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Would you shoot a spike buck?

  • No I wouldn't

    Votes: 30 41.1%
  • Only the last 3-7 days

    Votes: 11 15.1%
  • Only if it's a perfect opportunity or shot I like

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Yes from day I take the shot on a spike

    Votes: 27 37.0%

  • Total voters
    73
Everything I've read and heard is that the rut behavior begins earlier on the coast range than in the valley or cascades. I've seen tons or rut-like activity during the day and on the game camera. This is mainly in the form of 2-3 bucks following a single doe. Sniffing the ground every 3 feet. Hope folks can get out today and tomorrow to try to connect.


The buck i got was definitely in rut.
He had his nose to the ground and was hot on the tracks of 2 does. That was in the Cascades 10/23. He was stinky. I was worried the meat was going to taste as bad as he stunk.

This storm should offer some good hunting. The wind should be blowing down lots of lichen off the trees which they enjoy.
I have read that if trees and branches start breaking they will head for wide open areas.

Go get em folks!
 
Today was the last day I was going to be able to hunt, so I took off work an hour early. I was at the trailhead at 1440 and ready to move out on my 1.75 mile hike. I'm about 1.5 miles into a locked gate, and I hear what sounds like a car behind me. I turn around and see a truck coming down the closed road. I stop and talk to the gentlemen, who is another hunter, that also works for the timber company, so he has a key. He agreed to go around to the other side and let me have the side of the property that I was on.

As I'm walking in, I kick up three whitetail does, the same ones that I had spotted a few weeks earlier in the same area. I planted myself on the top of a ridge, which was about 3/4 of the way up to the top of the clear cut. In this position, I have 270 degrees of view of clear cut. The closest being 200 yards, and the furthest over 500.

Around 1645, I had just finished my snack of oranges and jerky, and to my right, behind me about 45 degrees, I see movement, and I use my 8x binoculars to view a doe and a buck trailing behind. With my 8x, I couldn't tell if the buck was a whitetail or a blacktail, but it was at least a forked horn. I mess around with my bag, and I grab my spotting scope and tripod. I get that setup, and determine that it is a monstrous forked blacktail.

I range the deer at 209 yards, and he's approximately at a 10 degree incline from where I was sitting. The wind was swirling around ranging from 0 mph to 20 mph. I pop the spotting scope off of the tripod and place my rifle on and set my zoom to 12x. He's at the top of a ridge with some trees behind, but I wasn't 100% confident that the trees would stop a 30.06 round if I missed, and there are houses behind the trees about a mile away.

I decide not to take the shot, and allow the forked to live another day. At this point, he catches wind of me and takes off.
 
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Melrose was a bust today. It was so HOT. Not much deer movement, but lots of hunter movement. I couldn't figure out why there were so many out and about on a Wednesday. Then I found out Melrose is open for 600 series doe tags. In hindsight, if I'd known that I would have stuck with Indigo. Giving it one last shot tomorrow. Looks like some weather moving in, so maybe...
 
Melrose was a bust today. It was so HOT. Not much deer movement, but lots of hunter movement. I couldn't figure out why there were so many out and about on a Wednesday. Then I found out Melrose is open for 600 series doe tags. In hindsight, if I'd known that I would have stuck with Indigo. Giving it one last shot tomorrow. Looks like some weather moving in, so maybe...
Where were you in Melrose?
 
Where were you in Melrose?
West of Rice Hill. A mix of BLM and timber companies. Hadn't been there in awhile. More and more gates closed with access by permit only. That's probably another reason why I saw so many hunters. Fewer areas open to hunt leads to higher concentrations of hunters. I sure don't like where that whole situation is headed.
 
Last Edited:
Melrose was a bust today. It was so HOT. Not much deer movement, but lots of hunter movement. I couldn't figure out why there were so many out and about on a Wednesday. Then I found out Melrose is open for 600 series doe tags. In hindsight, if I'd known that I would have stuck with Indigo. Giving it one last shot tomorrow. Looks like some weather moving in, so maybe...
I often hunt Melrose, myself. Very, very few places to walk in and a lot of the neighbors aren't Hunter friendly. Frankly, without a doe tag it's an area best avoided.
 
Well, I shot a nice 2x3 blacktail over in Klickitat last Wednesday. It was about straight up noon & he was laying down until I up & shot him. Then he jumped up & fell down. A hundred foot shot with my 1951 Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. Love that rifle!

I gave up at going out at the buttcrack of dawn as I never have seen anything that early.
 

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