My 11 year old daughters first bear. She made a great shot, didn't go but 10 or 15 feet. Last day of school on a Friday, went up and found this bear. Pretty good way to kick off the summer.
ID prioritizes elk over mule deer from a management perspective. It would be nice to see, at least in some areas, a change where mule deer are given more consideration/funding.
If I were king of mule deer management in ID:
Stop general doe hunts (applies mostly to kids. My twins are 11...
@doc holiday13, great post and great topic. Nice work keeping the conversation going.
A thought: My kids like to hunt. They have been exposed to information regarding lead toxicity and the impacts to birds. They asked "dad, can we use copper bullets in our gun?".
I looked at it as...
Back in the 1900's, graduated from CSU in Fort Fun. My senior project was lion predation on pets in the urban/undeveloped interface. Even way back then, cats prowled around those areas. And ate pets. It is a shame when wildlife management is done via ballot measures and/or legislatures. It...
How about Wednesday, Feb 28th. Maybe afternoon, say 5pm ish at the Spring Creek Brewing Co in Avimor? If not there, certainly other spots can work as well. Figure middle of the week shouldn't interrupt weekend plans. But, might be a bit of a challenge for folks as well, understood...
Bought the Initial Ascent frame/6k/pannier this year, used it on a backpack bow hunt/muzzloader elk hunt. It fit great, handles weight extremely well. I am not in the best of shape, however, handling a bit of weight on uneven ground (60 to 70 pounds total) was doable for me. For folks that...
After quite a few backpack hunts, multiple days in, I have learned that a pound or two on the actual pack isn't a relevant issue. It is the accumulation of weight from all the other stuff (bow, arrows, knife(s), bag, boots, etc, etc, etc, and, and, and). Then, if lucky, all of the sudden you...
Western hunting is going to change, regardless of tags or fees for said tags. Anyone who has spent time in the field out west (insert state name here) can attest to generally sub-optimal range/forest conditions, increased development on winter range, drought, etc. All of this impacts game...
My two cents (inflation upped it from a penny):
Agree with others, .284 or larger caliber for moose/elk. Yes, smaller calibers will do it, but one has larger margin of error with bigger calibers. So many to choose from, I think all are really good. If I were purchasing a big game caliber...
I have Sig Sauer Kilo3000BDX (bino/rangefinder combo, purchased in 2020) and the Kilo5k (purchased this year for bow hunting). I also have Leica (2015 model), Leupold (2008 and 2018 model), and other off brand range finders. Hands down, zero question, no comparison the Sig Sauer(s) are the...
I live in Idaho, and hunt deer here (quite a few different areas). I also hunt deer in NV, CO, WY, and UT. If I lived out of state, knowing what I know, I would look at other states for mule deer hunting. Are Idaho OTC units good? Some areas, sure (some are great). Are the OTC tags pretty...
Hunting anything in thick timber, in areas where trail cams or familiarity aren't an option, is basically a hike and hope. If you are lucky, it becomes a spook and shoot. Nothing wrong with that (we all know plenty of folks who hunt like this and are very successful), just is what it is. As...
I have quite a few rifles with brakes and some without (6.5 Creed to .300 Rem Ultra Mag), a lot in between). Are brakes loud? Yes, can confirm (have permanent tinnitus in my right ear from shooting a coyote with a .300 braked Weatherby). That said, do they reduce recoil to a point where one...
I lived/hunted in CO for years (way back in the 1990's), and I completely agree too much hunting pressure is frustrating/maddening/ruins an experience. However, I then moved to UT and hunted there for 15 years, where attempting to draw a branch antlered bull tag takes 10 years, maybe more. I...
Not exactly a trophy shot (I put a pic with her deer in the Rokslide youth photo contest), but the sheer joy of my daughter after taking her first deer at 10 years old was something I hope I never forget (this is a still from the shot video). Great shot, 137 yards standing off a bi-pod, perfect...