FAMED unit 45 Idaho muzzy hunt...

[Juan_ID]

On the hike back to the truck we decided to take a different route in an attempt to look over some spots we hadn't looked in before. We had just cut a fresh track and were kinda following it since it was headed the way we were going anyways. After following them for a couple hundred yards my buddy looks up and spots a 2 point standing there looking at us from about 400 yards away, we not so sneakily sneak in a little closer and start glassing to see if there were any other deer with him, we ended up turning up a few does and another little buck and figured there wouldn't be a big buck with the herd. Why did we figure that? I have no idea! Anyways we put our packs back on and start walking down the old trail when about 200 yards from where we had just looked I decide to look towards that little buck again and see a couple other does we couldn"t see from our previous location... I keep panning the hillside when I see deep forks! "There's a f*cking good buck laying there!" I loudly whisper to my buddy. Aftter taking my spotter out of my pack here's what I see...

After deciding he may be a shooter we sneak in a little closer to get a better look when the little buck gets a little edgy and starts making his way towards the bedded buck alerting several does in the process and getting them up on their feet. The bigger buck too is alerted and stands to his feet where I then took these pics...
Since the big buck and other does didn't know of our presence they put on a little show while my buddy and I tried to decide whether the deer was a shooter or not....

After watching them for some time he decided he wanted to keep looking although he loved the character on this buck's rack... I too quickly fell in love this buck, good forks tall and narrow, MY kinda deer! BUT it isn't my tag so I didn't try to pressure him into shooting if it wasn't what he wanted. So after a while the buck's does spotted us and slowly made their way over the hill and out of sight. So we pressed on to the rig and then to camp...

 

[Juan_ID]

After having a burger we decided to hike up behind camp in an attempt to locate "tangs." After looking for a couple hours we located a buck, but he bedded down before we were able to tell for sure if it was him. So we were in it for the long haul to wait him out til he stood. Several times his does would get up and walk around but he wouldn't budge!
Here's a pic of my buddy while we sat there waiting... He's a little camera shy!

FINALLY, almost 3 hours later he stood and there was no doubt, 1. he was a shooter. And 2. it was "tangs!" we watched them til dark and took some pics all the while coming up with a game plan to get on him in the morning...

I was able to get a video I'm having trouble uploading that shows him better. Sorry for the quality on most of these pics, it was VERY windy! For some reason I can't get the video to upload to PhotoBucket. I'll get it up eventually. So after watching them we hiked back to camp at dark eager for the morning hunt! That night the wind became very strong, boy was I glad to have a heavy bag and my "Buddy Heater!"

 

[HellsCanyon]

Awesome man keep the updates coming! Would definitely be hard to pass these last two bucks...

Mike

 

[Juan_ID]

Here's a couple pics of where we were glassing for "tangs"...

I need to get a photo editing software to create a panorama of a few of these landscape shots as it'd show things better... And sorry if this thread isn't as good as some of the others, it's my first attempt! More to come tomorrow, time for bed! Thanks for following and having a little patience with me on updating!

 

[Drummond Lindsey]

Stunning country and "Tangs" is a great looking buck. Best of luck

 

[Juan_ID]

Thank you Lindsey! And I really liked the look of "tangs" too! More to come when I get home!

 

[Juan_ID]

Well we wake to another windy windy morning and have our usual cup of coffee and a few zuchinni muffins and hit the road up the hill to our look out and wait til daylight... To make a long story short we were unable to turn up "tangs" after several hours of glassing. As a a matter of fact we didn't see much at all, only a few does in the area. Not to say he wasn't there, we just couldn't find him. So after several hours we decided to go look at yet another place we hadn't looked in yet, due to how windy it was it was a long shot as it was later in the morning and deer tend to bed down in the wind if exposed IMO. Well we were able to turn up a 170 class 4 point that he decided to pass on. We then headed back to camp to have some lunch then decided to hike up behind camp in an attempt to relocate "tangs" where we had the previous night. After glassing til dark we were once again unable to turn him up... Kinda discouraged, we decided he was well worth looking for again in the morning as he was the best buck we had found... So we have some clam chowder and crackers and a few cold ones for dinner then hit the sack.

Sunday morning we awoke to yet more wind! Had the norm for breakfast and headed up the road to get to our look out once again... On the way up the road we bumped a smaller 4 point. Once arriving to the spot we attempted to stay warm on the windy ridge while glassing. We were able to turn up a couple does when it happened! We spotted a very recognizable doe that tangs had with him the first day we found him! We drive up the road a little, pull over and practically run up the hill we seen the doe on only to find she had worked her way down and up the other side of the canyon and was all alone! We decided to give that area a quick look in case he was in there somewhere... After that all we were able to turn up was a 165ish class 4 point bedded all alone trying to stay out of the wind. My buddy and I were pretty discouraged at this point and weren't sure what to do... So I suggested the idea of checking out YET another new canyon, my buddy being down and out gave in. So we headed down the road to an area where we parked the truck and decided to dive in the canyon from there. While sitting there in the truck discussing things I spotted a good buck diving into the canyon. That brought our spirits up, so we loaded our packs and headed out...

