Alright guys here's the stories and pictures...
My brother in law and a friend and I arrived in Idaho on the 10th and set up camp. Throughout the next 8 days we hunted hard and logged a TON of miles. One thing I will say for idaho, I have never seen so many road hunters in my life, and I have never seen so much lack of hunter orange in my life either! We probably averaged 3-6 miles a day on foot and only saw 1 other boot print! I missed a buck at 250 yards down hill on the run the 2nd morning which was pretty disappointing. We tracked him for 300 yards and he definitely wasn't hit. Also, our buddy who was hunting for the first time EVER passed on a nice two point the first morning. So we had our chances at bucks, but nothing came together.
One evening we decided on evening to split up for the evening hunt...
I hiked into a canyon that we'd seen deer in before and busted a buck out of a thicket at 60 yards but never saw him. Tracked him through a brush thicket for 300 yards or so never being more than 100 yards from him but never saw him. The tracks were BIG and he was leaving hair tuffs on overhanging branches and such! It was a rush!
I finally lose the buck and then run into the biggest bull elk I've ever seen at 60 yards! Got a good luck at him but he wasn't having not of it so he busted out of there as well. I took my position on a rock ledge and spotted 3 does 200 yards away feeding. Pretty soon they spotted something in the thicket between them and me and got the heck outta there! My first thought was maybe another deer or something was down there as I heard something moving in the brush below. 5 minutes later I hear some brush crash below me to the right and I see a patch of tan through the brush! I throw up my binos and there's this cougar 80 yards below me on a rock ledge looking at a grouse in a small pine tree. I slowly raise my rifle and flip the safety off and BOOM! Rolled him right off the rock! 5 seconds later I see him running away at 150 yards but hit hard. Then to my surprise another cougar starts trotting after him! I'm guessing it was his mate as he's to big imho to still be running with a sibling. I see him start to cash right on a ridge and the 2nd cougar is still standing right by him. It's getting close to dark so I fire a shot into the tree above her to scare her off so I can go find my cat. (maybe not the best solution, but I sure as heck wasn't going in there with her standing over her dead bf!) I found him dead and threw him in some buckbrush and headed for the road. I sure booked it out of there fast! Came back the next morning with my brother and Marcus and found where the other cat had come back and bedded down next to him for the night. Most likely spooked her when we came back. Skinned him and took out the meat and that was that! It was funny because the day before I shot him, we'd seen cougar tracks 10 miles away on a ridge that were pretty fresh.
Some other pics of Idaho:
The killer hole my brother stepped in getting out of the truck!
We also made a trip to Cabelas in Boise! Awesome store!
Got home on thursday the 18th and friday the 19th we set off for Colorado. Rolled into our hotel area at 4.30 AM on the 20th and got some sleep then headed out for the evening hunt. I passed on probably 15 different bucks looking for a nice 4 point but it just wasn't meant to be. My Brother and I agreed that if I hadn't tagged out by friday then I would shoot the first decent buck I saw. The first evening it hailed, then snowed, and snowed some more. The next morning it was still gusting 35 mph and there was up to 18" of snow in some spots. Didn't see a whole lot of deer until the storm passed but we're having a great time! The roads turned aweful and we had to chain up all 4 tires of the jeep to get anywhere! The 3rd morning we passed on another big two point and then busted out a NICE 4 point at 250 yards but only had a 30 yard window and on the run it wasn't a smart shot so I passed. That same buck was taken the next day and turned out to be 26" wide with 3" browtines and good mass. A solid 170 buck that I was kicken myself over for awhile.
We were heading back one evening and came around the corner to find this:
He was blocking the only road in/out and we were stuck. So we tried getting him out and I ended spotting some deer up the hill with no shooters. Another couple guys showed up so I took one of them up the hill and let him use my gun to drop this buck at 500 yards... He wasn't sure of his gun and no bipod and didn't like the idea of an offhand shot at that distance... So it turned out to be quite the night! Sat around with 12 other hunters that were blocked in aswell drinking coffee and telling stories and we even got a buck!
Friday rolls around and we hit up a canyon where we'd seen 4 different bucks and spotted my buck right at light. Two shots later and we had a good blood trail. He still managed to go about 200 yards where he bedded down in a small stream bed and I put him down with a final shot...
Beautiful drive back through Utah!
It was an absolutely awesome time being able to fill two tags in two different states and a great memory!
Thanks for all the comments guys!
Michael
