Leaving in a few minutes

[csutton7]

We are leaving in a few minutes for our annual Idaho mtn hike--yes we bring the rifles, but just to work out the arms---well maybe this year we knock something in the dirt--probably our faces when we trip and fall with our 500 lb packs while hiking 100 miles in to the camp site----cya in 10-12 days..........chris

 

[Ridge Runner]

Good luck Chris.. Drive safe and shoot straight. Looking forward to the pictures and story. I'll be stomping around the Truckee area next weekend so hope to stumble on something if anything is left out there in Cali.

 

[MarvB]

Good luck Chris....don't shoot anything smaller than that Cali buck

 

[Kyhunter42]

Good Luck.

 

[BigHornRam]

"Good luck Chris....don't shoot anything smaller than that Cali buck"

Yeah Chris, save those for Moosie. Good luck on your hunt!

 

[csutton7]

Well we are back. first off thanks for the well wishes, but again we come home skunked.

First day out I saw 3 elk, one of which was a cow bedded quite a ways off and two others right at dark thirty, closer to our tent.......so next day looks good

2nd day we hike up the mtn to where I had seen the two elk and we get socked in...rain, clouds, snow, sleet coming and going and right at prime hunting time the clouds drop in and stay and you cannot see a thing, so we bail off ....we get back to camp soaking wet

3rd day we have to dry our clothes, so we build a fire and do so all day....at 4ish I start checking the mtn side where were yesterday and I see an elk and then another and more until it gets to dark to see with the spotting scope...there was a rag horn, a 5x and a small 6x6)300ish maybe, that I saw along wíth cows and calves and who knows what I did not see....anyway a plan is made to go up there tomorrow again and hope they come back thru

day 4 we head up and of course while going up a hunter is going across the mtn below us though a clearing we had just gone straight up thru, but he says he is going straight thru across...I think ok he should be well below where the elk and we will be in position if he does spook them, so on we trudge....one guy we leave guarding the clearing and us other 3 continue straight up to where we need to be and of course when we get there another hunter comes walking along the ridge....geesh I had not seen another hunter on this side of the mtn the first 3 days and not two in less than an hour,,,,,,I talked to him, he was from Cascade, I think and he said he had spooked 3 cows, but they had run down and not up, so I am thinking ok we still have a chance, as it is hours before I expect elk to show, so we hunker down and wait......but they do not show.....one of the guys in my group said he saw 2 other hunters later in the area and I think the elk got spooked and left for better places....

day 5 we have to pack up as one guy has to get back, which he forgot to mention, so we pack up and leave......chris

 

[wilecoyote76]

Chris, when are you going to give up on Idaho? Too bad things didn't pan out for you and the gang. Of course, there's always next year!

 

[csutton7]

wiley---I'm a slow learner!!!------ we put in for Montana, but we didn't get drawn, so Idaho it was---we had a good time, just to many hunters in this canyon where there's no marked trails, but the locals knew there was one trail in(we didn't until we got there)--anyway if we could've stayed a little longer we would've gone in further, but since we had elk within a mile we didn't see the reason too, but that's hunting----at least this year we saw game we could shoot, but we just got dealt the wrong cards when it came time to close the deal-that's hunting----chris