finally get to go scouting!

[zpd307]

we are leaving tomorrow am and heading to Idaho. with the families going, we are stopping overnight in Montana. so we will be in Idaho on Friday. we get to scout for 2 days. I have all ready lined up a meat cooler in town when we get one and where some showers are for the mid week destink. talked to the local taxidermist today, he said its smoky out there from all the fires. but, they had some rain today and the forecast calls for some more while we are there. just need to find some sign and hopefully the elk themselves. I will check in next week with pics when we get back!

[Deafirishman]

Best of luck on the scouting trip and pick out the bull you are gonna arrow !! While you are at it, make a pit stop in our area and check it out for us

[Fridaythe13th]

Your a lucky man if you can take the fam. out west scouting. Enjoy your trip and chase some down to us.

[Lefty]

Get up early !1 If you have more than one pair of binos bring them, and keep the camera handy

My wife and I are headed for the Sawtooths Friday morning: Chalis to Red-fish lake for a little fishing ATVing and her last outing of the summer

[WapitiTalk1]

Best of luck on your trip Gary; hope you lock some things down. Oh, make as much noise as you possibly can by stomping around, banging pans together, etc., and scare some of those elk up to where I'll be hunting

[zpd307]

i'm back. lots of miles driven... it was good to see our spot in person. which reminded me that we are very small very when it comes to the mtns... we stayed in island park, id. close to Yellowstone and closer to our hunting spot. so lots of pics of yellowstone. lefty was right, it is very dry where we are hunting.... we went through 3 mtn ranges in 1 day on the way back; rockies, big horns and the black hills. I am trying to get some pics posted.

[zpd307]

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[zpd307]

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[WapitiTalk1]

Awesome Gary. How'd the glassing go? Looks like your crew found some hiking sticks

[Fridaythe13th]

Now that looks like future elk hunters. Did you spot the bull your gonna arrow? or at least chase one down to us.

[zpd307]

we saw no elk. lots of older sign, some newer but old sign. found some seeps that were being used. we actually didn't get much scouting done. it took an hour from the highway just to get where we parked. we weren't able to scout where I wanted. with the boys along, I was hoping to drive up into the canyon and only have a 4 mile hike. but the road was closed 2 miles before the trailhead, which would have made it a 18 mile death march with a nasty 600 ft drop into the canyon. so we checked around a plan b spot. it was hot.... saw a real nice mulie buck that would go on anybodys wall. spooked a cow/calf moose at 20 yards. saw a couple more smaller mulie bucks and a doe. I got my buddies trailblazer stuck on a burm, took us an hour to get it dug out and unstuck..... talked to some guys who were there scouting for mulies come rifle season, they told us the outfitter using that canyon are a bunch of dicks and like to bully diy hunters. we stopped for lunch in town and they confirmed that the outfitters are different.... they wouldn't say anything too bad since the outfitters bring in customers. so I am changing to plan b and hunting some smaller canyons to the side of the big one that I was hoping to hunt/scout. they looked good on ge but blew them off since they have access from the road.

[zpd307]

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this is a shot across the canyon that I had originally wanted to hunt. we would have to drop down to the creek and hook right to go another 5 miles up.

[zpd307]

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heres a shot of up into the canyon, we would still need to go another 5 miles up into it.

[zpd307]

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[zpd307]

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going up to the mtn....

[zpd307]

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this is the road just before it was blocked/closed. if you look hard you will see a grouse, the other 4 had already passed by.

[zpd307]

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[zpd307]

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this is on a atv trail that wasn't listed on the national park trail map....

[zpd307]

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more hiking

[zpd307]

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[zpd307]

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[zpd307]

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this was their ingenuity in action! they had a blast making fire wood.

[Lefty]

I like the pic of the boys.. more dads need to be hauling their kids around
Welll did you find decent sign where you checked?

[zpd307]

dennis, we found a ton of old poop. they definitely use the area at some point. found a couple of turds that were a couple of days old. found a couple of old shredded trees. my buddy doesn't get going very quickly so we got there later than I would like. we also stopped in town, is a town a town if it only has 105 people? the general store has a cooler if we are lucky to get one. and the city park has pay showers. it took an hour to get up into the mtn, so we didn't have as much time the first night. and it was hot! the boys had to stop a lot for water breaks. we were going to scout the next canyon over the next day, but I got the buddies trailblazer stuck on the frame going over a burm. in the mean time the boys decided to play in the nearby creek and got soaked. I didn't bring any extra shoes or socks, so that hike would have been miserable for them. by the time we got the truck unstuck, I was in no mood anymore. plus it was even hotter that day. did hear wolves howling that night..... and you were right. it is very dry and brown out there. all the south facing slopes are fried to a crisp, anything with some shade and water is still green.