As always I had a great time.10 days of uninterrupted hunting.I could easily live there with the beauty of the mountains and the decency of the people.
This year the quality of the hunting was not great.The deep snows of last winter definitely had it's effect on the deer population.We saw far fewer deer and only a couple older age class bucks.The rigors of the rut coupled with the deep snows seemed to have really effected the older buck population.So no taxidermy expense this year.In ten days of hunting I saw 9 bucks,all of them being 11/2 or 21/2 year old deer.I saw two elk and kicked out elk in two other instances.I saw three coyotes and heard wolves howling four times.We didn't hunt in area's that we have traditionally seen wolves but I heard them howling in area's that I have never seen them before,also seeing their tracks in area's where I have not seen their tracks before.
We hunted for several days on close to a full moon and the temperatures were warmer then we would have liked.There was plenty of scraping activity up until the day we ended our hunt 11/23.We saw next to no chasing activity.With scrapes being opened and tended as late as they were and observing no chasing activity or very little I have to believe that the rut timing is late.
I am hoping for a mild winter and that the wolf population falls upon a debilitating disease.(Sorry it's time for their numbers to be controlled)
Overall a fantastic time as always but left with empty tags.
This year was the tenth consecutive year of hunting in Idaho.Did I say that I could live there!