So I got a Call...
- Thread starter Moosie
- Start date
Moosie
Grand poopa
You're suposed to Smack talk after you're successfull. 
Moosie
Grand poopa
HAmbone... I love Elchsr, but that dudes WACK !!! He eats Pine needle soup and Bugs and Grubs and CHit. I tell him a Package of Buoion (SP?) is $.99 and weighs nothng. He'd rather mix dirt and a Comequat sage Branch and make some sort or poop soup
That being said He'd pack out your Ram and is in good shape
That being said He'd pack out your Ram and is in good shape
Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Elkchsr, you can hunt elk with me if you want! I'll be hunting October 1st to the 9th. Do you wanna come for the entire hunt or should I just call when I have one down?
LMAO!!!!
You guys are fun.. Funny...
Oscar, bugs aren't so bad...
and if I did live a little closer to any of you, I wouldn't have a problem one coming in and giving you a hand getting your animals out, that is one of the best parts of the hunt...
Robert, that sounds like a great way to spend Oct. but you need to come over here and run these mountains, there isn't quite as many hunters, and you can go all week with out seeing any one if you like, unlike the areas over there where you go, I used to hunt them and people are crawling out of every hole in the whole area.
You guys are fun.. Funny...
Oscar, bugs aren't so bad...
and if I did live a little closer to any of you, I wouldn't have a problem one coming in and giving you a hand getting your animals out, that is one of the best parts of the hunt...
Robert, that sounds like a great way to spend Oct. but you need to come over here and run these mountains, there isn't quite as many hunters, and you can go all week with out seeing any one if you like, unlike the areas over there where you go, I used to hunt them and people are crawling out of every hole in the whole area.
Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Well you're right about it being crowded in the woods during elk season, but this year I drew a special permit for a unit that is over 200 square miles, and there will only be about 40 hunters in there at that time. hump
T Bone
Well-known member
Hambone, hope you're into rams by now and standing over a 180"er. I'll check in with you in a couple weeks. If given the choice between my Alaska trip and sheep hunting, I'd choose sheep anyday.
BRD DAWG
New member
I read on another forum that he had to delay his trip for another week. The guy with the horses couldn't make it this weekend.
ARCAT
Member
There is a big fire coming up waterfall, right into the crags. It started near the river and is on both sides. Its getting over into wilson as well. I hope this doesn't mess him up. It knocked me out for elk next week.
Hunt delayed - again
We loaded up the horses and headed for the Crags Friday PM. Stopped in Challis for supper and you could not even see the mountains for the smoke. Called the FS dispatcher and he said the fire on Waterfall had not been moving for the last three days and that the mountain range along Ship Island lake was all rock so we should be safe to go in. As we reached Cobalt about 9:30PM the rain was starting so I was feeling pretty good. The further up the mountain we went the worse it got. The snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see the road. Nearer the top it was beginning to stick and cover the road. My buddy with the horses said if the snow got deep enough that he couldn't stay on the dirt that he would never get out of that road with 12000lbs of horses and trailer pushing him downhill. Since we did not know what the weather was going to do and the prediction was for more snow all weekend we decided a sheep hunt was not worth somebody's life and turned around a mile and a half from the trail head and went home. Waiting on the weather and may go back up tomorrow if it looks like we'll have a week or so without snow. |oo
We loaded up the horses and headed for the Crags Friday PM. Stopped in Challis for supper and you could not even see the mountains for the smoke. Called the FS dispatcher and he said the fire on Waterfall had not been moving for the last three days and that the mountain range along Ship Island lake was all rock so we should be safe to go in. As we reached Cobalt about 9:30PM the rain was starting so I was feeling pretty good. The further up the mountain we went the worse it got. The snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see the road. Nearer the top it was beginning to stick and cover the road. My buddy with the horses said if the snow got deep enough that he couldn't stay on the dirt that he would never get out of that road with 12000lbs of horses and trailer pushing him downhill. Since we did not know what the weather was going to do and the prediction was for more snow all weekend we decided a sheep hunt was not worth somebody's life and turned around a mile and a half from the trail head and went home. Waiting on the weather and may go back up tomorrow if it looks like we'll have a week or so without snow. |oo
Goin' in Sunday
Talked to my buddy with horses and he says he's bringing the chains for the truck and we're going in this coming Sunday. Long term forcast from the NOAA for that elevation shows a 30 to 40 % chance of snow showers Thurs. and Fri. but that begins to taper off through the weekend and into the next week so we outta be fine if Mother Nature doesn't come up with any surprises. I'd welcome a little snow but don't want a foot of the stuff! With a little luck I'll be hunting sheep by next Monday. About time! Looks like this will be my last shot at getting in there so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Tried to go in on foot on the North side of my area last week but it was just too rugged climbing out of the canyon to be safe. I made it to the top of the first major ridge out of the river canyon and looked ahead at what I was facing and decided I didn't want to die out there for a sheep. It was so steep that one misstep would have sent me to the bottom of the canyon. If I had fallen I'd have never been able to stop myself on that slope. A friend told me that Jack O'Conner once wrote that the Salmon River Canyon was the most rugged sheep country he ever experienced anywhere in the world. I believe it!
