Idaho High Country Mule Deer Hunt

[mtnwrunner]

DIY OTC KMAA----do it yourself, over the counter, kicked my ass again..............

Still out looking for the big one with my second tag but in the meantime....
Opening morning found us in a remote basin that I had scouted earlier in the year but I think that our success was predetermined by the wolf howl 20 minutes after daylight. Lots of elk but the deer were just not there. Spent 3 days at 10,200 feet sleeping in deer and elk beds glassing from daylight to dark. Saw a couple of bucks, one shooter, but man, it was tough. I don't have any idea of what happened to the bucks that were there just 3 weeks earlier. Saw and found a fresh cow elk wolf kill so I suspect that may have been one of the issues. Anyhoo, great place to hunt and never saw a soul which is the way I like it!

So, we took our lumps and relocated to a honey hole of ours near the Salmon River Country where my brother and my buddy from Juneau had elk tags. We backpacked in to about 8500 feet with a couple of days supplies and started enjoying the country---good to be back. We typically pack enough for 2 or 3 days, hike out and spend the night at a nearby cabin, resupply and head back up. It is a great way to refresh and resupply.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Saw a few elk and lots of small bucks. Mark and Jeff headed off to go after a bull we had spotted the evening before and headed off to the "perch" where one can glass 3 different open ridges and have anywhere from a couple hundred yard shot to over 1000 yards if one wishes. I got there right at day break and we were headed out in the afternoon for a food resupply and maybe a beer or two, or three.......
I usually have two deer tags so I try to get a meat buck and then go after muy grande. I spotted a nice forkie right at daylight and decided to shoot him. 543 yards with the 6.5 saum and 140 berger did the trick. I boned him out, loaded him on the pack along with all my hunting gear and headed up and out of the canyon up an avalanche chute. About 100 pounds all in all and it is just a lot of friggin weight. Especially and old man who is 58 as of today! Yeah, I know, I share a birthday with Hillary Clinton.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Nice shot.

Great pics, and congratulations on buck #1.

Good luck on finding Muy Grande.

 

[Ross]

Great stuff and naps are the bomb in the warming sun..........good luck on the Muy!

 

[mtnwrunner]

Mark and Jeff were headed back to the trailhead and as they were ridgehopping, they jumped this really nice buck out of his bed at 40 yards. Jeff managed to finally stop the buck at 301 yards and one well placed shot from a 6.5 swede and a 140 sst from Mark and his dream of a high country buck was fulfilled. So, we all packed out two boned out deer back down to the truck and headed out to the cabin to resupply and yup, beer.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Hike back into the backcountry and we spotted a buck at 1022 yards away on a grassy knoll. We let Jeff have the stalk which had to be fairly quick as darkness was coming in about a half an hour. I spent lots of time developing a long range load for his new tikka t3 06 ackley and he closed the distance to this buck at a whopping 67 yards. One shot from the 180 sst dropped the buck on the lee side of the ridge so we were able to avoid the 30 mph winds-----it was actually quite pleasant boning his buck out and we dreaded the mile back uphill slog to our spike camp but it was worth it. The EXO's worked great as usual. This was his first buck and he still had a second deer tag.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Some more photos...................
One of the problems with this hunting area is lack of water. It sucks to have to pack in 10 pounds of water on your back but low and behold, Mark found this "spring" and after some redneck reconstruction and a plastic tent peg, we could fill a 16 ounce Nalgene bottle in 45 seconds. A few floaters but what the heck...............and only about 1/4 mile from the tents.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Awesome stuff.

 

[Clarktar]

Awesome! Water was pain on my recent high country hunt. Congrats on figuring out the water issue

 

[mtnwrunner]

After another pack out and another day of hunting, My brother got really sick----the Hershey squirts----and he basically said that he had had enough. So, he packs up his camp, dicks around for a couple of hours and says he is headed out. Mark and I are getting ready for the afternoon hike to a great glassing location and as Jeff leaves our spike location, he literally is 70 yards from camp and here comes this buck down the ridge running at him. Now, according to Jeff, he is hissing at us and snapping his fingers to get our attention. Right.
He drops to his knees with his full pack on and shoots this buck twice with the 06 Ackley 180 ssts and drops this buck in his tracks at 169 yards. As we heard the shot, I grabbed my rifle and headed around the corner and there is Jeff with a big ol smile on his face and said that he had got a big buck and it was right off the trail. Sure enough, there it laid----all about 200 yards or so from our tents. 12:00 noon. Right place, right time. So, once again, Mark and I bone out the buck, load our packs with all of our camp and half a deer and head to the truck 1300 feet down the canyon. So, 4 high country bucks all packed out with the EXO's and some tired backs. But hey, beer and Pendleton does dull the pain............

 

[PNWGATOR]

Fantastic adventure Randy! What a great trip you guys had, wow....thanks for sharing.

 

[Juan_ID]

Sounds like a great trip, congrats! Good luck finding your big boy.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Wow, nice job! I'll bring Pendleton if I can hang out with you guys.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Wow, nice job! I'll bring Pendleton if I can hang out with you guys.

Hmmm..............................how much?

Randy

 

[Jason Snyder]

Hmmm..............................how much?

Randy

What does Costco size get me?

 

[Greg Beck]

Congrats! Fun stuff!

 

[mcr-85]

Looks like you are having fun Randy.

 

[robby denning]

Killer post. You guys piled 'em up. Really like that last buck.
Great job guys and thanks for all the photos.

 

[belly-deep]

Looks like fun!

 

[Kevin Root]

Nice mtnwrunner. I enjoyed reading about the adventure. I hunted out that way a couple years back for elk, up next to the Salmon River area on up to the Montana border at the Continental Divide and you have some awesome mountain range country up that way. They kicked my butt pretty good. I enjoyed reading about the hunt.