Happy New Year! One of my resolutions is to be more consistent with blog posts, which, in this line of work where I’m often removed from cyberspace, isn’t easy.
As many of you know, I spent Thanksgiving away from the family, sitting in blinds and traipsing the hills of N. central WA, looking to arrow a mule deer. Had it not been for a poacher, I would have likely been home for Thanksgiving.
I was hunting with Jerrod Gibbons of Okanogon Valley Guide Service, out of Omak. Over the years Jerrod has secured a great deal of private land. Many of the spots Jerrod puts his late season archery hunters in are baited (a new way of hunting mule deer for me, and obviously legal in this state). Once deer start hitting the bait piles this time of year, they usually stick around. Between late rutting activity and easy food, there’s little reason for bucks to leave an area.
For over a week Jerrod had one buck in particular that was very regular, hitting the same bait 3-4 times a day, then again during most of the night. We dubbed him the “30-incher.” Though his rack may have been a bit shy of spanning 30-inches, and his splits weren’t the greatest, that’s not important. What’s important is that this buck was poached off the bait on opening day of archery season.
On opening day I sat in another blind, looking for a bigger buck that never came in. On day two I got in the blind where the 30-incher was, hoping to tag the buck and make it home for Thanksgiving. The buck never came in, but the other two bucks that had been with him came in multiple times. I passed them, hoping for the 30-incher.
Right before dark–after 10 hours of sitting in the blind–I got out, as things just didn’t seem right. Popping over a little knoll, I didn’t know whether to scream or cry, for the snow was soaked in blood. Drag marks of the deer’s body, and human boot prints, left no question the buck had been illegally shot over Jerrod’s bait, off private property.
There’s no question it was the 30-inch buck that was poached, based on trail camera shots and the fact the deer never showed up again over the course of the next two weeks. We captured shots of the 30-incher and the bucks he was hanging with moments before the shot, then have all the other bucks coming in 45 minutes after the poaching. The 30-incher never showed again.
We followed drag marks where the poacher took out the deer, but eventually ran out of snow. There’s no question the buck dropped on the spot after the shot, as was evidenced by the sign in the snow. This leads me to believe that the buck was either poached with a rifle (no rifle season was open at that time) or it was spined with an arrow, then finished off. Either way, the deer died less than 10 yards from the trail camera (behind it).
When it comes to poachers, Washington has one of the best programs in place that I know of, something I wish more states offered…if ANYONE turns in a poacher who is later convicted, they receive 10 preference points to be applied to a special lottery hunt of their choice. With that, I’ve posted several pictures of the 30-incher, hoping that if you or someone you know sees this rack or pictures of it, you can contact Jerrod Gibbons (www.okanoganvalleyguideservice.com). Based on the signs and evidence we’ve pieced together, we’re pretty confident the buck was shot by someone living in the Omak, WA area.
Good luck, and remember, poachers are a hunter’s worst nightmare!
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