as the game, and we returned to camp for lunch, a nap, reading, or making plans for the evening hunt which began around 4:00 p.m. and ended with last light about 7:30 p.m.  We kept our shooting eyes sharp by getting in some afternoon practice on the target bale or stump shooting in the field.

 


 

[SouthMDShooter]

sound like a blast. greats pics too

[Blackhawk]

Chris did quite a lot of scouting trying to figure out these whitetails.  He had just purchased a Lone Wolf hand climber and it was getting its first use.  After locating a well used trail, Chris set up his stand about 15 feet in a tamarack tree for an ambush one afternoon around 4:00 p.m. and at 6:15 p.m., three whitetail does came in his direction.  Just as the first deer neared his tree at about 8 yards, Chris drew and released the arrow striking her low in the chest.  She only traveled about 50 yards since the Magnus Stinger has gone through the heart.  The 57 lb. DAS recurve had not let Chris down once again.  After snapping a few pictures of the doe which appeared to be a whitetail/mule deer hybrid in some respects, Chris skinned the animal and we got it to a cooler the next morning knowing that game meat and 80 degree weather is not a good combination.  As we loaded her from the hanging pole, we noticed that some critter had eaten 3-4 pounds of meat from the deer’s shoulder.

 

[Blackhawk]

My partner left for home with his doe on Thursday, leaving me to hunt alone for the next week.  My foot was feeling better and I was sleeping more soundly.  On Friday I hung my Lone Wolf climber in a different area but had no success, seeing nothing larger than a Douglas Squirrel who spent a lot of time chattering, fighting with his squirrel neighbors, and gathering pine cones for the upcoming winter.  

 

For the evening hunt, I elected to try the area where Chris had scored, getting into my stand (with safety harness on) at about 4:00 p.m.  At 5:15 p.m. cracking branches caught my attention as a 200 pound black bear came into the open at 40 yards which is about twice the distance I wanted for a bow shot.  The thermals revealed my scent once again, and the bear moved away but showed no serious alarm signals.  An hour passed with no activity, but then a small 100 pound black bear came in behind me and alerted to something on my left that made a crashing noise.  The youngster left quickly and the noise was from an enormous black bear feeding on berries.  He remained in sight at 50 yards but he never ventured closer.  With daylight fading, I was hoping he would mosey off and we could schedule another close encounter at a later date.  I waited quietly for 15 minutes after his departure and then walked back to my truck in the dark armed with only my stick and five arrows hoping that I would not surprise a big bear in a bad mood.

 

At dinner that evening, I had a visitor venture within 10 feet of where I was sitting.  Luckily, the skunk was as startled as I and it quickly departed with that tail hoisted straight up in the air for battle.  Luckily for me, the little varmint was more interested in escaping than fighting.  For an instant, I longed for my bow and a handful of blunts for some half-hearted target practice.  By the way, I believe the mystery of the missing deer shoulder meat had been solved.


 

[BigRonHuntAlot]

Awesome Pics Congrats on the Doe.  

[Blackhawk]

I was up extra early the next morning and in the same stand by 4:30, encountering another skunk in the logging road on the way.  All was quiet until 8:30 when a coyote ventured close, but he spotted me as I tried to get my camera ready.  An hour later I was visited by a small chocolate-colored bear who fed for a few moments before leaving, making the count of bears now seen at ten.  I left at 10:30 and made plans to set up my stand near my game camera for the evening hunt.  A ruffled grouse was in camp when I returned but the unusually wary bird took flight before I could nock an arrow.

 

The game camera revealed several images of whitetails that had once again been visiting this area during the first two hours of daylight.  The only activity that evening was a small flock of turkeys that passed the area.  As light faded, I slipped from the stand with plans of returning for a morning hunt in the next day or two.

 


 

I was pretty tired after all those early morning rises and decided to sleep in on Sunday the 16th.  By 8:30 a.m. I was near the berry patch where I had earlier spotted the sow and her two cubs, but the only thing seen was a golden eagle perched on a rock and a small hawk trying to ambush a mouse.  Shortly after moving up the trail, I encountered two Blue Grouse with one of them offering me a 30 yard shot.  To quote Don Carson, “A close miss is as good as a hit any day with a bow.”  Within 10 minutes, I was in the midst of 15-20 wild turkeys that were making their way through the forest.  Unfortunately, the fall turkey season was still a week away.

 

[Huntrdfk]

Awesome pics Lon, I'm looking forward to more for sure......sorry to see your foot like that though, but glad it wasn't worse.


David

[Blackhawk]

An hour before first light on Monday, I was in my stand where the game camera had recorded deer visits each morning.  Shortly after dawn, two whitetail does entered the area as expected.  As the deer paused in the open about 20 yards from my tree,  I drew my recurve and released the arrow.  Don Carson could not have possibly been referring to close misses as good as hits when a whitetail deer is the target, could he?  Yep, I had failed to “pick a spot”, and the shaft had passed harmlessly under her chest.  I remained quiet for the next two hours spending most of that time contemplating that useless arrow sticking in the ground less than 20 yards away.  I felt unworthy and dejected as I returned to camp with the intention of packing up and starting for home two days earlier than planned.  

 

My long time friend and hunting companion Wayne Fontenelle showed up in camp enroute to his favorite spot for the fall turkey hunt.  After showing him the game camera pictures and relating my encounters with various deer, bears and turkeys, Wayne talked me into staying on an extra day to “guide”, retell old hunting stories, and share more hunting experiences.  A badly needed rainfall came that night and the temperature plummeted making a far better potential for hunting luck.  We spotted quite a bit of game the next day and enjoyed a grouse/hare dinner with our favorite wine that evening.  Now I was kind of sorry the hunt was coming to a close. I may not have brought back meat for the winter, but I certainly returned with memories of bucks, bears, bruises, and bows to last a very long time.

[Cabal]

I absolutely couldn't stop reading that. What a great hunt! Great pictures and details of all that went on. Made me all the more excited for tomorrow night's hunt and a little sad that I couldn't be out there now trying to get a deer myself.

[ishiwannabe]

Felt like I was there....man I need to go west to hunt, explore, and get lost in the wilderness for a while. Thanks for sharing.

[madness522]

Thanks for sharing that hunt with us!  That is a really beautiful part of the country you were in.  Maybe one day I'll get a chance to hunt out there too.

[Littlefeather]

Beautiful scenery for sure! CK

[brent d.]

Great Storytelling Lon. I have a question or two for you and Littlefeather. Do you guys keep a pad with you to take down thoughts and such during the hunt?
My memory and storytelling are pretty lame. Maybe I need some of that ginko biloba  
But the way you guys tell em and have your cameras ready for deployment is amazing!

[flintdiver]

I was right there with you ...felt like I was in camp !