44hunter45's 2024 backcountry Idaho Moose semi-live hunt thread.

[noharleyyet]

I promise the pace of this thread will pick up soon. Just building tension...

Stuff you don't like for no good reason

Howd'y. The forum's been slower lately, which is understandable -- it's the off season. So here's a thread I hope will entertain me. I'm not a fan of 270 Win, even though it's a perfectly fine cartridge. I don't want to own one (although I do currently), hunt with one, or do anything with...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[44hunter45]

This is becoming everything @Big Fin looks for in a story. Triumph, conflict, hopefully perseverance and success.

I've been nursing MRS for a couple of days. Two negative COVID tests. Today the test came back positive. I'm moving to the basement until I leave for Moose camp.

 

[44hunter45]

Just back from a week of moose camp. A rocky start and painful finish. Type 2 fun and I home to take care of some things.

I finished packing Sept 29th. I realized you are never really finished packing until you get to camp and understand that whatever you forgot, you are doing without. I had all the essentials.
I shorted myself meds and that will come into play later.

It is a 5 1/2 hour drive by the shortest route to moose base camp. 4 1/2 by the longer route. SIRI has no understanding of USFS road conditions vs Interstates at 75MPH.
My notes from talking to the outfitter said to be in camp Sept 30. My iPhone calendar said "Sept 30, Moose Camp 4AM." I panicked and left home at about 11PM to get there by 4AM.
SIRI is a lying bitch. I arrived at camp at 3AM. The camp was dark and I put the truck seat back at went to sleep.

I woke up about 7AM to find camp completely deserted but for some mules with a manger full of hay. Absolutely Twilight Zone. I checked out camp and took some photos, then went back to the truck for a long nap.

Ray Holes is a legendary local saddle maker. These are very old Decker type pack saddles. The tack shed at camp is the original USFS cabin from before WW2.

The sign on the outhouse door.

I slept hard and woke up to find wrangler, guide, and returning archery elk hunters in camp. They informed me that they were not expecting me until the next day and that the outfitter had a family emergency and had to go home. They set me up in a cabin and fired up the generator. This got the Hughesnet and DiSH working. When I got my phone on the wireless it pinged a message from the outfitter that his wife had a medical crisis and he had to delay my pack-in for a day. He wanted me to arrive a day later. So much for that.

The outfitter told them I would be in on Monday evening because he had sent me a message. The message I never got because I was out of coverage drifting corners on USFS roads to get there by 4AM on Sunday. (Damn you iPhone and the idiot that created that calendar entry. )

I headed down to the river and caught my first ever Mountain Whitefish and a couple of West Slope Cutthoat in about 30 minutes. No pictures. I got tangled in some old USFS steel telephone/telegraph wire. I fell on my face but saved my 10' 5wt. That ended up becoming the theme for the week. (I will get to that.)

All genial company. An evening of dinner, FOX news & football on TV, and second-hand cigarette smoke ensued. The two returning elk hunters were planning on going out in the morning to do some calling. The outfitter explained the since they had been able to change their flights, they had gotten an extra day due to his crisis. He was taking them to Missoula after their morning hunt. He would be buying supplies and be back in camp Monday evening for a Tuesday pack-in. I hit the rack early wondering how the hell this was going to work out. I was confused about the Fupped start dates and still am.

The outfitter pulled out with the bow hunters about 10AM. The guide would follow him in a other truck, it seems. This left me alone with the 19 Y.O. camp hand/trainee cook. We did camp chores and got to know each other most of the day. We ended up hitting it off really well. In late afternoon the other moose hunter and his son arrived in camp. I had not known there a was another moose hunter, but his tag was for a neighboring zone so I wasn't feeling too competitive. The son had a bear tag. They seemed nice enough. They set up in the other cabin. (I learned later that was a good thing.)

The outfitter and guide made it back by late afternoon and we set in all the supplies they brought back. Some for the stock and some for the humans. Soon it was time for dinner and another evening of FOX News and second hand smoke ensued. You-bake pizza from the ZooTown Costco. Pack-in day in the morning and I was getting super stoked. Before bed I thinned out my duffel.

Let the hunt begin.

 

[44hunter45]

For those that were wondering, I did not get COVID.