Talked to my buddy with horses and he says he's bringing the chains for the truck and we're going in this coming Sunday. Long term forcast from the NOAA for that elevation shows a 30 to 40 % chance of snow showers Thurs. and Fri. but that begins to taper off through the weekend and into the next week so we outta be fine if Mother Nature doesn't come up with any surprises. I'd welcome a little snow but don't want a foot of the stuff! With a little luck I'll be hunting sheep by next Monday. About time! Looks like this will be my last shot at getting in there so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Tried to go in on foot on the North side of my area last week but it was just too rugged climbing out of the canyon to be safe. I made it to the top of the first major ridge out of the river canyon and looked ahead at what I was facing
and decided I didn't want to die out there for a sheep. It was so steep that one misstep would have sent me to the bottom of the canyon. If I had fallen I'd have never been able to stop myself on that slope. A friend told me that Jack O'Conner once wrote that the Salmon River Canyon was the most rugged sheep country he ever experienced anywhere in the world. I believe it!
Moosie
Grand poopa
thanx for the Update.. keep us Informed buddy !!!!
csutton7
Active member
man I hope you get in there and get one--chris
BRD DAWG
New member
Good Luck!!
T Bone
Well-known member
Anyone hear from Hambone?
Moosie
Grand poopa
Nothing at all....... He's about out of time. I hope he faired well.
I had more delays as my buddy with the horses got stranded in Wyoming due to bad weather for two days. Didn't get to leave till Monday AM. We finally got into my area, after more delays, rounding up horses, buying more feed, getting everything packed on the pack team took 3 hours at the trailhead - all that stuff that adds up to hours. Rode in with good weather and reached the area I wanted to hunt in the late afternoon of the second day. We needed to camp where there was grass and water for the horses so we had to go down to a lake to set up base camp. After looking at the trail down into that hole I said to my buddy, please don't tell me we have to go down there. But there was no water anywhere else so down we went. My horse slipped into a steep gully on the way down and I thought we were going over backwards. Thank God that he was able to catch himself, find his footing and lunge out of the gully. That left me a little shaken. My buddy said he did not want to have to go out that trail more than once and that the horses would need to stay at camp until we were ready to pull out of there for good. If the weather turned on us we would have to get out before any snow hit.
I woke in the night suffering from altitude sickness which usually hits me the first day or so when I get above 9000 feet so I got a late start the first day and missed the daylight feeding time. Felt good enough to climb out of the hole and glass by late morning and spent the afternoon moving slowly and glassing all the terrain I could see - no sheep! That night in camp my buddy told me about a large meadow he had seen on the other side of the mountain that he thought we could get to. Next morning we climbed to a vantage point and glassed the park and the entire drainage that we could see till the sun was well up and saw nothing. No sheep, no deer, no elk - nothing!
