Salmon, Idaho

[ihuntelk]

I didn't want to hi-jack the welcome thread from Fj40Mojo that just signed on so I'll start a new one. Seems like there are lots of folks on here with some ties to the Salmon country or the Frank Church. It brought back lots of good memories so I thought I'd ask those that have been blessed (or cursed) by being in that country to post a few pics/memories!

One of our first trips to Salmon we packed in on our backpacks to hunt spring bear. Dad was traveling around the country for work and was scrambling to get home and asked us 3 boys to pack his backpack. Man was he hot mad when he got to our campspot (3000 vertical feet and almost 4 miles from base) and discovered he had 2 cast-iron fry pans in his pack. He asked us to also pack the video camera for him. I think he's finally calmed down (20+ years later) after he unloaded the rest of his pack and found the video camera all safe and sound (inside the Pelican case ). We even packed all the cables and cords you could ever need to watch the video. I think the battery charger with 2 dead batteries was just the icing on the cake! :W:

We did kill a good bear on that trip. My brothers spending the night on a cliff in the bottom of the Middle Fork of the Salmon is a story for another day.............


I killed my first handful of bulls over there as well.




I hope this is the only hunting pic ever taken of me and a wheeler...........


Caught a few steelies


Killed a few more bears



Everyone should get the opportunity to pack a critter out on their back from that country.




Finally we wised up and my brother got a couple horses and mules. We'd still hike in, but atleast they'd do most the work and we didn't have to carry the cast-iron on our backs anymore!


I've got quite a few more pics of packing in and floating the river that I'll try and dig up. Hopefully everyone who's been there will join in!

-Cade
www.HuntForeverWest.com

 

[Steelhead]

Great pics!! Love that country.

 

[El Jason]

A buddy and I had an epic horse wreck on the Stoddard Creek trail one year. It was the day before the early rifle hunt opened up. I had an Arabian mare that my father in law had given to us. I was using her as a pack horse.

About 3/4 of the way up the face she decided she was going to go in reverse. She got one of the other horses off balance, and got some momentum going her way so the pigtails didn't break. She and three other animals went off the switchback and down the hill.

Anyone that's been up that trail knows how difficult it is to get animals off to the side so other strings can go by. We had the trail tied up for about an hour and half whilst we gathered up our scattered belongings and got things put back together. We ended up going back down the trailhead and reverting to plan B, which the Arab mare was in no way, shape or form a partipant of! We spent the afternoon doctoring animals and repairing gear and went into the Bighorn Crags the next day.

 

[idnative1948]

A buddy and I had an epic horse wreck on the Stoddard Creek trail one year. It was the day before the early rifle hunt opened up. I had an Arabian mare that my father in law had given to us. I was using her as a pack horse.

About 3/4 of the way up the face she decided she was going to go in reverse. She got one of the other horses off balance, and got some momentum going her way so the pigtails didn't break. She and three other animals went off the switchback and down the hill.

Anyone that's been up that trail knows how difficult it is to get animals off to the side so other strings can go by. We had the trail tied up for about an hour and half whilst we gathered up our scattered belongings and got things put back together. We ended up going back down the trailhead and reverting to plan B, which the Arab mare was in no way, shape or form a partipant of! We spent the afternoon doctoring animals and repairing gear and went into the Bighorn Crags the next day.

Still have dad's lantern and stove which have both been in those kind of wrecks.

 

[Lawnboy]

Unfortunately we didn't take many picts. back when I was a kid. I love those mountains in that country and having a dad who was fisheries biologist for the FS made it so we spent lots of time in the mountains.

This hunt took place in area we hunted a bunch as a kid. This was after I was married and my dad drew a tag in this unit. One of the prettiest looking elk spots I've been.

 

[Elkmagnet]

That country made a man out of me, an old man...

 

[noharleyyet]

That country made a man out of me, an old man...

...haha, signature worthy quote right there.

 

[Fj40mojo]

Unfortunately we didn't take many picts. back when I was a kid. I love those mountains in that country and having a dad who was fisheries biologist for the FS made it so we spent lots of time in the mountains.

This hunt took place in area we hunted a bunch as a kid. This was after I was married and my dad drew a tag in this unit. One of the prettiest looking elk spots I've been.


