Ok. I'm leaving for the wilderness in less than two weeks and I have been reading about the fire restrictions. I've heard rumors that all stoves were banned; however, the public notice states liquid and LPG fuel stoves are OK.
Doing an Idaho Elk hunt, DIY/public land style!
- Thread starter MNElkNut
- Start date
MNElkNut,
Love the updates. Keep them coming. Good luck on the upcoming hunt, I wish you the best. For the stove, I personally would look at getting something like an MSR Pocket Rocket that takes Isobutane-Propane. Much lighter and will only cost about $45 for stove and fuel at your local Cabela's.
Love the updates. Keep them coming. Good luck on the upcoming hunt, I wish you the best. For the stove, I personally would look at getting something like an MSR Pocket Rocket that takes Isobutane-Propane. Much lighter and will only cost about $45 for stove and fuel at your local Cabela's.
Ate a small snickers bar yesterday and really felt guilty! As I think about this, the hardest part to staying in any shape other than round is going to be staying motivated after the hunt. Got home late last nite and hiked after dark. The neighbor lady thinks I have lost my marbles. Got up this morning and ran...now I havent been running as much lately because I have been concentrating on the pack. But great results, I ran faster than I usually do and felt great. This is all coming together pretty well.
Started getting gear together and found my Wyoming Saw. Dont have my other little Gerber yet....jokes not funny any longer guys! Did I say the maps from mytopo were great? They are. top notch. I recommend them.
Started getting gear together and found my Wyoming Saw. Dont have my other little Gerber yet....jokes not funny any longer guys! Did I say the maps from mytopo were great? They are. top notch. I recommend them.
Frank Church. I've read the current regs. It's going to suck not having a campfire at night.
By close to Boise, I mean about 3 1/2 to 4 hours from Boise. I should have clarified that.
Fall came to Minnesota over night. This morning I awoke to 30-40 mph winds and 38 degrees with a slight drizzle. I tried to roll over and the wife kicked me out of bed. The hike was good however, having cold cheeks for the first time in a long time felt good!
Fall came to Minnesota over night. This morning I awoke to 30-40 mph winds and 38 degrees with a slight drizzle. I tried to roll over and the wife kicked me out of bed. The hike was good however, having cold cheeks for the first time in a long time felt good!
Buy a wolf tag. The fires have pushed some of the animals out of the crisp areas and the wolves have followed.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Good luck hope to see the grip and grin by the 20th.
hedjam
New member
Good luck on your hunt. I leave for Stanley at dawn on the 9th. IFG fire site shows lots of burn in the FC area. I was going in via Yankee Fork, I am not sure now. My living room looks like the staging area for the invasion of Idaho. My primary goal is a wolf so I can be flexible when I am in the area and can assess properly. I can't wait to go. My fallback plan is the big drainages south of highway 75 between Alturas Lake and Stanley. I will get plenty of practice hiking up hill. I will report any local knowledge or sightings when on the spot. The weather looks to turn western so that shoud help.
have a great hunt
mike r
have a great hunt
mike r
passinthru
Active member
Good luck!
Will be interesting to see how it turns out. Always fun to check out new territory.
Will be interesting to see how it turns out. Always fun to check out new territory.
this weekend we did our last shooting. Also started packing. Oh and good news that will make all of you feel soooo much better. I found my Gerber saw! It was in the tool box I keep in the truck. Which one of you put it there? Here is something that really sucks...I have all day meetings on Tues and Wed for work. OHMYGOSH, is that gonna suck. Everyone is going to think I am taking notes and I will be making lists of last minute things to do!
This will be the last post by me on this thread for awhile. It is time.
Happy with my conditioning. It could always be better, but it is good. Although I punished the Pizza Ranch buffet last night....just punished it....my weight is within 2 pounds of my goal.
Good luck to those out chasing wa-put-e!
Happy with my conditioning. It could always be better, but it is good. Although I punished the Pizza Ranch buffet last night....just punished it....my weight is within 2 pounds of my goal.
Good luck to those out chasing wa-put-e!
Back from the hunt. Here is the report:
Got to camp after a 22 hour drive. Got to get out for a little scouting trip to glass the lay of the land on Sunday. Didnt see an elk or any sign this side of July. A good time around the campfire that night catching up with my cousin.
Day 1 (Monday): Woke up to rain and wind. As eager as we were to get out there, the pouring rain stopped us. Pretty soon the Conservation Officer showed up and said it would rain through Tuesday so we layered up on GoreTex and headed out. We rode the ATVs a couple of miles down the ATV trailhead and then started out on foot. We went down about 2000 feet and then up about 1600 feet to an area that looked real good about 5 miles from the ATV trail. We started seeing some fairly fresh sign about 4 miles from the ATV. Sat overlooking some steep meadows with a nasty wind and rain hitting us in the face until shooting light was legally over. No elk sighted. It took us about 3 hours to get back to the tent.
