Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 10:48:21 PM
As the snow came off of the high country, which seemed like a long time for it to ever come off, I was out climbing hills and hiking whenever I got tired of fly fishing an awesome cutthroat and bull trout fishery that I am fortunate to have out my summer office back door. Scouting trips turned up a lot of mule deer and elk sign and I was thoroughly impressed with the fawn and calf recruitment that I saw. I didn’t see a single wolf until an early mid June day while driving down river for work. Once Memorial Day hit, it feels like summer was a blur. Another summer that I really didn’t get to “enjoy”. I didn’t have 2 day weekends except for the times I was required to take mandatory days off as I hit my work limits. 6-13 day weeks were the norm and some of my “weekends” were spent assisting the public with Medicals and SAR’s as the nearest help is 1.5 hours away. I can honestly say outside of work, I was able to scout 2 days this summer in areas I wanted to check out. A lot of my scouting missions occurred on my weekly evening beer run into the closest town in another state.
September arrived and the daylight started to dwindle. I was often working dawn to dusk as the woods were dry as a bone until September 21st. As September came, so did the rut. A couple of workers and I often spent many mornings and nights practicing our calling and getting out on UTVs as often as we could to take advantage on an awesome grouse year. Awesome doesn’t describe exactly how many grouse I have seen this year. It truly has been the best year I’ve ever seen for grouse numbers anywhere I have worked or lived. Many dinners cooked on the bbq consisted of that evenings grouse that we harvested. We saw a few elk and bulls here and there, but not the numbers that were here 25 years ago as the old timers told us many stories around the campfire of them watching elk herds come down the ridges morning and evening to get to the river. On those same ridges, we saw 100 elk all summer long and a few mule deer here and there accompanied by the black bears.
Late September arrived and my pre season scouting plans were eliminated with having to go up North for work and not retuning until October 9th. Between September and then, I didn’t get a chance to keep tabs on the bulls I was watching in September and those bulls quickly disappeared with wolves retuning to the area. I didn’t see a single fresh elk track along the river or up in the aspens on the mtn the elk were hanging out at. I wasn’t disappointed and kept my head up knowing these elk are truly smarter than I will ever be.
Opening day arrived and I had 3 paid admin days off to hunt before I had to take some annual off for a wedding and to go back to WA to help with apple harvest. I hunted hard those 3 days turning up a lot of mule deer, but was holding out for a 4 point or better buck. I saw elk all 3 days, but with the weather in the mid 60s and the lows getting into the mid 40s, I made the decision not to pursue any bulls unless they were a mile or less from a road. This country will eat a man alive if you don’t have goats, horses, or mules to get an elk out in those temps. I was able to make it back over on the 22nd and 23rd to look for mule deer and elk and ended up seeing more bears (11) and wolves (3) than I did elk. I didn’t get a shot opportunity on the wolves. Again, I was unable to turn up a 4 point or better mule deer buck. The next weekend arrived and I set out Saturday to hunt hard one final day going back into areas I knew that elk might be pushed in with the foot of heavy snow up high. I had one opportunity in the morning, but the cows wouldn’t get out of the way to present a shot opportunity in the 6 point bull that was with them. Mid day came and I needed a rest after climbing 2000 feet that morning so went and glassed areas in the snow looking for mule deer. Nothing was moving. I hit another area right before dark after cutting fresh elk tracks on the road and quickly gained 1500 feet in elevation in less than 30 minutes. Daylight was dwindling, but the elk were talking. I found myself on a hillside with another 6 cows and a bull, but didn’t feel comfortable taking a shot. I walked back to my truck and made the 2.5 hour drive back to my place in town reflecting on another elk season gone in this zone, but thinking about all the close encounters I had and the successfulness of even getting close to elk in this country. Many people get tags for here and don’t see a single elk all season.
The night arrived and since I had the general deer tag, I was debating on whether or not I would continue to hold out for a Northern Idaho mulie, or take the drive out to my white tail honey hole in the morning. My alarms started going off the next morning around 0400. I continued to hit snooze until my 0500 when I said to myself “you won’t shoot a deer unless you get out and hunt.” I got out of bed and decided I’d be perfectly fine with taking a white tail buck as I didn’t want to drive up north. I made it to my parking spot at 0615 and didn’t quite make it to my stump before daylight aooroached. Right at shooting light, a shooter white tail buck appeared but he saw me and quickly ducked into the edge of the commercial thin unit. I continued to make my way up the road running into does and fawns until I got to my stump. As I was sitting on my stump, I checked in with a few buddies and a hunt wa buddy. I texted the hunt wa buddy and said “I don’t know how you can white tail hunt as I don’t have the patience for it.” 5 minutes after I texted him, I decided to leave the stump and walk into an old burn unit where I had a camera for 4 years. As I was working my way up, I bumped a doe and 2 fawns. I continued working my way up to a rock and once I was at the rock, I saw a white tail buck cruising on the tail of that doe. I immediately saw the antlers and said I’m taking him. 1 shot with the .243 later, I texted a few buddies and the hunt wa member saying “buck down”. After about 5 minutes I paced my distance from the shot to the deer and the shot came out to 61 yards. I wasn’t too sure what kind of a buck I shot until I got up to him and was happy as he’s my best white tail out of this state in the 5 years I’ve hunted here.
