005 Hunting Deer in Washington
Rudy and Kris sit down to talk about deer in Washington. Whitetail Deer are prolific on the Northeast corner of the state, Mule Deer are found in Eastern Washington and Blacktail Deer are in Western Washington.
Kris talks about the population of deer on our Islands like Whidbey Island. There are plenty of attainable, great tasting deer out there! He likens the area to a rainforest and actually calls it a “hoot of a hunt”…. Haha. Jurasic style was another, perhaps better descriptive he gives.
We talk about the differences between the points of deer. The forks of deer antlers determine how many points the deer is labeled as. Rudy didn’t know any of this.
Winthrop is a known place for mule deer hunting in Eastern Washington. People will call certain areas over there a “pumpkin patch” because of the enormous amount of hunters wearing blaze orange all hunting the same area.
Rudy asks, “Why wear camouflage, if you are required to wear a blaze orange vest?” Kris talks about this topic a bit.
The idea, Kris tells, is to find an area where others won’t be. This gives you an advantage in finding better deer. Even just getting a mile off any road will help a bunch. Checking maps to find meadowy, water filled areas to hike to.
Regulations are important to follow in order to stay within the laws. They will also tell you when exactly you can hunt what areas. Also, special tags can be applied for to hunt deer in areas or times when it is normally not permitted.
Rudy asks an ethics question about shooting a buck while mating during the rut… It gets a bit funny before the boys get back on track.
Kris walks us through the shot itself. Placement, environment and making sure it is a legal deer to shoot.
Rudy tells a story about an “albino” buck he and his dad spotted with binoculars near an alpine lake. It was a monster and the size was noticeable after some other hikers scared it off. The deer was huge as compared to the hikers. Kris said it was probably a piebald deer which has a patchwork of blonde hair. The size described leads to the probability of it being an elk.
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Jack Mattingly of the Whiskey Fever was nice enough to write a short song to use as the intro and outro. Check out Whiskey Fever: https://www.reverbnation.com/whiskeyfever
