Family man's 2023 hunt log/recap

[jeremy.b]

Annual Central Idaho whitetail hunt: Travel day

Our motley crew of friends and family started making our way to our annual whitetail camp last Thursday. Andy's dad and uncle were in the lead position to camp, to be passed in the wee hours of the morning by my BIL Brian .

Brian hit the woods and the old boys made it to camp and started getting their gear and stands set. I made it to camp shortly after noon and got the inreach that Brian had a buck down already. I didn't hear from him right away so went to work getting my tent and gear setup.

I had my tent/stove done and was down to moving the last of my gear into the tent when I heard back from Brian asking me to head down to where I had taken my deer the year before. I threw some gear on, grabbled the pack and a snack since I hadn't eaten much since leaving home.

I only made it half-way down the ridge when I met Brian. Grabbed half his buck and headed back to camp.

 

[jeremy.b]

Annual Central Idaho whitetail hunt: Day 1

The next day Brian and I took the day to head into a drainage none of our party had hunted yet, getting greeted with a tiny bit of snow first thing.

We looped way around the drainage on a closed road.

Sign was hit and miss, we did turn up some fresh rubs and scrapes deep in the drainage, and climbed into some promising ridges that had more fresh sign. We setup for a bit on some more fresh scrapes.

Eventually we started working our way up the ridges turning up a snow-shoe hare that was VERY confident in its camo

We climbed back to the closed road we use in the morning, and as we turned a bend I spot a deer ~80 yds up the road. Turned out to be a little 2x3, which I decided to pass on. We had some fun with him, slid back against the cut-bank and grunted him into ~50 yds before he spooked and took off.

We dropped back down to camp, did a few camp chores. Then for the last little bit of light I went solo and dropped into a drainage near where I took my buck in 2021. Nothing turned up though.

Overall a good "armed scouting" day with a new set of country checked out with good potential.

Later that evening my buddy Tim and his son made it to camp and we set plans for the next day.

 

[jeremy.b]

Annual Central Idaho whitetail hunt: Day 2

Brian, Tim & his son and I headed back down the ridge where Brian had taken his buck 2 days before.

Brian had set a camera on an active scrape. We checked the camera which had a small 2-1/2yr old 4x4, a couple does and a little tiny spike on it mostly from that morning.

I broke off and set up to cover a couple ridges for a bit.

Within 15 minutes the little spike showed up right next to me on the ridge, eventually catching my wind and working off. There were shot opportunities but he was quite safe from me .

I forced myself to sit the spot for a full 2 hrs (something I don't do very well) but nothing else turned up.

I eased my way back up the ridge through some thick cover, jumping a bedded doe at one point. Then I hiked into an adjacent ridge and turned up even more hot sign. I settled over a fresh batch of scrapes for an hour of so, trying some rattling but not having anything show up.

I then hopped the ridge and dropped into another adjacent ridge system. It was fairly windy and I ended up jumping a few deer from their beds deep in some draws. As I worked my way back to camp I stumbled across an old, chewed up 5 pt whitetail shed. Nothing huge but still a nice find.

I climbed out and back to camp. Brian was back, Tim and his son came back as well (separately from Brian). I gave them the intel on the ridge I found the sign on and off they went, eventually jumping a couple deer, but no chances at any shots.

Brian and I stayed back at camp, I knocked down a camp wood tree and got the bulk of the wood bucked up while Brian worked on cleaning his deer head up for a euro (this was his first deer of any kind so he wanted to euro it).

For the last little bit of daylight Brian and I returned to the drainage I watched the night before but didn't see anything.

 

[jeremy.b]

Annual Central Idaho whitetail hunt: Day 3

Brian was planning to head home later in the morning with Andy & Felicia showing up sometime later that afternoon.

Tim & his son dropped back into the ridge we started on the day before. The did turn up the small 4x4 that had been on Brian's camera but no shot opportunities presented themselves.

I headed out solo to return to the set of ridges Brian and I explored on day 1.

Edit (Forgot a good part!): first thing as I worked up the closed roads I round a corner and spot a decent little 4x4 buck ~100yds up the road. I drop down and get my rifle rested on my knees to see if he'll give me a solid shot. It's a few minutes into legal light, and he couldn't quite make me out, and decides to start walking my way. He closes maybe 20 yds and then seems to realize this is a bad idea, wheels and trots off! Fun little encounter, and I was seriously considering taking him if a super solid shot opportunity presented itself.

I found some smoking hot rubs and scrapes as I worked down onto the ridges. I snuck through the country, eventually having a single deer blow at me when I was a touch too noisy. Grabbed a pic of one of MANY oddly located fungi (placed there by the local squirrels).

I found a spot over a small drainage with some decent visibility and sat. Shortly afterwards I heard a light deer grunt/bleat on the ridge across from me.

I went through a grunting/rattling sequence and settled in to wait. After about 5 minutes I could hear something working through the drainage above me, well behind a wall of thick cover. I wasn't in a good spot to make a move without getting caught out, so I held my position hoping whatever it was would break into the open, unfortunately to no avail.

I gave the spot a good 30 minutes before I packed up and slid out. I then dropped onto the ridge where Brian and I had found the fresh scrapes on Day 1 and sat there for a good bit, but not seeing anything.

I backed out and headed back out, passing the same spot Brian and I walked past the snowshoe on day 1, guess what was in the EXACT same spot (still SUPER confident in its camo)?

I worked my way back out of the ridges by a different route, sat over some more fresh scrapes and eventually climbed up to a different set of closed roads.

