Bambistew
Well-known member
Its been a number of years since I hunted mule deer, and I was really looking forward to this fall.
The older I get the more I appreciate the essence of the hunt, the cat and mouse game, the chess moves...the hunt itself. Spending nearly a decade chasing sheep, I've come to appreciate an entirely different method of hunting, we've coined "sockeye-ing." This is in reference to fishing for sockeye salmon. There are many nuances to this tactic. For instance, sockeye do not bite, you have to place the hook in their mouth, so you must be on your game to set the hook, however you can look away, drink beer, and repeatedly cast, and you will eventually hookup if you put yourself in the right spot. Persistence plays a key role in sockeye-ing. In addition you can wade out deep in hopes of catching those fish that no one else is trying to catch (many less fish, btw), or you can stand on shore and catch the ones swimming between shore and those deep-waders... Generally the fishing is much better from shore, for many reasons... like you have a convenient place to set your beer, and you don't get cold. I like to take my time examining an area first, start at the fringe and work my way in deep. Sockeye-ing deer is about as perfect of a method as there was ever developed, IMO.
I was perfectly content with not filling a deer tag unless I could find a deer that made me excited. I had no preconceived notion of score, just wanted a mature animal. I hadn't been to this area in over a decade and the last time i was there the deer population was on the slide, on top of that they had a few bad winters since. I figured mature deer would be far and few between, but I knew we'd have fun and probably see some nice bucks and some new country. We saw a couple that probably should have got a backpack ride...
Sockeye-ing proved to be a very effective method, as I found the buck I wanted about 350 yards from camp... hopefully it won't be another 5 years before I get to chase deer again.
The older I get the more I appreciate the essence of the hunt, the cat and mouse game, the chess moves...the hunt itself. Spending nearly a decade chasing sheep, I've come to appreciate an entirely different method of hunting, we've coined "sockeye-ing." This is in reference to fishing for sockeye salmon. There are many nuances to this tactic. For instance, sockeye do not bite, you have to place the hook in their mouth, so you must be on your game to set the hook, however you can look away, drink beer, and repeatedly cast, and you will eventually hookup if you put yourself in the right spot. Persistence plays a key role in sockeye-ing. In addition you can wade out deep in hopes of catching those fish that no one else is trying to catch (many less fish, btw), or you can stand on shore and catch the ones swimming between shore and those deep-waders... Generally the fishing is much better from shore, for many reasons... like you have a convenient place to set your beer, and you don't get cold. I like to take my time examining an area first, start at the fringe and work my way in deep. Sockeye-ing deer is about as perfect of a method as there was ever developed, IMO.
I was perfectly content with not filling a deer tag unless I could find a deer that made me excited. I had no preconceived notion of score, just wanted a mature animal. I hadn't been to this area in over a decade and the last time i was there the deer population was on the slide, on top of that they had a few bad winters since. I figured mature deer would be far and few between, but I knew we'd have fun and probably see some nice bucks and some new country. We saw a couple that probably should have got a backpack ride...
Sockeye-ing proved to be a very effective method, as I found the buck I wanted about 350 yards from camp... hopefully it won't be another 5 years before I get to chase deer again.
