Washington High Buck 2023
September 26, 2023 marked the end of the high buck deer season in Washington state. Our high buck hunt was one we won’t be forgetting anytime soon. With unpredicted weather and predators paying us a visit in the middle of the night, I am glad that we made it home safely. The fact that we were able to break out our knives and game bags was a bonus to a great hunting trip, one that we have been planning and looking forward to for quite some time.
Going Deep Into the Backcountry
It has been five years since Zack, Jeff, and I have packed into the backcountry for high buck as a team. Our boots have always been our means of transportation, but those can only get you so far. With the popularity of high buck growing year by year, we wanted to go deeper than we ever have and eliminate the competition. We decided to hire an outfitter to take us in and drop us off by horseback. From there we’d hike many miles into an area where horses are unable to go. We figured by going this route, there would likely be no hunters and the bucks should be big and plentiful.
The Leader of the Pack Calls Out
On the first day of our hunt, we spent the entire day traveling. It took seven hours for the horses to bring us in about eighteen miles and from there we did another four miles by foot before setting up camp on a nice creek drainage. As we were boiling water for our freeze-dried dinners, we heard a howl let out by a lone wolf in the distance. There was no doubt between any of us that it was a wolf howl and we were all really excited because it was our first time hearing one. None of us were prepared for the show that we received that night though.
Sleeping with One Eye Open
Not long after we finished up eating dinner, the entire forest surrounding us erupted with wolf howls. It went on throughout the entire night and into the next morning. Having never experienced being in the presence of wolves, I will admit that I was pretty freaked out being surrounded by a wolf pack all night. Zack kept his cool while Jeff and I counted how much ammo we had and made a game plan for if the wolves decided to attack us. I don’t think I slept for more than fifteen to twenty minutes at a time that night, as I am a light sleeper even when there aren’t predators outside of my shelter.
Stand Your Ground
The following morning, I unzipped our shelter and stepped outside to pee and was greeted by a wolf staring at me thirty yards away. Not knowing how the wolf would react or what to do, I grabbed my pistol and yelled, “Get out of here!” The wolf casually trotted away and looked back at us with curiosity, not showing any fear. After that encounter I felt more at ease being around the wolves and had a great appreciation for that entire experience. While I believe that wolves deserve a place on the landscape, I also believe that they need to be managed before their population gets out of control and our ungulates suffer more than they already are.
Last Pull to Our Camping Spot
We had a big day of traveling ahead of us, so we filtered a bunch of water from the creek and then set out to make the last pull to our target camp spot. With eighteen hundred feet of elevation and just over seven miles left to travel, we didn’t want to waste any more time in the wolf drainage. It was mid-afternoon when we arrived at the beautiful meadow with a nice, flowing creek running through it that we had been e-scouting for months on our GoHunt maps. It was the perfect spot to set up camp for the week.
Did We Find High Buck Already
After a needed snack and break, we set up our shelter and walked over to the creek to refill on water. As we were pumping water I noticed some movement through the trees. My mind immediately thought “deer,” but then I noticed it was people. I figured since it was hunting season, they had to be hunters. But no, we were approached by a forest service ranger and a forest service law enforcement officer out doing patrols throughout the wilderness. Being damn near thirty miles from the nearest trailhead, we were both surprised and impressed to see each other that far in. They made sure we all had our hunter orange on, checked our licenses, then went on their way. Our interaction with them was great and we really appreciate them putting in the work to make sure folks are following the rules.
Scouting
With only a few hours of daylight left, we spent the evening checking out some areas close to camp and glassing the last hour of light. There were plenty of signs, but no deer were turned up. The following morning, Monday, we hiked west four to five miles to check out some waypoints we had dropped on our maps that looked like good areas for holding deer. During our first glassing session I turned up six does, but no bucks. After a couple of hours, we worked our way to the next drainage and finally found what we’d come all this way for.
Exercising Patience & Restraint Early-On
Not long after setting up our tripods and getting comfortable to spend the evening behind our glass, Jeff spotted a buck about a mile away. It was a decent three, possibly four point. Shortly after that, a two point came out and both of the bucks bedded. Throughout the next couple of hours, we kept tabs on those bucks and also turned up a handful of does. Later that evening, Zack turned up a wide antlered, big bodied buck that was feeding twenty-two hundred yards away from us. We put the spotting scope on him to see he was a beautiful four point, probably scoring in the mid one fifties. Since it was only Monday and all of us were looking for a buck that was bigger and worth packing out twenty plus miles, we let him be, knowing that we had plenty of time to come back and kill him if we wanted to.
During our conversation with the Forest Service officer, he mentioned an area that we should check out that was a few miles from camp. On Tuesday morning we headed in that direction. It was maybe a mile down the trail when we bumped a few does and I was given an opportunity to harvest a legal buck. About thirty yards off the trail, a young three by two mule deer buck that barely forked into a three on his right side stared at us like he had never seen a human before. Zack joked with me and said, “Just think about all of the tacos, Bob.” But I happily gave this young buck a pass.
A Beautiful Landscape
When we arrived at the area that the officer told us to check out, I was amazed at how beautiful the landscape was and felt very confident that we’d find some bucks. The hillside that we were glassing looked like the perfect spot to find an old buck, but again, all we saw were does. We ended up hiking to the top of the ridge behind us. I was once again in awe of the beauty of the country we were in. Zack spotted two bull and two cow moose off in the distance as we overlooked a high-country lake surrounded by golden Tamarack trees. On our way back to camp, Jeff’s knee started hurting so bad to the point where we recommended he hang out at camp the next day and give it some rest. It began snowing a little bit, the forecast was calling for a half inch of snow that night. We had no idea what was about to come.
