Well...........14 days out playing in the brush, sorry I haven't been near this 'puter to keep the update going.
First off, I just gotta' tell you that I spent some quality time with Big Mass, his wife and Yukon Dall and his buddies, who were up playing in my backyard. A nicer group of folks have never been up here.
I have personnally enjoyed this season and rate it in my top 5 for "giggles & grins".
I believe that 88% of the people on this site are cut from the same cloth. It has been a real treat to meet these people, help them where I could and be part of their experiences. I cannot wait till next year.
YD's buddies, Jack and Justin finished up today. Randy -Big Mass- has posted their buck pictures and we all thank him for the photos and the play by play commentary he has provided.
..........you want to see a persistant hunter, look this guy up. I have seen very few people with a more aggressive attitude and I expect that even if he is the last tag to fill, somebody will have to force him at gunpoint to quit.
I can assure you that he has seen 200 bucks in the 3x4 or better class and another 40 or so misc non shooters. I think that the 6x that he found today is having his "last supper" as we speak.
Unfortunately, after 14 days in the campground, during which time it snowed a foot at my house, leaving my very patient wife to haul pellets, feed animals, shovel the porch, etc, etc.....I cannot be in on Randy's finish.
I would guess that something on the order of 28 tags have been filled.
There have been maybe 5 deer over 28" taken and I suspect that "Blu"....an MM poster,(who I never did get to meet) will probably have brought down the nicest one so far, score wise at any rate. He would have to post the measurements.
Most all of these bucks taken have been in the 24 to 27 inch area.
There were 35 draw tags, at least 4 "open zone" tags and 2 "Golden Opportunity" tags in the area this period. Out of 41 hunters, only 30 are going to be successful, and only 5 of those deer will pass the 28" mark.
We also had several very hardcore, seasoned deer hunters, who just did not find "quality bucks".
There were simply very few 6 and 7 year old deer in the area.
Not a real good season in spite of some serious snow and some single digit temperatures. We are also still having one of the latest rut periods in years.
I thought last year was late; confirmed by the amount of fawns STILL sporting spots.
The number of busted up antlers is staggering and I saw two bucks break a point off of each other just this morning.
I don't want to start another argument on here, but I am going to say, once again, that you guys who are losing hunting trips in other zones, while waiting to be drawn for this hunt, may want to reconsider your options.
At some point, when I find someone with an IQ higher than mine, which is something near my pants size on a fat day, I will post some of the pics I took this season.
I live in the boonies and our computer operates on smoke signals. We don't know what "dial up" even means around here.