Day 2 (Tuesday): The weather got worse. Wind and rain again. Funniest line of the trip: the wind was really howling and Jon asked if we should get in the basement of the tent. Decided to check out a spot up and over one of the major ridges that I had scouted via Google Earth. After a 2000 foot vertical climb over 3-4 miles, we crested the ridge to find.....a 40 mph wind hitting us right in the teeth. The area looked real good though. It was remote, had meadows that couldnt be seen from anywhere and was high. We hunted all day there and watched some real good meadows until dark again. No elk sighted but Shane got a glimpse of 2 wolves. Only 2.5 hours back to the tent this day. Everyone needs to dry out clothes.
Day 3 (Wednesday): Weather was good. Out early and watched some meadows only a mile off the trails as dawn approached. No elk sighted, so we headed back to camp with the intent to spike out to the Day 2 area. First we needed to check in with some people so we quickly drove down to cell phone range. On the way back, we detoured to check out another area that held some promise. As we looked it over from the road, we decided to give the new area a try. There was no trail so the 2-3 mile/ 1500 vertical foot hike was from the road and all bushwacking over blowdowns. Sat over a high meadow til dark again with no elk sighted. In retrospect, we goofed on this day. We should have spiked to the Day 2 area. Our mistake was that we were hoping to find an area that wasnt quite so far or high to hunt. I was hoping a mile or two off the trails would hold elk and a minimum of hunters. I was wrong. it took a lot of vertical and at least 3 miles off the trail to start to see elk sign. No elk sighted all day.
Day 4: (Thursday) Another good weather day. I wasnt going to make the mistake of losing another day. Hunt where the elk are, right? So we watched the first meadow out of the drainage of Day 1. We knew there were elk in that drainage as nasty as it was. I glimpsed 2 wolves, but no shot. Midmorning Jon and I decided to dump off a ridge into the nastiness that is P.C. drainage. Problem was, the dumping off the ridge soon got to be some serious vertical. At one point I was standing on a log looking at 80 foot drops in about 300 out of the 360 degrees. We had to sidehill our way over to the Day 1 trail to get in there. However, the blowdowns got soooo bad it took us too long. We had to abandon our plan mid afternoon as we were drenched in sweat and too far from our goal. Back to camp to change and hit another area that showed promise for the night hunt that was only 1000 foot up and 1-2 miles off the trail as we were out of time. No elk sighted all day.
Day 5 (Friday): Up early and went to an area that was 2-3 miles off the trail and both up and down about 1000 feet. Shane found some elk sign there the previous afternoon. Spent the day in this area and there was elk sign, but no elk. This is where the elk were coming up out of PC drainage. Weather was again awful, with rain, sleet, and snow. Wind was manageable at 15-20. As time was running out, we tried to manufacture some elk by driving some of the dark timber. Yes, a grouse almost made me poo my pants when it blew up under my feet! Dang birds. By the end, no elk sighted and everyone soaked yet again. Our hunt was over.
Summary: After a long summer of planning and working out, an incredible effort during the hunt, and a lot of money spent, we didnt see an elk. I am very dissapointed. I understand elk hunting isnt easy, but for the most part we hunted smart and we put in more effort than most elk hunters. Way more effort. We were at our spots before dawn and left after dark. I estimated that we spent over 19 hours hiking in the dark over 5 days. We glassed a huge area daily. We were up high and down low. We left other hunters behind. We were usally 3-5 miles off the trail daily. We found elk sign. We bucked bad weather. But it was not to be. I enjoyed the trip, we saw some beautiful country and I lost a belt size! As always, spending time with close friends is never wasted and we had some great laughs and became closer. I feel bad that we didnt see an elk. It bothers me. If we had cut corners, I could accept it, but we didnt. The elk were just not there in huntable numbers. We talked to some other hunters and nobody saw an elk.
Where does this leave us? I dont know. I dont think we are going back to that area. We need an area that is slightly easier to hunt. I still want to out-effort other hunters, but this got to be too much. and obviously we need an area that has elk in huntable numbers. At this point, I dont know where to start. I really dont want to sound like a whiner, but to be honest, I am pretty depressed about the whole situation.
For those that have had success, relish those times!
Got to camp after a 22 hour drive. Got to get out for a little scouting trip to glass the lay of the land on Sunday. Didnt see an elk or any sign this side of July. A good time around the campfire that night catching up with my cousin.
Day 1 (Monday): Woke up to rain and wind. As eager as we were to get out there, the pouring rain stopped us. Pretty soon the Conservation Officer showed up and said it would rain through Tuesday so we layered up on GoreTex and headed out. We rode the ATVs a couple of miles down the ATV trailhead and then started out on foot. We went down about 2000 feet and then up about 1600 feet to an area that looked real good about 5 miles from the ATV trail. We started seeing some fairly fresh sign about 4 miles from the ATV. Sat overlooking some steep meadows with a nasty wind and rain hitting us in the face until shooting light was legally over. No elk sighted. It took us about 3 hours to get back to the tent.
