Tag soup and why I’m glad I failed my first year hunting

Three months of failure. Days spent wandering through the woods searching for the all allusive deer. Few sightings. Some scat here. A shallow impression of a hoof there.

Section:Gallery

Sat., Jan. 26, 2019

Charlie Labrie scouts for deer near 49 Degrees North on the opening day of deer hunting season on Oct. 13, 2018. Eli Francovich/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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John Andrews, a retired Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists, searches for deer from his hunting blind on Nov. 19, 2018. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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John Andrews, a retired Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists, searches for deer near Chewelah, Wash., on Nov. 19, 2018.

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John Andrews, a retired Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists, searches for deer near Chewelah, Wash., on Nov. 19, 2018. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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The view from a hunting blind on Nov. 19, 2018. Quartzite Mountain, near Chewelah, Wash., is visible. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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John Andrews gets into a blind while hunting for deer on Nov. 18, 2018. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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Charlie Labrie (left), Mark McLean and Jay Franklin hike into Rustler's Gulch early in the morning on Oct. 20, 2018. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

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Mark McLean surveys a foggy field on Nov. 15, 2018 while hunting for whitetail deer.

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Mark McLean hikes through Rustler's Gulch, public land north of Spokane, while hunting on Oct. 21, 2018. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

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Hunters talk near Fan Lake on Oct. 21, 2018. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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Spokesman-Review photographer Tyler Tjomsland talks to Mark McLean in the early-morning hours of Oct. 21, 2018. McLean and Tjomsland were hunting at Rustler's Gulch, public land north of Spokane. ELI FRANCOVICH/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW.

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