A
alloutdoor
Guest
Had a great hunt last weekend with my Son Austin in Idaho.
We saw 18 bucks in 2 days up on the Salmon River.
Only 4 of the bucks were really mature so I was a little disappointed in the quality of the bucks.
This was the second weekend we hunted. Two weeks ago there was no rut activity and we only saw 2 little bucks.
My first goal was to get a first buck for Austin. He shot a doe last year and a nice 14" antelope this year but this was his first buck deer hunt. So the first weekend Austin passed on a little two point and then could not get ready fast enough to take the shot on the second deer we saw, a small 4 point.
So this last weekend it snowed the day before we went and it had turned really cold so I figured this was going to be as good as it could get for the area.
Sunday we saw 8 bucks. The largest was a 24" 4 point with a tall rack but he was huge in the body. We put a sneak on him but when we got to where he had been he was long gone.
And that is kind of how it went for two days.
We either could not get on the deer or Austin missed the shot (I think he was dealing with some serious buck fever).
By the end of the day Sunday Austin was pretty discouraged.
So when we went back to the basin where we had seen the 24" 4 point the day before he told me to just shoot it if we found it again. So when I glassed it up in its bed at 250 yards I went ahead and took the buck. He is a nice buck with a huge body and his neck was so rutted out he looked awesome.
The last basin of the day we looked in had about 30 elk and a nice 4 point with a doe. Of course the elk spooked and ran right into the buck and ran it right out of the basin.
As we were walking out to the truck right dark Austin looked up and saw another nice 4 point run into the top of the basin.
We dropped down and hoped they would walk right into us. At 350 yards the lead doe spotted that herd of about 30 elk that had spooked the other buck. They were standing on the skyline looking down at us. That spooked her and she ran that buck out about 500 yards before she ever stopped. Sometimes it just isn't meant to be.
Here is a picture of the buck that I took.
We saw 18 bucks in 2 days up on the Salmon River.
Only 4 of the bucks were really mature so I was a little disappointed in the quality of the bucks.
This was the second weekend we hunted. Two weeks ago there was no rut activity and we only saw 2 little bucks.
My first goal was to get a first buck for Austin. He shot a doe last year and a nice 14" antelope this year but this was his first buck deer hunt. So the first weekend Austin passed on a little two point and then could not get ready fast enough to take the shot on the second deer we saw, a small 4 point.
So this last weekend it snowed the day before we went and it had turned really cold so I figured this was going to be as good as it could get for the area.
Sunday we saw 8 bucks. The largest was a 24" 4 point with a tall rack but he was huge in the body. We put a sneak on him but when we got to where he had been he was long gone.
And that is kind of how it went for two days.
We either could not get on the deer or Austin missed the shot (I think he was dealing with some serious buck fever).
By the end of the day Sunday Austin was pretty discouraged.
So when we went back to the basin where we had seen the 24" 4 point the day before he told me to just shoot it if we found it again. So when I glassed it up in its bed at 250 yards I went ahead and took the buck. He is a nice buck with a huge body and his neck was so rutted out he looked awesome.
The last basin of the day we looked in had about 30 elk and a nice 4 point with a doe. Of course the elk spooked and ran right into the buck and ran it right out of the basin.
As we were walking out to the truck right dark Austin looked up and saw another nice 4 point run into the top of the basin.
We dropped down and hoped they would walk right into us. At 350 yards the lead doe spotted that herd of about 30 elk that had spooked the other buck. They were standing on the skyline looking down at us. That spooked her and she ran that buck out about 500 yards before she ever stopped. Sometimes it just isn't meant to be.
Here is a picture of the buck that I took.
