Hirshey's Idaho 2014 and 2015 hunt

[hirshey]

[hirshey]

[hirshey]

[Bob33]

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry for the loss of privacy that selfishness imparted on a portion of your time afield.

Your ability to weave interest into the details of the hunt is remarkable. We're truly blessed to be able to share in your experiences vicariously.

[hirshey]

So, now for a little more recent endeavor... 2015:

These past few seasons, I have introduced friends from very different geographic areas and backgrounds, so decided it would be amusing to provide little biographies of each person along with my “Don’t Die in Idaho” list I email each person… so here was the crew and part of the email that went with the 2015 hunt:

Hello Team Awesome!
 
The crew has been tentatively finalized for the season, Jeff and Tom as late but welcome additions. Jeff may or may not make it depending on his work schedule, but will be included in planning until further discussion.
 
A little about each of you, since only a couple of you are familiar with the others:
 
Storm is a mountain man from Oregon that builds world class log homes for a living, but spends his spare time enjoying the outdoors. An ace fisherman, fixed-wing pilot, an intermediate survivalist (he has eaten more plants than I'm sure most of you would dare), and a father of two awesome boys, he's the self-professed "old man" of the group. He plans on using this to make all you young bucks haul out his trophy, but trust me... he's more than capable! Don't let him fool you.
 
Jared also hails from Oregon. He spends his summers chasing fires across the landscape in charge of multiple fire resources, but usually operates as a crew boss/assistant on a hand crew. He comes from a ranching background and, is a little bit of a cowboy. You couldn't ask for a kinder and more knowledgeable hunting partner, and he's a mule with a heavy pack on. He makes his own knives... someday he said I'd be cool enough to receive one! He told me he'd arm wrestle me for Storm, but I'm going to have to come up with something I feel I have a better chance of winning.
 
Tom is a helicopter pilot in Montana. He grew up in Washington, has lived in Alaska and Idaho, and now calls Montana home full time. An adventurer at heart, he just got dive certified (Storm or Jeff; you looking for a dive/spear fishing pal?) and recently spent a good bit of time fishing and floating some beautiful water in Montana. He's harvested more beautiful trophies than me which makes me wildly jealous, and I might have to tag him out the first day like Jeff did last season.
 
Jeff is the only other veteran of this hunt... he harvested a really beautiful 4x5 with eyeguards on the first day and ended up being a professional pack mule by the end of the trip. He chases sea lions and seals across remote beaches ranging from Alaska to California and beyond for a living... perhaps sometime you'll have to ask him how the Galapagos Islands are! A semi-professional fisherman (he used to get paid to fish all day), avid hunter, and gear junkie, he's friendly enough to shake hands with a bear and knowledgeable enough to successfully stalk one and spank it on the behind.
 
AND... you all know me.
 
Attached is still our "Don't Die in Idaho" list with haves/needs. Let's start up the conversation on what people can bring, or would like to bring....

[hirshey]

So with the crew set for 2015, we all converged on our sleepy Idaho town the day before our trek into the wilds to confirm everyone had what they needed. (They did… turns out they always do ) So the next morning, we started the same routine as the year prior; get to base camp, set up base camp, hike to spike camp, and set up spike camp. The improvement on the previous season was a fire-grilled salmon dinner to fuel our adventures for the week compliments of Jeff.

The days started out with a skiff of snow down low and a few inches up high. Jared and I were hunting the same basin I had found my trophy in the year prior, but with less luck; we saw two small bucks at the head of the basin, a scattering of does on our hillside and across the valley, and very little rut activity just yet. Tom and Jeff had made a big day of heading up the ridgeline across the valley with the same result, and Storm started the trip off with a debilitating migraine. The next day, Storm was still trying to recover, Jared was still trying to get his mountain legs under him, and Tom was excited to have a slightly more relaxed day. With this knowledge, Jeff and I teamed up for a big day; we gained about 4,000 feet in elevation trekking just over 12 miles. We saw a few bucks of interest we never could catch up to, and the sun lost its interest on the day and set over the hill, leaving us back at camp well past dark. Luckily, we came back to camp with some good news; Jared had found a beautiful 4 point to bring back to camp. He very generously supplied us with some camp meat; fresh venison was on the fire that evening.

