I tagged out on my biggest muley yesterday morning after spending 4 days in the high country of Central ID, granted this is only my 4th muley I have harvested. We had scouted (bullblaster) and I in August this year in the middle section of our unit and north of it. I decided that I wanted to go hunt the southern half that is higher in elevation and roadless. As I was about to head out of town I was told there was possibly up to a foot of snow where I was headed at 7,200ft. I get up to the place I was to set up camp and there is close to 30+ horse trailers and rigs
I was somewhat discouraged with the amount of hunters in the area. I got camp set up and had enough time to walk up from camp and glass across to a basin and a burn and began to quickly realize there is nobody around here as for hunting pressure nobody camped hunting out of here,so I made a mental note of that.
The next morning arrives and I had made a plan to walk up the road at daybreak to a trailhead where the roads ends which is a mile and half and then head in 5 or 6 miles to look at the area and see if I wanna come back and bivy it in there the following days. I began my walk from camp and immediately saw 2 does, good sign I walk another hundred yards to only hear the sound of antlers crashing below me its a big forky and a decent 3pt going at it! I then see 4 more bucks come over the hill one was a decent 4x4,but not what I was looking for. I moved up the road and this continued all the way up the road. The 1 1/2 mi walk took almost 2 hours and I ended up seeing 13 bucks! nothing real big. I head into the wilderness..finding some great points to glass and bucky looking areas, but couldn't turn anything up. I spotted a herd of elk below me with a big funky 4x5 and a spike. About 2 hours later a pack string was heading out and they had only killed a spike bull and one of the guys had a deer tag and shot a very small 2 x4 and said this was 1 of 4 bucks I saw in 7 days
I was surprised by this after all I saw this morning off a road. I told the guys where the elk were and moved farther into the wilderness. I was starting to see lots of wolf tracks and then heard wolves in the canyon below
. It was noon now and had found a great place to glass over a old burn and decided to take a nap in the mid day sun.. I was soon awoke by the sound of heavy breathing and me scrambling to get up as it was behind me..first thought was a bear! nope..its a huge 6x6 bull elk less than 20 yards away running at me..he sees me and locks them up trots down the hill..that was intersting
I decided to make my way out now and get back to trailhead before dark to walk that road to camp to see what I see.. I got there kinda late and found a good 4x4 feeding below me with a 2x3 in a matter of minutes. I watched them till it was to dark and walked to camp. As I sat in camp and looked at the weather I decided to hunt this road area rather than head back in and bivy it as the weather was taking a turn for the worse plus I had been seeing a ton of bucks off this road and no pressure! Next morning comes and so does dark clouds.. I do the same thing and walk the road up slowly this time glassing more often into the burnt timber..same thing again all the way up the road deer everywhere! I think this time I saw almost 15 bucks and most of the bucks are ones I haven't seen before,but nothing very big. Now the fog is rolling in as I make my way back to camp.. I spot the big 3x3 I saw fighting Saturday am bedded on a old fire road below I watched him for abit and see another buck come into view this one is much bigger and super tall! I grab rifle and notice he is missing his fronts,so I pass. By the time I get back to camp the fog is so thick you can barely see 30 yards
well this continued from Saturday morning thru sunday night...I sat in camp waiting for breaks in the fog..never happened and sunday brough high winds and heavy rain then snow and sleet...I was contemplating just packing up and leaving,but weather was showing clear for Monday,so I decided to stay and tough it out.
Monday morning comes and so did frigid weather with the clear skies with temps in the teens. I had a different approach this morning I had noticed a old fire road below the main road paralleling the road I figured I would get lower and see some of the terrain I couldn't see from the main road as maybe this is where the bigger bucks were outta sight. Once again right off the bat there was a young buck and doe..I walked another 100 yards and walked up on a herd with 2 forkys I continued forward and noticed above me 300 yards thru the burn I could see deer moving fast across the top.. I was able to pick out a 4x4 that needed a better look,but disappeared...then I see deer now moving the other direction up there all does no buck..then again I see deer moving across, no idea whats going on they seemed spooked and didn't know where to go. I sat down and got spotter out and decided to just sit here for abit and take a break and see what happens. I began to glass up there and noticed the body of a deer in timber.. picked his head up and it was a nice 4x4! then I see another and its a nice 4x4! they are close to 300 yards away and the bigger one is very tempting! I get rifle ready and see 3 more deer with them....one of them is a nice 4x4 and I will take this one if I can get a shot...trying to get somewhere to shoot was impossible (shooting straight uphill) I finally get positioned and there is a tree in the way then a deer in the way then another tree and finally a I get a high shoulder shot and squeeze one off and hes gone,but I see all the other bucks just standing there! hmmm..guess I dropped him. I slowly make my way up the face to where he was and look to my left across a grassy opening 400 yards away I see a buck feeding ans another..I look thru binos and see that the 2 bucks were the ones in the group, just then I see in the timber a buck walking its the one I shot at and hes fine...crap! I wait for the bucks to feed into the timber and I run across hillside... as I get close to where they went I dropped my pack and there was a small rise I crawled up and peaked over to look into the timber and there they are getting ready to bed as 2 already have and the big one is just standing there broadside.. I crawl closer to get a clear shot with rifle....150 yards click safety off and boom! buck still standing there
WTH..put another round in and boom...buck drops! made my way over to him and saw that I did hit him with previous shot just a thru and thru...second was a high shoulder/spine. It was a satisfying and beautiful area to hunt and will do it again someday. Here are some pics of the hunt.Nevermind the date on pics I thought I disabled it on camera
It looks like I am leaning in the pics, the hill was extremely steep! U can see the angle of the buck facing downward how steep it was..a down tree saved a slide.
theres camp under finger
the fog
ATL
