The Gem State

I miss the steep sagebrush hillsides of central Idaho.  I haven't been since 2007 and I am itching to go back.  The terrain is steep, the air is thin and roads are scarce, but there are a few decent bucks hanging around.

I have some good memories of these canyons and ridges and I hope to make some new ones soon.

Passing the Buck

They say that you will never kill a monster if you kill the first "good" buck you see. 

That may be true, but nobody talks about the flipside that you may also run out of time and wish you had taken one of the "good" bucks you passed.

I hunted beautiful country.

Saw tons of elk and heard so many bugles the first couple days I couldn't belive it.  Too bad I didn't have an elk tag!

I passed some pretty cool looking bucks, several of which I had within easy muzzleloader range. 

I hit it hard for 8 days and never did turn up my monster.  I saw 15-25 bucks each morning with many being big mature deer.  With my time running out I took a character buck to end the hunt.

I didn't want to take a 23-25" 160 class 4 point.  I passed that exact type of buck at less than 70 yards before walking over the hill and taking a heavy old 3x4 with a little cheater on the 3 point side.

The view from where I took the shot at 143 yards

Looking back to my shooting perch from where the buck was standing

Looks like a hit!

Glad he hung up in the brush and stopped rolling, that is a deep canyon!

As he lie

From the front

From the back (notice the little cheater)

I can't wait to do it again, hopefully I beat the odds and draw sooner next time.

Back to the Books

After a hunt ends often one of the thoughts that often crosses my mind is "I wish I could do that again knowing what I know now".  Typically with a hard to draw tag a "do over" isn't usually an option, at least not without a looooong wait to draw the tag again.  Luckily for me I am getting the chance to try the Book Cliffs muzzleloader deer hunt over again this year!  I had the tag in 2010 and while I enjoyed some success, there were a lot of things that just didn't quite go right (read about my 2010 hunt here).  I learned a lot and feel like if I had it to do over I would do some things differently.

Well, the draw is done, my credit card has been charged and I am getting my chance to try again! I have had some time to reflect and plan what I would do differently, but not so much time that my memories of the hunt and knowledge of the animals and area aren't still fresh.  I am ready to gear up and go for it again. 

My lovely wife gave me a new muzzleloader for Christmas after my 2010 blackpowder frustrations.  Last fall I verified it works by putting the hammer down on a nice little general season meat buck.  Thanks Tristie! 

I have a hunting buddy that drew with me this time around, and I am going to do the horse thing completely different. This September I will be back in the highest part of the Book Cliffs hoping to maybe find one of the bucks that eluded me in 2010.

Based on what I saw after the 2011 hunt I know there are still a few good ones running around out there.

Some hard lessons have been learned and the future looks bright.  It is a brand new day and the sun is just rising on my 2012 hunt.