 

[Juan_ID]

We dove into the canyon and were just glassing as we slowly side hilled the canyon. About 1/2 mile into our hike we spooted some does about another 1/2 mile into the canyon, being that we hadn't seen much we decided we better get closer to see if there was a buck with them. We worked our way further into the canyon and began seeing more deer, first we turned up a couple smaller 2 points and as I was panning the hillside they were on when I spotted what looked to be a BIG buck and instantly got my scope out and on him and about crapped my pants! He was a GIANT of a 4x4 a true "HOG NASTY!!!" I told my buddy and he didn't quite believe me til he took a look through the scope and he too was speechless! I knew at that point he was a definite shooter! He looked at me and said "that's a f*ckin huge buck!" Being that it was only about 10:45 we decided to just watch them for a while and try to come up with a game plan to get on them... All the while snapping several pics and a few videos...

I know many of you prolly won't agree on me with this but after watching him for some time through the spotting scope we came up with 185"+ and 27-28" wide and decided to call him "Abbott." If any of you guys know mma you'll know who I'm referring to, for those that don't he's a BIG "tank" of an old man and tough as nails! The name just seemed fit for this buck! The pics truly don't do this buck ANY justice IMO! I wish I could upload a couple of the videos as they show him better but they won't work for some reason...
Anyways back to the story! So after watching them for some time we put a plan together for him to go clear down the canyon and up and around them... Once again to make a looong story short he got down and around on them only to miss him at about 200 yards...

 

[Juan_ID]

He grabbed his pack and began the hike out as I worked my way back to the truck to meet him at the opening of the canyon...
This is a pic of the east side of the canyon where we spotted Abbott, white X is where we first spotted him... I guess the x isn't showing up, but it's just above and to the left of the yellow quakies at the bottom of the canyon.

After discussing things for a bit we then headed back to camp, packed up our stuff and headed home. Abbott has been the ONLY thing on our minds this week at work and plan on hitting that canyon HARD in an attempt to find him this weekend. As much as my buddy liked him he has decided if we find another 180" buck before relocating Abbott he's gonna try for him as his hunt is coming close to an end and won't have much time to get back out after the weekend... I will update as I can while on the mountain if not then when I get home. Thanks to everyone who has followed along on this hunt it's been fun sharing it with you guys!

 

[Steve O]

Wow. Cool country and nice deer.

 

[belly-deep]

They're in with the does already?

 

[Juan_ID]

Ya belly-deep. The 3 bigger bucks we seen last week were already nudging and sniffing does... Should be awesome this weekend! Unfortunately I had something come up and wasn't able to make it out with my buddy this weekend. But I'll update if he txts me anything!

 

[Drummond Lindsey]

... and decided to call him "Abbott." If any of you guys know mma you'll know who I'm referring to, for those that don't he's a BIG "tank" of an old man and tough as nails!

I knew who you were referring to. I named a deer "Anderson" once for my buddy to kill. My friend is MMA legend Dan Henderson and he finally put the deer on the ground. To date its the only thing named "Anderson" that he's knocked out

Keep up the updates and best of luck

 

[Juan_ID]

Your friend is the legendary Dan Henderson?!? That's awesome, I'm a HUGE fan of his, he's a true badass!
Last update I got was my buddy had hunted the canyon we last seen Abbott, he said he seen several bucks but no Abbott, watched a guy miss a huge 3x4 twice he said. Not sure what he did for an evening hunt as I spoke with him around 3... Will update again once I hear more!

 

[Outdoorsman3830]

Hunt Hard! 45 is a solid unit. I have friend who took down an awesome 38 incher out there with a muzzleloader and my Uncle drew the Super Tag twice and took down two bucks with final scores around the mid 170's. There are a lot of big bucks out there and it looks like your having a blast. Good Luck and Take Down a Monster.

 

[Juan_ID]

Well today was the last day and I wasn't able to go up with him since the 4 day weekend hunt we did. But he was up yesterday and today and couldn't get it done... He did happen to come across a nice dead head tho haha! Sorry this prolly didn't live up to the "live hunt" standards, as I wasn't there as much as I had planned. The next one will be better tho!

 

[Juan_ID]

Hunt Hard! 45 is a solid unit. I have friend who took down an awesome 38 incher out there with a muzzleloader and my Uncle drew the Super Tag twice and took down two bucks with final scores around the mid 170's. There are a lot of big bucks out there and it looks like your having a blast. Good Luck and Take Down a Monster.

Damn a 38"er?!? That's crazy, I'd love to see a pic of that dude!

 

[Outdoorsman3830]

I'll see if I can get him to send me a picture of the buck. However, here is a buck from behind my grandpa's over Thanksgiving weekend a couple years back in unit 52.

 

[Outdoorsman3830]

Here is another Idaho buck my Great Grandpa took years ago and mounted himself. He past away, otherwise I would ask him where he harvested him. My best guess would be in 43 or 44.

 

[Nick Muche]

Did you guys spend the entire time on the east side of Hill City Rd? Too bad your buddy didn't kill one... I don't think I could muster up the apetite for a pot of tag soup when the main ingedient is a 45 Tag!