High Country Mule Deer Trip - Lessons Learned

[tomengineer]

I'm headed to Idaho this October for an OTC mule deer hunt. A group of three of us will be flying in from the east for a 7 day trip. We will be in central ID in remote but not super remote locations. We have a tipi tent with a titanium wood stove and plan to combination base camp and spike camp. I'm trying to solicit lessons learned from other hunt talk users on a trip like this specific to deer and hunting what I call high country (8,000+ feet). These can be anything from fly in logistics, to hunting tactics, to out of shape hunting partners to gear selection to hunting schedule to game preparation or whatever you'd be inclined to share with us. If there are some that attempted a trip like this and had a major disconnect between expectation and reality on certain issues I'd like to hear about it if you're willing to save us some grief. I post this in a deer specific thread to weed out advice on quartering and packing out elk. Thanks in advance for the help and feel free to PM me if you don't feel like posting publicly.

 

[BrokenChicken]

just out of curiosity, if you're all flying in from Sea Level. and if this is first time at 8,000 ft+ elevation?
some people are perfectly OK at high elevations and don't experience sickness while some cant handle it.
8,000 is not so high and most people should be OK. I believe ID to be similar to CO which is low humidity. so remember to drink lots of water...seriously lots of water!!. and even in OCT remember to bring sun protection (sun block / UPF apparel, etc,) you'll be about 1.75 miles closer to the sun and if it's windy/sunny even in low temps, it will dry you out. so sun protection + lots of water.
you and your friends might also have hard time getting a good night sleep at high elevation, but not much you can do about it, just takes time to get used to.
good luck.

 

[tomengineer]

just out of curiosity, if you're all flying in from Sea Level. and if this is first time at 8,000 ft+ elevation?
some people are perfectly OK at high elevations and don't experience sickness while some cant handle it.
8,000 is not so high and most people should be OK. I believe ID to be similar to CO which is low humidity. so remember to drink lots of water...seriously lots of water!!. and even in OCT remember to bring sun protection (sun block / UPF apparel, etc,) you'll be about 1.75 miles closer to the sun and if it's windy/sunny even in low temps, it will dry you out. so sun protection + lots of water.
you and your friends might also have hard time getting a good night sleep at high elevation, but not much you can do about it, just takes time to get used to.
good luck.

Ok thanks. We are going to get diomox (sp) to help with the altitude acclimation. We plan to camp at 8000 and work our way up depending how it goes. Hunt high and sleep low as they say.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Sleeping in high wind sucks... the constant noise and tent flapping. When picking a site think about worst case scenario not “will this site look dope on the gram”.

 

[tomengineer]

Sleeping in high wind sucks... the constant noise and tent flapping. When picking a site think about worst case scenario not “will this site look dope on the gram”.

Yeah I’ve been listening to some podcasts that have me thinking about camp site selection. Off the ridge away from thunderstorms but away from potential blowdown trees. I’m sure by the end of the week I’ll have picked most of the wrong spots.

 

[MTLabrador]

“will this site look dope on the gram”

It was windy, but it looks dope on the gram...

 

[DouglasR]

Chapstick.
Eat and drink regularly.
Try not to pack your fears.
Have fun.

 

[DouglasR]

Be familiar with the rules and regs of signing your tag and where to keep it while hauling meat.

 

[thatsjet]

Try not to pack your fears.

This

 

[ccc23454]

Chapstick.
Eat and drink regularly.
Try not to pack your fears.
Have fun.

This, i will add: use your glass to save legs, take asprin, find water, stay away from atv trails and assume the worst and hope for best for weather. Good luck

 

[BrokenChicken]

O just a thought. But u might want to re-zero your rifles at elevation closer to where you will be shooting. High elevation/ low humidity = less bullet drop. And being out west u are more likely to have opportunities at longer shots.

 

[tomengineer]

O just a thought. But u might want to re-zero your rifles at elevation closer to where you will be shooting. High elevation/ low humidity = less bullet drop. And being out west u are more likely to have opportunities at longer shots.

That crossed my mind as well. We are at 1,300 feet and we’ll be verifying our zeros on the way up to make sure air travel didn’t affect them too much. Maybe we’ll re-zero at that point if needed.

 

[tomengineer]

This, i will add: use your glass to save legs, take asprin, find water, stay away from atv trails and assume the worst and hope for best for weather. Good luck

Thanks for this. Good call on saving your legs. I have a feeling I’ll go running after the first thing I see even at 4 miles.

 

[tomengineer]

Be familiar with the rules and regs of signing your tag and where to keep it while hauling meat.

Yes good call I hadn’t looked into that extensively. We will likely be splitting meat that’s packed out so I’ll re-read the ID regulations.

 

[tomengineer]

Chapstick.
Eat and drink regularly.
Try not to pack your fears.
Have fun.

Thank you. I’m trying to find the line between bravado and caution having never been out there. Overthinking it but I’ve done my research and I’m feeling pretty good.

 

[Irrelevant]

It was windy, but it looks dope on the gram...


View attachment 145472

com'on there's powerlines in the background, you gotta photoshop those out before they hit the gram

 

[Irrelevant]

Keep your expectations lower than your gratitude and you should be fine.

 

[MTLabrador]

com'on there's powerlines in the background, you gotta photoshop those out before they hit the gram

Ha, my truck is parked just out of the frame. There’s a lot of grizzlies up there so I like to camp in the open.

 

[ccc23454]

Ha, my truck is parked just out of the frame. There’s a lot of grizzlies up there so I like to camp in the open.

lol i know where that is... beautiful but watch out for the wind, bears and tourists

 

[zpooch]

com'on there's powerlines in the background, you gotta photoshop those out before they hit the gram

Windy but dope on the gram