lamrith

Family drew 34A early hunt this year (Oct 23-29). Usually we get the middle hunt that is a few weeks later in the season. I am out of state so cannot get to the hunt area to do any sort of scouting before opening day. Any changes in how the deer behave/move in this earlier hunt versus the mid/late Nov ones we are used to? Are the deer more driven to water sources, do they stick to deeper/darker draws with the higher heat? Are bucks split more away from does or in bachelor groups so if I see a hillside covered with does should I start looking elsewhere? Any tips or recommendations would be much appreciated.

You guys were not kidding! Hunt was a fiasco! Super dry, not a stitch of moisture even in shady draws that usually had pools of water in them. Deer were scarce. We saw more hunters each day than we normally do in a week of the later hunt. Had one group of hunters duck in under us when we were setup and then start blasting up the hillside trying to hit a pair of bucks 420yrds out. 20 shots later, they injured the 2x2, then switched and shot the hanging around 2x3 with it. Last we heard they had not recovered either deer. Was great to be out and not at work, but overall, not an enjoyable hunt due to overpressure of hunters and very scarce deer.

I am a bit limited as I am out of state, but right now we should be there late morning/noon the day before, so dropping trailer should not take long then probably out for evening glassing and see if we can put one to bed for the morning. Thanks, good tip on midday. The family I hunt with have not to my knowledge worried about north facing slopes, could be why they strike out more often. I have a few spots looking at caltopo that look good for glassing north slopes right in the areas they usually hunt, so I will try that for sure!

Yeah I think 600tags? The middle hunt we normally do is about the same 600 or 675tags so just gotta work find a spot and settle in and hope nobody else tromps thru the hillside you are watching sometimes. We did not even look at that factor. Oh well, part of hunting, gotta figure out a way to beat mother nature. Least it is a rifle hunt and not archery.

It was our 1st choice. early 34a was #2. Just saying if the rumor is correct that last week was only rounds 1&2 then our group got one of those two since we got card hit last week.

Interesting thought. m That could mean early 3a/c or early 34a

My acct is a mess too. saying I did not apply and that I have not had a license since 2015. Yet I drew and hunted in 2018 and I can print my license from this year and know our group was hit with CC charge.

Our group got hit too. Eager to see which one we drew.

Well I drew 34A Nov9 hunt for this year. I hunted the area a few year ago and recall it had a good bit of extended range glassing in the area we plan to hit. I am curious what sort of power ranges you experienced Coues hunters prefer? Looking at the area looks like lot of the valleys are in the 600-800meter wide range, with some if I glass up a draw being in the 1.4km range. I have Vortex Diamond Back 12x50 binos I can put on tripod for rough glassing and 10x28 binos on my chest harness for when moving around. I am thinking maybe a 15-45x spotter for the extended ranges or to ID that odd looking stick under a bush? My eyes are not the great so I tend to rely on glass to offset that, but do not think I want to go 20-60x as I seem to be reading they are often not very good past 35-40x anyway? Looking to stay in the $500-600 range. My normal hunting is here in WA and even my 10x are overkill for this dense elk country, so do not really want to bury a ton of $ into glass I will really use only every few years for a week. The Athalon Are's 15-45 looks really good and is on my short list, anyone used them?

Well I am heading to 34A in Nov for a coues hunt. Also bringing an Ecaller with plans to do some predator management if possible. I have never predator hunted before, or used an ecaller, but the one I have allows download of sounds to it and has good sized memory (.wav&.mp3). So what are the recommended go-to sounds I should look for and load up? I was thinking Jackrabbit in distress and a couple other sounds, as well as fawn in distress, yote in distress. Any other recommended ones, or particular types of yote howls/barks that work well? Maybe other game sounds? My hope is to get some yotes, maybe get lucky and have a cat slink in.

I did not end up predator calling at all. However I could and should have had a coyote on the 4th day, he snuck up on me when I was sitting and glassing, was 9yrds behind me to my right, when I turned and he bolted. I had rifle ready but not able to get on him, he had a buddy 35yrds out right behind me. Then a few min later when I turned back around to watch the far hillside again his buddy popped up 20yrds away to my right and I was again unready for him. GRRRR HAHA you got lucky the Delw! People getting lost up there and tuck all the time. I live a few miles from Rodgers but over in the FP School district. Wife and both my kids went to FP. I think you did good moving out, at least compared to now. Not to get to political, but hunting, fishing, being left alone has gone to the wayside up here the last couple years. The hunting has gotten bad and everything else is getting very "CA" very very fast.

Won't give those people a dime of my money. They are anti 2A and anti small business. Some of the games they play and things they do to vendors they should be ashamed of.

Laws up here changed a few years back that changed how we are allowed to hunt cats. The cats now reaching adulthood do not know to fear humans like they did just a few years ago. We had two people killed this year here in the PNW by lions. Been a few close calls were hunters have turned and shot one that was stalking them or had snuck up to within <10yrds while still hunting and would not leave/acting aggressive. They most definitely can and will attack people.

