Desert Kayak Trip - Lucked into some Browns

[welch01]

My buddy and I kayaked a desert creek here in Idaho that doesn't run very often or for very long. It was a pretty fun, rocky, willow-choked, class IV run that mellowed out nicely at the end. After we finished the most technical stretch we stopped for a sandwich and a beer. I couldn't help myself and started walking/scanning for sheds. Took less than 10 minutes to find this nice 6 pt. shed. Searched for a while and couldn't find the other side, but did find this small 4 pt. buck shed. Didn't have the buck shed secured tight enough and lost it on the paddle out.

The last picture is a short wall of stacked rocks on the same hillside I found the elk antler. Our best guess is that it is a Native American hunting blind. It is somewhat similar to known Native American blinds I have seen on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. It seemed like a good spot to setup - seems like animals would be side-hilling to/from the creek. It was pretty much straight and on a decent incline. If anyone with more knowledge on this subject has any insight, please share.

 

[hornart]

cool stuff, too bad you lost the deer shed, thats a good one

 

[jeremys4]

I shot my most recent antelope out of a rock blind similar to that one. Pretty sure Indians used the same spot to hunt. Lots of chippings.

 

[Sytes]

Wow! That looks like a fantastic time! Great pics and story.

 

[LopeHunter]

Any chance the rocks laying on the ground could be stacked to create additional walls for a corral to hold animals? I can't tell from the picture if the rocks are naturally laying on that hill and some were gathered to create the wall for a blind or if someone intentionally destroyed a corral so could not be used anymore.

I was hunting in NE NM on a pronghorn hunt and on a treeless mesa there was a 2 foot stack of rocks in a horseshoe configuration large enough for perhaps two people to lay prone behind. Pronghorn would feed back and forth on the mesa yet difficult to stalk since no ravines, hills or trees. I wondered if was a modern blind or had been there for much longer. I used that blind the second evening of the hunt. Had to rearrange some of the rocks that were knocked over. I think elk in the winter use that mesa so in the deep snow would walk over the rocks and step on them through the snow. Still worked.