Day 2 (Tuesday): The weather got worse. Wind and rain again. Funniest line of the trip: the wind was really howling and Jon asked if we should get in the basement of the tent. Decided to check out a spot up and over one of the major ridges that I had scouted via Google Earth. After a 2000 foot vertical climb over 3-4 miles, we crested the ridge to find.....a 40 mph wind hitting us right in the teeth. The area looked real good though. It was remote, had meadows that couldnt be seen from anywhere and was high. We hunted all day there and watched some real good meadows until dark again. No elk sighted but Shane got a glimpse of 2 wolves. Only 2.5 hours back to the tent this day. Everyone needs to dry out clothes.
Day 3 (Wednesday): Weather was good. Out early and watched some meadows only a mile off the trails as dawn approached. No elk sighted, so we headed back to camp with the intent to spike out to the Day 2 area. First we needed to check in with some people so we quickly drove down to cell phone range. On the way back, we detoured to check out another area that held some promise. As we looked it over from the road, we decided to give the new area a try. There was no trail so the 2-3 mile/ 1500 vertical foot hike was from the road and all bushwacking over blowdowns. Sat over a high meadow til dark again with no elk sighted. In retrospect, we goofed on this day. We should have spiked to the Day 2 area. Our mistake was that we were hoping to find an area that wasnt quite so far or high to hunt. I was hoping a mile or two off the trails would hold elk and a minimum of hunters. I was wrong. it took a lot of vertical and at least 3 miles off the trail to start to see elk sign. No elk sighted all day.
Day 4: (Thursday) Another good weather day. I wasnt going to make the mistake of losing another day. Hunt where the elk are, right? So we watched the first meadow out of the drainage of Day 1. We knew there were elk in that drainage as nasty as it was. I glimpsed 2 wolves, but no shot. Midmorning Jon and I decided to dump off a ridge into the nastiness that is P.C. drainage. Problem was, the dumping off the ridge soon got to be some serious vertical. At one point I was standing on a log looking at 80 foot drops in about 300 out of the 360 degrees. We had to sidehill our way over to the Day 1 trail to get in there. However, the blowdowns got soooo bad it took us too long. We had to abandon our plan mid afternoon as we were drenched in sweat and too far from our goal. Back to camp to change and hit another area that showed promise for the night hunt that was only 1000 foot up and 1-2 miles off the trail as we were out of time. No elk sighted all day.
Day 5 (Friday): Up early and went to an area that was 2-3 miles off the trail and both up and down about 1000 feet. Shane found some elk sign there the previous afternoon. Spent the day in this area and there was elk sign, but no elk. This is where the elk were coming up out of PC drainage. Weather was again awful, with rain, sleet, and snow. Wind was manageable at 15-20. As time was running out, we tried to manufacture some elk by driving some of the dark timber. Yes, a grouse almost made me poo my pants when it blew up under my feet! Dang birds. By the end, no elk sighted and everyone soaked yet again. Our hunt was over.
Summary: After a long summer of planning and working out, an incredible effort during the hunt, and a lot of money spent, we didnt see an elk. I am very dissapointed. I understand elk hunting isnt easy, but for the most part we hunted smart and we put in more effort than most elk hunters. Way more effort. We were at our spots before dawn and left after dark. I estimated that we spent over 19 hours hiking in the dark over 5 days. We glassed a huge area daily. We were up high and down low. We left other hunters behind. We were usally 3-5 miles off the trail daily. We found elk sign. We bucked bad weather. But it was not to be. I enjoyed the trip, we saw some beautiful country and I lost a belt size! As always, spending time with close friends is never wasted and we had some great laughs and became closer. I feel bad that we didnt see an elk. It bothers me. If we had cut corners, I could accept it, but we didnt. The elk were just not there in huntable numbers. We talked to some other hunters and nobody saw an elk.
Where does this leave us? I dont know. I dont think we are going back to that area. We need an area that is slightly easier to hunt. I still want to out-effort other hunters, but this got to be too much. and obviously we need an area that has elk in huntable numbers. At this point, I dont know where to start. I really dont want to sound like a whiner, but to be honest, I am pretty depressed about the whole situation.
For those that have had success, relish those times!
Mudranger1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 2,892
Problem number one that I see you wasted daily energy hiking so far just to get to where you wanted to start hunting
Maybe they expended too much energy hiking, maybe not? Setting up a spike camp where there are no elk certainly isn't efficient. Sometimes you gotta burn boot leather to find the elk and then go from there.
MN,
I feel your pain, sometimes the best laid plans go south. That certainly is tough though to go the whole hunt without seeing an elk.
Are you going back? PM me if you want and I'll help you if I can.
MN,
I feel your pain, sometimes the best laid plans go south. That certainly is tough though to go the whole hunt without seeing an elk.
Are you going back? PM me if you want and I'll help you if I can.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
The Frank church is not easy country to hunt. But that being said my biggest bull came out of the church. Sounds like you guys hit it pretty hard.
The only tip I have to give you is once you see wolves in a drainage I stop hunting there and move to the next drainage.
The only tip I have to give you is once you see wolves in a drainage I stop hunting there and move to the next drainage.
Mudranger1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 2,892
I agree with setting up where there is no elk is a waste of time also but hiking 3+ miles in with 2000 ft elevation change daily is a HUGE waste of time and energy IMO.
