Tiredofthebickering
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2016
- Messages
- 2,812
It's taken me a while to get back on here and not feel some slight nausea, lol.
Last October my dad and I headed up to Idaho's Caribou Targhee National Forest with high hopes for muley bucks and bull elk. Dad had drawn a bull 2nd rifle bull elk tag that had a success rate of +/- 50% in prevous years, and the odds for muley bucks seemed pretty good too. If we were successful it would be his first elk ever.
We lived in Idaho near the area when I was 5 - 8 years old, but neither of us had been back to hunt there for over 20 years. Surprisingly, dad drove use right to the old timber road where he wanted to camp, and then up that road all the way to the top, in 2wd I might add, of the ridges he remember hunting back in the early 90's. We saw plenty of does, and even a buck right at the last few minutes of legal shooting light that looked like a decent little 4x3.
We were supposed to hunt that same area for 5 solid days, and set up out tent and gazebo excited for the week. Nature had other plans apparently. The area had mild weather for many years prior, but it wasn't to last, lol. It poured all night the first night and flooded the road so bad we weren't able to get up there again even in 4wd. Then, on the second night, the area got hit with an expected snowfall and, at 1am, we awoke to the sound of our tent collapsing in on us. We were able to tarp up the sides of the gazebo and, with the help of our little heater and the generator to run it, went back to sleep about 2:30am.
We ended up packing up and grabbing a hotel back in town, about 2 hours out of the hunting area, for the remainder of the trip. What was supposed to be 5 solid days hunting one area turned into 5 days of hunting 6 different areas trying to find both the animals and an area we could get into safely with our vehicle.
By the time we left, dad had taken a small buck and I was empty handed. We had nary a sight of elk. But the trip was fun if for nothing else but the memories.
So, anyone else get snowed out last year? Or do you have any other fun stories to share to make me feel better about planning a trip for so long and having it fall into chaos, lol.
Last October my dad and I headed up to Idaho's Caribou Targhee National Forest with high hopes for muley bucks and bull elk. Dad had drawn a bull 2nd rifle bull elk tag that had a success rate of +/- 50% in prevous years, and the odds for muley bucks seemed pretty good too. If we were successful it would be his first elk ever.
We lived in Idaho near the area when I was 5 - 8 years old, but neither of us had been back to hunt there for over 20 years. Surprisingly, dad drove use right to the old timber road where he wanted to camp, and then up that road all the way to the top, in 2wd I might add, of the ridges he remember hunting back in the early 90's. We saw plenty of does, and even a buck right at the last few minutes of legal shooting light that looked like a decent little 4x3.
We were supposed to hunt that same area for 5 solid days, and set up out tent and gazebo excited for the week. Nature had other plans apparently. The area had mild weather for many years prior, but it wasn't to last, lol. It poured all night the first night and flooded the road so bad we weren't able to get up there again even in 4wd. Then, on the second night, the area got hit with an expected snowfall and, at 1am, we awoke to the sound of our tent collapsing in on us. We were able to tarp up the sides of the gazebo and, with the help of our little heater and the generator to run it, went back to sleep about 2:30am.
We ended up packing up and grabbing a hotel back in town, about 2 hours out of the hunting area, for the remainder of the trip. What was supposed to be 5 solid days hunting one area turned into 5 days of hunting 6 different areas trying to find both the animals and an area we could get into safely with our vehicle.
By the time we left, dad had taken a small buck and I was empty handed. We had nary a sight of elk. But the trip was fun if for nothing else but the memories.
So, anyone else get snowed out last year? Or do you have any other fun stories to share to make me feel better about planning a trip for so long and having it fall into chaos, lol.