Deer Report (sort of)

birdhunter · 10-29-2001, 09:35 AM

Went down south this weekend to Days Creek (S. Oregon) to try to find some bucks. Good news is that we did find a few and they are starting the rut. Bad news is we didn't kill any. Still found plenty of smaller game to shoot. The grand total this weekend for me was 2 mallards, 1 ringneck, 2 grouse and 4 mt. quail. You didn't think I'd go anywhere w/out a shotgun did you?

One of my buddies also filled a doe tag. I still don't know what he was thinking. We hiked in two miles along this ridge and I jumped a 3 pt. only to throw up the scope and find it all fogged up from the rain. *#*%&! [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] Another of our friends shot at a "monster" 4x4 up there, but apparently missed. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] So, now that we were back there two miles, jumping some nice bucks, my other friend decides to shoot his doe. Kind of ended our little hunt. It was only the second deer he'd ever killed so I had to stop hunting and help him gut it. He also managed to cut his hand really bad while trying to help gut it, so guess who got to drag the deer out? Guess how many does there were standing within 50 yards of the pick-up when we got back? [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I don't think he'll be shooting a doe too far from the truck ever again.

I'm going to Ashland this next weekend to try to find a particularily big blacktail on some private land. This one had been running around my grandparent's ranch earlier this fall and he just showed up again. He's a 5x5 bench-leg and he'd look mighty good on the wall. All else fails I should be guarenteed a forked horn to fill that tag. Hope everyone else does well this year too.

BTW, I'm working on a photo album of some of my stuff. It is nowhere near complete yet, but you are welcome to check it out. Some hunting and some fishing. The address should be on my signature. Best of luck to everyone out there. Be safe and have fun.

Fish Hunter · 10-29-2001, 10:18 AM

What's the fastest way to end a good hunt?....pull the trigger, or someone pulls the trigger. But by the way your photo album looks you knew that [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] . Sounds like you got a plan for nice buck this season. Good luck.

Lured In · 10-29-2001, 12:26 PM

BirdHunter: I was just down in that neck of the woods, my folks live in just upriver of Shady Cove. We spent some time in the Evans Creek Unit looking for the 5 elk that live there and saw the largest black tail I have ever seen! There are some monsters in there.

BTW how often are you down there? Ever hunted the Applegate Unit west of Ashland? We have hunted out at Cougar Creek during the muzzleloader season and done pretty well. Do you know of any other good drainages down there?

Rip'N'Lips · 10-29-2001, 12:48 PM

Guaranteed fork? Where do I get one of those? I am hurting for certain for a deer. I got a 3X2 2 years ago, missed a 4 point at 300 yards last year. Nothing so far. Only saw 4 deer in 4 days of elk hunting.

We didn't get our elk this year, had one close, but couldn't get a shot on it. I live in Hillsboro and hunt out US 26. Any suggestions from anyone would be great...

MintBrite · 10-29-2001, 01:58 PM

Hey Rip, I hunted off 26 Sat. Sterling Ranch rd. If your not familiar it's the road heading west past the rest stop. I took a 3pt on the last day of my hunt last year.Took him on a brand new road I found coming out of the woods. It was great! no pack just drive up and load him up. The only thing is I didn't know where this new road came out at. You guessed it, 1 hr.45min. a ride from a loaded log truck and I finally get to my rig, 15 min. & 6.5 miles later I'm loaded up and headed home. I went back for the first time this weekend to figure out the new road system only to find out I was about 200 yds. from my rig! Lessons learned the hard way.I did find some good sign sat. along the edges of the clear cut, close to the hwy. The east side is acsessed by the state land off of Sterling ranch, if you want to get to the west side you have to go through Stimpson's property right across the Rest area. I'll be heading back to the Trask unit to Harvest that BIG buck that was really mean to that poor alder tree. Good Luck!

birdhunter · 10-29-2001, 02:25 PM

Lured In: Yeah, I hunt S. Oregon a lot. Mostly around either Drain, Days Creek/Tiller, or Ashland. I've already hunted the Dixon and Evans Cr. Units this year, time for the Rogue. Usually I stay on the east side of the I-5 for my blacktail. This weekend I'll be hunting between Green Springs/Dead Indian and west of the Lakes. Some monster bucks out there. I've hiked and taken horses up in the Applegate, but I don't know it as well. I've seen some pretty nice deer up there too. All around Mt. Ashland there are some huge bucks. Can't help you too much w/ the drainages on that side of the Interstate unfortunately. Best of luck.

birdhunter · 11-04-2001, 11:08 PM

Quick report for S. Oregon. Just outside of Ashland anyways. Deer season is almost over down there, but just so ya'll know, it hasn't rained for over 3 weeks, but there has been a frost for the last two mornings. Deer aren't in the rut yet, and are pretty scattered.

We hunted them Saturday morning for a while. I had an easy shot at a forked horn 20 minutes into the hike, but passed him up because I thought I'd be able to find a bigger buck. Not the case. Few deer to be found and they aren't too dumb yet. The ground was very noisy with dry oak leaves and such. No very conducive to deer hunting. That area needs rain bad!

Not a total loss, ended up hunting a farm pond in the evening and this morning for ducks and geese. For the two days I brought back 3 wigeon, 5 mallards, 3 ringneck, 1 ruddy duck, 1 goose, 4 valley quail and a couple of rabbits. Plenty of meat for the upcoming week and home in time to watch the Yankees loose.

In another slightly less upbeat vein, I feel like I have to remind everyone to be careful out there in the woods. We were coming back between Tiller and Days Creek and were first on the scene of a nasty fatality. Roads were a little wet and this older gentleman had apparently lost control of his pickup, gone off a 25 ft cliff and crashed it into the rocks along the S. Umpqua. I don't know any other details really, but he wasn't wearing a seat belt and it was pretty messy. Kind of puts a downer on an otherwise great day. I guess all I can say is please be careful out there and drive safe. Best of luck to ya.