My Idaho Muley

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

I shot this buck back on October 25th, it was my first hunt for elk and mule deer, I didn't get my elk, but 3 of us came home with 5 animals altogether, 2 elk, a 5x5 and a 6x5 and 3 deer, my 4x3 muley, a small 4x4, and a spike.

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

Here is a picture of the 5x5 my buddy shot, I will post a pic of the 6x5 soon.

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

Here is a pic of myself struggling to pack him out, this picture shows the type of country where we saw most of the deer, the elk were mostly in the timber, in case anyone was wondering we hunted in the Gospel Hump Wilderness which is also part of the Nez Perce National Forest.

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

We took this shot right below our spike camp, we thought the scenery in the background would be perfect for a picture, this picture was taken after our second trip back to the kill site of the 5x5 to get the rest of the meat, we were all pretty well wore out by this point, I think the only thing that kept us going was the adrenaline and knowing that spike camp was getting closer and closer with each step.

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

I took this shot of the guys glassing the first day we got there, the country was brutally steep, but it was worth all the hard work, because the animals were there. This shot was taken not too far up the hill from our base camp on the Salmon River, we didn't see any deer or elk down this low, but we did see three bighorn sheep,two that were about 1/2 to 3/4 curl, and one that was almost full curl, and a Grizzly!. All the deer and elk we saw were above what you can see in this picture.

kilowatt · Dec 12, 2004

Congrats to you and your group on your successful hunts. Looks like some steep country there that you had to tackle.
Thanks for posting the pictures.

Brian

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

here's a panoramic shot I took of the mountains surrounding the Salmon River, steep enough for ya? I know it was for me, LOL this is where all the animals migrate down to once the snow starts getting deep up on top, right now there's probably a $hitload of animals down by the river, I just remembered we did see one pretty good buck that pulled the slip on us and some does on the far ridge to the left, but that was all we saw down near the river.

Hornseeker · Dec 12, 2004

Those are some great shots, you guys had a great hunt. Were you in the main fork Salmon or up the Middle Fork?

Congrats.

Not to piss in your cheerios, but it is really most likely you saw a big light colored black bear, however, I wasn't there and I guess anything is possible!

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

Thanks guys, to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure where in the hell we were, I can tell you that we were about 7 miles downriver from the Shepp Ranch(outfitter in the area) and yes that's what we thought to when we first spotted it with the binoculars about a half mile away was that it was a brown phase black bear, because as you know the area holds alot of them, but when we put the spotting scope on him you could clearly see the telltale hump behind his head. The game wardens came up river to check on us during the middle of the week to check our game and what not and I told them about seeing it and they said that there are grizzlies in the unit we were in, but they were extremely few and far between and that they are very rarely ever seen. I even called my buddy a liar until I yanked the spotting scope out of his hands.

hornaddiction · Dec 12, 2004

Congrats to you and your friend!!

Horn
www.trophiesonthewall.com

boneaddict · Dec 12, 2004

LAST EDITED ON Dec-12-04 AT 03:06PM (MST)[p]Sounds like a pretty cool hunt. I checked out the river a little for shed hunting. I had a problem with one of my legs growing longer and the other getting really short. : ) Thats a great place to wear out a pair of boots.

kicker · Dec 12, 2004

Hey Niels, that is a neck of the woods i am very familiar with. My uncle own one of those cabins at copenhaver. That is where the south fork of the salmon dumps into the main salmon kinda adjacent to mackay bar.

I know the guys at shepp ranch have seen a grizzly roaming around that area too. So i believe you.

Just curious how you got up the river, was it your boat or did you pay to get in there?

Looks like you guy's had a good time.

COSA · Dec 12, 2004

Very nice pictures, looks like quite a trip and plenty of memories to keep you through the next season. Awesome Country!

Niels · Dec 12, 2004

Thanks guys, yea Mackay Bar was just a few miles up river from where we were, I didn't know that the guys up at the Shepp Ranch have been seeing a grizzly, maybe the boat drivers didn't know about it, just the guides? we paid the Shepp Ranch to take us up the river, help throw our gear onto the sand bar and pick us back up in 10 days and take us back to the Vinegar Creek boat launch.

Cosa, it was awesome country indeed, I'm sure there is alot more beautiful country than this somewhere, but I haven't seen it, it was way beyond my expectations, I have seen some pretty rough country in my day, but nothing like this.

rrarrm · Dec 12, 2004

Those are some great pics, thanks for sharing and congrads to you and your friend

OneTrack · Dec 12, 2004

Kevin:

Great buck. Great photos. I know you were jacked up for that trip. Glad it all came together for you and your buddies.

Niels · Dec 13, 2004

Thanks rrarrm, Brent, yea buddy, you know I was about as jacked up as a guy can get, I had to be close to as jacked up as you were when you killed that Kaibab monster muley, what an awesome animal and couldn't happen to a better person either.

browtine · Dec 13, 2004

awesome pics..thanks for sharing.
Later, Brandon

scadamso · Dec 13, 2004

those are some sweet pics. do you know what he scored yet? Sweet buck. rack seems to be very evenly spread.

Niels · Dec 13, 2004

Thanks alot fellas, I'm amazed at the response this is getting, it's great! I didn't get him scored because he's not that big, at the very most he might score 140, he's only a 4x3, so that hurts his score, but he's got a 15 1/4 inch back tine on his 3 side, so he's got a little character, he was 22 1/2 wide and 18 1/2 tall, not a monster by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm happy with him nonetheless, I worked my butt off for him I can tell you that! LOL Thanks for the nice comment about my buck, I really appreciate you all taking the time to look at the pictures and post your comments.

WyoAces · Dec 13, 2004

Nice buck. Congrats on a successful hunt. Nice to see some guys hicking in and quartering em out. To many road hunters out there these days. Bet you had a great time. Once again congrats

littlefoot · Dec 13, 2004

niels...nice job, congratulations...good story and good pics....looks like you had good weather 'to boot'...

Niels · Dec 14, 2004

Thanks guys, yea the weather could of been alot worse that's for sure, we did have some snow up at spike camp on days 4 and 5 and again the last couple days, the temperatures while we were there ranged from 27 to 60 degrees so there was quite a variance in temperatures.