Deer and elk season may be over, but I filled one goal in getting encounters at elk. I come away happy knowing I gave ‘er hell in the 6 days I had to hunt for mule deer and shot a nice white tail buck. My Mule deer goal will carry into next year. This hunting season allowed me to increase my knowledge of what critters live in the area I work and got some good intel for biologists I stay in contact with. There is not much information one can get from IDFG and other bios as I never ever saw any of them on the ground or any of their trucks in the unit I hunted for elk and deer.
Take aways from the zone/unit I work in and hunted:
1.) many non residents buy this tag and don’t do their homework thinking it’s an easy area. They’re wrong
2.) many hunters will come up to you since it’s apparent you work out there and ask what areas they should hit up for elk.-sorry that’s like asking if they can have rights to your significant other.
3.)very few people actually get off the roads and hunt hard in this zone.
4.)non residents and residents come out here and aren’t prepared for the weather (SAR was called for one bear hunter)
5.) there are dead zones in this unit
6.) bios don’t know if this unit was affected by Ehd last year as they never surveyed for it
7.) the guys who have all season to hunt and do their homework are successful for elk-usually the same camps
8.) you need to be able to hunt consecutive days to be able to keep track of the elk in this unit as they’re constantly the move
9.) IDFG gives out way too many moose tags for this zone as I really didn’t see many moose or moose sign this year (seen about 4 dozen moose and only 1 shooter bull)
10.) in my opinion, in the unit I hunted this year in this zone, I think there’s a 3:2 mule deer to white tail ratio. The other unit I’ve mostly just seen white tail.
11.) more elk around the burn scars than in the untreated areas.
I put all my cameras out and if I can find means to get out there, I plan on trapping this winter when I’m laid off. There’s still wolves running around even though the wolf numbers aren’t as high as they used to be.
If you recognize this area, don’t say a word on here about it. My beer is always cold if any of you come fly fishing up here next year.
Attached in multiple posts are the photos I’m willing to share from a few of my highlights from the summer and my deer
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 10:50:29 PM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 10:51:45 PM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 10:53:09 PM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 10:55:50 PM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 10:57:56 PM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 03, 2022, 11:09:10 PM
Post by: redi on November 04, 2022, 12:15:45 AM
Post by: Dan-o on November 04, 2022, 12:37:07 AM
Wow! Great write up and photos. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
X2
Exactly that!
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 04, 2022, 09:02:40 PM
Post by: Mfowl on November 04, 2022, 09:05:59 PM
Post by: bobcat on November 05, 2022, 02:13:40 PM
Post by: jackelope on November 05, 2022, 03:11:30 PM
Post by: hike2hunt on November 05, 2022, 06:02:05 PM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 05, 2022, 07:53:42 PM
Very nice buck! Congratulations!@bobcat thanks for fixing my pictures. Screen shotted all of them since I keep my GPS on my phone on all the time for mapping purposes and didn’t want to share the locations.
Post by: ghosthunter on November 05, 2022, 08:27:59 PM
Post by: Bob33 on November 06, 2022, 07:17:43 AM
Post by: boneaddict on November 06, 2022, 07:36:38 AM
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 06, 2022, 08:57:07 PM
Put 3 additional cameras out all along the area along game trails and I moved another hoping I’ll get the wolves on camera within the next week. Attached is a picture of a group of 5 wolves on the tail of a few elk. Followed the wolf tracks until they were cutting the elk tracks. I didn’t take great pictures of the tracks today as I was in a rush, but a few of these dogs were huge. A couple of the tracks were longer and wider than the length of a Pepsi can.
Post by: Naches Sportsman on November 20, 2022, 08:46:39 PM
I came across fresh wolf tracks on the way up this morning that weren’t there while working Friday so decided to stop in the area and do some calling. Since there were elk tracks in the area, I played like a herd of elk and after about a 5 minute break, started doing an elk in distress call and a couple wolf howls. Boy did I get the pack fired up and it sounded like a school yard at lunchtime recess. Unfortunately I haven’t quite mastered the art of sitting still when wolves come in quietly and looked like I pushed them prematurely while I got up from my stand and walked back to my truck. Glad to have had the closest opportunity of the year so far and can’t wait to trap as soon as I’m laid off!
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on November 20, 2022, 09:19:58 PM
Post by: Machias on November 21, 2022, 01:43:30 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on November 21, 2022, 02:21:19 PM
Post by: ganghis on November 21, 2022, 02:44:37 PM