# Idaho success!



## duneman101 (Nov 6, 2009)

So i finally got back from idaho, got me a good one, had an awesome time got to see some of gods country and hang with the old man for a bit...

Story first even though i know none of you will read it, because you only like pictures...

Anyways left early friday morning packed to the hilt in my old ford. My old man and the others in the hunting party got there a week before me and based on past experience in this area i figured they would all have an elk and a nice buck hangin in the trees, pulled up and there were none, appearantly the hunting had been very bleak and i will get to the reason for this in a minute. we went and sat on a hill friday night and didn't see anything moving, saturday morning we hit the hills hard, the weather wasn't cooperating at all, we didn't have any snow and we were in Tshirts by noon so it was lots of hiking and pushing trying to get the deer out of the timber, none of which was successful. finally we decided we needed a new plan of attack, there were only 4 other hunters in the area but we decided to get as far away from them as we could. sunday morning we packed up the snow mobiles and drove as far as we could with the truck then hit the trails on the sleds the roads in were about 50% mud and 50% snow and there was a big storm coming our way, so a long arduous trip with overheating machines finally came to an end at spike camp. 17 miles as a crow flies according to GPS from base camp. we saw good fresh signs all over the place, lots of big bucks, does, some elk, and even a moose. we waited out the rest of the day know that the sound of the snow mobiles probably woke the dead, the next day was in the low 50's by noon again, so lots of hiking, we caught glimpses of animals way off in the distance, but nothing close enough to shoot. the storm hit monday night we got a good 5 inches of snow, hit the game trails early, but there were very few traces of animals, well except for the mangy freakin wolves... we figure a small pack moved through the three drainages we were hunting, we could identify at least 3 different dogs based on the sizes of the tracks, but there were probably a lot more... funny thing is that they were road hunting, we saw the majority of their tracks on the road, but the second they cut a track on the road they followed it into the trees and were soon joined by their brethren. we hunted hard this day and didn't see a single critter track that wasn't headed out of dodge. that night we got a couple more inches of snow and headed out real early, to our dismay there was only one track to be found and it was the moose, as far as we could tell from 10 hours of hiking and scoping the moose was the only one to stay. we decided the next day we were going back to base camp so at least we would be comfortable in the wall tent and have a crapper to use.

We packed our stuff back on to the sleds to head out this time was a lot nicer because of the snow we had on the roads and trails. we only cut the tracks of the lonley moosed and a bunch of rabits on the way back to base camp, 17 miles and not a single shootable animal crossed the road in the back country, it was depressing. anyways we got the sleds back on the trucks, the country was still so beautiful that we couldn't be that upset. with the truck loaded up we headed for lower country, about 2 miles into that my step dad says grab yer gun i see a buck, as i raced past the front of the truck, i could see the darkened outline of him and his horns sitting at the bottom of a very very steep hill, laying in bed dead still at about 100-125 yards, straight down. he wasn't moving, my old man screamed SHOOT!!! i took a calm deep breath and let it fly at the boiler room, the buck only flipped over onto his back, the shot was true to it's course but went high and spined him, really after cutting him and freezing him today i don't think i could have wasted less meat without shooting him in the head. plus i am just glad he didn't run further down the hill, it took 3 of us nearly 5 hours to pack him up the hill, i can honestly say i've never slept better in my life than wednesday night...

we continued to hunt till thursday night, with no more success. crossed the path of several different big cats in the area. got to follow the tracks of a momma kitty training a kitten to be a big game killer too, it was pretty cool. i wish i had better pictures but my disposable camera was more of a POS than ever... i am glad i have the memories at least and i can at least share these with you.

Base camp; this was our 10ft and 16 ft wall tent hooked together, the 10ft had our home made shower and kitchen, the 16ft was our sleeping quarters, plenty big for 5 guys.










this was some of the back country










road into the back country



















the geese were flying by in droves










loaded sleds leaving spike camp, we had to use sticks and ropes to extend the back of the sleds to allow for the needed gear.










living quarters were a little cramped and cold at spike camp










dedication to the cause



















this was my final prize, i am really happy with him. I am a meat hunter at heart so the head gear is just a big bonus, but i am completely happy, he's 24 7/8 wide, 4x4 with eyegaurds.










my step dad was tickled pink seeing me get another buck



















this was the long drag up hill, the pic doesn't do it justice.










a few fresh wolf tracks...you can see how big it is next to the foot print of my size 11 Sorrell snow pack boot, they are huge










this is hard to see, but this is a big cougar track with a smaller cougar track inside of it, a young hunter learning the ropes from big momma, we would see these tracks all over on the roads a lot to, they would walk the road, cut a track and take off after it into the timber.


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

Great report and story, the photos have that "old school" feel to them. Nice work and nice buck!


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

Quite the adventure! A lot of effort went into getting one deer, I'll bet he's extra tasty. Mountains sure are pretty after a fresh snowfall, fun to see what animals have been up to. Sounds like a really great trip despite the low success rate!


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

This was a really cool post. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.


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## Winchester (Nov 1, 2010)

What a great story and post. Looks like a real adventure, and the pics were great!


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## TopofUtahArcher (Sep 9, 2009)

Thanks for sharing... I used to hunt cats in that area, but never got the chance to go deer or elk hunting there. Great story. Too bad your camera sucked... that's some pretty country and a nice hunting memory.


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## Bo0YaA (Sep 29, 2008)

Nice buck congrats.


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## duneman101 (Nov 6, 2009)

Thanks guys, it was a blast... to bad it isn't what it used to be, i feel bad for the 4 guys that were with me that had to eat an elk and deer tag each!


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