Hunting Fall 2017

 Hunting 2017 was a lot more difficult than last year.  The first trip we went to Sublette.  I joined up with Dad and Morgan the first day which was the 12th of October.  On the way there I had Zach from Scouts ride up with me and meet his dad's friend at the Sublette gas station.  Zach's dad was not able to go until Saturday and so it just so happened I was going the same way.  It was nice not driving over there all the way myself.  Zach is a great young man and will grow up to be a good leader and an honest person.  After dropping him off I drove up past the reservoir to the same canyons we usually hunt which are Limpy's Canyon and Hidden Canyon. (I can say the names of these canyons because they are our own names and not on any map).  It was early afternoon by the time I got there and Morgan had already been up on his horse up the canyons without seeing anything.  Dad had just had surgery on his knee for a torn meniscus and could barely walk on it.  He rode in the WildKat with me while we went up Limpy's canyon and then we sat at the top and just glassed for awhile.  When it was getting later we came back down and went to spend the night at dad's house.

We had decided the next day to go up Shirley Canyon which is not far to the north of the reservoir.  Morgan had left and gone up to Fish Creek since we hadn't seen any deer.  We drove up Shirley Canyon with no luck then decided to load up the WildKat and drive up to South Hegler Canyon.  While enroute, we came upon a man that dad knew vaguely who told us about a couple canyons that he usually saw deer.  We decided to the the Wildkat up one of those roads.   There was a neat old homestead,  corral and pond and we were able to cross the boggy creek and go up the canyon.   We went up the canyon until it started getting steep and narrow.  We decided to turn around on a slightly more flat area in the trail but when I backed up in a U fashion, I almost tipped over.  That was a little freaky.  It was difficult having my gun bag blocking my rear view mirror, but it was nice having a windshield.  We had no luck that day so I decided to go home on Saturday early as I wasn't feeling too good, plus a storm was blowing in.  We only saw a couple does heading out Friday night and absolutely no other deer.

Me and dad.  I had just made dad a cane out of a stick so he could hobble around and two other guys on 4-wheelers took our photo.  We found out on this trip that the Fish and Game were starting to enforce not hunting with ATV's and we were told that we were all illegal.  I guess you can ride around in your ATV's with your guns in a bag in the back like we were doing, but you can't be holding them while driving.

When I get bored I take photos.  What better to take photos of other than my awesome rifle?

Wednesday the 25th of October I loaded up and drove to Hugh's house as we were planning on going up to unit 49 which is Littlewood and FishCreek.  For some reason we decided to go up to Fish Creek which turned out to be just as dry as Sublette.   Fortunately, I had an antlered deer tag and a cow elk tag so I could shoot whichever one turned up first.

We got up early Thursday morning and was headed toward Arco before it was light.  About 40 minutes into the drive we were just talking like normal, discussing the woes of dentists and kids and kids with dental problems.  We were a quarter mile behind the guy ahead of us and going exactly 70 mph.   Light was just starting to show on the horizon behind us.  Since the guy ahead of us was getting so far up there I was just thinking of turning on my brights.  We were going up a gradual hill and then just as we topped out and the truck started to nose downward on the down slope, the lights caught 4 deer squarely in the headlights.  I saw a big doe in front in our lane and I yelled "Deer!" as I hit the brakes.  I may have been on the brakes a  half a second and then "BANG!".  It was louder than a gunshot and then I was confused for a minute.  I had no idea where they had gone and then realized I was still braking hard and was almost off the road.  There was a steep drop-off with barely any room to pull over and I started easing myself over.  I still had a very foggy brain at this point and couldn't figure out what had happened.  There was a nasty burning smell which I will never forget, and then I realized the steering wheel was smoking.  Then I realized the airbag was out and was popped and deflating and that the burny stinky smell was coming from it.  I was still a little dazed and then realized the Onstar people were talking to me and asking if we were ok.  I could tell Hugh was like "did that just really happen?"  He was less dazed than me, though, and then started talking back to the  Onstar people.  I then realized the air bag had hit me really hard and that is why I was so confused.  Somebody knocked on my window and I rolled it down and there was a security guard from the INL.  He asked if we needed an ambulance and the Onstar people thought he said we needed an ambulance and was going to send one right away but Hugh said "no no, he's just asking if we need one."

