Bzone rifle is coming!!

Whats everyone's outlook this year? I'm getting pretty anxious. Saw a few bombers scouting my spot a month ago. Hoping nobody chased them around with a bow. One looked like it could breach 26". Guess the drought hasn't been too brutal on the bucks in my area.

what are you guys finding?

Love bzone!!!

helped my brother tag out for archery season. I have one tag left, but have a busy schedule. hoping to make it out once or twice to fill my second tag.

I have seen about the normal amount of buck ratio's from >4x4 down to 2x2. Did find a couple jumbo's, but they have not been seen in two weeks.

nice to hear you are finding bucks. are you hunting high country? Were the bucks around water? all the bucks we saw (6 in one day) were not right on the springs but not far either. Granted there are quite a few small springs spread about and probably many more I haven't found.

B zone wilderness had more bucks than normal and even more big bucks. I don't think there was a drought in the coastal mountains, at least the bucks didn't think so.

eLightfoot said:

nice to hear you are finding bucks. are you hunting high country? Were the bucks around water? all the bucks we saw (6 in one day) were not right on the springs but not far either. Granted there are quite a few small springs spread about and probably many more I haven't found.

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I span a lot of elevation between 3k-6k. more bucks in the 4-6k elevation range. None of the bucks were around water, nearest water was at minimum 1000 yards or more. At the beginning of the season I was not seeing bachelor groups, but as the archery season progressed we would see them grouped together. biggest group was 10 bucks. I don't focus on water, I usually focus my hunting on cover for blacktails and sometimes feed.

I am pumped for the opener! Saw a lot of deer in my spot during the archery opener and missed a good 3 point. I also wasn't finding them near water and the biggest bachelor group I saw was 3. Hopefully they will still be there in a couple weeks.

Sounds promising. Got a five day trip planned for the opening week. Between three of us, I hope the big one eats dirt. Definitely the most impressive live buck I've seen. Body looked to be hovering around 200+lbs and the rack still looked wide. hope to have some pics in a few weeks, and look forward to seeing yours.

eLightfoot said:

Sounds promising. Got a five day trip planned for the opening week. Between three of us, I hope the big one eats dirt. Definitely the most impressive live buck I've seen. Body looked to be hovering around 200+lbs and the rack still looked wide. hope to have some pics in a few weeks, and look forward to seeing yours.

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Best of luck.

Just got back. Saw more bucks that i have ever seen. We all shot at some big bucks, I think buck fever got the best of us but the shots weren't easy either. My two buddies ended up tagged out on a nice 3x3 and a smaller fork. I shot a a big 3x3 just as we were packing out. My bud saw them traveling through a drainage and lost sight of them. I dropped my pack and shimmied down there thinking they would run back down since the wind was blowing straight at them. Instead they walked all the way up right past my buddies on top of the ridge. I looked back and saw them pointing to the top, so I ran back up there and caught them sneaking across the ridgeline. I got down on a knee, planted my crosshairs on the bigger one and squeezed. Shot was about 200yrds, and both bucks disappeared. walked up there and found no blood. looked for about an hour in every direction and could find nothing. Had to conclude that I missed. heartbreak.

We saw a lot of really good bucks, many would have made it on the wall but they will live for another hunt. cant wait to get back.

Headed out in about a week. Can't wait. It was rough scouting during the heat this summer. Saw a hell of a lot of bears, but not many deer. I'm guessing they were bedded in the thick timber.