Stop 2 WA/ ID with Heros Harvest mentor hunt-
back at it last week.
Was invited to mentor at a Heros Harvest Veteran hunt 3 days in Idaho, thought i would go early and pin some new birds and try to pickup one of my ID birds in this adventure. Had not hunted spokane/ CDA areas at all to date so i welcomed walking the new ground. I drove over north of Spokane Sunday afternoon, found a spot to stop and roosted a few in a new area that eve, out Monday but birds didnt cooperate off roost, once the toms started traveling, i picked up last spring bird in WA around 1pm on my 3rd setup, first 2 i was unable to get a productive setup, from no cover to low ground both sets were really terrible, birds had me pegged before i ever had eyes on them. Packed up and moved over to ID, east of CDA, again new grounds to find birds. Had 2 days to locate some birds, hopefully for me and a veteran i would be taking out for his first bird. Day was not great, a bit windy, weather came in, some rain held the birds back i think. i managed to locate 6-8 birds in a 10 mile mountain walk though. Came back to work one of the birds a bit further in for myself Tuesday early, again nothing off roost but hung in the area found day before and about 9am struck him in a very open area mountain side. i worked myself around using side hill and trees to get up on his level silently, while still in treeline, i found what i thought was a great setup spot so i announced my location, he immediately replied, still where i located him. i could see him about 300 yds off in the hillside grassy area, he immediately started to close on me. there was a small bowl between us that he remained in while we negotiated for about 45 minutes until his frustration overcame and he couldnt stay away. Camp was wonderful, a local resident had offered his property to set a basecamp for the veteran group. we had 6 hunters and in the 3 days, they harvested 7 birds with one getting a pair. All public, was a great time~! i dont normally use a decoy but for this event i did drag one around, for my vet, it helped on distracting the bird and imo made the difference for that setup. He took a beautiful RIO with a 11+" beard
