T Bone
Well-known member
Idaho 2010 deer hunt. This is my only big game hunt this year so this story is full of more pictures and false truths than normal.....
Since moving to Montrose, CO this summer I find myself a nonresident of every state of the union, so I called my original hunting partner a month ago and asked if he wanted to take a trip down memory lane and hunt some of our old haunts in Idaho.
He was hesitant in answering yes because he has developed some major back issues in the last year. His back problems started some 40 years ago when he ejected out of his aircraft at tree top level over Laos. The ejection and the pinballing through the trees did some damage to his lower back. After a lot of titanium and stainless hardware, his back has deteriated to the point where he's in pain all the time and is losing feeling in his right leg. The result is he is limited in quantity and duration of physical activity. Packing any amount of weight is out of the question. He was hesitant in going because he felt he'd be an anchor to my efforts, but I was excited when he agreed.
Unit 50, Antelope creek drainage was our target desination. In it's heyday in the late 80's and 90's we pulled many good elk and deer from that area.
Day 1 Travel Day. After getting off of work at 6:30 am, I sleep a few hours and hit the road. I meet Dad who now lives in St George, UT at the Cabelas in UT at 6 PM. We cram all his stuff in my 4runner and we're off. At 11 PM we reach our top secret destination and were too tired to set up the tent so we throw out the matresses and bags and sleep.
Day 2 Dad will hit the low country and I will head toward the high stuff. I leave camp a couple hours before dark as I have many miles to go before it gets light. In the dark I can hear distant elk bugling.....As light shows, there are elk screaming non-stop. Here is a pic of the higher country.
And if I turn around 180 degrees this is what the lower country looks like. This is the stuff Dad is hunting.
I'm amazed at all the elk I see near and far. They are rutting like it's mid September. Every herd had a number of decent bulls in it. How I wished that archery season was on and I could swap my 30-06 for my bow!
From the numbers and quality of elk I'm seeing (during a controlled cow and bull hunt), it appears the ATV restrictions are working in this particular area. We stopped hunting this area in the early 90's because of the fat-assed ATV hunters breaking the motorized vehicle access laws. Maybe I'll have to archery hunt this place again.....
Anyhooo, I'm deer hunting. I looked all day, covered a lot of ground and finally found 3 deer. One doe, one fawn, and one spike.
The sun starts heading down and the elk start ripping again. What fun to sit and watch. I snapped this photo at last light of this decent 6 point.
A couple hours later I meet Dad back at camp and find that he only got into elk.
We fire up the grill and have bratz covered in beans. Farts are always funny!
We set up camp and sleep very well.
Since moving to Montrose, CO this summer I find myself a nonresident of every state of the union, so I called my original hunting partner a month ago and asked if he wanted to take a trip down memory lane and hunt some of our old haunts in Idaho.
He was hesitant in answering yes because he has developed some major back issues in the last year. His back problems started some 40 years ago when he ejected out of his aircraft at tree top level over Laos. The ejection and the pinballing through the trees did some damage to his lower back. After a lot of titanium and stainless hardware, his back has deteriated to the point where he's in pain all the time and is losing feeling in his right leg. The result is he is limited in quantity and duration of physical activity. Packing any amount of weight is out of the question. He was hesitant in going because he felt he'd be an anchor to my efforts, but I was excited when he agreed.
Unit 50, Antelope creek drainage was our target desination. In it's heyday in the late 80's and 90's we pulled many good elk and deer from that area.
Day 1 Travel Day. After getting off of work at 6:30 am, I sleep a few hours and hit the road. I meet Dad who now lives in St George, UT at the Cabelas in UT at 6 PM. We cram all his stuff in my 4runner and we're off. At 11 PM we reach our top secret destination and were too tired to set up the tent so we throw out the matresses and bags and sleep.
Day 2 Dad will hit the low country and I will head toward the high stuff. I leave camp a couple hours before dark as I have many miles to go before it gets light. In the dark I can hear distant elk bugling.....As light shows, there are elk screaming non-stop. Here is a pic of the higher country.
And if I turn around 180 degrees this is what the lower country looks like. This is the stuff Dad is hunting.
I'm amazed at all the elk I see near and far. They are rutting like it's mid September. Every herd had a number of decent bulls in it. How I wished that archery season was on and I could swap my 30-06 for my bow!
From the numbers and quality of elk I'm seeing (during a controlled cow and bull hunt), it appears the ATV restrictions are working in this particular area. We stopped hunting this area in the early 90's because of the fat-assed ATV hunters breaking the motorized vehicle access laws. Maybe I'll have to archery hunt this place again.....
Anyhooo, I'm deer hunting. I looked all day, covered a lot of ground and finally found 3 deer. One doe, one fawn, and one spike.
The sun starts heading down and the elk start ripping again. What fun to sit and watch. I snapped this photo at last light of this decent 6 point.
A couple hours later I meet Dad back at camp and find that he only got into elk.
We fire up the grill and have bratz covered in beans. Farts are always funny!
We set up camp and sleep very well.
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