I bought this spotter in Sept to use on my Coues deer hunt that just ended. Turns out I pulled the spotter out ONE time to use it, the 15x56 binos I had were plenty for what we do. I just do not need this spotter. My loss your gain!! Brand new used one time, with box and full neoprene protection kit installed from the moment I took it out of the box. Carried in my backpack 2 days on hunt. $450 $400obo+shipping Paypal accepted if buyer pays fees Will consider trades for modern Inline Muzzeloader package. Located in Tacoma, WA

Giving this a pre-christmas bump. Still time to get this and have it shipped in time for Xmas!

Modern Inline muzzleloader rifle/starter package. I do not have a ML yet and looking to get myself a full setup to start shooting one.

Another bump with a price drop. Someone snag this before I put it back in the closet.

Well done guys!

Bump with trades added and price drop.

Yes I am going to draw this out on you folks, no single sit down read thru and be done. You will get just enough to pique your interest but leave you wanting more with one post a day for each day of the hunt. I will give the 1st two in one big start post though. Each will be edited as it is easier to post pictures via tapatalk from my phone and text from my laptop... Photo's are not cooperating with my poor internet connection, i will get them added as soon as I have a real connection. Pre hunt Like anyone else that hunts out of their home state, the build up and prep is often longer than the actual hunt. Planning starts months in advance guessing at weather, gear needed, scanning maps for hunt locations and game plans. Working up a reliable accurate hunting load for your rifle. Changing options on the gun and verifying and re-verifying that they are good and how each change affects your point of impact. Making sure that your gun is dialed in and ready for the hunt. Packing, repacking, getting new gear from recommendations of others that have hunted the area and packing again. Realizing that there is no way on earth you are going to fit it into two checked and two carry on bags. Plus the fact that if you did you would have no room or ability to bring meat back without dropping serious coin on shipping meat overnight, or paying baggage fees ($75 with 50# limit). So that means finalizing the gear and shipping it early enough to get to your hunting partner in their hometown at least a week before the hunt begins so that they have time to load in their rigs for the drive to camp. It had everything in it except for one full set of hunting clothing, my primary glass and of course my weapon. Multiple sets of hunting clothes and options for expected weather, sleeping bag and pillow, kill kit, bags, backup bino's, spare rangefinder, radios, solar panel and batteries, etc, etc. With the hunt rapidly approaching I shipped my 45# box of gear down 3 weeks before the hunt. Whew, one thing done. Now on to pack the carry on's. T-2 Days to hunt I wake up at my normal 5am since it is a work day and realize the backpack with laptop and some gear in it is just too big to fit under an airline seat, and my hunting pack is already maxed out. I panic and try some reshuffling but to no avail. The only option is to ditch the second set of boots, I will have to hotlap the one pair on this desert hunt, Ohh goody! I arrive at SEA airport with my hunting pack, laptop backpack and rifle case @ 830am for the 11am flight to Phoenix. I go to the ticketing agent who gives me the proper firearm declaration forms and points me to the TSA area. TSA goes smooth, the agent was a nice guy who actually caught that the ticketing agent had not tagged my rifle case, so I had to boogy back over to get that done. The middle (biggest and busiest) security check point was closed with a line going all thru airport. I jammed down to A gate check point which was open and shorter line but still had a 45min wait to get thru. Waiting in the gate charging my phone and dreaming of Coues deer makes the time waiting to board fly by. We take off a few minutes late, but the flight was shorter than expected, either the pilot had a date tonight or the jetstream was in our favor We landed and I hustled off to baggage claim, then had to wait 30min for them to bring my case up a special elevator. I called Ben (step-dad) and he arrived shortly and we loaded my gear in the truck. I hopped in and we started heading south. After "quick" stops at In-n-out, his buddies house for a tent, and Sportsman's warehouse for my last tag, we left Tucson heading south! We get to camp around 8pm and have the privledge of setting up the tent by truck headlights before rolling out our sleeping bags a crashing out for the night. To be continued...

Thanks guys. I have only been hunting a few years, this was my second ever coues hunt. I have less than 20 total days in the field over all those years scouting and hunting coues, so I was happy to get eyes on so many and knock one down. I went into the hunt with, "1st legal deer gets shot" as my goal.

I was just trying to relay the hunt as it unfolded and be creative. I have seen other threads here and elsewhere that are in a story telling format and people seemed to like it (as I do) Sorry if it was not enjoyable for you. He quoted just the suppressor comment so I took it as him questioning it's use or legality and not related to how I told the story.

No worries! I appreciate your help in choosing them, it paid off!!

12's? you mean bino's? No I went 15x56. others in my group had 12's and I could really tell the difference.