Tuesday morning we packed up the mules for the ride in to spike camp. My dad was a packer in the 1950s and my brother in the 1970's. I have always been awed watching a pack string loaded up my someone who knows their business.

My guide, Jeff, folding up the mantie top pack for all the hunter's duffles.

The black mule is "Wilma" and was my ride for the week. Redeemed at the glue factory door a few years ago and she is smart and sure-footed. She did most everything I demanded. There was a testing period for the first couple of hours until she learned I wasn't a push-over.

2 saddle horses, 4 saddle mules, and 8 pack animals. Only one small rodeo with a green pack horse. The outfitter and guide ride horses, everyone else gets a mule. As a horse man, I have no issue saying the mules were superior at this in every way. At one point I was leading Wilma through a blow down and watched her tip-toe on top of the logs.

Moose butchering the new way.


We are on the trail.


Wilma and me. Great pic, Eh?


8 miles and four hours in to spike camp. Only one blow-up. Two green pack animals broke string and Levi, the camp hand, was able to catch them quickly with some serious Jedi magic.

We got to Spike camp about 4:30PM and there was plenty to do before supper. All the hunters were put in one tent. Pretty soon my favorite Raylon Givens quote was in full swing, but I didn't know which asshole I was.

The view from the outhouse...

I was the last rider in the string. I never figured out of that was an honor, or I was the most expendable. My tent mates went out to explore the river and fish and I sat out watching this meadow on the off chance a bull showed up. Dinner was a full Thanksgiving spread with stuffing and all the fixin's. With a 4AM wakeup, I hit the rack after dinner. I soon learned that my tent mate was a light sleeper and would high beam me with his headlamp any time I got up to pee. Which I do a lot.

Settled in to spike camp.

 

[Elkmagnet]

I'm digging it!

 

[noharleyyet]

...bookmarked!

 

[44hunter45]

The outfitter was taking the other hunter and his son over a divide into another unit, but we all left together from camp at dark thirty. Other days my guide and I left at different times.
IDFG and USFS prescription burned this in 2019. There is a lot of lodgepole blow down to deal with, but a lot of ceanothus and willow re-prod.
Eventually you get to the sub-alpine. The outfitter calls these "meadows". Ok whatever - Lots of aspen and woody browse.

Almost 180° of visibility from our glassing spot. There were fresh tracks and what I would call early rut sign. I heard one bull grunt far across on another ridge, but little else. Lots of long days glassing and calling.

After the first day I did not look at OnX or goHunt. OnX kept saying I was looking about 90 compass degrees from where I saw actually facing. goHunt and InReach were more accurate. Idaho moose units are better understood by how run-off flows. Pretty soon you don't think about lines on the map. You know if you don't cross a divide, you are in the right unit. The outfitter was a little testy about OnX tracks, being a little proprietary about his franchise zone. My response was that if I shoot my OIL moose, why would I come back to poach his spot? My waypoints will be for sale to the highest bidder next fall. Be careful, they may put you in the wrong State.

There was a huge wind and rain storm on the second night. Shout out to Sitka Stormfront gear. I was dry and toasty all day. If everyone else had that gear, the sleep tent would not have been 120°F the next night trying to dry out gear. I caught some crap for wearing "fancy duds", some seemed to be hoping the gear would catastrophically fail. They were disappointed.

I somehow didn't take pictures, but have video of chainsawing the trail clear. We lost a couple hours trail clearing after the storm. This is a roadless area and not a Designated Wilderness, so that is completely legal. We had a chainsaw trail on the way back to base camp as well.


Stormfront - F yeah!

Snow on the high rims. The cell phone can't do it justice.

We saw one cow moose on the ride in the first day. That was it for my guide and me. We were out glassing and calling dawn to dusk every day. We would get back to camp after dark and I would fall asleep waiting for supper. I had an occasional toddy, but not beer. I get up enough to pee as it is! I learned a ton about packing and mule skinning, moose behavior, keeping cordial in camp. Other things too.

Guide Jeff in the high aspen.

I learned that moose dry wallow like bison and pee in it. Also that they make a form of a scrape like whitetails, but deeper like a bear digging out a hornet's nest. Moose are not as patternable a deer. These "pits" are not really akin to a scrape line, but they do randomly return to them and freshen them up. There was a dry wallow 200 yards from one of our glassing knobs. The last day we were there it had been freshened overnight and smelled of moose pee.