[h2ofowlr]

Thanks for sharing on your hunting adventure and successes!

[hirshey]

[JJB11B]

I CAN'T SEE PITCHERS! (spelled wrong on purpose)

[hirshey]

[hirshey]

I CAN'T SEE PITCHERS! (spelled wrong on purpose)

They are hosted on Facebook... I don't know why they aren't showing up for you.  I'm sorry...

[hirshey]

The next day, Jared and Storm hunted the sage country while Tom, Jeff and I went our separate ways. All three of us ended our day close to the 7-8,000 foot elevation high country, and had stories and photos to share back at camp, but still no notched tags for us, or Storm. We had seen some nice animals, but still weren’t finding quite what we were looking for. Even with all this snow, the bucks still weren’t pushing the does. We went to bed, both soggy and a little frigid and hoped for some increased activity the following day.
 Jeff and I hit the hillsides by headlamp the next day, and got back into the sweet holding ground high in elevation just in time for the big storm to hit. We ended up seeing a few notable deer, but as the storm strengthened overhead, visibility waned to a pitiful 30 yards. We had been having trouble with the handheld radios all morning, and while we both had agreed to meet at the saddle just below the highest peak before we split, both of us were unsure of timing and if we truly were going to catch each other anywhere other than back around the campfire later that evening. I pulled out my cow call and gave a few chirps, and surprisingly quickly, Jeff and I reunited. A few tumbles in the accumulating snow on steep hillsides had discouraged Jeff, and after a quick talk, we decided to lose some elevation and most likely head back to camp. The snow relinquished, but the freezing fog was rolling in waves across the hillside when we decided to sit down and scan the visible terrain for signs of life. Turns out there were plenty; within those first 15 minutes we were able to spot 5 legal bucks, all pushing different does across small gullies and fire-scarred hillsides. It was 3:30 PM, and we were just about to pick up and continue losing elevation when I found him; the king of the mountain! I pointed him out to Jeff… wide, heavy, and we didn’t even bother counting points… we knew we were interested, and if we were to have a chance, we had to leave right then. He was pushing a small group of does up the mountain, and we watched a few of the does bed down below a rock band on a knife ridge. To access this particular animal, we’d have to regain the saddle we had just come from, summit the peak, and navigate down a knife ridgeline to have an opportunity; the steep draw in between the buck and us was cliffed out… this was our only option.
Both feeling pretty worn, we made impressive time back up the slippery slope and to the top of the peak. Once we gained all the elevation required of us for this endeavor, we both used a bore snake to assure our barrels and actions were clear; more than a few slips might have occurred. We paused for this and a little water before feeling the pressure to press on; daylight was our greatest opponent on the day. We each took a side of the ridgeline and slowly progressed down the slope. Unfortunately for Jeff, his side had a few rogue does roughly 50 yards before we would have had the opportunity to see the group of animals (six beds were precisely where we had seen them last) and they blew out and took the group with them. Our hearts sank, but we decided to split up and work the country with the fleeting light… as I stalked through the snow looking down the slope, movement much closer to me than I expected occurred, and a mountain of snow arose to reveal a bull elk; as he stood, the snow fell off his antlers, and secondarily he shook, standing broadside at less than 20 yards leaving me simultaneously in awe and feeling foolish I had not seen him. He turned, and silently made his exit.
Jeff and I hiked yet again by headlamp back to camp, hoping Tom or Storm had tagged out. Storm did not disappoint; he had taken a buck in the waning and waxing fog, and while he was happy with his shot placement, chuckled and confessed the deer’s antlers had shrunk as he walked closer to his prize. It was still a beautiful deer, and we yet again enjoyed deer heart as we sat around a soggy campfire sharing stories of the day.

[Boss .300 winmag]

I CAN'T SEE PITCHERS! (spelled wrong on purpose)

They are hosted on Facebook... I don't know why they aren't showing up for you.  I'm sorry...

Don't worry about him, he can't even find the Google button on his computing device. 

[JJB11B]

I CAN'T SEE PITCHERS! (spelled wrong on purpose)

They are hosted on Facebook... I don't know why they aren't showing up for you.  I'm sorry...

THat would be why, I am on a Govt. Computer with a fire wall....

[hirshey]