I'm back, dissapointed and sore...

[MichaelJ]

Not much to tell guys!  Got back tonight from our high hunt... we figured we covered 35 miles in 3 days and we're both pretty tired... Hiked into our area EARLY on thursday and didn't see a single boot print or horse track anywhere near the area...  Got into camp, hiked out another 2 1/2 miles to get to a spot to hunt (I'd only glassed this area scouting from 1500 yards away).  Busted two does while hiking up, and never saw a deer that day.  Decided to move camp 1 1/2 miles up the drainage first thing in the morning as the trail up was impossible to follow in the dark...  Did that friday morning and still was able to hunt from 7:30 AM till dark... didn't glass a single deer.  Busted two does again on the way back to camp though...   

Saturday morning woke up EARLY, and hiked in to where we both agreed would be our best chance to spot a buck as we'd been seeing a LOT of tracks and had been hearing deer move constantly near camp in the middle of the night...  Again we glassed till 11 or so without even spotting a deer.  Hiked to the top of a different ridge, same story, we covered A LOT of ground and we hunted the area to the best of my knowledge.  Still no deer.

On the way back to camp today we saw 2 more does and a spike in a timber thicket but nothing else.  Granted we were only in there 3 days total, but both felt like we would be wasting another day, and I had a broken truck that needed fixing so I can drive back to school tomorrow....  So we came out tonight.  Made the 11 miles in 3 1/2 hours (and damn I'm sore)!  Little dissappointing but hey thats hunting.

For those of you that don't know, I scouted this area back in August for a day (mainly to get the lay of the land) and ended up spotting 7 different bucks in this drainage, 2 for sure shooters and a very questionable third.  I guarantee you that we were the only people to have hiked in there since my scouting trip (atleast for the past two weeks).  We couldn't figure out what would cause those bucks to move out or to hole up.  But they did and thats that.  Looks like it's the general season for us and maybe a ID tag for me!

Pics to follow...


Michael

[ICEMAN]

Wow, what a ton of hiking. I bet you are sore as hell. The high hunts I have done in the past always seemed to be that way....saw more deer down low than up high.... Looking forward to the pics.....

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds like a typical high hunt, they can be tough at times.  CAn't wait to see the pics.

[bucklucky]

Darn! At least you got some more exercise!!

[boneaddict]

You should have stopped hiking for a minute  to enjoy the 
still fun to be out there.  Then somebody like BobM posts a picture of some monster

[MichaelJ]

You should have stopped hiking for a minute  to enjoy the 
still fun to be out there.  Then somebody like BobM posts a picture of some monster

We got to enjoy the comforts at night! lol Tasty MH meals and some ice cold stream water (filtered of course)!  The weather was great and the scenery was pretty good to!  Had some laughs and made some memories!

There's two different types of high hunts in my mind...  One that you go to for the experience of hunting the high country and you plan your trip around good food, friends, and great country (mainly horse hunters come to mind here).

Then there are the people that put themselves through brutal physical routines in the months prior to the hunt, they pour over maps constantly, They sacrifice many comforts at camp to lighten their pack by 3-7 lbs, they are the ones that have one thing on their mind when they get into the high country....  To find and shoot a big buck...  I felt like this was me this year.  Not a whole lot of comforts but the bare essentials and what not.  Thought for sure we'd atleast get INTO some bucks, not to disappointed with not harvesting one...  Oh well there's always next year and the general!

Here's a few pics...






Michael

[Ray]

You'll get one next time.

[MichaelJ]

We'll see how the rest of my fall goes... however I'm still debating on whether to get my ID residency or next this spring...  If I do that means no more high hunt for me, and I could hunt ID...  Still figuring that out...

Michael

[bowsandhose]

sorry to hear that Michael. hot weather and full moon didn't help i bet

[high country]

chin up big dog! you gave it hell, be happy with that.

[MichaelJ]

Ya I'm happy with the hunt!  Still am recovering a little bit and to see my gal back here at home was a big boost to my weekend... haha
Seriously my bro and I look back on it and say we gave it our all and checked off a great couple days in the high country!

Get THIS!  On our hike out we ran into a guy going in solo.  We started with small talk and I asked him where he was headin, he said he didn't know and was gonna find a flat spot on one of the main trails and camp and hunt.  He asked where we were coming out of and I told him the 'general' area of where we were...

He then says he doesn't know where we were at and says "Well you're gonna have to show me where you were on the map..."
Then he pulls out a green trails map and asks me to point out where we were hunting!!!  I couldn't believe it!  I told him an area a couple miles distant and said good luck and suggested another area which I have heard good things about (which is true).  But C'mon, you don't just ask a total stranger on the trail to point out where on a map he was hunting!!!!  lol

Michael

[crabcreekhunter]

Looks like ya had fun though and thats all that really matters... looks like the area was pretty decent and obviously held bucks earlier but thats there home and they know how to disappear I know how it is to have bucks just vanish into the woodwork... smart buggers... well stay in touch and let me know how the rest of the year goes whether in wa or id.

[MichaelJ]

Sure thing Crab, let me know if your Pops drops a buck!

Michael

[Ray]

He then says he doesn't know where we were at and says "Well you're gonna have to show me where you were on the map..."
Then he pulls out a green trails map and asks me to point out where we were hunting!!!  I couldn't believe it!  I told him an area a couple miles distant and said good luck and suggested another area which I have heard good things about (which is true).  But C'mon, you don't just ask a total stranger on the trail to point out where on a map he was hunting!!!!  lol

For the most part I won't tell the whole internet where I am hunting but these places are not big secrets where I go. I've shared info like that before with a fellow and didn't think much of it. However everyone has the right to keep a "secret" if they want.

[MichaelJ]

He then says he doesn't know where we were at and says "Well you're gonna have to show me where you were on the map..."
Then he pulls out a green trails map and asks me to point out where we were hunting!!!  I couldn't believe it!  I told him an area a couple miles distant and said good luck and suggested another area which I have heard good things about (which is true).  But C'mon, you don't just ask a total stranger on the trail to point out where on a map he was hunting!!!!  lol

For the most part I won't tell the whole internet where I am hunting but these places are not big secrets where I go. I've shared info like that before with a fellow and didn't think much of it. However everyone has the right to keep a "secret" if they want.

I understand where you're coming from Ray.  I asked the guy if he'd been in there before and he said he'd been to X place before but that was it.  It was obvious he didn't scout and didn't really have an idea of where he wanted to hunt.  I have no problem with that, but I didn't pour over maps from March till now to give up info that I've worked for and figured out to a guy that is just going in on a bonzai trip.  I'm confident I was in a good area, and I'll what I can to keep my 'spots' privy to me. 
I gave him a good idea of another place where I would really like to hunt one day, so I gave him so good info, but I wasn't going to point out the exact drainage of where we were...

Michael