Obligatory Country Custom Metalsmithing product placement. @p_ham - Idaho is where it's at brother!

I have more shared photos to post when our shared photo cloud is up and I get permission to post the other's pics. I will have more detailed intel via DM later for those who know the unit and may draw it.

Somewhere around day 4 my knee went completely TU. Whether this is because I actually injured it further or just ran out of anti-inflammatory is yet to be seen. When my tent mate needed to get his meat out the plan was to split the party and for me to hunt another day. This would have been me hunting yesterday and coming out today. Thinking hard about it on Sunday, I decided that it was best for all if we did not split the party and I came out yesterday as well. This saved the outfitter an additional round trip to spike camp and allowed him to go home and spend some time with his wife.

This day will be credited to my second trip in in November. Both the guide and outfitter report that while the Rut can be fickle, winter range in November is more productive.

Stay tuned!

 

[TheTone]

Beautiful country. Any elk sightings or sign? It’s amazing to me how empty that country really is vs. what it should be

 

[WNC2500]

@44hunter45 That will be good that you give your knee a little recoup time and hit it hard during November/December. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Beignet]

I’d have splurged on some fancy duds for an OIL moose hunt as well. Hope that knee gets to feeling better soon!

 

[44hunter45]

Beautiful country. Any elk sightings or sign? It’s amazing to me how empty that country really is vs. what it should be

They reported no bugles at all during elk season. I saw tracks and sign. I glassed elk on a far ridge in while riding in one day. Spotting is very possible, but I don't know about the stalking part. Finding them and getting to them are two different stories. The blow down in there after the burns is hard to describe. You have to be prepared to clear trail every day. If there is any wind or rain you have to do it again.

I was thinking about how I would have gotten from our high glassing spot to where I had seen them. Several miles each way staying high out of the tangles.

I kept thinking I was hearing rifle shots, but it was actually trees falling all around the drainage. Really cool sound when they start to domino, but what a mess.

The ceanothus and aspen re-prod is amazing. The outfitter disagrees with most bios I've read on its winter range value. I had to laugh about that. If that is the chokepoint, they may come back relatively soon. The guide believes the elk now in the unit are migratory and winter much lower. I would be interested in any collar studies on that.

Habitat vs elevation band is very clear. I think an educated (and very fit) hunter with a strong will could kill elk here. Travel is possible around the rims, but not point to point. I am not fit enough any more to have gotten to the elk I glassed before they moved on.

On the up side, the tangles may provide elk the sanctuary they need to build back up. There are lots of wolves in the area, but who can quantify their impact without mortality studies? Do blow downs best benefit escaping ungulates or cruising wolves? That's above my amateur bio education. Hard country to hunt, and just as hard to do science. I was shown trail cam footage of wolves hitting bear baits. Clearly they are not living on ungulates. Bear populations are extremely healthy and support a large harvest.

To be honest, it seems outfitters are running a pretty large predator control program within the management plan. Spring and fall bear is their biggest business and they require all their hunters to have wolf tags. They report some wolf incidental harvest.

Oh - and the fishery is everything it was reported to be. Woolly Buggers rule!

 

[OverlordBear]

We are rooting for you. Unfortunately this has been a hot fall. I am going to be hunting in October in a T-Shirt.

 

[brymoore]

I saw a bull moose last week from about 10 yards. I would have taken a pic when we were staring at each other but I was busy yelling at him to not stomp me. The moose I see in this drainage are usually in the creek bottom.

 

[44hunter45]

Medical update. When to the Ortho Doc yesterday. I got a steroid injection. It feels much better already. They recommend 24 hours of inactivity, but I am itching to get back out and Karen the a$$holes at the elk hunting trailheads.

 

[Elkmagnet]

What a beautiful mess of country.
I absolutely cannot wait for you November report!

 

[Caseknife]

Awesome experience so far.

 

[TradeGun.62]

Great write-up! Can't wait for the next installment.

Glad the knee is doing better too.

 

[44hunter45]

Teaser...

Packing my gear for Part II. The outfitter wants me at the trailhead November 6th.
Taking the weekend to hunt my deer tag. See some pre-rut activity roundabout. If I shoot a deer with the .358 Norma I will know its still zeroed.