Hirshey's Idaho Hunt 2017

[hirshey]

Working through a fold in the terrain, we spotted a buck bedded below us. It was a better buck than most we had found this year, and initially it took a while to talk Jeff off of the trigger, but we continued around the hillside towards a deep, steep drainage.

[hirshey]

It appeared for a brief period of time that the first few days' lessons of the hunt had not quite sunk in for my pair of hunting partners... their initial instinct was to conquer the head of the drainage, which had significant snow and very little to no tracks. There were a handful of animals at the snow line, but they were ones I was certain we had pushed from lower terrain earlier in our trek. After a few moments toying with the notion, we all agreed to slowly pick apart the deep drainage as we traversed towards the valley it fed. We were not too far into our descent when a rocky terrain feature forced us to skirt its lower edge. As we picked our way around it and through the thick buck brush, a small gap in the vegetation caused me to pause as I looked downhill. I squatted. "BUCK". I mouthed.

[hirshey]

Derrick froze as Jeff bumped over into position so he could see. The buck was bedded 125 yards below us on the steep ground. It had us pegged, but must have had confidence in the fact that the detection was not mutual. The buck appeared to be at/outside its ears, and heavier than most anything we had found this trip. All I could say for certain was that it had at least 3 points on each side. As Jeff set up, I reminded him that if he didn't like it, we could continue down the hill. We had plenty of days left to explore. He acknowledged, and ultimately decided that this buck got him excited, and he would be elated to take it home with him. He switched the safety off as Derrick and I stayed trained on the buck with our binoculars. The blast made my ears ring. "Darn it! I need to take better care of my hearing!" I thought, as I shouted "YEAH! Great shot!" in excitement. The buck never stood out of his bed. It did, much to our dismay in its last moments, roll off of the rock cliff behind it and out of sight. Our excitement yielded to fret for a few minutes while we navigated the steep terrain in pursuit of the temporarily lost buck. We recovered him almost at the bottom of the slope, but in an excellent position for processing. We gave our prey a moment of respect and admiration before starting to break it down before nightfall fully engulfed us.

[hirshey]

Jeff's buck

[hirshey]

The logical option for us was down the drainage and down the valley back to base camp. On frozen, steep ground that is easier said than done, but we managed to make it there before too long, and celebrated with beverages and other hot meal. What were we to do with ourselves for the remainder of the hunt now that Jeff tagged out?? Well, there were still those wolf tags...    We decided to spend the morning fetching spike camp, and then spending the next few days trying to locate some wolves and exploring new spike camp options for next year.

[hirshey]

Taking down spike camp went smoothly, and we explored a few areas of interest with the remainder of the day's light. We had great intentions of exploring some promising terrain the last full day, so we went to bed early to ensure we had the energy for the daunting task at hand.

The coyote's song beat the first rays of light, and we listened to them while stoking the fire and making the morning coffee. When the noises persisted, I finally started to pay them mind: those were challenge barks, or something similar. I told my companions that I thought those critters might have something they were fighting for/over. Either way, Jeff wanted to see if we could put a stalk on them, so he and I took off while Derrick prepared lunch for the day. As we closed in on the noise, we finally pinpointed two coyotes skylined on an opposing ridge. They were looking down into a small fold in the hillside, still chiding and challenge barking. Jeff took some photos, and I communicated that we really needed to keep an eye on that small drainage; those animals weren't making noise just to make noise. They disappeared over the hillside, and as I moved up in elevation to match Jeff, he exclaimed that he saw something: wolves! As I sat to confirm, he corrected himself... the coyotes had simply come to the top of the draw, and they looked a lot bigger momentarily. From this angle, however, I finally spotted what had caught the attention of the coyotes: a deer carcass at the base of a few trees. As I continued to examine the scene, it finally became clear what we were looking at. "Jeff!!!" I grinned. "COUGAR!"

[hirshey]

I talked Jeff in to the scene I was witnessing, and he grabbed his camera. We snapped a few photos, but now the wheels were turning.

As far as available tags, a cougar was pretty much the only thing we didn't have. We started InReaching folks to try to amend this issue. Within a couple hours, we had a confirmed tag, and a method to get it to us... it was going to be a few hours until we had it in our hot little hands. We decided to scale the hill anyways, just to see if we could get some closer photos before setting up on the kill later that evening.

[hirshey]

We probably got a little too excited trying to get better quality photos of the cat, and didn't set ourselves up well for the opportunity to hunt it later that day. We waited out the evening light with little to report. The next morning, the only creature that could consider that deer a meal were the scavengers: whether the coyotes, cougar, or wolves got a hold of it, it was gone, along with our chances of trying to get on that cat.

Overall, we saw elk, deer, bighorn sheep, cougars, Jeff got to see wolves... it was yet another soul-filling adventure. Maybe next year we will come in strong with all members of Team Awesome, as well as the necessary tags to be able to immediately put action on some of the more rare opportunities. So grateful for my tribe!

[hirshey]

((additional photos))

[Twispriver]

Great Story as always - thanks

[hirshey]

A few more

[Skillet]

Always enjoy the hunt stories Hirshey, thanks for sharing

[Wanttohuntmore]

Thanks for sharing, keep it up!   You have a writer's gift!

[Caseyd]

Like always an amazing read and adventure 

[Widgeondeke]

Enjoyed every word.
The only reading I've enjoyed lately.
Thank you @Hirshey