red alder ranch
New member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2019
- Messages
- 3
So, stumbled across the podcast first, then the Fresh Tracks show. Love, love, love it. And then found out there's a forum, too!
I started hunting as self-taught, DIY guy, in my early 40s. I just bought a license and tags and started hiking and hunting, blacktails and Roosevelt elk in the coastal forests of WA state. 2018 was my 10th season of DIY, mostly solo hunting in WA state.
Shot my first blacktail in my sixth season, and then another a couple of years later. Both spikes, but trophies to me, that's for sure, since they were the culmination of me figuring it out on my own, and represented many, many miles and days of walking and sneaking and missing out on a few. Now, I have a cabin on a piece of property up in NE WA, adjacent to some overlooked state and timber company land, and have taken nice mule deer there both years that I have hunted there. Lots of grouse, too!
I never did get a clean, ethical legal shot on a legal elk, so still batting 0.000 there, but I have been right up in them before, within a couple of dozen yards a few times. The coastal brush is hard work!
I've learned that I'm too restless to just sit still in a stand or a blind all day, so my elk and deer hunting is basically still hunting in timber and brush. My longest shot on a deer was about 100 yards, my closest shot was about 35 yards. I also learned to not be too tentative, and to take good shots when they present themselves.
Also hunt birds, and now have an awesome Brittany spaniel, and we're both learning that game the hard way, too. Made my first trips out in a canoe after ducks this year, too.
My oldest daughter came along for my deer hunt last year, and was with me when we jumped a nice mule deer in the thick timber, and she helped me butcher and pack out. Hopefully she'll catch the bug, too.
Thanks for the awesome forum!
I started hunting as self-taught, DIY guy, in my early 40s. I just bought a license and tags and started hiking and hunting, blacktails and Roosevelt elk in the coastal forests of WA state. 2018 was my 10th season of DIY, mostly solo hunting in WA state.
Shot my first blacktail in my sixth season, and then another a couple of years later. Both spikes, but trophies to me, that's for sure, since they were the culmination of me figuring it out on my own, and represented many, many miles and days of walking and sneaking and missing out on a few. Now, I have a cabin on a piece of property up in NE WA, adjacent to some overlooked state and timber company land, and have taken nice mule deer there both years that I have hunted there. Lots of grouse, too!
I never did get a clean, ethical legal shot on a legal elk, so still batting 0.000 there, but I have been right up in them before, within a couple of dozen yards a few times. The coastal brush is hard work!
I've learned that I'm too restless to just sit still in a stand or a blind all day, so my elk and deer hunting is basically still hunting in timber and brush. My longest shot on a deer was about 100 yards, my closest shot was about 35 yards. I also learned to not be too tentative, and to take good shots when they present themselves.
Also hunt birds, and now have an awesome Brittany spaniel, and we're both learning that game the hard way, too. Made my first trips out in a canoe after ducks this year, too.
My oldest daughter came along for my deer hunt last year, and was with me when we jumped a nice mule deer in the thick timber, and she helped me butcher and pack out. Hopefully she'll catch the bug, too.
Thanks for the awesome forum!
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