Why I love Oregon
Past couple of days really remind me how thankful I am to live in a state this great. Went down to Klamath Falls on Wednesday afternoon. Stopped over in Medford to visit some friends. They just happened to have a pear orchard that just happened to have a stock pond in the middle of it that just happened to have some wigeon on it. 3 went home with me. Made it into Klamath late, did the Thanksgiving thing with the whole family and duck hunted Thursday night on a private pond. Could have been good had it not been for the sky busting. My father managed to go through a box of shells and not hit a single bird. I never even fired a shot. Que sera, sera.
Leave Klamath 10 that night and do the long drive back over up to Portland. By the time I get home it's only a few more hours till daylight so I decide to stay up and get some stuff together and try to fill my Willamette deer tag that ends on the 30th.
Go out to the Clackamas and try some of my old haunts. A few does and one little spike, but nothing great. I had enough meat already from our elk so I didn't have to get a deer for the meat this year. I really wanted to find a nice buck and this late in the season I thought I could.
Finally after a little door knocking and some exploring I got to an area I'd hunted for geese and ducks before, but never for deer. Get permission and go on the hunt. Right off the bat I find deer sign all over the place. Slinking around through the brush I find 7 or 8 does and a nice forked horn. I consider taking the forked horn but I can't help but think that with this many does around there has got to be a bigger buck. There was.
Halfway up this little hill in through the blackberries I can see the swollen neck of a deer. Lots of leaves on the ground that made a lot of noise, but luckily I think the sound of the river covered up a lot of that. Took me probably half an hour to sneak into a spot where I could get a body shot on this buck. I still hadn't seen his head yet, just the big neck, but I was sure he was a nice buck. He seemed to have no idea I was there or at least didn't care. He never moved from where I first saw him, just stood there watching the does.
I finally got to within 20 yards of the buck after a little belly crawling through the stickers. Slowly raised up and there he was. A beautiful 4 pt blacktail standing broadside to me. I raised the 7, put it behind his shoulder and touched off.
The deer lurched forward once, started slowly down the hill and ended up crashing over and rolling into a mess of blackberries. DOA. I thought he was a nice buck, but when I got up to him I really got to see how great he was. 4x4, very heavy, very symmetrical with 2 nice eye guards. One was broken off near the top and he had a bunch of scars on his face from fighting. I later measured it him out. 19 and 3/4" wide, 14" tall, 5" circumfrence at the base of the antlers. A really nice blacktail.
Initally I wanted to try to drag him out whole because I hadn't brought the camera, but after a few attempted pulls I decided that wasn't going to happen. Ended up cutting him in half and packing out the back end first. Tried to put the other half in the pack but his chest wouldn't even fit. Ended up having to cut him up and use the meat sacks. 3 hrs later I'd finally packed all of him out by myself thorough a 1/2 mile maze of blackberries.
So that was a good hunt.
Saturday I floated the Clack with my buddies Ryan and Cody. Did great on the summers. We went 4 for 6 and also released a native winter hen. Sunday floated again with my Dad and didn't do quite as well, but I did get him his first steelhead, a 7 lb hatchery summer. Ended up going 2 for 4. All the fish we kept were hens too. They were also in great shape. Looked like fish you might expect in June.
So between the ducks, deer and steelhead I think this was a pretty good past couple of days. I'll post some pics when I get them developed here sometime soon. Hope everyone else had a happy and successful holiday. I know I've got a lot to be thankful for.
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Is this your homework Larry?
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TheTexan
Proud Member of the Coastal Conservation Assn, Columbia County Chapter 
but we all push ourselves to a different level. :tongue: I would pass on a forky for a shot at a big boy any day. :grin:
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