Idaho Plans a Bust......Update with Success Story

[fishngamereaper]

American made.

[fishngamereaper]

We spent all day in the area, driving, hiking, glassing. The deer where there, we just couldn't find them. Ended up sliding my truck into a 3' deep ditch by a rock edged culvert. Amazingly she crawled right out....   Funny when there is 12-18" of snow its kind of hard to see those things.

Tails between our legs we grab up the other truck and head back to our camp. Funny how many deer you see driving back to camp along the hwy's and through the small towns....damn deer. We also saw some elk and as always tons of turkeys.

End of day 2....More snow, no deer, warm fire and whiskey.

[fishngamereaper]

Day 3 rolls around. Couple of the guys are now in its brown its down mode.. Im still confident we will find the deer.

We head into a new spot, again with both trucks. My buddies head in on a low road and my bro and I take the next road which goes higher and farther in. This country has some more clear cuts in it and showed lots of promise. We cut moose tracks immediately and the deer tracks are abundant.

My bro and I decided to drive the whole road to get a feel for the area. A while later we get a text "Doe Down". One of my buddies had taken a meat doe that was bedded off the road in the timber.  Good job, the stink is off, one down, three to go.

After getting a lay of the land we pile out of my truck and set off on foot. Its amazing how many deer tracks you see when you get just a little ways away from the road.

[jackelope]

American made.

Looks familiar.

[fishngamereaper]

Lonely truck, good view.

[fishngamereaper]

American made.

Looks familiar.

Should

[fishngamereaper]

We worked away from the truck for a few miles, cutting fresh tracks, but not seeing deer. Obviously the snow had them moving. Maybe we where moving to much

My bro continues on, with the plan to hit a timber edge and head down to the road. I double back to get the truck and meet up later.

Hiking back to the truck I see my buddies way in the distance perched on an old landing overlooking a good area in the truck. Damn them, warm truck, good view...

A few minutes later I hear a couple shots.....Damn them.,,,I wait for the deer down text but get...I missed text instead...   Oops...my other buddy missed one of two doe's that where feeding out of the timber in front of them. He guessed well short of what the actual range was..oh well it happens.

I get to the truck and make my way to the top of the timber where the doe was at. I check for sign crossing the road and nothing. She is hunkered down in the thick. I start glassing and pick out a doe in the timber heading back down to them. They are on foot double checking for blood so I tell them to stay put. We work the doe for a while and she gets right down in their lap but it wasn't meant to be. Before long she was running 20mph through the timber and may be still running now.

The day is short now so I go grab up my bro who is a little colder than he should be because Im an hour late..

I bust out the phone and look at google maps. I see a spot that gives me that I need to go there feeling.

We drive back up the road just 5 minutes and we are out of the truck on an old spur road that goes back to a clear cut. Fresh new snow, no signs of human use....we are good.

We set out on foot, two hours of light left. We cut fresh deer tracks, two young bucks and a doe. We follow them to the cuts edge and they mix with other tracks, Its definitely a deer'y' area. I post my bro on the corner of the timber looking into the mixed vegetation cut.  I decided to cut uphill following the tracks and get higher in the cut. We plan to meet back up in an hour. 

I make my way up through the deep snow, cutting more and more tracks. I find beds with no tracks leading in, but tracks leading out of. It feels right but I just cant find the deer.

I get to a point where the view is good and the steepness hinders my trudging ability so I side hill. I go about 10 minutes and get to a spot that overlooks a good area. I wait, watch and listen. The snow is falling steady and the wind is in may face. Perfect set up. I wait longer, knowing I need to turn around to meet my bro. The clear cut is silent, the only kind of silent you can get with a heavy snow storm.

Im getting ready to double back but something tells me go forward. At this point I was more or less getting an overview of the cut for the am hunt. I need to double back I tell myself, but my gut says go forward 50 ft to that little tree.....

I decide to follow my gut, its worked before.

[fishngamereaper]

Off to the store I need mixer pork so I can start grinding burger today.

Be back later..

[7mmfan]

    

[Rainier10]

I can go ahead and ban him for 3 days.  That will give him some time to get the processing done.  He can finish the story when he gets back from the ban. 

[WapitiTalk1]

Boooooooo, Hisssssssssss.  Ref throws a flag for delay of game .  Really enjoying the tale of the tape on your hunt Reaper. 

[Rainier10]

It is a great story and he did at least give us the pic right out the gates.  We know that it ends with a big buck.  I'm gonna have to give him a pass and just patiently wait for the rest of the story.

[7mmfan]

It is a great story and he did at least give us the pic right out the gates.  We know that it ends with a big buck.  I'm gonna have to give him a pass and just patiently wait for the rest of the story.

Pushover...

[steeleywhopper]

It is a great story and he did at least give us the pic right out the gates.  We know that it ends with a big buck.  I'm gonna have to give him a pass and just patiently wait for the rest of the story.

Probably a road kill buck that he posed with.

[jackelope]

It is a great story and he did at least give us the pic right out the gates.  We know that it ends with a big buck.  I'm gonna have to give him a pass and just patiently wait for the rest of the story.

I can tell you that he at least put some effort in getting that truck to where it was in the snow picture, and I can verify the beauty of that pit toilet. His buck is well deserved, even if it is a road kill deer.