my 2015 idaho season....

[Zpd307]

i forgot to mention that terry found 2 more elk skeletons in this drainage, so it definitely held elk..... he even found a broad head in the grass back down by where the bikes were. it was a camping spot and even had a tall meat pole.
right, that was when i had a hair brained idea to try that drainage again..... i was getting desperate! more on that later....

 

[Zpd307]

day 5 started out with more rain...... back to bed again. terry didn\'t even have to ask if i was getting up this time i think we both needed a rest!
when i did get up we were met with this
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i was sure hoping this would get the bulls fired up!, that never happened.....
terry and i decided to head over to the big canyon and hunt a different steep drainage. surely the elk would be piled into that one. it involved crossing a creek, as steve told me us northerners call them :lol:
the higher peaks held the snow, as around camp it was mostly slush.
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[mainebrdr]

Enjoying it Gary! Also understand the reluctance to write about it so soon. I am still finding it difficult as well to focus on the positives. Hopefully Scott is right!

Waiting for more!

 

[Zpd307]

this drainage was going to be a butt kicker.... terry spotted it a couple of nights prior on our way down, through the sage, while headed back to camp. we felt that it would be a honey hole. it was steep, had to cross a creek, and was farther down the drainage so it would be overlooked by all the guys on dirt bikes.
heck, this was what I trained for!
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we had to drop straight down ,cross the creek and swamp, then head straight up... everything about this drainage was elky.... we cut a fresh set of tracks in the intermittent snow. we knew at least one elk was here!
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lunch break, after a steeeeep climb....!
we reached a long bench that had various ages of tracks, rubs, and poop..... we found several wallows and natural pools, terry needs to adds his pics, as we found a weird pool that he took a pic of.....
then it started snowing, again...... I had brought more layers, and put them on. it wasn\'t enough!
we cow called here and there, with no response.
after more still hunting we ended up at the end of the road. what a pretty sight!
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I couldn\'t believe that we didn\'t see an elk, let alone bump an elk up here... it was too perfect! I was to the point in which I would have rather bumped an elk by now. at least I would known an elk was there.... this drainage had numerous wallows!
the hike down was disappointing for me...... too much expectations and too much sign....
and terry found a nice old mulie buck shed.
the trip out was just as hard! my feet and knees were barking. what goes down, must go up...

 

[iccyman001]

First of all Mr...... I don\'t want to see \"lucky SOB\" comments....
Especially when that name fits you better. :wave:


If I do recall.... a certain SOMEONE had a suicide jake run up to them within the first 5 minutes of their Kansas turkey hunt and THEN this said someone found a deadhead on his walk back.


OH YEAH, I believe he killed another jake and found more sheds too :think:

 

[iccyman001]

Loving the stories and pictures!!!!!


We have one that can\'t see, one that can\'t hear.... I\'d say I would be the one that doesn\'t talk, but I am more like the one who won\'t shut up. :clap: :tease:

 

[Zpd307]

tim..... I understand! this thread has been very healing!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Swede]

Very good story Gary. It is too bad the elk are not trained to cooperate a little more. Darn Critters!

 

[Zpd307]

I am going to ramble on, in first person, so that others can read what a normal flat lander in an otc unit will encounter.....

 

[otcWill]

Great stuff! Thanks for posting!

 

[Ol' Arky]

I like rambling... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Zpd307]