I found a decent spot with a little bit of visibility and sat. Within 15 minutes I caught movement coming up the road, turned out to be a yearling spike and doe. I settled in for the show, the spike closed to within 15 yds before spooking off and taking the doe with him.

I sat it out until end of legal light and headed back to camp.

Andy and Felicia had made it to camp and did a quick hunt behind camp but didn't turn anything up.

The rest of the evening we caught up wth eachother and enjoyed a stellar dinner that Tim's wife made for us all.

 

[jeremy.b]

Annual Central Idaho whitetail hunt: The rest of the story

The next morning Tim and I cooked up some hang-over hash for the whole crew. Both Tim and I packed up our stuff and headed home, leaving Andy, Felicia, Rod and Jeff for the remainder of the season.

Jeff had been trying his hand at still hunting the local trails but ended up never getting a shot.

Felicia got her first-ever deer when she connected with a spike the day Tim and I left.

Rod eventually also connected with a spike a day or so later.

Andy turned up a sweet whitetail shed a ways behind camp which looks suspiciously like a buck that showed up camera the next day.

Finally Andy took an opportunity on a doe and got meat in the freezer.

With Andy finding the decent shed and seeing the big buck on camera, Brian and I are making tentative plans to come back in early spring to see what we can find for sheds and scout some other country.

Overall was a good trip. I had my opportunities, but we have my elk in the freezer so I'm not in a huge hurry to fill my tag on a smaller deer just yet. More stories to come as I get out for the remainder of my season.

 

[jeremy.b]

Got in a late afternoon hunt today. Been wanting to get out for a longer day but final winter prep on the house and a fun 2nd round of a cold slowed me down a bit.

Was a great quick trip, bumped a handful of does on my target ridge and cut some good sized buck tracks on the way up the hill.

 

[jeremy.b]

Thanksgiving Family visit/tagalong hunt

Spent Saturday morning "helping" BiL Brian look for a muley for is remaining tag.

Took along Caleb to help retrieve some "treasure" (a spike elk carcass from the general elk season where the hunter had left the head intact and taken all the meat).

Nice balmy 15F out when we started, had a small group of cow elk travel past us below the road 15 minutes into the day, which accomplished Caleb's goal: to see something bigger than a turkey .

Brian and Caleb BOTH stepped right over a spike elk shed as we worked up to the "treasure".

"Treasure" was still at the kill site (and nicely stinky by now).

Skull capped, wrapped in a trash bag and ready to head out.

We grabbed a couple of Brian's cameras, worked our way out, did one calling setup and had a cow elk (randomly??) come charging into our setup stopping at about 50 yds from Caleb and me.

She was panting hard so I assume it was just a random thing and she wasn't drawn to a buck grunting calling sequence! Made for a exciting 30 seconds though, and was a cool experience for Caleb!

Overall it was a great morning and nice to go roam the hills in some of Brian's stomping grounds.

 

[F250]

Thanksgiving Family visit/tagalong hunt

Spent Saturday morning "helping" BiL Brian look for a muley for is remaining tag.

Took along Caleb to help retrieve some "treasure" (a spike elk carcass from the general elk season where the hunter had left the head intact and taken all the meat).

Nice balmy 15F out when we started, had a small group of cow elk travel past us below the road 15 minutes into the day, which accomplished Caleb's goal: to see something bigger than a turkey .

Brian and Caleb BOTH stepped right over a spike elk shed as we worked up to the "treasure".

"Treasure" was still at the kill site (and nicely stinky by now).

Skull capped, wrapped in a trash bag and ready to head out.

We grabbed a couple of Brian's cameras, worked our way out, did one calling setup and had a cow elk (randomly??) come charging into our setup stopping at about 50 yds from Caleb and me.

She was panting hard so I assume it was just a random thing and she wasn't drawn to a buck grunting calling sequence! Made for a exciting 30 seconds though, and was a cool experience for Caleb!

Overall it was a great morning and nice to go roam the hills in some of Brian's stomping grounds.

Sounds like a fun day with family ! Not being critical, just wondering why you would want the spikes off an elk you didn’t kill …

 

[jeremy.b]

Sounds like a fun day with family ! Not being critical, just wondering why you would want the spikes off an elk you didn’t kill …

Huh, thats actually a really good question, one I haven't really thought about.

Where legal, I've always picked up antlers/deadheads, so that's the best answer I can give really. In this case the carcass had sat for better part of a month, and not in a hard-to-get-to spot, so the proper owner of the antlers had some time to come retrieve them. They also left the ivories, so that was pretty telling that they just wanted the meat.

Brian had already planned on grabbing it when he pulled cameras with or without us, so I'd imagine his answer would be similar.

 

[Itsbeef]

Elk Down!

After 45+ minutes we took up the trail. Blood was great right from the start, but dark. Immediately I was assuming I had at least caught the one jugular.

Blood was good, and we kept a good pace tracking. But it just kept going, 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards (and dropping elevation). The emotions threatened to rise, but that persistent peace flowed underneath and on we went. 400 yards, down a steep face of the ridge. 500 yards onto an isolated little nose on the ridge.

Finally, on out on the end of that little nose I caught his rack on the ground, let out a woop, bull down!

The bull was in a very "bull bed" spot, 550 yards from the shot, 500+ feet of elevation lower.

We said a prayer of thanks (especially for the gift of peace after the shot) and got to work!

thats an awesome bull and story way to go!