Back from eastern WA.(Hunting report)

[6wapiti6]

Well, I've officially completed my first guided hunt and can say that it was a great time. A friend and I hunted around Mt Spokane in unit 124 in northeast Washington with Sherman Creek Outfitters. This was thier late season archery whitetail hunt.
We arrived last Friday at 2 in the afternoon, and our guide said the rut was in full swing. If we could get ready we could get in a few hours before dark. That was a treat since our hunt wasn't supposed to start until the next morning. 15 minutes after getting in my stand I saw a small buck walked out and fed until dark. It was an exciting way to start the trip!
We saw deer every day, and I passed on small bucks through out the first three days. On sunday morning my hunting partner arrowed a great 4x4. It was pushing 20 inches wide and weighed close to 275lbs on the hoof. It was an amazing deer.
I sat on my stand all day Monday as the deer were really moving. I stoped counting after 20 does and imature bucks walked within 25 yards of my stand. I was holding out for a big buck we had seen earlier in the week. We thought he would score close to 160. I saw him a couple of times but he was always out of bow range.
With one day left on my hunt I decided that I would take the first legal buck I saw. My partner decided to sit the stand with me that evening and right before dark a small three point walked out to feed. He offered a perfect 25 yard broadside shot. I drew and let an arrow fly.The next thing I heard was the tell tale sound of the arrow's impact. I turned to look at my friend and he had a big grin on his face and gave me the thumbs up sign. We waited 15 minutes or so and went to look at the arrow. It was covered in bubbly bright red blood. A pefect shot! We only had to trail the deer for about 20 yards until we found him piled up. I couldn't have been happier. While I didn't get a crack at the big boy who teased us all week, I did have the oppurtunity to harvest a nice whitetail. All in all the meals, accomadations and services provided by our outfitter were great. That buck along with the mule deer I killed in Oregon in September made for a wonderfull 2002 archery season.

[ 12-04-2002, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: 6wapiti6 ]

[Bait O' Eggs]

Always great to hear somebody enjoyed their hunt :smile: Glad you were successful.

Tell me more about your guided hunt. It sounds like you spent the bulk of your time if not all of it sitting in a stand. Is that correct??

Was this a tree stand? And was their a guide along side of you, or was it more of an unguided hunt, where they feed and provide a place to sleep for you and show you where to go hunt, but leave you to your self during the actual hunt.

I have never been on a guided hunt, they intrigue me, not sure why, doubt I ever go on one, but you never know. I do know I dont know much about them, except they cost a lot of money. A few years ago I was looking into an outfitter packing me in and dropping me off for a week. They provided the tent, stove, saw and a few other misc things and it was still a pretty good chunk of change even though they didnt come back for a week.

[6wapiti6]

B O' E,
Yes, you were correct. This was a hunt where we spent the all of our time in tree stands. We chose not to have someone with us on our hunt, but if that was what you wanted they were willing to provide that service. The outfitter that we used is also doing a lot of video taped hunts. No extra charge for that, but you have to realize that when you have two people in a stand, you double your chance of being seen by a deer. I would say that what we paid for was the food, lodging,and the oppurtunity to hunt on private land that has already been pre-scouted,not to mention the handling of the deer once it's been harvested. I would consider what we paid a fair price for the services provided. Also being that it was an in state hunt for me my tags were extremly cheap!

[ 12-04-2002, 10:41 AM: Message edited by: 6wapiti6 ]