A Creaking Noise & BANG!
As we went to bed that night, there were tiny flakes falling from the sky and nothing was sticking. I remember waking up in the middle of the night noticed that my nose would touch the wall of the shelter when I turned my head. When I went to bed there was at least six to eight inches in between my head and the shelter wall. Not too long after waking, I heard a creaking noise, as if something was being bent. Kind of like how a big tree creaks while being blown from the wind. After a couple of creaks, there was an extremely loud bang and then the entire shelter collapsed on us. I instantly knew what had happened.
Our shelter had collapsed on us due to the amount of snow that had built up on it during the night. The carbon fiber center pole could not withstand the amount of pressure from the snow build up and it snapped in half. Jeff must have fallen asleep with his headlamp on because he immediately shot up out of bed with his headlamp on asking, “What happened!?” I think Jeff thought a tree had fallen on us or an animal was attacking, as Zack and myself yelled some profanity. Zack was able to use a trekking pole to get the pole up right while I swept all the snow off the shelter. The rest of the night was spent beating the insides of the shelter walls with a trekking pole every ten minutes so it would not build up and collapse again.
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
When dawn arrived, we unzipped the shelter and were welcomed by a winter wonderland. At least ten to eleven inches of snow was on the ground and you couldn’t see more than fifty yards. Given the horrible weather conditions and poor visibility, we spent all of Wednesday in the shelter and kept Jeff company while he rested his knee. On Thursday morning when we woke up, we decided to make the long trek back to where the horses dropped us off. We had been confined to the shelter for 36 hours at this point. Coupling that up with Jeff’s knee hurting him, the snow, and the distance we had to travel back we knew it was the right choice, even though we wanted to stay and go back to where we had seen that big buck.
Since Zack was the only smart one who packed gaiters, he led, breaking trail in the snow as we made our way back to our drop off point. We started hiking around ten in the morning and arrived to our destination right at dark. There were a handful of does that we spotted along the way, but other than that it was an uneventful day. The wolves seemed to have moved on from the creek drainage because we tried to get them to howl as we filled up on water and there were no responses or sightings. As we arrived at our new camp, we found a perfect spot that was flat and had no snow to set up our shelter. We got a ripping fire going then made a game plan for the next couple of days that we had left to hunt.
Our Hunting Code
With it now being Friday morning, spending time hunting and behind the glass was our top priority. Too much time had been spent traveling and being stuck in the shelter at this point. There was a great spot to sit and glass that was only a couple hundred yards from camp. It didn’t take long before we found some bucks. I spotted a little two point working his way across an opening almost a mile away and a few minutes later Jeff spotted a nice four point right above him. We have a rule that if you spot any deer and bring everyone’s attention to that area, you have the rights to all of the deer in that spot. The bigger buck ended up feeding into the timber and I decided to stay put and wait it out, hoping he’d come back out at some point.
To effectively utilize time, Jeff and Zack decided to go check out another area as I waited out the buck. While they were gone, they found themselves some luck but I had no idea about their success. Mid-afternoon, Jeff picked up a couple of does about a thousand yards away and with them was a three by three buck that Zack spotted. With it being towards the end of our trip, Jeff had no hesitation about wanting to shoot him. Two shots with the Aero Precision SOLUS Hunter chambered in 6.5 PRC and we had ourselves a dead buck. As for myself, I had a long day of glassing and waiting on that four point to step out, but he never did. I waited until I couldn’t see through my binoculars anymore then went back to camp and got a fire going.
After waiting around the fire for an hour or so for Jeff and Zack to show up, I started to get slightly concerned. Off in the distance I saw two headlamps heading my way as I was boiling water for my dinner. Jeff walked into camp and said “We did it, Bob!” Since I did not hear any gunshots I was wondering what he meant until he took off his pack and there was a buck strapped to it. There was a little disappointment that I wasn’t there for it but I was happy for Jeff and thankful that we didn’t get skunked. The rest of the night was spent having dinner around the campfire and listening to the guys retell the story of the hunt.
The Final Day
Our final day of the hunt had arrived. Zack and I spent the day behind the glass and still hunting hoping to find some last day luck. Jeff took it easy and paid the outfitters camp a visit since he was tagged out and his knee needed some rest. There were a handful of does that were bumped and spotted, but we couldn’t find any bucks. Periodically, rain would come and go throughout the day and as dusk loomed, we felt ok about calling it. We were both wet and Jeff had a fire going, so we warmed up around the fire and made plans for our departure the next morning.
Success, Redefined
On Sunday, we woke up and couldn’t really do much hunting because we had to be packed up and ready to get on the horses by eight thirty. When the horses came through our camp, the outfitter loaded everything on mules and horses, and we started our seven-hour journey back to the trailhead. For our high buck hunt this year I wanted to experience an adventure, hunt new country, and push myself beyond my comfort zone. I did all of those things and even though I didn’t kill a buck, it was a successful hunt in my eyes. As always, I am just happy to be doing it.
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Ron Massingale
December 14, 2023 at 7:33 pm
I truly enjoyed the story. My father and I did a hunt similar to yours and were successful tagging out together. My father has passed since that hunt, but I still remember how beautiful it was just the two of us in God’s country and making memories to last a lifetime. I ‘m in my 60’s now and still remember that day like it was yesterday. Thank you for your story and bringing back my memories. God bless you. Ron