Scouting in the AM...

[Moosie]

Via Plane. Heading to the skys to look over my partners Owyhee Oregon hunting Unit. I don't have the tag but said I'd be willing to split the air fair jsut to go look over the country. He came with me on my Sheep scouting expo a couple years back.

I'm excited !!!

 

[tufferthandug]

How unethical, LOL.

Good Luck

 

[Dangerous Dave]

No fair chucking bolos and trip nets out of the plane at wildlife! LOL!!! Maybe I can drive up there and lash a couple of trophy critters to a fence for you... kidding, just kidding.
Besides the layout of the land, what ya looking for Moosie, sheep, deer, elk? Have a good flight.

 

[Moosie]

DD, We were mostly looknig over the country, but Deer were our objective.

Day went great. After hitting the sack at 1AM (That means going to bed to you perverts), we met at the airport with Shawn Overall (Our Pilot) and Dave Perry a good friend that hook us up with the pilot. The airplane was prepped already and we pulled it out of the hanger :

Hitting the Runway :

To make it a buisness trip I had to do some recon on some subdivision design and locations !! Just kidding, But I do like seeing projects from the air instead of just on paper :

As always, the hunting gods welcomed us with the bright and sunny morning. Not to hot, not to windy, and clear skys :

Alot of the areas we looked over was treeless. But that doesn't mean deer aren't around. But when we came to this location Warren and me both looked at each other and knew it would hold some critters !!!!

After a little flying we saw Alot of game actually ... Like wild horses :

 

[Moosie]

It is truely hard to see deer from an airplane that has a hard time slowing down less then 85 MPH and 1000 feet in the air but we were able to see them. I spotted what looked like deer but when we circled it was actualyl big horns. We weren't close enough and I wasn't ready with the camera so no pictures unfortunately. But it's cool non the less !!

surprisingly to me, we saw some elk too:

Here are 3 bucks we saw in a group I was able to take some pics of :

It was awesome to actually see deer on this trip. I was jsut expecting to see some country for Warren but the animals were just a bonus !!!! HAving good friends along on the trip was fun too. Now my buddy Dave, is a New PAPA and doesn't get much sleep. And although he is a Great trooper, When we were heading back he was dozing off a little, matter of fact, I tried calling his office a little while ago and they said he is sleeping in his Office. I'm not sure if it's true or not... but.... :

We swung byt he house on the way back and I got to get an Aerial of my place !!!!

All in all it wa swell worth the coins it took to go on a trip like this. It's what makes Memories. Thank you Warren for drawing the Oregon tag to make us go on the flight, and big Thanx to Dave for hooking us up with Shawn to fly us. Great times !!!

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Great pictorial and running documentory of your trip, Moosie. Great looking country. It's always worth it when you see critters.
PS, when I'm old and decrepid (not that I'm not that way already), can I move into your backyard building?

 

[elk_hntr]

Great pics. Good luck this year.

 

[Moosie]

D.D., I'm actually looking to move from my place and build a new place, But I did think about building a "MOMS QUARTERS" in the new place. The shop I have now is only 40'x15' and not insulated yet so it's not much of a living quarter

Funny thing is I don't own a Dodge yet it's parked at my house.... Seems out old POOL GUY had a dodge..... WHAT WHAT >!>!>!>!>!>!>! !!!

 

[Canoe]

Cool pictures Oscar. I am impressed to see the shop looking completed (at least from the outside it does). I guess it has been a while since the last time I was at your place, but then it needed siding and a roof. I am glad to see that the CPM didn't resemble the stone post fence project's timeline!

 

[noharleyyet]

Very cool posts Moosie...thanks.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Very nice pics Moosie. Hopefully that buck you guys took pics of was on public land. Lots of private around that unit.

 

[IDHunters]

Yeah, what Idaho Bugler said. Looked alot like a certain mountain in the area that is public at the bottom and all private at the top, you know, where the cover and the critters live!

I had a hard time finding a good buck in that unit, didn't see any as big as the one in the pic-good job and good luck to your friend.

I did stop at some ranchers place because my battery on the truck died and I had rode almost 2 hours on the 4 wheeler getting out of the desert to the first house. He was a good guy and ended up letting me hunt his private land and camp in his yard. So it might pay to stop and ask for permission-you never know.

 

[Moosie]

IDHunters, did you hunt the Oregon side ? YAh, It's private at the bottom and Public at the top Most places are like that for hundreds of miles. All the area that is green is private, Everything brown is public. Guess were the bucks are ....

Bugler, I'll show you on the map were we went. We covered alot of area, 2 hours in the plane covers alot of area We flew over the area you got your buck. From the plane, it looks like there should be no living animal within 100 miles of it

 

[elk_hunter]

Was that a Cessna 172?

Excellent pics...nice animals indeed!

 

[Moosie]

172 ? Uhhh it was a plane with a turny thing in the front I think they call a prop, and some wings and stuff... So... Maybe it was ??!

 

[IDHunters]

Moosie-I drew the Owhyee Oregon tag a few years back. I scouted the mountain in question and down to the resevoir. I ended up on the west side of the river, upstream from the resevoir. I didn't kill anything as I didn't see any bucks bigger than small 4 pts, and I saw them the day before season. My scouting was a bust so the hunting was done after "map scouting". I planned to go back as I only got to hunt 3 days but work got in the way. I was disappointed with the unit. I accessed my area by going through "Rome" and heading north. Theres deer there but I think the trophy potential is weak, unless you get on the private stuff. Lots of chukars however.

By the way, the mountain I was referring to is on the east side of the resevoir, is completely surrounded by dry scrub public land, and when you get to the "mahogany covered top" guess what, the entire TOP is private, fenced, posted and padlocked.

 

[GatoMan]

Yeah does look alot like the succor creek/leslie gulch, mahogany mnt area and those "wild" horses may not even be wild, as McKenzies run some brood mares out in that area.

 

[Moosie]

GAto, Do you know any of the local ranchers ? Fess up man, get us some Access !!!

 

[GatoMan]

Yeah I do know several of them out that way, but would'nt be able to just get you on, last several yrs they have either had an outfitter down there with everything tied up or they have done it themselfs.

 

[Moosie]

Bastages...... I looked into a Landowner tag and amost picked one up. Seems like alot of good bucks on the lower country in the Green private land. I know 2 or 3 people that drew that unit that said the hunting sucked !! Yet, everyone still puts in for it, I'm guessing they hear the storys about the bucks that are coming off the River

That being said, I'm still putting in that unit. Me gunna find a good buck when I draw