I found out I was off the road enough and when the traffic had all passed got out and we looked at the damage.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.  We went back and looked for the deer but couldn't find it anywhere.  I think it probably ran back the other way and then dropped dead somewhere.  There's no way it would live very long with that hard of a hit.

To make a long story short the lady cop finally got there and got us the report and the number we needed.  We determined that it was driveable.  After talking to Teresa we decided to drive it back to Driggs to Crash so we wouldn't have to deal with the back and forth issue of having it in Idaho Falls.  I was not sure what to do about hunting but then Hugh offered to follow me all the way there and then we would drive back in his suburban and pull the WildKat.  That is what we did and it turned out to be a long day .

I pause to admire the beauty of a sunrise on the desert.

 We finally got back to Antelope Creek just before dark and then we couldn't find dad.  We had heard to go on past the reservoir until we found him and ended up driving way up there before we decided he wasn't up that way.  We were able to find him by going back and catching service.  It turned out he was doing the same thing and we were able to call him and meet up.  He was camped on the other side of the reservoir instead.

The next day, we drove Northeast up toward Antelope Creek where we had gone the night before.  We decided to hike up a canyon called Iron Canyon.  Me, Hugh and Brockton went up while my dad stayed in the truck and talked to everybody that came by for information.  We saw a small two point and a few does but it would have been a difficult up hill shot and I just wasn't in the mood to shoot it that bad.  We had no other sightings of any animals but I did find these nice bear claw marks on some trees.  We lost Brockton for a little while as he was sitting up on the mountain in some shadows.  We had thought he had gone on up the canyon as we could not see him even with binoculars.  It turned out he could see us the whole time, but before that I had walked all the way back down to the truck to see if he was down there.  Him and Hugh came down later and all was ok.

Since Iron canyon turned out so poor, that evening we went up a canyon that was past an old  house and homestead.   The evening was pretty but nothing turned up.  Me,  Hugh and Brockton went up the canyon and spread out and glassed until dark.  Nothing showed up except two guys on horses up above Hugh and Brockton.  I was up a ridge south of them and a little higher and I watched the horses come all the way from way up high and then they passed behind Hugh and I don't think he could see them.  I took photos of them through my binoculars with my phone as I was getting bored.

Brockton

Brockton and Hugh

Looking Northeast toward the pass that goes over to Antelope Creek

The horses came way down from those peaks.  Hugh and Brockon are somewhere around those willows, Brockton up on the left and Hugh on the right.

Not too bad as they were around 600 yards away.

Hugh

Brockton

Dad decided he would leave early in the morning as he couldn't get around much with his knee.  Brockton was able to contact Jeremy and hook up with him early that morning.  Me and Hugh hung around for a little bit, but as the area was crawling with people we decided to go home and left around 9.  It was a long ride back for Hugh as he had to take me all the way home and then go back to his home but I am greatful he took the time to do that or I would not have been able to go hunting.  Bummer it was only one day and no luck but oh well.  At least nobody died on this trip.  Teresa told me after that on both my hunting trips this year she was really agitated about it and kept saying prayers that I would be ok.  I had mishaps both times but the angels must have been there because of the prayers.

Its now 2 weeks later and I have found out that its around $10,000 worth of damage and I probably won't have the truck back for a few more weeks.  Its a bummer but I can think of a thousand ways it could have been worse.  The only damage on either mine or Hugh's body was a couple of blood blisters on my thumb where the airbag must have hit it.  I am also thankful for neighbors like David and Olivia who have lent us a vehicle a couple times and for those others that have offered as well.

Dad leaving Saturday morning.  We hooked him up and he left.  We didn't stay much longer.

We stopped at Beaver Dick park to use the bathroom as we needed a quick stop to get home sooner.  It was a nice fall day.

Zach called me a week or so later and I went over to his house and he had shot a nice buck a week or two after I had dropped him off.  Here's his photo I took.  Nice job Zach! much more successful than I was !