where were we, oh yeah, day 6......
day 6 was fun, for a short while!
I was still chilled to the bone from yesterdays snowy adventure. when we decided to hunt the drainage directly behind camp. this was to heal up a little from the last two death marches I still had my extra layers with me. we were just far enough away from camp that when I remembered that I forgot my hooded sweatshirt, I didn\'t want to waste the energy to go back and get it. big mistake....
we started out at the funnel again. it was cloudy and the light into the timber was late this morning. so we sat at the funnel a little longer. I was already shivering, I could not warm up!
this is where terry\'s ears came to the rescue! all of a sudden he says that he just heard a bull chuckle. I was like whaaa? dang tinnitus! he tells me where he heard it and I figure the bulls up around a grassy bowl in the timber. and I know exactly how to get there! we got as close as we dared and terry cow called a couple of times. the bull immediately screamed. this is getting good...... we move up again and terry cow called again. nothing.... noooo! terry ripped off a locater bugle and the bull bugles back! yaaaaa! so we hustle up some more, hes moving...... terry bugles again. the bull bugles back. I cant believe this is happening!!!!! its a first for me! we hustle up again.... terry bugles. the bull bugles back. he is still moving and I have an idea where hes going. we are on a sage ridge following up a line of timber. so I wanted to make sure we didn\'t get busted.... so we hustle up again. I can only go so far.... as my heart rate is so high that I am surprised I didn\'t have a stroke or something :haha: terry rips another bugle. and the bull responds again, this time we made some ground and I was guessing he was only a 100 yards away!!!! but in the timber and directly off to the side. I wasn\'t sure if he had made it to his bedding area or if he was still moving. terry bugled again to find out, nothing.....
now we had to figure out what we should do. we checked the thermals and decided we could sneak in and try and get in closer and do some calling setups. and since we were treating him as being bedded, we stopped and put on my extra layers. I was just starting to warm up from all of that running up the mtn...... and it was starting to snow, again.....
we also had a snack. I was always hungry! my tummy was always rumbling from being hungry or rumbling from being mad about what I ate. terry can attest to that :lol: I think that is why we didn\'t see much.
so layers on and tummy full we moved on.... we found a well used trail and followed it, as it had fresh tracks!!!!! we found their steaming poop! getting better..... we found a hidden seep that I did not find last year! you could see their prints in the water were still muddy....
we went a ways and decided to stop a do some calling. after a little bit, I heard something stumble over a dead fall. sweet......! but nothing showed..... terry never heard the animal.
we lost the tracks and the thermals had switched over, so we hung out on the edge of the timber and had lunch and a nap. well, terry napped. he can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, lucky guy
the sun did come out briefly, only briefly..... I couldn\'t stop shivering.
we heard thunder on the other side of the mtn. uh oh..... you could heard it coming, the freight train sound of the wind ripping through the trees..... then it hit........
it started snowing, hard! this was when I really started wishing for that dang hooded sweatshirt!!!!!
I told terry that I was throwing in my puss card, so we headed back to camp
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heres the view on the way down
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I saw this little guy peaking out of the snow. so I brushed it off and snapped a pic! I am always amazed at all the different kinds of flowers you find up in the mtns, especially here, where it is so dry and brown.
as we headed down the snow lightened up. by the time we got back to camp, it was a light misting rain that didn\'t last very long. I ran the truck to warm up and dry our clothes.
I haven\'t been that cold in a long time........

 

[Zpd307]

here are some pics that terry took. he brought an actual camera. I just used my iphone....
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heres that weird pool that I mentioned. it looks like an in ground bath tub. the water was crystal clear.....
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heres my turn at the creek crossing
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this is terry getting me back for all the pics I took of him

 

[Zpd307]

heres some more of terry\'s pics
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a fox that he got to watch hunt
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a bear skull. im pretty sure this is the same that I found last year, as I had pulled the canines last year.
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now, this is funny!!!! I was trying to take a selfie for the wife, she does this to me all the time. dang you terry
in order to get to this point, we had to go up and over one ridge, and then billy goat up a second ridge. the story and more pics about that day to follow. lets just say it was death march number 3.....
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[Zpd307]

one last pic of me crossing the creek, it was cold!!!!! good thing I only had to go up to me knees..... :haha:
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[Zpd307]

day 7....... things are already getting blury.....

 

[razorback]

Gary is doing a great job describing the trip. It exceeded my expectations by far. As Gary mentioned I arrived early and had a couple of visitors the first night in camp. These guys don\'t talk like the owls back home but they are a lot bigger! They also don\'t appreciate a camera flash!

 

[iccyman001]

Im so jealous you guys got snow! :upthumb:

 

[david.denham.39]

Great story so far! Can\'t wait to read the rest!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[razorback]

Here\'s a pic of the outfitter Gary mentioned.