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That pic of your dad sure looks familiar. My dad was the TMA on the North Fork for years. Retired from there in '93 I think. We used to do a lot of hunting in Hughes Cr., Hull Cr., Beartrap Ridge, Sheep Cr., Silverleads, Donally Gulch, Spring Cr.

I'm pretty sure if you could pull all the wrinkles out of Lemhi County it would be bigger than North Dakota.

Looks like Ajax in the background of that first pic.

 

[DavidKeenan]

I like the picture of the bridge crossing. Load limit and of course, 49rs.........

LB You didn't have any idea in your pictures, that you would be auditioning.

 

[Lawnboy]

Looks like Ajax in the background of that first pic.

Up Hayden Cr.

 

[huntRme]

Last year at about this time I found myself (still) unemployed and no prospects in the local area, so told the wife I could expand my prospects if she was willing to let me go somewhere else for work. She said OK so I went about applying for jobs listed on USA Jobs. I am a veteran, have a BS in Wildlife Mgt. from Oregon State, and spent 34 years as a civilian govt. employee (USPS), all of which I thought might help. I started applying for everything I thought I had a chance at in the USFS and BLM. The second call I got was from Jen at the North Fork Ranger Dist. I got a lot of calls, but in the end hers was the best offer. I had to look on the map to find out where North Fork was. There was little info on the internet about North Fork. All my friends said that I was in for "a real adventure."

The first thing I got ready for the adventure was my fly rod. In the end it got little use as I found most fishing in the summertime required a road trip or long hike into the wilderness. Many local anglers told me I needed to go to Montana. Hmmm. I did manage to catch a few local west slope cutthroats, but most was catch and release, and when I was able to keep a few for the table I found them inferior to the coastal cutthroats I grew up on in Oregon. But, they were fun, and I enjoyed them.

I spent the summer taking care of tourist/camper/hunter/fisher comforts from just east of Corn Creek to 4th of July Cr. and up to Twin Cr.. Mid-summer Ian was hired to help me out and he and I had a good time goofing off and listening to The Ventures on the CD player in the truck as we drove between jobs. Then it happened. I was hiking out of Allan Lake on the last Saturday afternoon of July when a big storm built up just south of me. I couldn't see anything because the clouds were so thick and the trees so tall, but I could hear the constant thunder and knew this was a big one. So I spent the rest of the summer trying to get to my work projects while dodging the Mustang Complex Wildfire. When the fire got close to Hwy 93 I was evacuated from my quarters at Hughes Cr. Field Station and sent to live in Salmon. I got to live with Bob who, at the age of 60, became the first person to ever hike from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay. He was just one of the many people I was fortunate to get to meet/know during the summer. I enjoyed The wildlife (deer, elk, bighorns, bears, blue grouse, chukars, song birds), but was surprised in the low numbers of mule deer and elk in the area. I spent my Saturdays hiking up mountains to stay in shape...it has made me a younger man.

I've been promised the job is mine as long as I want it, so I'm expecting to be back next summer to pick mushrooms and hunt some birds.

The Stoddard Bridge has been rebuilt for all you guys who can't wait to go up that hill one more time.

 

[theat]

I floated the main salmon in august of 2011. That is some beautiful country to look at, but man it is rough to get around in!

 

[El Jason]

Great photos! I'd love to float the Salmon.

idNative: It took me a couple of hours with rivets, hammer, and anvil to make my wood stove functional again after that wreck. Some of my gear still bears scars from the Stoddard trail!

As I was scouring a hillside looking for a pack that rolled down into the brush I almost stepped on a rattlesnake and nearly shat myself when he buzzed.

 

[Fj40mojo]

Beautiful pics. I'll be applying for a permit in the next couple weeks.

 

[T Bone]

Been lucky enough to draw two sheep tags and a goat tag in the Bighorn Crags. Lively times.

Helped a buddy or two with sheep tags in there as well.

Hoping my oldest son will pull a tag in there before the knees get too creeky.

1st sheep hunt -

Billy- Poor picture, but it was the best I could do by myself in the avalanche chute.

I've some dead sheep photos somewhere, but I can't locate them at the moment.