I decided to spike camp about three miles west of base camp in a saddle on the west side of a large burn on the opposite side of the mountain. The wind had been coming up all day and it appeared a front was coming in. We decided to pack up base camp and get out of the hole while we still could. My buddy would dry camp on top of the ridge and I would spike camp on the other side of the mountain. We would stay in contact via radio and keep an eye on the weather. I got to the new area mid afternoon and moved slowly, glassing every burn, meadow and little opening I could see - nothing. I sat on a point and glassed the opposite side of the drainage - nothing. I glassed the lakes and streams in the bottom of the canyon - nothing. I planned to drop in the saddle and glass the back side of the mountain in the morning but I was gettin a little nervous about the weather situation. By evening the wind was approaching gale force and dark clouds were building on the southwest horizon. I bivvied in the shelter of some pine trees but the wind sounded like a freight train going through the forest. In the night it got so wild and wooly that I moved away from the trees and laid down the the lee of a dead log afraid of getting pinned under a tree if they started going down - it was that bad. Back at base camp my buddy, who has spent his entire life working cattle and living out in the mountains, was having trouble sleeping in the gale as I was. At first light I was up and packing and wet snow was hitting me as I rolled up my pack. Dark clouds were now coming in and it was obviously raining and snowing to our southwest. It was time to go! 20 miles of treacherous trails lay ahead and they would be very dangerous with snow on them. I bid farewell to the sheep I never saw and covered the three miles back to camp in record time. The horses were nervous, I was nervous and my buddy was packing our stuff as fast as he could. Thank God we got out without any wrecks but again we had some very close calls with the horses in nasty places. On the way home my buddy told me before we left that a friend who had ridden cattle up in that area for many years told him there was story after story of horses that went into that area and never came back out. I'm glad he saved that story for the drive home.
It was a great experience, a very frustrating and difficult hunt, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing even if it was nerve wracking dealing with the horses, weather and terrain. What an amazing area! It would have been nice to at least seen some sheep though! The only sign I found was old dried droppings. We saw one mule deer doe near camp and a little bear sign, it seemed the entire country was devoid of any game. Very discouraging.
I woke in the night suffering from altitude sickness which usually hits me the first day or so when I get above 9000 feet so I got a late start the first day and missed the daylight feeding time. Felt good enough to climb out of the hole and glass by late morning and spent the afternoon moving slowly and glassing all the terrain I could see - no sheep! That night in camp my buddy told me about a large meadow he had seen on the other side of the mountain that he thought we could get to. Next morning we climbed to a vantage point and glassed the park and the entire drainage that we could see till the sun was well up and saw nothing. No sheep, no deer, no elk - nothing!
I decided to spike camp about three miles west of base camp in a saddle on the west side of a large burn on the opposite side of the mountain. The wind had been coming up all day and it appeared a front was coming in. We decided to pack up base camp and get out of the hole while we still could. My buddy would dry camp on top of the ridge and I would spike camp on the other side of the mountain. We would stay in contact via radio and keep an eye on the weather. I got to the new area mid afternoon and moved slowly, glassing every burn, meadow and little opening I could see - nothing. I sat on a point and glassed the opposite side of the drainage - nothing. I glassed the lakes and streams in the bottom of the canyon - nothing. I planned to drop in the saddle and glass the back side of the mountain in the morning but I was gettin a little nervous about the weather situation. By evening the wind was approaching gale force and dark clouds were building on the southwest horizon. I bivvied in the shelter of some pine trees but the wind sounded like a freight train going through the forest. In the night it got so wild and wooly that I moved away from the trees and laid down the the lee of a dead log afraid of getting pinned under a tree if they started going down - it was that bad. Back at base camp my buddy, who has spent his entire life working cattle and living out in the mountains, was having trouble sleeping in the gale as I was. At first light I was up and packing and wet snow was hitting me as I rolled up my pack. Dark clouds were now coming in and it was obviously raining and snowing to our southwest. It was time to go! 20 miles of treacherous trails lay ahead and they would be very dangerous with snow on them. I bid farewell to the sheep I never saw and covered the three miles back to camp in record time. The horses were nervous, I was nervous and my buddy was packing our stuff as fast as he could. Thank God we got out without any wrecks but again we had some very close calls with the horses in nasty places. On the way home my buddy told me before we left that a friend who had ridden cattle up in that area for many years told him there was story after story of horses that went into that area and never came back out. I'm glad he saved that story for the drive home.
It was a great experience, a very frustrating and difficult hunt, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing even if it was nerve wracking dealing with the horses, weather and terrain. What an amazing area! It would have been nice to at least seen some sheep though! The only sign I found was old dried droppings. We saw one mule deer doe near camp and a little bear sign, it seemed the entire country was devoid of any game. Very discouraging.
